Cards (7)

    • LACK OF TEMPORAL VALIDITY
      Levinger et al. (1970) many studies failed to replicate the original findings of Kerckhoff and Davis theory. This can be due to the social changes (e.g. long-distance dating) that make people less likely to filter due to social demography.
    • RESEARCH BIAS
      Kerckhoff and Davis chose an 18-month cut-off point to distinguish between short-term and long-term relationships. They assumed that partners who had been together longer than this were more committed and had a deeper relationship This is a questionable assumption which means that filter theory is undermined by the lack of validity of itis evidence base.
    • Problems with complementarity
      One limitation is that complementarity may not be central to all longer- term relationshipsA prediction of filter theory is that in the most satisfying relationships partners are complementary. However, Patrick Markey and Charlotte Markey (2013) found that lesbian couples of equal dominance were the most satisfied. Their sample of couples had been romantically Involved for a mean time of more than 4/2 years.This suggests that similarity of needs rather than complementarity may be associated with long-term satisfaction, at least in some couples.
    • Anderson et al. (2003) argued that the emotional responses of partners in long-term relationships become more alike over time rather than being similar from the start.This contradicts the claims made by the Filter Theory, which claims that people need to have similar attitudes from the start for relationships to develop.
    • Actual versus perceived similarity
      Another limitation is that actual similarity matters less in a relationship than whether partners perceive or believe themselves to be similar.This was supported in a meta-analysis of 313 studies by Matthew Montoya et al. (2008). They found that actual similarity affected attraction only in very short-term lab-based interactions.
    • In real-world relationships, perceived similarity was a stronger predictor of attraction One interpretation of this finding is that partners may perceive greater similarities as they become more attracted to each other.Therefore, perceived similarity may be an effect of attraction and not a cause, which is not predicted by the filter model.
    • Reductionists
      Basing the explanation of such complex phenomenon as romantic relationships on the application of a series of filters is reductionist and limits the range of real life romantic experiences it can explain. For example, the Filter Theory does not explain why many people stay a long time in abusive relationships despite the lack of complementarity that is theorised as being a factor of long-term relationships. This suggests that a holistic approach to studying romantic relationships may be better suited to explaining the complexity of relationships maintenance.