Relationships evaluations

Question 1

evolutionary explanations for partner preferences (1+,3-)

Answer 1

+Clark and Hatfield, support waist to hip ratio for women’s ideal body
-ignore cultural differences, mainly based on Western cultures
-ignores homosexual/bisexual relationships
-doesn’t factor in that some couples may not want children or want to adopt

Question 2

self disclosure (2+,2-)

Answer 2

+Sprecher and Hendrick, heterosexual relationships, correlation for self disclosure and measures of satisfaction
+Laurenceau et al, correlation between self disclosure and intimacy in long term married couples
-both studies are correlational, so no cause and effect
-Nu Tang et al, self disclosure is not important to all cultures, men and women in USA disclose more than in China (collectivist vs individualist cultures)

Question 3

physical attractiveness (1+,3-)

Answer 3

+Palmer and Peterson, physically attractive people are more knowledgeable and competent
-Taylor et al, studied activity logs on dating sites, found people approached the most attractive people and didn’t factor in their own attractiveness
-Walster et al, computer dance study, covertly rank pps out of attractiveness and match them (they thought it was a personality questionnaire), ask pps if they liked their date, pps wanted to date most attractive pps and didn’t care if they were less attractive
- studies lacking pp consent

Question 4

filter theory (1+,3-)

Answer 4

+Kerckhoff and Davis, couples completed questionnaires, similarity of values were associated with closeness in first 18 months, complementarity is essential to long term couples
-Markey and Markey, lesbian couples had equal dominance, not complementarity and were satisfied
-Anderson, couples grow more similar over time (filter theory argues that you like each other because you are similar)
-lack temporal validity, societal changes in social media has changed social demography due to CMC relationships

Question 5

social exchange theory (1+,3-)

Answer 5

+Kurdek, asked lgbtq to complete relationship commitment questionnaires and SET valuables, most committed partners viewed most rewards and least costs
-cause and effect, dissatisfaction arises when relationship stops being profitable
-concepts are vague and hard to quantify, subjective
-Clark and Mills, can’t apply to romantic relationships because they don’t ‘keep score’

Question 6

equity theory (1+,3-)

Answer 6

+Utne et al, equity theory is more valid than SET, surveyed 118 recently married couples, found couples who considered relationships more equitable were more satisfied
-cannot generalize recently married couples, we don’t know if this is applicable to all relationships and marriages
-Berg and McQuinn found self disclosure is more important than equity
-Utne et al, over or under benefitting led to dissatisfaction

Question 7

Rusbult’s investment model (2+,2-)

Answer 7

+Rusbult and Martz, studied ‘battered’ women in a shelter and found most would return to their abusive partner depending on the size of investment they made
+prac app, learn to be cautious of what investments are made during a relationship
-Goodfriend and Agnew, more to investments than just resources, there’s future plans like kids or holidays, extended model to future plans
-G&A, not applicable to all relationships, depend on age and length of relationship

Question 8

Duck’s phase model (1+,3-)

Answer 8

+real life application, understand stages of a breakup
-methodological issues, retrospective (after breakup), info can be distorted/unreliable/inaccurate
-Rollie and Duck, added ‘resurrection phase’, individual’s move around during different phases, not just follow the phases
-descriptive rather than explanatory, doesn’t focus on why the breakdown happens - Flemlee says breakdown is due to what was attractive in the first place (fatal attraction hypothesis)

Question 9

virtual relationships in social media (2+,2-)

Answer 9

+Whitty and Joinson, support hyperpersonal model, hyperhonest (intimate information) or hyperdishonest (false information)
+McKenna and Bargh, lonely and socially anxious people are most likely to show their ‘true’ selves online, supports absence of gating (CMC with intention of FtF)
-lack of research for reduced cues theory, emojis, GIFs, acrostics
-Walther argues relationships are online and offline, but research often focuses on one or the other

Question 10

parasocial relationships (2+,2-)

Answer 10

+McCutcheon et al, predictive validity, people who scored high on borderline-pathologcial (BP) or intense personal (IP) have high anxiety within their own relationship, high entertainment social (ES) did not
+Kienlen et al, disturbed attachment could lead to BP, 63% stalkers lost at least one caregiver while 50% experienced abuse
-correlational, no cause and effect, we don’t know if anxiety causes parasocial relationships or vice versa
-methodological issues, self report, social desirability bias