Psychology - Relationships

Self disclosure intro

Sharing details about ourselves helps people know each other better and strengthen relationships

What are the 4 key aspects of self disclosure

Deliberate, significant, not normally known, risky

What are Altman and Taylor (1973) responsible for?

Social penetration theory SPT. Self disclosure is a major concept in it.

What is social penetration theory?

The gradual process of revealing our inner selves to another person. It involves the RECIPROCAL exchange of information between partners.

What are the 2 elements of self disclosure?

Breadth and depth. Breadth = the number of topics available based on familiarity. Depth = How deep (meaningful) the details disclosed are. Both increase as the relationship matures.

Reciprocity

The idea that when one partner discloses, the other should also disclose in return. Reis and Shaver (1988) view reciprocity as essential for any romantic relationship to develop.

What is Supporting Research for Self-Disclosure?

Sprecher and Hendrick (2004)

Sprecher and Hendrick (2004)

Studied the effects of self disclosure reciprocity on liking encounters for heterosexual dating couples. Ppts who disclosed reciprocally reported greater liking, closeness, perceived similarity, and enjoyment. Therefore self disclosure is more valid and useful.

Cultural differences

Type of self disclosure can vary according to culture. In the (individualistic) US (more sexual thoughts and feelings are disclosed than in (collectivist) China. Theory is limited due to being based on Western cultures - not necessarily generalisable to others. Research should be conducted cross culturally using indigenous researchers.

What are honest signals?

Signals of genetic fitness that cannot be faked. This term comes from evolutionary psychology.

What did Shackelford and Larsen (1997) find?

That people with symmetrical faces are rated as more attractive. This is because it is an honest signal which might imply genetic fitness. Baby face features are more attractive because they elicit protective and caring instincts.

What is the Halo effect?

the phenomenon by which people attribute positive qualities to more attractive individuals

What did Dion et al. (1972) find and what phrase did they use to sum it up?

that more physically attractive people are consistently rated as kind, strong, sociable, and successful. “What is beautiful is good”.

What is the matching hypothesis?

The idea that people are more likely to succeed in relationships and claim to like people who are of roughly equal physical attractiveness.

Explain the matching hypothesis.

To successfully match ourselves to a partner, we need to assess our own value to them. We balance the desire to be with the most attractive person possible with out desire to avoid rejection.

What happened in the original attempt to confirm the matching hypothesis?

It failed because of an unreliable measure of attractiveness but other studies support the idea.

Supporting evidence - Walster et al (1966)

Name: the computer dance

What was the procedure of Walster et al?

Male and female students were invited to a dance. They were objectively rated on attractiveness by others and they completed a questionnaire about themselves. They were told a computed would use this info to decide a partner for them when they were actually paired randomly

What were the findings of Walster et al?

Did not support the hypothesis. The most liked partners were also the most physically attractive rather than taking their own level of attractiveness into account. However, when the study was replicated but each participant was able to select their partner from people with varying degrees of attractiveness, participants tended to choose partners who matched them in terms of physical attractiveness.

What were the conclusions of Walster et al?

We tend to seek a partner whose attractiveness matches our own. Choice of partner is a compromise.

What did Wheeler and Kim (1997) find?

Korean and American students judged physically attractive people to be more trustworthy, concerned with other people, mature, and friendly. This suggests the stereotype is just as strong in collectivist cultures as it is in individualistic ones.

What is filter theory?

The idea that people help themselves in their selection of romantic partners by applying three ‘levels of filters’ to the pool of available candidates.

Who proposed filter theory?

Kerchoff and Davis (1962). They compared the attitudes and personalities of student couples in short-term (under 18 months) and long-term relationships. They suggest that in our choice of romantic partner, we progress through three levels of ‘filtering’ to narrow down the pool of available partners to a field of ‘desirables’

What is the first filter in filter theory?

Social demography - factors that influence the chance of potential partners meeting each other.

What is the second filter in filter theory?

Similarity (in attitudes and interests)

What is the third filter in filter theory?

Complementarity - When one partner has traits that the other lacks

What is social exchange theory?

In a relationship partners try to minimise losses and maximise gains (the minimax principle)

What are the 2 ways to measure profit in a romantic relationship?

Comparison level - the amount of reward you believe you deserve to get, comparison level for alternatives - comparing the costs and rewards of the current relationship to potential other relationships or being alone

What are the 4 stages of social exchange theory?

Sampling - exploring the rewards and costs of social exchange by experimenting with them in our own relationships or by observing others doing so

bargaining - the beginning of a relationship when romantic partners start exchanging various rewards and costs, negotiating, and identifying what is most profitable

commitment - when the sources of costs and rewards become more predictable and the relationship becomes more stable as rewards increase and costs lessen

institutional - partners now settle down because norms (in terms of rewards and costs) are firmly established

SET Eval - Direction of cause and effect

SET assumes that we evaluate first and then this evaluation either leads to satisfaction or dissatisfaction when research suggests the reverse is often true. Argyle (1987) claims we don’t measure costs and rewards or consider the attractiveness of alternatives until we’re already dissatisfied.

SET eval - Vague concepts

SET concepts are difficult to quantify. Real world rewards are subjective and hard to define. It is also unclear how comparison level works (what the values for it must be before dissatisfaction threatens a relationship). Hard to objectify. All of this reduces the usefulness of SET to explain relationship maintentance.

What is equity theory?

The theory that in a successful relationship both partners’ level of profit is roughly the same

What are the 2 types of inequity in a relationship?

over-benefitting = guilt, under-benefitting = anger/resentment

What are the 2 consequences of inequity?

Split up or deal with it

What are the 2 methods of salvaging an inequitable relationship?

Restore actual equity or restore perceived equity

Equity theory supporting research - Hatfield et al (1989)

interviewed over 2,000 newly married couples about their perception of their relationship

Equitable partner’s = more likely to think their relationship would last

under-benefitted partners = more likely to cheat

Greatly over/under-benefitted partners = Had less confidence that their relationship would last

Equity theory limitation - Individual differences

Not all partners in romantic relationships are concerned about achieving equity. Huseman (1987) suggests that some people are less sensitive to equity than others. There are Benevolents (people who contribute more than they receive) and Entitleds (people who think they deserve to over-benefit and accept it without guilt). However, a nomothetic theory is useful to predict behaviour.

Equity theory - Cultural limitations

Individualistic cultures prefer equitable relationships. Collectivist cultures prefer over-benefitting. Therefore it’s a limited explanation.

Rusbult’s investment model

states that commitment depends on three factors: satisfaction, investment and comparison with alternatives.

What are the two types of investment?

Intrinsic = resources we put directly into the relationship

Extrinsic = resources that did not exist before the relationship but are now closely associated with it

What are the 3 relationship maintenance mechanisms?

Accommodation - promoting/prioritising the relationship

Forgiveness - forgiving any serious transgressions

Willingness to sacrifice - putting their partner’s interests first

Investment model eval - Research support

Le and Agnew (2003) conducted a meta-analysis of 52 studies with 11,000 participants and 5 countries. They found that investment was the greatest predictor of maintenance. This supports investment theory as an explanation of maintenance.

Investment model eval - explains abusive relationships

Rusbult and Martz (1995) interviewed women living in refuges. Women who had the highest commitment and lowest attractive alternatives were most likely to go back.

Investment model eval - Reductionist

There is more to investment than the resources you have put in. Investments can be made to future plans. The model fails to recognise the true complexity of investment. A more holistic explanation would be more useful.