Relationships - Factors Affecting Attraction Flashcards
(15 cards)
Self-Disclosure - Sternberg
Process of sharing personal info with a partner/another person - fosters trust & intimacy
Superficial - low-risk/breadth (work)
Intimate - high-risk/depth (wishes/fears)
Leads to great intimacy - increasing attractiveness & closeness - encourages reciprocal disclosure
Altman & Taylor - Social Penetration Theory
Relationships develop through gradual self-disclosure
Increases emotional intimacy as individuals reveal deeper, more private info over time
If one person reveals too much about themselves early on - could be off putting
Collins & Miller - SD influencing attraction
3 Ways:
1. Engaging in ‘intimate disclosures’ - liked more than those who don’t
2. People disclose more to those they like in the first place
3. Act of self-disclosure makes us like the person we are talking to
Hass & Stafford - Communication
57% gay men & women said open and honest communication was the main way they deepened & maintained relationships
Tang - Cultural variations in SD
America (individualistic) - men & women disclose feelings more openly than those in China (collectivist)
Imposed etic - doesn’t recognise different cultures have different factors affecting attraction
Evaluation of Self-Disclosure
Limitations:
Men & women in the USA self-disclose
significantly more sexual thoughts/feelings than men & women in China
SD based on Western romantic relationships
Strengths:
Evidence to support the role of self-disclosure as an explanation, e.g correlations between levels of SD & satisfaction with the relationship
Supported by evidence which shows that too much, too early can be off-putting to potential partner – acceptability depends on stage of relationship & appropriateness of the content.
Physical attractiveness - Cunningham
Most physical features men find attractive are linked to youth & health of a woman - childlike face, small features
Halo Effect - Dion et al
Attractive people perceived as having positive traits - intelligence, kindness
Physical attractiveness is the most important factor in determining whether we will find someone else attractive
Matching Hypothesis
People chose partners of a similar level of attractiveness
Balance between desire to have the most attractive while not getting rejected
Matching Hypothesis study: Walster et al
P’s randomly assigned partners at a dance when they thought they were paired on matched attractiveness
Females rated physically attractive frequently asked out on a second date by males not rated as physically attractive
- PA best predictor of liking not MH
Taylor et al - MH
Investigated the activity log on a dating website
Website users more likely to try arrange a meeting with a potential partner who was more physically attractive than them.
Contradict MH – website users should seek more dates with a person who is similar in terms of attractiveness - provides them with a better chance of being accepted by a potential
partner.
But the relationships that continued were of similar attractiveness
Evaluation of MH
Strengths:
Taylor (2011) showed that in online dating people choose prospective partners who are much more attractive than themselves BUT those relationships that continue involve partners of similar attractiveness
Validity of evidence – some studies use real life dating sites so it is likely that the findings have validity.
Weaknesses:
Most studies only look at physical attractiveness but other aspects of similarity may be important
Culturally bias-some cultures arrange their relationships
so physical attractiveness is not relevant it is more about other factors
Filter theory - Kerckoff & Davis
People narrow down potential partner - narrow down field of availables to field of desirables
Filter Theory - 3 stages
- Social Demographic: proximity, social class - meet a small proportion of people (availables) who are in our close proximity
- Similarity in Attitudes: Shared beliefs & values - look for partners with similar psychological factors (desirables)
- Complementarity: Meeting each others’ emotional needs - occurs in long-term relationships - opposites attract (introvert/extrovert)
Kerckhoff & Davis - Filter model study
Compared student short term couples with long term couples over 7 months
-Attitude similarity more important in STR while complementarity more in LTR
- High validity - real couples
- Self-report - social desirability
- Lacks temporal validity - online dating
- Less valid in other cultures - arranged marriages
