Filter theory

• What is filter theory ?

  Field of desirables - the people who we would form a relationship with

  • field of availables -> field of desirables
• What is filter theory ?

  Explanation on how relationships form

  • a series of factors progressively limits the range of availables
• What are the 3 filters ?

  1. Social demography
  2. similarity of attitudes
  3. complementarity
• What did kerckhoff and Davis do ?

  compared attitudes and personalities of students in long term ( longer than 18 months )and short term relation
• What is involved in social demography ?

  • proximity
  • social class
  • level of education
  • ethnicity
  • religion
• What does social demography suggest ?

  • more likely to meet people who are physically close or share demographic characteristics
  • benefit of proximity is accessibility

  we won’t consider people who don’t meet our basic needs

  - hard to relate to certain people
• What homogony ?

  • forming a relationship with someone is culturally or socially similar
  • results from social demography
• What is involved in similarity or attitudes ?

  • find partners who share basic values attractive in the earlier stages of a relationship
  • kerckhoff and Davis found that similarity of attitudes was important for defelopmemt of short term relationships as it encourages deeper communication and promotes self disclosure
• What did bryne find ?

  ‘Law of attraction’

  • consistent findings that similarity causes attraction
  • if not present relationship will fizzle out
  • opposites do not attract
• What is involved in complimentary ?

  • they have traits that you lack/ meet each others needs
  • form a whole together
  • e.g one likes to nurture other be nurtured
• What did kerckhoff and Davis find about complementary ?

  More important in long term relationships
• What is the order of stages in development of relationships ?

  early stages - social demography

  as develops - similarity of attitudes

  finally- partners assed on conplementarity
• Evuation ?

  1. bryne
  2. kerckhoff and Davis
  3. Anderson at al
• What did Anderson et al find ?

  Demographic similarity doesnt cause intial attraction.

  • longitudinal study - found partners became more similar in emotional responses over time through ‘emotional convergence’.
  • davis and rusbult found an attitude alignment affect in long term relationships where their attitudes synch over time