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Psychology PY2 > Buss > Flashcards

Buss Flashcards

1
Q

What did Buss aim to do?

A
  • see whether sex preferences are different for men and women and if these differences were the same throughout the world
  • see who we chose is due to evolution
  • interested in doing a cross-cultural study:whether a culture’s religion and location would affect mate preference
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2
Q

How can Buss’ study be placed into a social and historical context?

A

Increasing interest into evolutionary psychology & nature-nurture debate after Darwin. “How much mate preference is due to nature?” Survival of society depends on choosing suitable partners to produce healthy offspring

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3
Q

How can Buss’ study be put into an academic context?

A

Trivers - sexual preference is due to differing investments males and females make in their offspring. Females tend to be more choosy when choosing a partner. Men seek youth in women - this pattern is reflected in lonely hearts adverts.

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4
Q

What was Buss’ research method?

A

Cross-cultural questionnaire

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5
Q

How many pps were used?

A

10,047

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6
Q

How many countries were used?

A

33

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7
Q

How many pps were from Iran?

A

55

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8
Q

How many pps were from the USA?

A

1,500

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9
Q

What sampling method was used in Germany?

A

Volunteer

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10
Q

What sampling method was used in New Zealand?

A

Opportunist

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11
Q

What happened to the questions for people in Zulu?

A

They were read out

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12
Q

What was the mean sample size per country?

A

272

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13
Q

What was the mean age of all pps?

A

23

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14
Q

How many questionnaires were given out?

A

2

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15
Q

What were the 5 things the questionnaire looked at?

A 
Age
Ambition
Chastity
Financial Status
Looks
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16
Q

In the first questionnaire how many questions were there?

A

18

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17
Q

How many critical questions were there in questionnaire 1?

A

4

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18
Q

What were the 2 irrelevant characteristics?

A

Dependable character

Sociability

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19
Q

What did each characteristic have to rated on?

A

4 point scale
0 being unimportant
3 being indispensable

20
Q

What did the second questionnaire ask pps to do?

A

Rank 13 characteristics they look for in a mate

21
Q

What were the 2 critical characteristics in questionnaire 2?

A

Financial prospects

Looks

22
Q

How did Buss translate the questions into each language?

A

He got bilingual speakers

23
Q

Did the native researchers know the hypothesis?

A

No

24
Q

How did Buss address some ethical issues?

A

He changed the wording for the Nigerians to allow for more than 1 wife

25
Q

What did Buss find in 36/37 cultures?

A

Females valued good financial prospects more highly than males (exception being Spain)

26
Q

What did Buss find in all 37 cultures?

A

Males rated good looks more than females

27
Q

What did Buss find in all 37 cultures about age?

A

Males and females preferred male to be older

28
Q

What was the mean age for male marriage?

A

27.5

29
Q

What was the mean age for female marriage?

A

25.4

30
Q

There was some evidence to suggest males valued what more than females?

A

Chastity (no experience of intercourse) - not universal though

31
Q

Which 2 cultures valued chastity generally?

A

China

Ireland

32
Q

What was rated highly for males and females?

A

Kindness and Understanding

33
Q

What did females rate more highly than males in 34/37 cultures?

A

Ambition - exception of Zulu

34
Q

What did Buss conclude about sex differences?

A

Mate preference is strongly confirmed across all cultures

35
Q

What did Buss conclude about evolutionary explanations?

A

There’s evidence

36
Q

Did Buss conclude that males and females look for the same thing in a mate?

A

No - different things

37
Q

What did Buss conclude about mate preferences relating to?

A

Reproductive capacities of different genders to ensure their genes survive

38
Q

Was reliability a strength for Buss?

A

Yes - same 2 questionnaires were used, can be done again. Also people who gave out questionnaires didn’t know hypothesis

39
Q

Was validity a strength for Buss?

A

No - pps could’ve lied and given answers they thought they should give e.g. men may have said they prefer young women when they were gay

40
Q

Was sampling a strength for Buss?

A

Yes - 10,047 pps is large number - generalisations could be made. However no. of pps from some countries were very small and often biased. Also most pps were from urban areas - sample wasn’t representative

41
Q

What data was produced?

A

Quantitative - comparisons could be made

No qualitative

42
Q

In terms of ethics why was Buss’ study problematic?

A

Pps weren’t told main purpose of study so couldn’t give fully informed consent

43
Q

Whose research does Buss support and how?

A

Trivers - similar findings were found e.g. women seeking high status and men seeking youth. It could be said that Buss improved on Trivers because a large number of ps were used and research was cross-cultural

44
Q

Who supports Buss and how?

A

Waynforth and Dunbar - analysed 900 ads from 4 American newspapers and found: more men prefer younger women, more men prefer looks, more women used physically attractive to describe themselves, more men used financial status to describe themselves. Also Schmitt did an even larger cross-cultural study and found similar results

45
Q

Whose research challenges Buss and how?

A

Thornhill - believes its not a women’s youth nor a man’s wealth which are important, but facial symmetry. He thinks men and women prefer partners who have balanced faces as this suggests strong genes. Thornhill found men and women rated facial symmetry of the opposite sex more attractive. This rejects Buss’ study because wealth, chastity and ambition aren’t measured. However could Thornhill’s be liited as Buss’ was cross-cultural and his wasn’t.

Psychology PY2 (10 decks)

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