relationships

Question 1

evolutionary explanations darwin 1871

Answer 1

adaptiveness and reproduction success.
behavioural feature = genetically inherited with value.
1) natural selection - humans adapt better to environment
2) sexual selection - attract a male and have healthy offspring

Question 2

male sex cells

Answer 2

sperm cells.
millions
more successful
tail to swim

Question 3

male sexual selection strategy

Answer 3

intra sexual - quantity of females. competition between males to reproduce with females, winner passes off their characteristics.

Question 4

dimorphism

Answer 4

physical differences between genders.
big and string males.
males may be aggressive towards females to protect them from other males.

Question 5

anisogamy

Answer 5

males require little energy to produce sperm so mate with as many females as possible.
preference for younger females.

Question 6

female sex cell

Answer 6

egg cells
one egg
more selective
9 months

Question 7

female sexual selection strategy

Answer 7

intersexual - quality of males. want commitment, time and resources before n after birth.
females have more to lose so males compete.
female selection of which features are attractive is passed onto to offspring.

Question 8

support for evolutionary explanations - Buss

Answer 8

survey on 10,000 adults in 33 countries.
females placed value on resource related attributes.
males valued reproduction capacity

Question 9

evaluation of evolutionary explanations

Answer 9

ignore social and cultural influences. independence now shows they don’t look for resources as much.
more complicated - females preferences change across menstrual cycle. strong masculine while fertile, feminised as long term.
clark n hatfield - uni students asked “i find u attractive, would u go to bed with me”. no female agreed but 75% men said yes.

Question 10

linking evolutionary factors to issues n debates

Answer 10

biological reductionism - broken down to genetics
biological determinism - they will compete, produce.

Question 11

factors affecting attraction: self disclosure

Answer 11

jourard: argued building a relationship based on trust - gradual info.
altman and taylor: social penetration theory - by gradually revealing emotions and experiences and listening to sharing, greater understanding of eachother and display trust.

Question 12

two dimensions of self disclosure

Answer 12

bredth n depth.
at first, share a lot of info on certain aspects of themselves (breadth) but consider some topics off limits (depth).
too much too soon may worsen a relationship.

Question 13

stage of SD appropriateness

Answer 13

is certain info on 1st date too much.
social norms exist as to what is okay in certain situations

Question 14

stage of SD - attributions

Answer 14

reasons we believe someone’s self disclosing can be important.
less attraction occurs if disclose a lot to everyone or seen to benefit them.

Question 15

stages of SD - gender differences

Answer 15

females tend to be better at SD & communication.
when a male done, seen at trust n rewarding to females.
males can feel uncomfortable with females SD info

Question 16

stages of SD - content

Answer 16

highly intimate SD may be inappropriate, especially early. decreases attraction

Question 17

Reis and shaver

Answer 17

argue in order for a relationship to develop there needs to be reciprocal disclosure. balanced

Question 18

evaluation of SD as an explanation

Answer 18

correlations aren’t valid. don’t tell us why. more satisfied = more SD may not be direct cause.
real world application helps ppl who want to improve communication.
cultural differences - NuTang reviewed research into sexual self disclosure n concluded individualist SD more sexual but doesn’t affect level of satisfaction

Question 19

factors affecting attraction - physical

Answer 19

symmetrical faces are viewed more attractively as sign of health & genetic fitness.
large eyes, small nose

Question 20

the matching hypothesis

Answer 20

persons choice of partner is a balance between the desire to have the most physically attractive one but also their wish to avoid being rejected by someone out their league. settle for same level.

Question 21

walster and walster - procedure

Answer 21

students invited to dance. rated on attractiveness by objective observers at start and also completed questionnaire about themselves.
used to determine partner for evening (acc j random)

Question 22

walster and walster - findings

Answer 22

hypothesis wasn’t supported. most liked partners were also most attractive and didn’t take own level into account.

Question 23

the halo effect

Answer 23

idea that attractive ppl are perceived in a positive light. supported by palmer and peterson - rate pics on knowledge etc. attractive ppl rated highest.

Question 24

evaluation of physical attractiveness

Answer 24

research to support halo effect - dion et al found attractive ppl rated as successful etc. expected to have more desirable characteristics and behave positively towards them.
research contradicting matching hypothesis - taylor. dating app found more likely to arrange to meet with more attractive.
cunningham found women who had small nose, large eyes rated attractive by white, hispanic and asian men. all cultures.

Question 25

filter theory : kerckhoff and davis

Answer 25

studied student ST couples and discovered important criteria when choosing a partner. called filters : 3 levels…

Question 26

1. socio-demographic characteristics

Answer 26

physical proximity, education, class. important bc ppl more likely to build relationships with similar - attractiveness.

Question 27

2. similar attitudes

Answer 27

view others as more attractive if they share same beliefs and values. byrne - especially important in earlier stages (<18).

Question 28

3. complimentarity

Answer 28

having some traits the other partner lacks, helping eachother fulfill their needs.

Question 29

evaluation of filter theory

Answer 29

kerckhoff and davis studied couples in ST relationships, identifying key filters used to select partners. closeness linked to shared values. LT - complimentary. struggle to replicate as lengths diff for each couple. markey n markey found lesbo couples with equal dominance equally satisfied. high face validity.

Question 30

Theories of romantic relationships

Answer 30

social exchange theory equity theory Rusbult’s investment model

Question 31

evaluation of social exchange theory

Answer 31

real life applications. couples therapy increases positive exchanges and decreases negative ones. research support - floyd et al

Question 32

equity theory

Answer 32

partners concerned about fairness, what they deserve. perception changes over time, normal for more at start. changed depending how long couple is together. strong correlation - more equitable it feels, harder person works to fix it. some take cog approach n revise how it feels so feels more even if nothing changes.

Question 33

Utne et al

Answer 33

self report scales to measure satisfaction or recently married couples. partners rated relationships as equitable also most satisfied.

Question 34

evaluation of equity theory

Answer 34

berg and quinn found equity doesn’t increase over time and relationships that ended/stayed didn’t diff in equity. doesn’t apply to all cultures. Aumer-Ryan found indiv said relationship most satisfying when equitable but collective when overbenefitting. Huesman said some ppl less concerned about equity and happy to contribute more. not universal. utne found under n over benefiting led to dissatisfaction, Grote and Clark argue when partners monitor, this leads to dissatisfaction instead. cause n effect???

Question 35

Rusbult’s investment model

Answer 35

commitment depends on 3 factors: satisfaction - based on comparison level comparison with alternatives investment - 1&2 not enough to explain commitment. anything we would lose if ended

Question 36

2 types of investment

Answer 36

intrinsic - resources put directly into relationship (money, possessions) extrinsic - didn’t previously feature but now associated (mems, emotions). bigger investment, relationship less likely to end.

Question 37

satisfaction vs commitment

Answer 37

Rusbult argued commitment main factor ppl stay in relationships, satisfaction is contributory factor. explains why dissatisfied ppl stay committed. investment they don’t want to waste so work hard to repair.

Question 38

relationship maintenance mechanisms

Answer 38

promote the relationship (accommodations). put their partners interests 1st (willingness to sacrifice) forgive them for serious transgressions (forgiveness) unrealistically + about partner (+ illusions) - about tempting alternatives n other relationships (ridiculing alternatives)

Question 39

Le and Agnew’s study

Answer 39

meta analysis of 52 studies. 11,000 PTs. discovered satisfaction, comparison with alternatives and investment contributed to commitment. defining feature of long lasting relationships. true for both genders, all cultures, straight n gay.

Question 40

evaluation of Rusbult’s investment model

Answer 40

explains why partners stay in abusive relationships. Rusbult n Martz - more likely to return to abusive partner if invested something. Impett, Beals & Peplau longitudinal study using married couples over 18m. stability of relationship positively correlated with commitment shown. Good friend & Agnew - more investment than just resources, ignored future plans, limited. most evidence from interviews and questionnaires - subjective and unreliable also correlations ignore other factors.