Self disclosure & Physical attraction Flashcards
(17 cards)
What are the three elements of self disclosure
- social penetration theory
- breadth and depth of self-disclosure
- reciprocity of self disclosure
What is self disclosure?
the sharing of personal info about the self, which leads to increased attraction
What is social penetration theory?
The gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else revealing your deepest thoughts and feelings
- when one partner reveals personal info they are signalling that they trust the person that they are disclosing to
-as each partner discloses more and more they penetrate more deeply into each other’s lives
What is breadth of self disclosure?
at the start of the relationship we disclose low-risk info we wld share with many others, bc if we reveal too much too soon this could reduce the attractiveness of a person
What is depth of self disclosure?
As the relationship develops SD becomes deeper as we progressively reveal more about ourselves. High risk info such as painful memories and strong beliefs are discussed
What is reciprocity of self disclosure?
must be a reciprocal element to high-risk self disclosure
there is an expectation that if one person begins to SD high-risk info then the response should be understanding and empathetic
this increases attraction due to increased intimacy that deepens the relationship
What are strengths of the role of self disclosure
- supporting evidence
- practical applications
What are limitations of the role of self disclosure?
- doesn’t consider online relationships
- evidence is correlational
Evaluate supported by evidence from Sprecher and Hendrick as strength of self disclosure
- supporting evidence from Sprecher and Hendrick
- they conducted a longitudinal study of white middle-class hetero couples using questions and found strong correlations between satisfaction measures and reciprocal self-disclosure. They found that bouth men and women who self-disclosed and believed their partner also did were more satisfied and commited to their relationship
- this is a strength of self disclosure as is supports its claims
- therefore findings support that self disclosure plays a large part in relations satisfaction and adds validity
Evaluate practical applications as a strength of self disclosure
- It can offer practical applications
- I can help people who want to improve communication of leadership and strengthen their romantic bond with their partner. Hass and Stafford Found that 57% of gay men and women in the study said that open and honest, self-disclosure maintained and deepen their relationship
- Strength because if less skilled individuals such as those who limit communication to Small talk, learn self-disclosure effectively this cld could bring benefits their relationship
- Therefore, effective applications in relationship counselling suggests that self-disclosure leads to more satisfying relationships and is therefore valid
Evaluate Correlation and evidence as a limitation of self disclosure
- Evidences correlational
- Which self-disclosure research is correlational, which does not demonstrate causation.
- This is a limitation because evidence doesn’t enable us to conclude self-disclosure causes a partner to be seen as attractive but cld another factors such as perceived similarity. Factors, other than high levels of self disclosure, may explain why some romantic relationships are successful, and why others fail
- Those there’s only big evidence for the social penetrating theory of factors, affecting attraction in romantic relationships, and it’s likely that several factors play a role in attraction
Evaluate Online relationships as a limitation of self disclosure
- Limitation of the self-disclosure is it varies depending on how people have met in 2015 to 2019 32% of relationships began online
- Individual is communicating over the Internet are often anonymous. This may lead to them revealing more information about themselves (boom and bust phenomenal) when people reveal more info about themselves earlier than they would in a face-to-face interaction relationships get intense very quickly. However, because othe underlying trust and knowledge of the other person isnt there to support, the relationship becomes Difficult to sustain
- Limitation because self disclosure theory doesn’t consider these relationships that start online and if current trends continue more people will meet up on online and than off-line
What Is the Halo effect?
We Have perceived ideas about personality traits that an attractive person must have, and they are all universally positive
- Attractive people are consistently rated is kind and sociable compared to those deemed unattractive, so we behave more positively towards them
What Is Shackleford and Larson’s theory of physical attractiveness?
People With symmetrical faces are rated as more tractive, as it may be a signal of genetic fitness
What are strengths of physical attraction as a factor affecting attraction
- Supporting evidence from Meltzer
- Research support for evolutionary processes
Evaluate support for evolutionary processes as a strength of physical attraction
- there is research support for evolutionary processes
- Cunningham et al found that female features of large eyes small nose etc were rated as horribly attractive by white hispanic and asian males. researchers also concluded that what is considered physically attractive is consistent across different societies. Facial symmetry is a sign of genetic fitness and thus perpetuated similarly in all cultures
- strength because it shows the importance of physical attractiveness on an evolutionary level - if what is considered attractive is the same across many cultures then it stands to reason that its evolutionary. So physical attraction has cross cultural validity
Evaluate supporting evidence from Meltzer as a strength of physical attractiveness
P: Supporting evidence from Meltzer
E: If physical attractiveness in long-term partners is more important for males, then research should show that males with physically attractive partners are more satisfied with their
relationship. There is research to support sex differences in the importance of physical
attractiveness. Meltzer et al. (2014) provided support for this claim. They found that objective eatings of wives’ attractiveness were positively related to levels of husbands’ satisfaction at the beginning of the marriage and remained that way over at least the first four years of
marriage.
E: This is strengthened by the findings that females’ objective ratings of husbands’ physical attractiveness were not related to wives’ marital satisfaction, either initially or over time.
L: Therefore, this gives physical attractiveness validity especially the claim that males find
physical attractiveness in a partner more important than females do.
