Relationships

• Natural selection


  The idea that human behaviour is driven by need to survive and reproduce
• Evolutionary approaches


  Animals are motivated to select a 'mate' with the best possible genes who will best be able to ensure the offspring's future health and survival
• Anisogamy


  Two sex cells (or gametes) that are different coming together to reproduce
• Differences between male and female gametes

  • Men have sperm cells, which are able to reproduce quickly with little energy expenditure and once they start being produced they do not usually stop until the man dies
  • Female gametes (eggs or ova) are, in contrast, much less plentiful; they are released in a limited time frame (between puberty and menopause) and require much more energy to produce
• Intersexual selection


  One gender makes mate choices based on a specific characteristic in the other gender, meaning that those with the trait are more likely to breed and pass the trait and so the number of individuals with this trait in the population will increase over time
• Intrasexual selection


  The strategy of males (due to low investment costs and lack of parental certainty) to compete between themselves for access to a large quantity of members of the opposite sex
• This competition was initially very physical, favouring large, dominant males who would father most of the offspring and so increase the frequency of their genes in the gene pool
• Male-Female dimorphism


  Enhanced secondary characteristics are selected on each gender by the opposite gender, leading to these becoming more common in the population
• Evolutionary psychology suggests that females look for


  Qualities in men that will help raise a child to adulthood such as resources/money, and physical characteristics linked to dominance (tall/healthy)
• Evolutionary psychology suggests that males look for

  Signs of fertility that indicate the production of healthy offspring such as large breasts, youthful facial features such as big eyes, small nose, small chin (as younger women more fertile), and the hourglass body shape of a 0.7 waist to hip ratio as this indicates that a female is sexually mature but not pregnant
• Clark and Hatfield (1989) conducted a study where male and female psychology students were asked to approach fellow students and ask them for one of three things; to go on a date, to go back to their apartment, or to go to bed with them. About 50% of both men and women agreed to the date, but whilst 69% of men agreed to visit the apartment and 75% agreed to go to bed with them, only 6% of women agreed to go to the apartment and 0% accepted the more intimate offer
• This supports the concept of inter and intrasexual selection in that males will attempt to sleep with as many women as possible and women will be more selective
• There is conflict between natural and sexual selection


  Traits that are selected for sexually may not aid survival
• Dion et al.'s (1972) study found that those who were rated to be the most physically attractive were not rated highly on the statement "Would be a good parent"
• The evolutionary approach legitimises a gender double standard between men and women. Sexual differences may be exaggerated, suggesting alpha bias
• Research in this area can be seen as socially sensitive as findings could be used as justification to shame women for their sexual behaviour
• Research by Cunningham (1986) shows that men were most attracted to youthful faces (big eyes, small noses, small chins), and research by Singh (1993) shows a cross-cultural preference for a 0.7 hip to waist ratio
• The evolutionary approach is determinist suggesting that we have little free-will in partner choice
• Evolutionary theory makes little attempt to explain other types of relationships, e.g. gay and lesbian relationships, and cultural variations in relationships which exist across the world, e.g. arranged marriages
• Attraction


  The action of evoking interest in or liking for someone or something
• Self-disclosure


  When an individual reveals information about themselves to another person
• Social penetration theory


  As a relationship between individuals develops the breadth and depth of interpersonal communication increases from shallow levels to become more intimate
• Breadth


  The types of topics that are discussed (certain areas not appropriate until a certain level of friendship is established)
• Depth


  The level of information about a topic that is revealed, such as information that is emotionally painful
• Reciprocity


  Relationships will only develop if both individuals are active in both disclosing information and responding in an appropriate way
• Attributions


  Individuals consider the motivations behind self-disclosure
• Appropriateness


  While revealing information is generally seen as improving relationships, breaking social norms or revealing information too early can have the opposite effect and lower attraction
• Sprecher and Hendrick (2004) found a positive correlation between the amount of self-disclosure and measures of the quality of the relationship (satisfaction, love, and commitment)
• Aron et al. (1997) found that by providing a list of questions to pairs of people which start with superficial information and moving over 36 questions to more intimate information, people grew closer and more intimate as the questions progressed
• Tang (2013) suggests that people in the collectivist culture of China have higher relationship satisfaction when they have lower levels of disclosure
• Filter theory


  Suggests that there are certain limiting factors that affect choice of partners. We only become attracted to those who pass through a series of filters
• Field of availables


  All the people who are available to us to start a relationship with
• Field of desirables


  The subset of people within the field of availables that we'd actually like to start a relationship with
• Social demography filter


  Social variables such as age, social background, ethnicity, religion, etc. determine the likelihood of individuals meeting and socialising which will in turn influence the likelihood of a relationships being formed
• Similarity in attitudes filter

  Psychological variables to do with shared beliefs and attitudes are the best predictor of a relationship becoming stable
• Complementarity filter


  Rather than having the same traits and attitudes, a partner that complements their spouse has traits which the other lacks, thus supporting their emotional needs
• Kirchoff and Davies (1962) found that similarity of attitudes was the most important factor in the group who had been together for less than 18 months (short-term relationships), and complementarity was the most important factor in long term relationships (those over the 18-month mark)
• Tylor (2010) found that of Americans who married in 1998, 85% of them married within their own ethnic groups
• Levinger (1978) pointed out that many studies had failed to replicate Kirchhoff and Davis' original findings
• Davis and Rusbult (2001) and Anderson et al. (2003) found that people become more similar in different ways the more time that they spend in a relationship together