Filter theory
Explanation of relationship formation
Different factors reduce available romantic partners to smaller pool
- All the romantic partners potentially available to us are reduced by a series of filters to a limited collection of people we would like to form a relationship with
Field of availables
Entire set of potential romantic partners
field of desirables
Reduced number after partners
Social demography
Includes physical proximity, social class, ethnic group, age and educational level
- Leads to homogamy - forming relationships with people who are socially and culturally similar to ourselves
Similarity in attitudes
important - especially early in a relationship when such similarities encourage deeper self-disclosures
Kerckhoff and Davis
Similarity of attitudes important to develop romantic relationships - only couples less than 18 months - encourages greater and deeper communication and promotes self-disclosure
Byrne
Consistent findings that similarity causes attraction - law of attraction
Complementary
Meeting each other’s needs becomes more important later in the relationship
Kerckoff And David - Need for complementarity more important for long-term couples - adds depth to relationship
Research support
- Strength from Kerckhoff and Davis
- Longitudinal study - both partners in dating couples completed questionnaires to assess two main factors - similarity of values and complementarity
- Closeness measures by questionnaire seven months later
- Closeness associated with similarity of values for couples less then 18 months
- Complementarity predicted closeness for longer relationships
Counterpoint
- Levinger
- Studies failed to replicate findings
- 18 month cut off to distinguish between short and long term
- Filter theory is undermined by the lack of validity of its evidence base
Problem with complementarity
- Limitation
- Markey and Markey - lesbian couples of equal dominance were the most satisfied
- Their sample of couples had been romantically involved for a mean time of more than 4 1/2 years
- Similarity of needs rather than complementarity may be associated with long-term satisfaction
Actual versus perceived similarity
- Limitation
- Actual similarity matters less in a relationship
- Montoya et al - meta-analysis - actual similarity affected attraction only in short-term lab interactions
- Real-world relationship - perceived similarity was stronger predictor
- Perceived similarity may be an effect of attraction and not cause
Social change
- Demographic factors reduce field of availables - homogamy
- Role of filters change over time - online dating and apps - location not a big factor
- Social changes have led to relationships that were less common 30 years ago
