Factors Affecting Romantic Relationships Flashcards
(30 cards)
What are the 3 main factors
- Physical attractiveness
- Levels of self-disclosure
- Filters
What are physical traits in males
- chiseled shaped jaw
- mesomorph physique (athletic, muscular build, medium frame)
What are physical traits in females
- youthfulness
- facial features
- hair
- hourglass figure (WHR 0.7)
Why are symmetrical faces attractive?
They signal health and genetic fitness
What are neotenous features and why do we find them attractive?
- baby face ~ large eyes and small nose
- evoke nurturing instincts, they resemble traits seen in infants, promoting caregiving behaviours essential for survival
What is the Halo effect
- where one stand out feature has a disproportionate effect on our judgement of the person as a whole
- in the context of physical attractiveness, DIon et al coined the phrase “what is beautiful is good”
What does “what is beautiful is good” mean
- we make error in judgment and base someone’s character on a 1st impression of their appearance
- physically attractive people are more likely to be perceived as genuine, honest, sociable, kind, wealthy, and successful
- so we behave positively towards them and they live up to that expectation
What is the matching hypothesis
- by Walster 1969
- We asses our own attractiveness, and this also plays a role in our choice of partner
- although we are drawn to the most attractive people, when it comes to entering a romantic relationship, we will choose people who we perceive to have a similar level of physical attractiveness to ourselves
Why do we choose people on similar levels to us
- our options are limited by our own social desirability
- form a relationship with someone who has the same level of social desirability as ourself
- attraction is therefore reciprocated
- therefore we will be attracted to people who are physically attractive, but also attainable
Stregnth physical attraction: supporting evidence
I: supporting evidence that shows physical attraction is consistently a factor across differnt cultures
E: Cunningham et al found that femals with large eyes and small noses were consistently rated as highly attractive by white, hispanic and asian males
C: demonstrates that phsyical attractiveness (neotenous) is universal and is a signal of genetic and reproductive sucess
strength physical attraction: halo
I: there is supporting eivdence for the role of the halo effect
E: Palmer and Peterson found that physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people
furthermore Wheeler and Kim found not just ameircan but korean participants were rated phsyically attractive people as more trustworthy and friendly
C: demonstrates that phsyically attractiveness affects preconcieved ideas about personalitly traits
Strength physical attraction: supporting evidence
I: there is supporitng eiveidence for the role of the katching hypothesis
E: Mursein asked ppts to rate the attractiveness of a series of photographed individuals. some of these individuals were engaged in real life to others amoung the phtos. a ‘single blind technique’ was used, meaning:
* when comparied average ratings of couples who were engaged were significantly more simular to one another tha the ratings of random photograph pairings
* Feingold carried out a meta analyisis of 27 studies and founda significant correlation in attractivness ratings between romantic partners
C: demonstrates tgat phsyical attractivenss is based on similarity as a factor affecting attraction
weakness physical attraction: matching
I: evidence that casts doubt on the value of the matchning hypothesis
E: Walster et al - students beleived they had been matched with a similar partner at a get aquainted dance. but had acc been randomly assigned. found that regardless of their own phsyical attractivness, ppts reacted more postivily to physically attractive dates and tried to arrange further meet ups
Taylor et al found no eviedence amoung online daters that their choices were based on similarity between thier own phsyically attractivness and that of potential partners. instead they found eviedence of an overall preference for the most attractive partners
C: demonstrates that simularity and attainability are not the main factors affecting attraction. but the percieved social desirbaility of a potential partner
define self disclosure
- voluntarily revealing personal information about yourself
- revela more about their true self as their relationship develops
what does greater self disclosure lead to
- strengthening a romantic bond
- creating great feelings of intamacy and satisfaction in a relationship
who came up with social penetration theory
Altman and Taylor
what is social pentration theory
- reveal a breadth of superfical information in the beggining. low risk disclosure
- relationship develops, the person reveals more personal/ intimate information. high risk disclosure Eg: religious, political beliefs, family values, difficult experiences
what did Sprecher find?
found that more personal, emotional disclosures have a greater influence on our relationship satifaction than more more neutral/factual types of self disclosure
what did Shaver find
- pointed out that for a relationship to be successful, self disclosure needs to be reciprocal
- once you have decided to disclose something personal , in a succsessful relationship your partner will respond with empathy and also sharing their own thoughts and feelings
- increasing intamacy and deepens the relationship
what was found about timing in self disclosure
self disclosure is a skill, there are norms regarding when it is/isn’t appropraite to reveal certain information
strength of self disclosure: supporting evidence
I: evidence to support importnance of self disclosure in attraction and relationship satisfaction
E: Sprecher and Hendrick studies straight datinging couples and found that a strong postive correlation betwwen percieved self disclosure amoung partners ans relationship satisfaction
Laurenceau et al used a method that involved long term married couples writing a daily diary. found that the perception of self disclosure in relationships was linked to higher levels of intimacy
C: increases the validity of the idea that self disclosure as a factor affecting attraction
weakness self disclosure: methodological
I: methodological issues with the supporting evidence
E: cause (self disclosure) and effect (satisfaction) cannot be established . satisfaction may be related to other variables not just SD
concepts of self disclosure can be difficult to objectively measure
C: self disclosure may not be the only factor effecting attractivness
weakness self disclosure: cultural
I: cultural differences in patterns of self disclosure
E: Westerenrs generally engage in more intimate self disclosure than non westerners.
americans disclose more than chinese or japanese partners
additionally in the west women prefer more self disclosure than men whereas this appears to be the opposite in japan. japanese women disclose less than men
C: the importance of self disclosure as a factor affecting attraction varies due to cultural harms
who came up with filter theory
Kerckhoff and Davis
