Relationships

• What is sexual selection?

  • the selection of characteristics that aid successful reproduction rather than survival
• What is anisogamy?

  • refers to the differences between male and female sex cells.
  • Male gametes are small, mobile and are created continuously in vast numbers.
  • Female gametes are large and are produced at intervals for a limited number of fertile years.
• What is inter-sexual selection?

  • preferred strategy of females (quality over quantity)
  • Females make a greater investment of time, commitment and other resources to avoid consequences. Therefore, the females optimum mating strategy is to select a genetically fit partner who is able to provide resources.
• What is inter-sexual selection?

  • Runaway process - in each generation, females will select the tallest males and the characteristic gradually becomes exaggerated
  • Sexy Sons Hypothesis - genes we see today are those that enhanced reproductive success. A female who mates with a male who has a certain characteristic will have sons with this 'sexy trait'
• What is intra-sexual selection?

  • preferred strategy of the male (quantity over quality)
  • There is competition between males to be selected to mate with a female. The winner of the competition reproduces and the victory is the characteristics passing on.
  • Mates look for youth with more fertile women (low waists)
  • Intra sexual selection has behavioural consequences - aggressive behaviour
• Strengths of partner preferences -

  • Research support for inter - psychologists sent male and females around campus to say "your attractive, do you want to sleep with me?". 75% of men said yes compared to no females. This shows the choosiness of females when looking for partners
  • Research support for intra - Buss carried out a survey with 10,000 adults in 33 countries. Asked questions about partner preferences and found that females place greater preference on resources, financial prospects and males on reproductive capability and youth. This shows support for the sexual selection theory
• Weakness of partner preferences -

  • ignores different social and cultural norms - partner preferences may differ
  • Cannot explain the partner preferences in gay men or lesbian women. This is mainly because homosexual relationships do not have reproduction as the primary aim.
  • Biologically deterministic - ignores the effect of the environment and how personality can affect our choices over partner preferences
• What is self disclosure?

  • revealing personal information about yourself
• What is the social penetration theory?

  • proposed by Altman and Taylor
  • It is the gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else and giving away your thoughts and feelings.
  • in romantic relationships, it involves the reciprocal exchange of information between two partners
  • as they increasingly discuss more info, romantic partners penetrate more into each other's lives
• What is the breadth and depth theory?

  • as both of these increase, partners become more committed to each other
  • at the start - 'low risk' info - info we would reveal to friends/acquaintances
  • developing - 'high risk' info - painful memories, strongly held beliefs and secrets
  • Depenetration - dissatisfied partners self disclose less as they gradually disengage from relationship
• What is the reciprocity of self disclosure?

  • for a relationship, there has to be reciprocal disclosure. There is a balance of self disclosure between both partners in a successful romantic relationship, which increases feelings of intimacy and deepens the relationship
• Strengths of self disclosure -

  • Sprecher and Hendrick studied heterosexual couples and found strong correlations between satisfaction and self disclosure. These findings increase the validity of the theory that reciprocation leads to stronger relationship
  • real world application - can help people who want to improve communication within relationships. Psychologists found that 57% of homosexual couples said that open and honest disclosure was how they deepened their relationship
• Weakness of self disclosure -

  • tang et al reviewed research into sexual disclosure and found that individualistic cultures (US) tended to disclose more info than collectivist cultures (China). This means the SD theory is a limited explanation as it cannot be generalised to all cultures
• What is physical attractiveness?

  • how appealing a person's face is
• What is the link between sexual selection and physical attractiveness?

  • Psychologists found that people with symmetrical faces are rated as more attractive. This is because it may be a signal of genetic fitness (reproduction)
  • People are also attracted to faces with neotenous (baby face) features - these trigger a protective or caring instinct (valuable resource for females wanting to reproduce)
• What is the halo effect?

  • physical attractiveness may also matter because we have preconceived ideas about the personality traits attractive people must have
  • Kind, strong, sociable - the belief that good looking people probably have these characteristics make them even more attractive to us - so we act positively
  • Psychologists use 'halo effect' - one distinguishing feature tends to have a massive influence on our judgement of a person's other attributes (personality)
• What is the matching hypothesis?

  • suggests we look for patterns who are similar to ourselves in terms of physical attractiveness instead of choosing the most appealing people
  • BERSCHEID ET AL - replicated the 'computer dance' study but this time each pp was able to select their partner from people of varying degrees of attractiveness
  • Shows we tend to seek and choose partners whose attractiveness matches our own. We risk rejecting the most attractive people and settle with those who are in our 'league'
• Strengths of physical attractiveness -

  • STRENGTH - physical attractiveness is assosciated with the halo effect. Psychologists found that physically attractive people were rated as more 'politically knowledgeable' even when they had no expertise in politics
  • RESEARCH SUPPORT - the role of physical attractiveness supports the evolutionary process. Cunningham found that women with symmetrical faces were rated as highly attractive (reproduction)
• Weaknesses of physical attractiveness -

  • LIMITATION - matching hypothesis is not supported by real world research into dating. Psychologist studied the activity logs of an online dating site. Found that people looked for potential partners who were more attractive. Undermines validity.
  • LIMITATION - Individual differences can affect how attracted we are to a person (personality, age)
• What is the filter theory?

  • Kerchoff and Davis devised that in terms of partner choice, we have a field of availables but our field of desirables limit these choices
• What is the first filter affecting attraction?

  • social demography which refers to a wide range of filters that influence the chances of meeting potential partners in the first place.
  • These include proximity, religion, ethnicity and location. The key benefit of proximity is accessibility and anyone who is too different is discounted as a partner.
  • Outcome - homogamy (you are more likely to form a relationship with someone who is socially/culturally similar)
• What is the second filter affecting attraction?

  • similarity of attitudes
  • Kerchoff and Davis found that the similarity of attitudes was important to the development of romantic relationships but only for couples who had been together for less than 18 months
  • This encourages a greater and deeper communication and promotes self disclosure
• What is the third filter affecting attraction?

  • complementarity of needs - the ability of partners to meet each others needs
  • Two partners complement each other when they have traits the other one lacks. K+D found that the need for complementarity was more important for long term couples
  • Complementarity because it gives two romantic partners the feeling they are whole which adds to the depth of the relationship
• Strength of filter theory -

  • RESEARCH SUPPORT - Kerchoff and Davis conducted a longitudinal study in which both partners in dating couples completed questionnaires on the 2nd and 3rd filter. Closeness was measured by a seperate q's. The study found that closeness was assosciated with similarity but only for 18 month or less couples. Provides evidence
• Weaknesses of filter theory -

  • LIMITATION - not all long term relationships are central to complementarity of needs. Psychologists found that lesbian couples (4 1/2 yrs) of equal dominance were the most satisfied.
  • LIMITATION - the role of filters has changed over time such as online dating apps have increased the field of availables. Social change has led to changes in relationships (mixed ethnic relationships)
• What does the social exchange theory say about romantic relationships?

  • claims that behaviour in relationships reflects the economic assumption of exchange. We try to minimise losses and maximise gains.
  • We judge our satisfaction with a relationship in terms of the profit it yields
  • Opportunity cost - relationships are expensive as they include costs of time, money and energy
• What is a comparison level?

  • the amount of reward you believe you deserve to get. It develops out of experiences of previous relationships and influenced by social norms
  • Our CL changes with more data and we consider a relationship worth pursuing if the CL is high
• What is a comparison level for alternatives?

  • provides a wider context for our current relationship as SET says we will stay in our current relationship as long as we believe it is more rewarding than alternatives
• What are the stages of a relationship according to SET?

  1. SAMPLING - we explore rewards and costs of other relationships by experimenting
  2. BARGAINING - partners start exchanging and negotiating rewards and costs
  3. COMMITMENT - the sources of costs become more predictable and relationship becomes more stable
  4. INSTITUTIONALISATION - partners settle down because rewards and costs of a relationship are settled
• Evaluation of SET theory -

  • STRENGTH - there is support for SET as psychologists asked couples to complete questionnaires measuring commitment and SET variables. Found most committed couples matched highly to SET variables
  • LIMITATION - claims that dissatisfaction arises only after a relationship stops being profitable. When we are satisfied with relationship, we do not care about the costs or rewards
  • LIMITATION - SET deals with concepts that are subjective and hard to test in a valid way
• What is the equity theory?

  • Walster found that what matters most with equity is that both partners level of profit is roughly the same. This is not the same as equality (where costs and rewards have to be the same)
  • When there is a lack of equity, then one partner overbenfits and the other underbenefits which leads to disastisfaction
  • Underbenefitted - anger
  • Overbenefitted - guilt and shame
• What is the difference between equity and equality?

  • not the amount of rewards and costs, but the ratio of the two to each other. So if one partner puts a lot into the relationship, but gets a lot out of it - satisfaction
  • Satisfiying relationships are marked by negotiations to ensure equity is fair between partners
• What are the consequences of equity?


  • the greater the percieved inequity, the greater the disatisfaction
  • Changes in perceived equity - what makes us most disatsified is a change in the level of perceived equity over time. If a relationship develops in such a way that you continue to put more in and get less out, it is not satisfying
  • Dealing with inequity - the underbenefitted partner is motivated to make the relationship more equitable as long as they believe it is possible. The more unfair it feels, less likely they will try
  • Cognitive - will accept the rewards and costs as the norm
• Evaluation of equity theory -


  • RESEARCH SUPPORT - Utne et al carried out a survey of 118 married couples measuring equity with two self report scales. Researchers found that those who perceived their relationship as equitable were more satisfied than others
• Limitations of equity theory -


  • LIMITATION - Ryan et al found there were cultural differences linked to equity and satisfaction. IC considered relationships to be more satisfying when equitable but those in CC liked it when they were overbenefitted
  • Limitation - individual differences - some like being overbenefitted and some like being underbenefitted
• What is Rusbult's investment model?


  • theory of relationship
  • commitment depends on 3 factors
• What is the first factor affecting commitment?

  
  

  - satisfaction

  • based on the comparison level. A satisfying relationship is judged by comparing rewards and costs and is seen to be profitable if it has many rewards and few costs.
  • Each partner is generally satisfied if they are getting more out the relationship then they expect based on previous relationship
• What is the second factor?


  • comparison with alternatives - alternatives that are more rewarding and less costly
  • alternatives include not just relationships with other people but the possibility of having no romantic relationship at all
• What is the third factor?


  • an investment can be understood as anything we could lose if the relationship were to end. There are 2 types of investments -
  • INTRINSIC - resources we put directly into a relationship. They can be tangible things such as money, energy or emotion
  • EXTRINSIC - resources such as possessions brought together such as pets, shared children, mutual friends
• Satisfaction vs commitment?


  • can help to explain why dissatisfied partners stay in a relationship - because they are committed to their partner
  • they have made an investement so do not want to see it to go to waste