human relationships theories

close relationship

a relationship involving strong and frequent interdependence in many domains of life

sternberg (1988) factors for relationship

• passion (butterflies, euphoria & sexual arousal)

• intimacy (warmth, closeness & sharing)

• commitment (intent to maintain a relationship in spite of the difficulties and costs)

biological explanation

human attraction has its roots in natural selection – that is, we are attracted to the traits that would have the greatest advantage for our potential offspring

strengths to biological approach

• scientific support - b and w provide strong empirical support for the impact of genes

• explains universal trends in attraction - why certain traits are commonly found desirable

limitations to biological approach

• does not account for non-heterosexual relationships, nor relaitonships where children are not the desired outcome

• correlational research

similarity attraction model

argues that people like and are more attracted to people who are similar rather than dissimilar to themselves hence, couples tend to be similar in age, religion, attitudes, cultural background, personality and education

cognitive balance

Brains trained to feel comfortable when things are consistent - having things in common makes lives easier and balanced

cognitive approach strengths

• helps to explain why people are drawn to others who match their ideal self or beliefs and accounts for individual differences

• can explain non-biological relationships

cognitive approach limitations

• overlooks biological and emotional factors

• correlational between personality similarity and attraction but cannot prove causality

mere exposure effect

• tendency to develop a preference for things simply because they are familiar with them

• the more frequently we are exposed to something, the more we like it

sociocultural approach strengths

• real life applicability

• simple explanation

• can operate subconsciously

sociocultural approach limitations

• does not guarantee attraction

• ignores deeper psychological or emotional factors

• reductionist

• limited long-term explanation

attribution theory 

attributions are beliefs on why someone behaves the way they do broadly these can be situational or dispositional. more specifically, attributions can be positive or negative, stable or unstable, global or specific 

positive vs negative

views outcomes with optimism vs pessimism and blame

unstable vs

view behaviour as temporary or changeable vs as permanent

specific vs global

behaviour limited to one situation vs extending the cause to many areas

fatal attraction hypothesis

the reason that you are initially attracted to someone can become the reason the relationship ends