textbook

• What is filter theory?


  An explanation of relationship formation. It states that an aeries of different factors progressively reduces the range of available romantic partners to a much smaller pool of possibilities. The filters include social demography, similarity in attitudes and complementarity
• Who proposed the filter theory?

  Kerckhoff and Davis
• What is the 1st level of filter?


  Social demography
• What is social demography?


  A wide range of factors all of which influence the chances of potential partners meeting each other in the first place
• Examples of social demography 


  Geographical location (or proximity), social class, level of education, ethnic group, religion
• Although we might frequently encounter people who live further away, our most meaningful and memorable interactions with people who are nearby
• What is the key benefit of proximity?

  Accessibility
• The realistic field for potential partners is much narrower because out choices are constrained by our social circumstances. Effectively, anyone who is too different is discounted as a potential partner
• What is the 2nd level of filter?


  Similarity in attitudes
• Partners will often share important beliefs and values, partly because the field of available has already been narrowed by the first filter to those who have significant social and cultural characteristics in common
• Kerckhoff and Davis found that similarity of attitudes was only important for couples who have been together for how long?


  18 months
• There is a need for partners in the earlier stages of a relationship to agree over basic values, the things that really matter to them. This encourages greater and deeper communication and promotes self disclosure
• There is considerable evidence that most of us find similarity in beliefs attractive to begin with.
• Byrne has described the consistent finding that similarity causes attraction as the law of attraction. If such similarity does not exist, then the relationship is likely to fizzle out
• What is the 3rd level of filter?

  Complementarity