relationships

Question 1

what is sexual selection

Answer 1

characteristics or traits that have evolved in order to increase the likelihood of reproductive success

Question 2

anisogamy

Answer 2

differences between male and female sex cells

male gametes are large in numbers and are continuously produces

whereas female gametes are limited in number and need a large amount of energy to produce

mating strategies are based on these differences

Question 3

inter-sexual selection

Answer 3

women prefer quality over quantity - invest more time and energy in producing offspring than males
- pick males with attractive physical traits that can be passed on to the next generation and with resources

• sexy traits passed onto sons (sexy sons hypothesis) - increase changes of finding mate

Question 4

intra-sexual selection

Answer 4

men compete with each other to gain access to as many females as possible

prefer quantity over quality as their investment into offspring is limited compared to females

seek young women as youth is an indication of fertility

Question 5

evaluation of evolutionary explanations - buss

Answer 5

surveyed more than 10,000 adults across 33 countries and found that females preferred resource-related characteristics and males valued good looks and chastity - supporting sex differences in mate selection

Question 6

evaluation of evolutionary explanations - clarke and hatfield

Answer 6

approached university students and asked if they would go to bed with them

0% women
75% men

Question 7

evaluation of evolutionary explanations - waist-hip ratio

Answer 7

singh - waist-hip ratio was an indicator of attractiveness for females

men prefer a ratio of 0.7 as it indicates the women is not pregnant and fertile

Question 8

self-disclosure

Answer 8

self-disclosure involves revealing personal information about yourself

romantic partners reveal more about their true selves as the relationship develops

these revelations strengthen the relationship, if used appropriately

Question 9

social penetration theory

Answer 9

gradually revealing yourself to someone which involves reciprocal exchange of information

Question 10

breadth and depth

Answer 10

as trust develops, partners move from revealing low risk information (that we would tell anyone), to high risk, more personal and intimate information

Question 11

reciprocity

Answer 11

also must have reciprocity

partners must respond by also revealing more intimate information, so that there is a balance of self-disclosure, in order to have a successful romantic relationship

Question 12

evaluation of self-disclosure - sprecher and hendrick

Answer 12

found a positive correlation between measures of satisfaction and self disclosure in heterosexual couples

Question 13

evaluation of self-disclosure - cultural differences

Answer 13

Tang et al - found that sexual self-disclosure of men/women in USA is greater than in china - levels of satisfaction is the same - limited explanation

Question 14

evaluation of self-disclosure - relationship breakdown

Answer 14

romantic relationships become more satisfying as self-disclosure increases
- Theories of relationship breakdown - partners often self-disclose more often and more deeply as their relationship deteriorates
- This does not increase satisfaction and often not enough to save relationship
- Incomplete theory

Question 15

physical attractiveness

Answer 15

symmetrical faces have been found to be the most attractive across all cultures, as they signify genetic fitness - Shackleford and Larson

neotenic features are also considered attractive, as they trigger a caring instinct in women

Question 16

matching hypothesis

Answer 16

assess our own attractiveness and pick someone who we rate as similar - walster et al - we compromise between looking for the most attractive mate against them being out of our league

Question 17

the halo effect

Answer 17

one feature has a disproportionate influence on our judgement of a person’s other attributes - tend to regard physical attractiveness as evidence of someone who is kind, successful and see them more favourably as a result

Question 18

evaluation of physical attractiveness - contradicting research

Answer 18

taylor et al - studied activity logs of online dating site and found that daters sought meeting with potential partners who were more attractive than them, without considering their own attractiveness level

Question 19

evaluation of physical attractiveness - everyday life

Answer 19

palmer and peterson found that the halo effect was present in everyday situations - attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people

Question 20

evaluation of physical attractiveness - meta-analysis

Answer 20

feingold - found positive correlation in ratings of attractiveness between romantic partners