Personal Relationship Studies

Background of Gottman

The ways in which couples deal with conflict can largely predict the likelihood of the termination of the relationship. During an argument, there are "four horsemen" that must be avoided and replaced by other techniques to demonstrate respect and love towards the partner, instead of aggression and negativity. - 4 horsemen:- Critisism: Criticising the partner's personality and character, rather than the behaviour - Contempt: Criticism with the intention of psychologically abusing and insulting the partner. (name-calling, sarcasm, rolling eyes) - Defensiveness: Denying responsibility, making excuses or returning their partner's complaint with their own - Stonewalling: Removing oneself from the conversation, by refusing to speak, removing eye contact, monosyllabic responses or changing the subject -Ways to resolve: - Criticism: "I" statements - Contempt: Respect - Defensiveness: Accepting responsibility - Stonewalling: Taking a break

Aim of Gottman

To create and test models of causes of relationship dissolution as well as investigate what makes marriages last.

Participants of Gottman

200 couples followed for 20 years

Procedure of Gottman

• Couples were interviewed about their frequency of fights, types of conflicts etc. - Couples were observed in "love labs" before and after discussing common conflict areas in the relationship, where facial expressions, physiological responses (pulse, sweating), tone of voice, what was said was recorded. The time spent in positive and negative interaction was measured.

Results of Gottman

1. Three Styles of problem solving were found in healthy marriages:- Validating: Couples communicate and compromise to calmly work out their problem to mutual satisfaction- Volatile: Recurrent conflicts with passionate disputes, tend to view each other as equal, individuality is important, passionate and exciting marriages - Conflict avoiding: Agreeing to disagree, no confrontation 2. The ratio of positive interactions to negative interactions must be 5:1 (eg for every insult, 5 compliments must be given) The marriage was likely to be stable if this ration was maintained 3. Ways of communicating including the 4 horsemen often predicted relationship breakdown

Background of Bradbury and Fincham

• Happy relationships engage in RS-enhancing patterns when there's a disagreement; don't blame or assume partner things did on purpose - Distress-maintaining pattern; unhappy couples blame partners for what happens and don't give credit for positive events

Procedure of Bradbury and Fincham

• Observational study - 47 couples all married for 8 years gained through local media - Couples considered if married, living together and not been for marriage counselling - Completed survey to determine marital satisfaction and questionnaire for greatest problems in marriage - Researcher chose common problems from questionnaire and asked all p's cause and who's responsible. Asked each problem specifically from questionnaire that spouse did not identify as problem- Couples brought together and discussed solutions to problems identified (observed in lab and videotaped) - Researchers independently coded and videotaped to identify RS-enhancing and distress-maintaining patterns of communication

Findings of Bradbury and Fincham

• Couples who reported lower level of marital satisfaction had more frequent distress-maintaining patterns of communication - Interactions between such couples were rates as hostile and rejecting positive approaches of partner

Aim of Dion et al

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the halo effect in choosing a partner.

Procedure of Dion et al

Research Method: Experiment — Sample: 30 male and 30 female undergraduate students from a US university - 1. Participants were told that they were participating in a study regarding "accuracy in people perception" and being compared to graduate students who had been trained in that area. 2. They were each given three envelopes containing photos of people their age, one being considered physically attractive, the other moderately attractive, and the last one unattractive. The researchers used 12 different sets of photos. 3. Half of the participants were given photos of people of the same sex while the other half were given photos of the opposite sex. The set of photos, the gender received and the order in which they were to be opened were all randomly allocated. 4. The participants were asked to rate the person on 27 personality traits on a six-point scale. 5. After that, they were asked to complete a survey on who they thought was the most and least likely to experience marital happiness, parental happiness, and overall happiness. 6. Finally, they were asked to indicate who would be most likely to engage in 30 different occupations. The occupations were divided into "low status," "average status" and "high status".

Results of Dion et al

It was found that the people considered attractive were predicted to be happier, more successful, and possess more positive personality traits. However, this was not true in the case of parenting, where they were actually predicted to be worse parents.

Aim of Markey and Markey

To investigate the role of similarity in choosing romantic partners.

Method of Markey and Markey

A volunteer sample of 103 female and 66 male undergraduate students who were single but interested in finding a romantic partner (mean age 19.01) were recruited through advertisements. First ppts completed a questionnaire where they rated their own personality, values and attitudes. They then had to do the same for their romantic ideal, without thinking of anyone in particular. They also completed filler questionnaires to disguise the true purpose of the study.

Results of Markey and Markey

The study found that ppts described themselves and their ideal partner very similarly; warm people were attracted to others who were warm, the same was found for dominance. The results indicate that people believe that similarity in a potential partner is important but this ideal partner might is difficult to find.

Conclusion of Markey and Markey

This supports the similarity-attraction model because participants wanted a partner who had similar attitudes, beliefs and values to themselves.

Aim of Li et al

To investigate potential differences in mate preferences between Singaporeans and Americans, specifically focusing on short-term and long-term relationships

Procedure of Li et al

• Participants in the study consisted of undergraduate psychology students, with 207 attending a Midwestern American university and 200 attending a Singaporean university - Unlike Buss's study, Li et al. (2010) examined bot short-term and long-term relationships - Researchers provided the participants with 100 "mate dollars" and instructed them to allocate these dollars across five different traits: physical attractiveness, social status, creativity, kindness, and liveliness - The participants made their allocations based on their considerations for either a short-term or a long-term relationship

Results of Li et al

• Study revealed that, for short-term relationships, men and women from both cultures prioritised physical attractiveness - However, when considering long-term relationships, both American and Singaporean men prioritised physical attractiveness, while women from both countries prioritized social status - Findings suggested that an evolutionary explanation of mate choice might be more influential than cultural differences in shaping mate preferences

Aim of Moreland and Beach

The aim of this study is to test the validity of the mere-exposure effect.

Procedure of Moreland and Beach

Research Method: field experiment — Sample: 130 undergraduate psychology students (63 male; 67 female); all of the participants were taking a personality psychology course in a large lecture hall. — 1. Four women (confederates) posed as students in the course. Each of them attended a different number of lectures. Woman A attended no session; woman B attended 5 sessions; woman C attended 10 sessions; woman D attended 15 sessions. It was randomly determined which sessions they attended. 2. Every time one of the women attended a lecture, she arrived at the lecture hall a few minutes before class began, walked slowly down toward the front of the hall, and sat where she could be seen by all the other students. During the lecture, she simply listened and took notes. A few minutes after class ended, the woman rose, walked slowly up toward the back of the hall, and left. In order to create conditions of mere exposure, none of the women was allowed to interact with the other students. 3. At the end of the semester the students were shown a slide-show of the four women. They were asked to fill out a questionnaire where they had to rank them on a scale of 1-7 on several traits such as attractiveness, popularity, intelligence, warmth, honesty, and success. They were also asked whether they knew the woman or if she was familiar.

Results of Moreland and Beach

It was found that even though none of the students found the women familiar, the more lectures the woman attended, the more positive traits she was attributed.

aim of Roney and Von-Hippel

to see if males would cary out dangerous tasks in the presence of an attractive female, rather than in front of a male, further more if testosterone could account for this behaviour

sample size of Roney and Von-Hippel

96 Australian adult males, mean age of 22, selected at skateboard parks

procedure of Roney and Von-Hippel

-two conditions 1 with a male researcher, the other with a female researcher -the experiment was taken in between 2 and 6 pm -skateboarders were asked to do one "easy" trick and a harder trick, one that they landed 50% of the time. -they were asked to do each trick 10 times -after taking a break they were asked to repeat this but this time either in front of the same male researcher or an attractive female 18 year old researcher blind to the hypothesis -samples of saliva were taken to measure testosterone and heart rate was measured before and after the experiment

results of Roney and Von-Hippel

-as expected skateboarders took higher risks in front of the attractive female researcher as there were less signs of aborted attempts -testosterone levels were higher in the skateboarders that had the attractive female researcher -no significant difference in heart rate between both groups

findings

-the group with the attractive female researcher took more risks, this could be due to the high(er) levels of testosterone in their body, providing an evolutionary understanding to the behaviour exhibited. -According to evolutionary theory, this makes sense. The increased risk-taking is a sign to potential mates that the male is healthy, strong, and dominant - that is, would be able to intimidate any potential rival.