Filter theory:

• Kerckhoff and Davis compared the attitudes and personalities of student couples in short-term (defined as less than 18 months) and long-term relationships

  • Devised a filter theory to explain how such romantic relationships form and develop
  • In terms of partner choice, we all have a field of availables, the entire set of potential romantic partners, all the people we could realistically form a relationship with
  • But, of course, not everyone who is available to us is desirable
  • 3 factors that act as filters to narrow down our range of partner choice to a field of desirables
• Social demography 1st level:


  Refers to a range of factors which influence the chances of potential partners meeting each other in the first place

  • They include proximity, social class etc
  • More likely to meet people who are physically close to you and who share several demographic characteristics
  • May encounter people who live further away our most meaningful interactions are with people who are nearby
  • Benefit of proximity is accessibility
  • It doesn't require much effort to meet people who live in the same area
• Social demography: 1st level:

  Social class:

  • Although there is a vast range and variety of potential partners, the realistic field is much narrower because our choices are constrained by our social circumstances
  • Anyone who is too different (too far away, too middle class) is discounted as a potential partner
  • The outcome of this filtering is homogamy, meaning you are more likely to form a relationship with someone who is socially similar
  • Have a fair bit in common with someone who shares, for example, your ethnicity most of us find such shared demographic similarities attractive.
• Complementarity (3rd level of filter)

  Concerns the ability of romantic partners to meet each other's needs

  • Partners complement each other when they have traits that the other lacks
  • Ie one partner may enjoy making the other laugh and in turn this partner enjoys being made to laugh
  • Need for complementarity was important for the long-term couples
  • In other words at a later stage opposites attract
  • Complementarity is attractive because it gives two romantic partners the feeling that together they form a whole, which adds depth to a relationship and makes it more likely to flourish
• Similarity in attitudes: 2nd level

  Partners will often share important values because the field of availables has been narrowed by the first filter to those who have significant social characteristics in common

  • Found important to the development of romantic relationships, but only for the couples who had been together less than 18 month
  • Need for partners in the earlier stages to agree over basic value
  • Encourages deeper communication and promotes self-disclosure

  There is considerable evidence that most of us find this similarity attractive at least to begin with