Attraction

Question 1

Evolutionary explanations

Answer 1

Males and females choose partners to maximise reproductive success. Advantageous traits more likely to survive and pass on genes
Differences between male and female traits called anisogamy and influences strategies to choose partners and have reproductive success

Question 2

Male evolutionary preferences

Answer 2

Gametes (sperm) reproduce quickly and constantly - their strategy is intra sexual selection where they compete with members of same sex as they should be promiscuous, present themselves as most attractive so more sex and babies. Engage in mate guarding where they guard female partner to prevent them mating with anyone else, and fearful of raising another man’s child - called cuckoldry

Question 3

Female evolutionary preferences

Answer 3

Gametes (eggs) less plentiful and need energy to produce - intersexual selection where traits increase attractiveness so opposite sex want to mate with them e.g looking youthful and fertile. Best strategy is to be selective when choosing partners as limited number - seek males with physical health, resources and able to protect them and provide for children - traditionally equated to muscle strength but modernly likely materialistic too. Sexy son hypothesis - females select male partners with desirable traits as they want their sons to inherit these traits

Question 4

Evolutionary explanations eval

Answer 4

+ 10000 adults in 33 countries surveyed and females found to value resource based characteristics (job, status etc) while men valued good looks and younger partners
+ Florida State uni experiment where male and female students approach fellow students and ask for either a date, to go back to apartment or to go to bed w them, 50% of both agreed to date, but while 69% of men agreed to apartment and 75% to bed, only 6% of women agreed to apartment and 0% for bed
- Deterministic as suggests little free will in partner choice, but everyday experience proves otherwise
- Socially sensitive as promote traditional sexist views on gender behaviours and can pressure people
- Temporally invalid as females more career orientated and independent so care less for resourceful partners. Also availability of contraception and IVF reduces evolutionary pressures
- Doesn’t account for other types of relationships like arranged marriages and homosexual relationships

Question 5

Self disclosure

Answer 5

Revealing personal information (e.g thoughts, experiences, feelings) to another person - can increase attraction if done right
Shouldn’t be all at once but instead increase breadth and depth gradually - starts with low risk details like work and hobbies then more high risk details like aspirations and attitudes
People expect same level of self disclosure as they give - reciprocal self disclosure
Central concept in social penetration theory - for a relationship to develop disclosure must be maintained

Question 6

Self disclosure eval

Answer 6

+ Self disclosure on first date found to reduce attraction and further surveys found this person to be maladjusted and unlikeable
+ Not just romantic relationships, analysis of reality TV like Big Brother revealed viewers preferred contestants who self disclosed gradually and disliked those who did so all at once
+ Culturally similar - Japanese and American students relationships found self disclosure high for these relationships
- Sprecher found research that self disclosure received indicates liking/loving rather than being a response to self disclosure given, contradicts reciprocal self disclosure
- Doesn’t account for non heterosexual relationships (or even arranged marriage?)
- Attraction unlikely based on self disclosure alone - other factors also needed to increase attraction like the other lessons (and could also be part of the cause of increased self disclosure)

Question 7

Physical attractiveness

Answer 7

Large factor of attraction in romantic relationships - men place importance in both short and long term, and female place importance in both but especially in the short term.
What is considered attractive varies across culture and time
+ Accounts for cultural and temporal variations and individual differences in what one deems attractive
- Can be somewhat negative and deterministic as those who perceive themselves as unattractive may feel hopeless romantically

Question 8

Halo effect

Answer 8

General impression of a person (incorrectly) formed from one characteristic alone in this case physical attractiveness.
Often seen as more sociable, optimistic, trustworthy.
Creates a self fulfilling prophecy as people behave more positively to attractive people so obviously they will behave positively back due to the positive attention received

Question 9

Halo effect eval

Answer 9

+ Physically attractive people rated as more politically knowledgable than unattractive people, and this even persisted when participants found out the attractive person had no expertise in politics
+ Can be used to help inform and warn against unconscious biases e.g in workplace or social situations
- Male and female participants asked to rate how much they like someone based on a photo, and also completed a MACHO scale measuring sexist attitudes/ behaviour, those who scored highly on MACHO also seemed more influenced by attractiveness and vice versa, so influence of physical attractiveness may be moderated by other factors e.g personality

Question 10

Matching hypothesis

Answer 10

People choose a romantic partner of similar attractiveness - they want to have a partner as physically attractive as possible but a realistic awareness of own attractiveness to avoid rejection - narrowing range of available partners to those who are perceived as attainable

Question 11

Matching hypothesis eval

Answer 11

+Members of real couples separately assessed for attractiveness and correlation found, and this correlation was only not found for fictitious pairings
-752 first yrs at a party secretly judged by a panel on attractiveness then paired with a random person, then 4-6 months later asked about their experience - higher appreciation also shown for more attractive partners regardless of one’s own attractiveness
- Sometimes unattractive people match with attractive people due to rebalancing of traits e.g personality or provision - complex matching
- Attractiveness is subjective and people have different beauty standards, some people may not even care about looks which could e.g explain complex matching

Question 12

Filter theory

Answer 12

Filtering used to reduce the field of available partners down to a field of desirable partners by 3 levels
1. Social demography - from the outset people screened on basic traits like age, education, sex, looks (link to attractiveness theory)
2. Similarity in attitudes - we choose people with similar attitudes/feelings
3. Complementarity - in the longer term choosing people who complement our own traits and needs - can link to ideas like equity and social exchange

Question 13

Filter Theory eval

Answer 13

+ 85% of americans married in 2008 married someone in their own ethnic group - social demography + similar looks/backgrounds
+ Perceived attitude similarity found to predict attraction more than actual similarity. Speed dating event where survey completed for actual attitude and perceived attitude and perceived attitudes predicted romantic liking more.
- 330 couples research found no evidence that similarity of attitudes or complementarity was important when looking at permanence of the relationship
- criticised as suggests similarity of attitudes causes attraction but longitudinal studies of cohabiting partners find that they can start with different attitudes but then become more similar increasing attraction - emotional convergence
- People may abuse this by pretending to have similar attitudes so someone likes them then slowly manipulating them to adopt the same attitudes
- Filter theory less present in online dating and internet - less social demographic features as it is easier to meet people with different backgrounds, ethnicity and class who we would not match with irl. People can also lie about their traits to increase attraction or avoid rejection
- Temporally invalid as nowadays relationships with age gaps/ different ethnicity, background etc are much more common, also e.g homosexual relationships or arranged marriages