Relationships

Question 1

What is intersexual selection?

Answer 1

traits increase attractiveness and thereby induce members of the opposite sex to mate with them

females choose to mate with males who are strong and can provide resources;
males choose to mate with females who look youthful as a sign of fertility

Question 2

What is intra-sexual selection

Answer 2

traits enable competition with members of the same sex

eg strength enables
male to compete successfully for females

Question 3

What is the matching hypothesis

Answer 3

People are attacted to those similar to them

Attractiveness, cultural, geographical, social standing

Question 4

Why do people have the matching hypothesis

Answer 4

To reduce chances of rejection

Question 5

What is the filter theory

Answer 5

Filters thin down the list of possible partners from the field of avaliable (everyone they interact with) to the field of desirables (after filters)

Question 6

What are the economic theories for relationships

Answer 6

Social exchange theory

Rusbult’s investment model

Equity theory

Question 7

Who came up with the parasocial relationship model

Answer 7

McCutcheon et Al 2002

Question 8

Who created equity theory in relationships

Answer 8

Walster et Al 1978

Question 9

Who made the social exchange theory in relationships

Answer 9

Thibaut and Kelly 1959

Question 10

What theory is self disclosure part of

Answer 10

Social penetration theory

Question 11

Who created social penetration theory

Answer 11

Altman and Taylor 1973

Question 12

What are the 2 theory’s about virtual relationships

Answer 12

Reduced cues theory (Sproull and Kisler 1986)

Hyperpersonal model (Walther 1996)

Question 13

Who created the boom and bust model in relationships

Answer 13

Cooper and Sportolari 1997

Question 14

What are the 3 filters in filter theory according to Kerckoff and Davies 1962

Answer 14

1. Social demographic
2. Beliefs and attitudes
3. Complementary (if meet each others needs)

Question 15

What did Palmer + Peterson find about attractive people

Answer 15

they are believed to be politically knowledgeable and competent (even is they have no proir knowledge)

Question 16

What did Cunningham et al (1995) find about men’s view on physically attractive women

Answer 16

men rated women the same across cultures

Question 17

define self-disclosure

Answer 17

involves sharing personal info - thoughts, dreams, fears, goals, preferences so it is an important way to strengthen relationships and build trust

Question 18

what is reduced cues theory?

Answer 18

CMC relationships are less effective than F2F as lack of nonverbal cues e.g. appearance, emotional state e.g. facial expression and tone of voice

Question 19

what does reduced cues theory lead to?

Answer 19

de-individuation reduces people’s sense of individual identity, encourages disinhibition in relating to others, cant get sense of true identity

Question 20

therefore, reduced cues theory says CMC relationships are more likely to…

Answer 20

involve blunt and aggressive communication, consequence of this is reluctance to self-disc, unlikely to initiate a relationship

Question 21

hyperpersonal model was made by…

Answer 21

Walther who says CMC relationships are more personal and have greater SD than F2F, as SD happens earlier and more established and intimate

Question 22

what is selective self-presentation in hyperpersonal model?

Answer 22

people online have more control over what they self-disclose, more time to manipulate their online image than in F2F, much easier to manipulate it to promote intimacy in CMC relationships

Question 23

what is gating?

Answer 23

McKenna and Bargh - a gate is any obstacle to forming a relationship

F2F interaction is gated as it involves many features that can interfere with early development of a relationship e.g. physical unattractiveness

Question 24

benefits and drawbacks of gating

Answer 24

CMC relationships most gates are absent, develop to point where SD is more frequent then develop and deepen quicker
+ gates are absent so individual is free to be more like their true selves when compared to F2F interactions
- scope for people to create untrue identities and deceive people by changing their profile picture, name, age and gender, can’t do F2F

Question 25

satisfaction in relationships is about

Answer 25

perceived fairness

Question 26

the role of equity

Answer 26

Walster et al - both partners level of profit is roughly the same lack of equity means one partner over benefits and the other under benefits causing dissatisfaction and unhappiness

Question 27

what do over benefitted and under benefitted partners feel?

Answer 27

over benefitted partner feels guilt, discomfort and shame under benefitted partner feels dissatisfaction in form of anger, hostility and humiliation

Question 28

changes in perceived equity and dealing with it

Answer 28

change in level of perceived equity e.g. start of relationships it is natural to contribute more than you receive, but as relationship goes on for longer, there can be a lack of satisfaction more unfair relationship feels, the harder they will work to restore equity

Question 29

supporting research evidence

Answer 29

P - there is supporting research evidence for equity theory E - Utne carried out a survey of over 100 married couples, measuring equity with two self-report scales, found that couples who considered relationship equitable were more satisfied than those who saw themselves as over benefitting or under benefitting E - this supports equity theory because people perceiving fairness within their relationships, allows them to feel satisfied rather than guilty L - research support importance of equity in relationships by showing increased satisfaction between couples, inc IV as exp of romantic relationships C - low IV because self report means people will be biased and subjective

Question 30

according to Rusbult, commitment depends on 3 factors…

Answer 30

1. satisfaction - extent to which romantic partners feel the rewards of the relationship exceed costs 2. comparison with alternatives - judgement partners concerning if alternative have better rewards and fewer costs 3. investment size - extent and importance of resources in relationship

Question 31

satisfaction and comparison with CLalt

Answer 31

- relationship is profitable if many rewards and few costs - satisfied if more out of relationship based on prev experiences and social norms (social media) - are alternatives more rewarding/would i be better alone

Question 32

what are the 2 types of investment

Answer 32

intrinsic - refers to investment that we directly put into relationship e.g. money, time, energy, disclosure extrinsic - refers to investment that wouldn’t be there without relationship e.g. child, dog, house, car

Question 33

satisfaction vs commitment

Answer 33

commitment = main psych factor that causes ppl to stay in relationship explains why those dissatisfied stay in their relationship as there are committed, don’t want investment to go to waste

Question 34

what are 3 evaluation points for Rusbult’s investment theory?

Answer 34

+ explains abusive relationships + supporting evidence - oversimplifies investment

Question 35

what is social exchange theory?

Answer 35

theory of how relationships form and develop, based on idea that romantic partners exchange rewards and costs committed relationships rewards exceeds costs and alternatives less attractive than current relationships

Question 36

what did Thibault and Kelley come up with? (social exchange theory)

Answer 36

minimax principle

Question 37

what is the minimax principle?

Answer 37

behaviour in relationships reflects the economic assumptions in exchange we want to minimise losses and maximise gains

Question 38

comparison level

Answer 38

develops our exp of prev relationships, feed expectations of current one influenced by social norms determine what is considered reasonable level of reward link with self-esteem someone with low self esteem have low CL and satisfied with small profit

Question 39

CL for alternatives (CLalt)

Answer 39

could they do better could they get greater rewards and less costs elsewhere

Question 40

SET theory believes we stay in a current relationship if….

Answer 40

it is more rewarding than alternatives

Question 41

what are the four stages of Social Exchange Theory?

Answer 41

sampling stage bargaining stage commitment stage institutionalisation stage

Question 42

sampling stage

Answer 42

explore rewards and costs of SE by experimenting own relationships or observing others

Question 43

bargaining stage

Answer 43

marks beginning of a relationship when partners start exchanging rewards and costs identifying what is profitable

Question 44

commitment stage

Answer 44

time goes on, sources of costs and rewards become more predictable and the relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase and costs lessen

Question 45

institutionalisation stage

Answer 45

where partners are now settled down because the norms of the relationship, in terms of rewards and costs, are firmly established.

Question 46

what are the 4 duck breakdown stages?

Answer 46

intra-psychic stage dyadic stage social stage grave-dressing stage

Question 47

what stage was added by rollie and duck to help deal with the criticisms of the theory

Answer 47

resurrection stage (learn from the broke down relationship and go on to use that information in new relationships)

Question 48

4 eval points for Ducks phase model

Answer 48

+ useful real-life application - methodological issues - description rather than explanation - cultural bias

Question 49

useful real life application of duck's model

Answer 49

P - a strength is that it allow us to identify and understand stages of relationship breakdown and ways of reversing it E - recognises that different repair strategies are more effective in diff parts in breakdown E - Duck says in intra-psychic stage can focus brooding on positive aspects of their partner for greater stability in the relationship L - increase practical application as such insights can be used in relationship counselling

Question 50

3 levels of filtering in filter theory

Answer 50

1. social demography (screen out people who are different in terms of age, sex, education etc) 2. choose people who have SIMILAR ATTITUDES to our own 3. in the longer-term, we choose people who complement our own traits. (complementary)