Relationships Evaluation

Question 1

Evolution explanations for partner preferences

Answer 1

Cultural traditions may be just as important as evolutionary forces

• Bernstein – points out that gender difference in mate preference patterns might stem from cultural traditions rather than being evolved characteristics for example the fact that women have been denied economic and political power in many cultures may account for their tendency to rely on the security of economic resources provided by men
• Kasser and Sharama 1999 – analyses of 37 studies showed that women valued potential mates access to resources far more in those cultures where women’s status and educational opportunities were limited

Female preferences for high-status men may not be universal

• Buller 2005 – claims that evolutionary psychologists are mistaken in their claims of a universal female preference for high status men as mates, argues that the majority of the studies attempting to determine female mate preferences have been carried out on female undergraduate students
• These women expect to achieve high educational status s have expectations of high income levels, therefore they prefer high status men or men with educational prospects similar to themselves

Mate choice in real life

• Studies of mate choice suffer serious problem of validity as they give us an indication of expressed preferences rather than being a reflection of what actually happens in real life
• Real life studies support the hypotheses form example an study of actual marriages in 29 cultures Buss confirmed that men do chose younger women and in addition some critics suggest that questionnaires such as the ones used in Buss’s study are more valid measures of partner preference than real life marriage statistics particularly in cultures where arranged marriages are the norm

Mate choice and the menstrual cycle
- Penton – Voak et al – suggests that far from being constant female mate choice varies across the menstrual cycle, they found that women chose a significantly feminised verison of a male face as the most attractive for a long term relationship but during the high risk conception risk phase they preferred the more masculine shape

Is there a human equivalent of the peacock’s tail

• Research support the view that some human traits that serve no survival purpose have evolved purely as a result of sexual selection
• For example a preference for highly creative partners has been a characteristic of mate choice throughout evolutionary history
• Nettle and Clegg 2006 – compared a sample of British poets and artists and a control group that were not in a creative position, found that those in creative professions tended to have significantly more sexual partners and the amount of their creative output was positively correlated with the number of sexual partners therefore females are more attracted as they are more likely to pass this to their offspring

Question 2

Physical attractiveness evaluation

Answer 2

Speed dating and the challenge to traditional views of attraction

• Eastwick and Finkel (2008) – claim that although men value physical attractiveness more than women do they may not predict real life partner choice
• Used evidence from speed dating and backed this up with a longitudinal follow up procedure 30 days later
• Prior to the speed dating participants showed traditional sex differences when stating the importance of physical attractiveness or earning prospects in an ideal partner, however they failed to predict what inspired actual behaviour at the event, participants actual partner preferences were reflected their evaluation of a specific speed fating partners characteristics and romantic attraction to them

Complex matching

• Sprecher and Hatfield , they suggest a reason why research fails to find evidence of matching in terms of physical attraction
• People in a come in to a relationship and they offer many desirable characteristics to which physical attractiveness is only one, they may compensate with a good personaility or status

Research support for sex differences in the importance of physical attractiveness

• If physical attractiveness in a long term partner is more important for males then research should show that males with physically attractive partners are more satisfied with their relationship
• Meltzer et al – provided support, they found that objective ratings of wives attractiveness were positively related to levels of husbands satisfaction at the beginning of marriage and remained that way for at least first 4 years of marriage
• Whereas in females the physical attractiveness of men was not related to marital satisfaction

Matching may not be that important in initial attraction

• Taylor et al – they cast doubt on the value of the matching hypothesis in attraction
• Did a study of online dating patterns, they found no evidence that daters decisions were driven by a similarity between their own and potential partners physical attractiveness
• Instead found evidence for an overall preference for attractive partners suggesting that people do not take their own physical attractiveness into account but aimed for someone who was more attractive and desirable then themselves
• Although the matching hypothesis did not predict who was initially attracted to whom the researchers did find that those individuals who specifically targeted similarly attractive others were more likely to receive responses to their messages

Implications of sex differences in the importance of physical attractiveness

• Meltzer et al – claimed that if physical attractiveness plays a stronger role in mens long term relationship satisfaction than in women’s, then women may experience increased pressures to maintain their physical attractiveness in order to successfully maintain a long term relationship
• Physical attractiveness is not the only predictor of marital satisfaction for a man and they also desire partners who are supportive, trustworthy and warm and those partners tend to be more satisfied with their relationships

Question 3

Self Disclosure

Answer 3

Research support for the importance of self-disclosure

• Meta analysis by Collins and Miller supports the central role that self-disclosure plays in the development and maintenance of romantic relationships
• They found that people who engage in intimate disclosures tend to be more liked than people who disclose at lower levels and people like the others as a result of having them disclose to them
• Disclosure relationship was stronger if the recipient believed that the disclosure was only shared with them rather than being shared indiscriminately with others

Self-disclosure on the internet: the “boom and bust” phenomenon

• Some researchers have suggested that relationships formed over the internet involve higher levels of self-disclosure and attraction than face to face relationships
• Individuals communicating over the internet are often anonymous and the greater psychological comfort that comes with anonymity may lead them to reveal more information about themselves
• Cooper and Sportolari refer to this as the boom and bust phenomenon which is when people revel more of themselves earlier than in a face to face interaction but as the true knowledge and underlying trust of the person is not there the relationship is short lived

The norms of self-disclosure run deep

• Tal-Or and Hershman-Shitrit 2015, showed that relationship between gradual self-disclosure and attraction applies not only to real life romantic relationships but also to liking reality TV contestants
• Reality shows such as Big Brother tend to be characteristics by the very imitate self-disclosure to contestants early on in the shows, this conflicts in what happens in every day interactions where self-disclosure is gradual
• They found that people still prefer gradual self-disclosure

Self-disclosure may be greater in face-to face than online relationships

• Knop et al 2016, challenges the assumption that people self-disclose more in offline relationships than in face to face online interactions and also disclose more intimate in face to face interactions
• Individuals do not seize the opportunity to reveal personal information online as much as expected
• Person who is disclosing appreciates non-verbal cues such as eye contact and the attentive silence of someone they are disclosing to both absent in the online environment

Cultural differences in patterns of self-disclosure

• Cultures differ in the extent to which various topics are considered appropriate for conversation
• In west people disclose more than people who are not in the west
• Cultural norms shape how comfortable men and women are in self-disclosing for example Nakanishi found that Japanese women prefer a lower level of personal conservations that Japanese men this is the opposite in the west where women disclose more than men

Research support for the importance of self-disclosure
- Meta analysis by Collins and Miller supports the central role that self-disclosure plays in the development and maintenance of romantic relationships
- They found that people who engage in intimate disclosures tend to be more liked than people who disclose at lower levels and people like the others as a result of having them disclose to them
- Disclosure relationship was stronger if the recipient believed that the disclosure was only shared with them rather than being shared indiscriminately with others
Self-disclosure on the internet: the “boom and bust” phenomenon
- Some researchers have suggested that relationships formed over the internet involve higher levels of self-disclosure and attraction than face to face relationships
- Individuals communicating over the internet are often anonymous and the greater psychological comfort that comes with anonymity may lead them to reveal more information about themselves
- Cooper and Sportolari refer to this as the boom and bust phenomenon which is when people revel more of themselves earlier than in a face to face interaction but as the true knowledge and underlying trust of the person is not there the relationship is short lived
The norms of self-disclosure run deep
- Tal-Or and Hershman-Shitrit 2015, showed that relationship between gradual self-disclosure and attraction applies not only to real life romantic relationships but also to liking reality TV contestants
- Reality shows such as Big Brother tend to be characteristics by the very imitate self-disclosure to contestants early on in the shows, this conflicts in what happens in every day interactions where self-disclosure is gradual
- They found that people still prefer gradual self-disclosure
Self-disclosure may be greater in face-to face than online relationships
- Knop et al 2016, challenges the assumption that people self-disclose more in offline relationships than in face to face online interactions and also disclose more intimate in face to face interactions
- Individuals do not seize the opportunity to reveal personal information online as much as expected
- Person who is disclosing appreciates non-verbal cues such as eye contact and the attentive silence of someone they are disclosing to both absent in the online environment
Cultural differences in patterns of self-disclosure
- Cultures differ in the extent to which various topics are considered appropriate for conversation
- In west people disclose more than people who are not in the west
- Cultural norms shape how comfortable men and women are in self-disclosing for example Nakanishi found that Japanese women prefer a lower level of personal conversations that Japanese men this is the opposite in the west where women disclose more than men

Question 4

Attraction: Filter Theory

Answer 4

Lack of research support for filter theory

• Levinger et al – failed to replicate the results of Kerckhoff and Davis study
• In their study 330 couples who were steadily attached went through the same procedure as the Kerckhoff and Davis study and they found no evidence that similarity of attidues and values or complementarity of needs influenced progress towards permanence in relationships
• Also found no significant relationship in the length of the couples relationships and the influence of these varibles
• Levinger said that the questionnaires used in the original study would not have been appropriate given the changes in the social values and the courtship patterns that occurred in the years between the two studies

The real value of the filtering process

• Duck 1973, suggests that the real filtering process allows people to make predictions about their future interactions and avoids investing in a relationship that just wont work
• Each person conducts a series of explorations, disclosing bits of information about themselves and makes enquiries about the other person
• People use strategies to gather information about each other including a partners self-disclosure through questioning and provoking disagreement about a topic in order to cut through the polite front to get to the real persons feelings
• Based on these feelings they may decide to continue with the relationship or not

Perceived similarity may be more important than actual similarity

• Research usually supports the importance of attitudinal similarity in attraction
• Person is more likely to be attracted when they share many common attitudes
• Consistent with the assumptions of Kerckhoof and Davis second stage of the filtering process some researchers have found that perceived similarity predicts attraction more strongly that similarity predicts
• Tidwell et al – tested this claim in a speed dating event where decisions about attraction must be made over a much shorter time span, after measuring actual and perceived similarity using a questionnaire the researchers found that perceived but not actual similarity predicted romantic linking for these couples

Complementarity of needs may not be that important

• Research for complementarity of needs is much scarcer
• Research by Dijkstra and Barelds studied 760 college educated singles on a dating site who were looking for a long term mate, participants own personalities were measured and they were then asked to rate personaility characteristics they desired in a ideal mate
• Although initially participants desired a complementary partner rather than a similar one there were strong correlations between individuals own personality and there ideals partners personality

A problem for filter theory

• Kerckhoff and Davis filter theory assumes that relationships progress when partners discover shared attitudes and values with their partners and the possession of needs that complement their own
• Views are constantly changing over time and people may not be aware of their partners values needs or role preferences

Question 5

Social exchange theory

Answer 5

Evidence for the influence of comparison level for alternatives

• Sprecher – conducted a longitudinal study of 101 dating couples at US uni, found that exchange variable most highly associated with relationship commitment was partners comparison level for alternatives
• Sprecher’s study showed the presence of alternatives was consistely and negatively correlated with commitment and relationship satisfaction,
• When CLA was high commitment to and satisfaction with the current relationship tended to be low whereas as those who lack alternatives are likely to remain committed

The problem of costs and benefits

• A problem for social exchange theory is the confusion of what is a cost and a benefit within a relationship
• What might be considered rewarding to one person might be a cost to another or what might be seen as a benefit at one stage is a cost at another stage
• Therefore difficult to assess cost and benefits

The problem of assessing value

• Nakonezny and Denton 2008 argue that for social exchange to be relevant to relationships individuals must have some way of quantifying the value of costs and benefits to assess what outweighs cost and benefits
• This is not the case in commercial and economic relationships where social exchange theory is more typically applied

Overemphasis on costs and benefits

• Reliance on profitable outcomes as an indication of relationship satisfaction ignores other factors that play same role in this process
• An individuals own relational beliefs may make them more susceptible to a relatively low ratio of benefits to costs within their relationship
• They may for example have the belief that if you have committed yourself to a relationship you live with what it brings
• Although they recongnise the costs and benefits ratio that is unfavourable their relationship standard means that they continue to provide benefits to their partner and simply put up with the costs therefore social exchange cannot explain relationship satisfaction without considering individual differences in standards and beliefs

Real world application - relationship therapy

• Individuals in unsuccessful marriages report a lack of positive behaviour exchanges with their partner and an excess of negative
• Gottman and Levenson found that in successful marriages the ratio of positive to negative exchanges was around 5:1 but in unsuccessful marriages it was around 1:1
• ICBT increases the proportion of positive exchanges within in a relationship and decreases the negative patterns of behaviour that causes problems making each other happy
• Christensen et al – treated over 60 distressed couples using ICBT and found that 2/3 reported significant improvements

Question 6

Equity Theory

Answer 6

Equity sensitivity

• Based on the norm of equity, this assumes that everyone is equally sensitive to equity and inequity
• Huseman et al disagrees with this, he developed the idea of equity sensitivity, this determines the extent to which an individual will tolerate inequity
• Huseman identified three categories of indvidiuals, benevolents, equity sensitives and entitleds
• Benevolents are givers and tend to be more tolerant of under-rewarded inequity, equity sensitives behave in accordance with equity theory and expereicne tension when faced with inequity. Entitleds prefer to be over-rewarded and have the attitude that they are owed and are entitled to receive benefits therefore they are dissatisfied when in an under-rewarded or an equitable situation

Gender differences in the importance of equity

• Denaris et al – point out that men and women are not equally affected by inequity in romantic relationships
• Women precieve themselves as more under-benefited and less over-benefited in relationships compared to men
• Sprecher found that women feel more guilt than men in response to being over-benefited
• Demaris et al suggest several reasons for the gender differences , women’s greater relationship focus may make them more sensitive to injustices and more likely to react negatively to being exploited

Cultural differences in the importance of equity

• Concept of equity is not as important in non-western cultures given that most research has been carried out in the US and Western Europe
• Aumer-Ryan et al, investigated this, they found that all the cultures they studied people considered it important that a relationship or marriage should be equitable, however people in different cultures differed in thinking how fair and equitable they considered their relationships to be
• Men and women from the US ere the most equitable, and men and women from Jamaica claimed to be in the least equitable relationship

Supporting evidence from the study of non-human primates

• Bronsnan and de Waal, found that female monkeys became angry if they were denied a highly prized reward of grapes in return for playing a game, they hurled food at the experimenter
• Bronsnan et al – found that they chimps were more upset by injustice in causal relationships that in close relationships and this echo human relationships

A problem of causality

• Clark 1984 – argues that in most relationships couples do not think in terms of reward and equity if they do then the relationship is in trouble
• Dissatisfaction with a relationship is the cause not the consequences of equity, however a study of married couples found that people with inequity became less satisfied with the marriage over the course of the year and found no evidence for the converse

Question 7

The investment model

Answer 7

Research support for the investment model

• The importance of commitment a san indicator of relationship stability is supported by a meta-analysis study by Le et al
• They analysed data from 38,000 participants in 137 studies over a 33 year period in order to discover the key variables that predicted either staying or leaving in a relationship
• In line with Rusbults investment model commitment was a strong predictor of whether a relationship would break up, or satisfaction, quality of alternatives and investments were modest predictors of the likelihood of staying in a relationship or breaking up

Problems in measuring the variables of the investment model

• Difficult to measure commitment and other variables that lead to commitment
• Rusbult et al developed the investment model scale to overcome this problem
• It is high in both reliability and validity in the measurement of these variables and this is suitable for a wide variety of different populations
• Scale relies on self-report measures and people will want to present themselves in a good light therefore it could possibly be biased

Real world application: Explaining abusive relationships
- Investment model is able to explain why people persist in a violent relationship with an abusive partner, victims of partner abuse experience low satisfaction this leads us to predict that they would leave the abusive partner yet many stay
- The investment model highlights the lack of alternatives to the relationship, investments meaning that dissociation is too costly
Investment in the future is also important
- Goodfriend and Agnew elaborated on the original investment model, they suggested that the notion of investment should include not only things that have already been invested in the relationship but also plans that they had made
- By ending they lose prospects of future plans
- Some relationships persist due to a motivation to see future plans

The wide application of the investment model

• Strength is that its main claims are positively associated with satisfaction level and investment size is negatively associated with quality of alternatives
• Research has supported it across cultures and in different populations such as marital and non-marital relationships, gay and lesbian relationships, friendships and abusive relationships

Question 8

Relationship breakdown Evaluation

Answer 8

Fails to reflect the possibility of personal growth

• Duck (2005) acknowledged that his 1982 model failed to reflect the possibility of relational growth following breakdown, he introduced a new model with a final phase of resurrection process
• This is the opportunity to move beyond the stress of the relationship and have personal growth
• There is support from this for example Tashiro and Frazier surveyed 92 undergraduates who recently broke up with a romantic partner and they reported that they had felt distress but also personal growth

The impact of the social phase varies by type of relationship

• Duck (2005) this suggests that the nature and impact of social phase experienced during break up depends on the sort of relationship that is involved
• For example for teenagers romantic relationships are seen as unstable and not long term like adult relationships these are seen as testing grounds for future long term relationships
• As a result they receive sympathy but no real attempt at reconciliation
• Older people have lower expectations of being able to find a replacement for the present partner and consequences of a break up are more serve

Benefits of the grave-dressing phase

• Research supports the idea that the grave dressing phase is important in dealing with the after affects of a breakdown
• Monroe et al – found that students who experienced the end of a romantic relationship in the previous year had a greater risk of developing a major depressive disorder for the first time,
• Tashiro and Fraizer found that individuals are able to feel better about ending a relationship when they focus on how the situation rather than their own flaws was responsible for the breakup
• Therefore grave dressing does not threaten their psychological well being and makes it better

Ethical issues in breakdown research

• This is sensitive area so there are issues of vulnerability when revisiting issues that led to a breakdown
• There are privacy and confidentiality issues
• Benefits of carrying out the research must outweigh the costs, but this is difficult with dealing with vulnerable issues coping with the trauma and emotional distress associated with break ups

Real-world application: implications for intervention

• Ducks model stresses the importance of communication in relationship breakdown
• Things that people say, topics that they discuss, and the ways in which they talk about their relationship offers an insight into how they are thinking about their relationship and can lead to interventions by friends and family
• May lead to improvements and repair and re-evaluating behaviour seeing it in a more positive light

Question 9

Virtual relationships in social media

Answer 9

The importance of the internet for romantic relationships

• Rosenfeld and Thomas – demonstrated the importance of the internet and of social media in helping individuals to form and maintain relationships
• Study of 4,000 adults, they found that individuals with internet access at home were more likely to be partnered and less likely to be single
• 71.8% of the individuals who had internet access had a romantic partner or spouse and those who did not have internet access 35.9% had a romantic interest, even when other variables were controlled such as age, gender, education those with internet access was still twice as likely to have a relationship suggesting that the internet may be displacing rather than complementing the traditional ways

Virtual relationships can be as strong as offline relationships

• Often believed that internet relationships are superficial and they cannot compare with the richness off face to face relationships
• Thomas 2012 found no evidence for this claim and found no difference in the quality of online and offline relationships nor did they find that online relationships were more frahile than relationships formed offline

A biological basis for self-disclosure on facebook

• Tamir and Mitchell found evidence for a biological basis for the motivation to self disclose on social emdia
• Found increased MRI activity in the two brain regions that are associated with reward, the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area, these were strongly activated when people were talking about themselves and less so when they were talking about someone else
• Found that they also experienced pleasure when they shared thoughts with a friend or family and less pleasure when they were told to keep thoughts to themselves, therefore we feel the need to share on social media

Facebook helps shy people have better quality friendships

• Baker and Oswald (2010) argued that virtual relationships are helpful for shy people
• They can overcome the barriers that they face when trying to form relationships in real life
• Surveyed 207 shy men and women about their shyness, facebook usage and quality of friendships
• For students who scored high in shyness greater use of facebook was associated with higher perceptions of friendship quality, in contrast those who scored low for shyness Facebook usage was not associated with perception of friendship quality

Virtual relationships have consequences for offline relationships

• Zhao et al – claim that we should not think of the online world and the offline world as being completely separate, as relationships formed online do have consequences
• Development of online relationships allows individuals to bypass obstacles and create a identity which can enhance the individuals overall self-image

Question 10

Parasoical

Answer 10

Research support for factors involved in parasocial relationships
- Schlappa et al carried out a meta-analysis study that explored factors which were instrumental in the formation of PSRs
- The findings supported the assumption that people with higher levels of PSR watched more TV and showed a positive correlation between the amount of TV watched and the tendency to form PSR
- Also found evidence that the likelihood of forming PSR with TV characters was linked to the characters perceived attractiveness and
similarity

Are parasocial relationships linked to loneliness

• PSR were believed to be a substitute for real life relationships and linked to social isolation
• Research has shown that individuals have PSR to deal with loss and loneliness but other research has found no connection
• Eyal and Cohen 2006 found evidence between PSR and intensity of loneliness experienced in a parasocial break up, they had a sample of 279 students who were fans of the TV show friends, the intensity of the PSR with their favourite character was the strongest prediction of their feelings of loneliness following the broadcast of the final episode

The absorption addiction model: Links to mental health
- Maltby et al used the Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ) to assess the relationship between parasocial relationship level and personality, they found that whereas the entertainment social level was associated with extraversion, the intense-personal level was associated with neuroticism this is related to anxiety and depression and provides a clear view to why PSR is associated with bad mental health

Loss of a parasocial relationship is linked to attachment style

• An Israeli study supports the claim that viewers would show the same negative response to loss of a parasocial relationship as they would to the loss of a real relationship
• Sample of 381 adults completed questionnaires including questionnaires about their relationship with their favourite TV character and how they would react If there favourite character was taken of air and their attachment styles
• Viewer expecting to lose their favourite TV characters experienced sadness and negative feelings similar to those lost in close personal relationships these were associated with the viewers attachment style and the intensity of the PSR with the favourite character

Cultural similarities in parasocial relationships

• Schmid and Kilmmt investigated whether there would be differences in the PSRs formed with the fictional character Harry Potter in the two contrasting cultures
• They studied Germany which is an individualist culture and Mexico which is a collectivist culture
• Researchers found that fans from Mexico and Germany both showed similar patterns of PSRs with Harry Potter and the other characters and they found commonalities between the book and their own lives