relationships

• evolutionary explanations


  • male gametes small & produced in vast quantities - don’t require much energy to produce

  • female gametes relatively large & produced at intervals - require great deal of energy

  • never a shortage of fertile males but fertile female is a ‘resource’

  • males strategy is to compete with other males to reproduce (intra-sexual) - pass on successful characteristics - more attracted to young females as more fertile

  • females more ‘choosy’ due to commitment required for offspring - choose males that can provide for & protect them
• evaluation of evolutionary 


  • support for intra-sexual competition - men & women asked how often closest friend bragged about resources men were significantly more likely

  • support for inter-sexual selection - male & female psychological students approached other students & asked “would u go to bed with me tonight“ no females agreed but 75% of males did

  • however assumes heterosexuality - oversimplified & can’t explain all types of relationships - assumed all relationships motivated by desire to reproduce

  • ignore changing social norms - women no longer need men to provide for them
• what are the factors affecting attraction?

  self-disclosure, attractiveness/matching hypothesis & filter theory
• self-disclosure


  • the revealing of personal information about yourself to another individual

  • relationships develop through gradual increases in breadth & depth of self-disclosed info

  • see disclosure as rewarding as it signals liking of us & their desire to be more intimate with us

  • must be reciprocal for relationship to develop
• evaluation of self disclosure

  • support - self disclosure linked to higher levels of intimacy in long term married couples - less intimate couples self disclosed less often

  • further support - 57% of gay men & women said open and honest self disclosure was the main way they maintained deepened their relationships
• physical attractiveness


  • physical attractiveness important cue to women’s health & fertility

  • greater face symmetry = greater attractiveness

  • more attracted to neotenous features e.g large eyes, small nose

  • matching hypothesis - look for partners of a similar attractiveness level - less chance of being rejected
• evaluation of physical attractiveness

  • support - told students assigned an ideal partner for a dance (randomly selected) - met up before the dance - those paired up with partners of similar attractiveness expressed greater liking of their partners - however subjective

  • further support - ppts asked to assess photos - real couples more likely to be judged as having similar levels of attractiveness
• filter theory


  • social demography - determine the likelihood of meeting in the first place - e.g live near, work with, similar age, location, social class

  • similarity in attitudes - agree over basic values & beliefs - makes communication easier

  • complementarity - meet each others needs - having traits the other lacks
• evaluation of filter theory

  • support - 50% of citizens in columbus ohio were married to partners who initially lived within walking distance

  • further support - dating couples at uni - less than 18 months reported similarity of attitudes as most important - longer than 18 months reported complementarity as most important - however 18 month cut off doesn’t represent longer term relationships
• social exchange theory


  • argued all social behaviour is a series of exchanges - try to maximise rewards & minimise costs

  • chances of a relationship being maintained depends on profitability of outcome

  • comparison level - judge the profit against past relationships

  • comparison of alternatives - weigh up potential increases offered by alternative partners
• evaluation of social exchange theory

  • support - successful marriages had a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative exchanges

  • practical applications - couples therapy - break negative patterns of behaviour that may be perceived as ‘costs’ - significant improvements
• equity theory


  • people strive to achieve fairness

  • more comfortable & satisfied when get out the same as put in

  • people who are under-benefitted would be dissatisfied - those over-benefitted would feel guilt & shame
• evaluation of equity 


  • support - out of 200 married couples satisfaction highest for those who perceived their relationship to be equitable

  • gender biased - when husbands earned more than wives perceived their job as more important & wives agreed - when wive earnt more neither rated career as more important - suggests wives seek less for themselves
• investment model


  • satisfaction, comparison of alternatives & investment lead to commitment

  • commitment high when satisfaction is high, quality of alternatives is low & investment is high

  • people may stay due to high investments
• evaluation of investment model

  • support - meta-analysis of 52 studies over 30 years - found satisfaction, CLalt & investment all predicted relationship commitment - most committed = most stable & long-lasting

  • however oversimplifies idea of investment - investment also includes future plans - more motivated to commit so plans can happen

  • suggests why women stay in abusive relationships
• duck relationship breakdown 


  • 4 phases where perception of relationship changes

  • intrapsychic - one person privately dissatisfied - broods on reasons for dissatisfaction - consider pros & cons

  • dyadic - confront the partners & discuss feelings - anger, guilty & hostility - either commit to repairing or stay determined to break up

  • social - distress becomes public - difficult to deny problems or reconcile

  • grave dressing - partners attempt to justify their actions - distribute their own version of reasons for break up - perform getting over it activities
• evaluation of relationship breakdown

  • support - when an individual experiences initial dissatisfaction they are burdened by resentment and feelings of being under-benefited

  • practical applications - most people can relate so good face validity - counselling helps identify the stages & how to reverse them - therapist suggests repair strategies e.g focus on positive aspects of partner

  • however too simplistic - not universal - don’t always occur & not always in that order - possible to move back to earlier stages

  • research suffers ethical issues - sensitive issue
• virtual relationships 


  • greater anonymity online & less fear of rejection - more self disclosure & earlier - boom-bust phenomenon (start & end quickly)

  • more time to manipulate online image

  • gating - an obstacle to formation of a relationship e.g unattractiveness or social anxiety - absence of gating mean virtual relationships more likely to happen than face to face
• evaluation of virtual relationships

  • support for greater self disclosure - questions in online discussions tend to be very direct & intimate with direct responses

  • wrong to see virtual as different from face to face - modern relationships conducted both online & face to face - may be overly simplistic

  • support for absence of gating - socially anxious people more able to express true selves than in face to face relationships - 70% of online relationships survived more than 2 years

  • absence of gating can have wider benefits in offline world - increase chances of connecting offline
• absorption-addiction model


  • perceived deficiencies lead to pre-occupied with celebrities in order to achieve sense of fulfilment

  • if feel need to sustain commitment to relationship this can lead to more extreme behaviours

  • entertainment social - least intense level - keep up with them for entertainment & gossip

  • intense personal - intermediate level - frequent obsessive thoughts & intense feelings

  • borderline pathological - strongest level - uncontrollable fantasies & extreme behaviours
• evaluation of absorption-addiction 


  • support - 14-16yo females who had poor body image reported an intense-personal psr with female celebrity whose body shape they admired

  • a better description than explanation - describes the characteristics but doesn’t explain how they develop
• attachment theory 


  • willingness to form parasocial relationships related to attachment in early childhood

  • insecure resistant most likely to develop psr - need to have unfulfilled needs met

  • insecure avoidant least likely as avoid both real & imagined intimacy
• evaluation of attachment theory

  • support - measured attraction to celebrities & found adults with insecure attachment types had positive attitudes towards obsessive behaviours & stalking

  • however found that ppts with insecure attachments were no more likely to form psr than ppts with secure attachment