Relationships

What is Anisogamy?

What is Anisogamy?

The differences between male sex cells and female sex cells.

What is the difference between male sex cells and female sex cells?

Male = small, created continuously in vast numbers from puberty to old age.

Female = large, produced for a limited number of fertile years

What is the consequence of Anisogamy?

there will be no shortage of fertile males but there is a shortage of fertile females.

What does the evolutionary approach explain?

It explains human behaviour in terms of adaptiveness and reproductive success.

What do these approaches argue?

They argue that if a behavioural feature for example partner selection has been genetically inherited by one generation from another, then it must have a specific value for the human species.

What does this help human adapt better to?

The environment and survive (natural selection) or it might help to attract a mate and have healthy offspring (sexual selection)

What does natural selection mean?

Natural selection means survival of the fittest and traits that are not needed for survival die out. It also includes genetic mutation

What does sexual selection mean?

Sexual selection means survival alone is not enough, and without mating, useful traits will not be passed on and will be lost. We also need traits that increase our chance of mating, not just survival. There is competition within species to pass on genes.

What is Inter-Sexual Selection?

Inter-sexual selection can sometimes be referred to as ‘female choice’. This is because it is the idea that women can reproduce fewer times and invest a greater amount of time and resources in their offspring so females need to be sure that their partner will provide the right genetic fit by being wiling to provide the necessary resources. They prefer ‘quality over quantity’

What is Intra-Sexual Selection?

Intra-Sexual selection is a male strategy, it refers to the evolutionary developed features that allow a male to compete with other males for a female mate. The winners effectively reduce the choice the opposite sex has and therefore increase their chance if being chosen for male reproductive purposes.

What does Intra-sexual selection lead to and what is it?

It leads to dimorphism, men are more competitive, they impregnate as many females as they wish due to having an unlimited amount of sperm. this lead to men favouring fertile mates such as certain body shapes and facial features, e.g women with big eyes = innocence and youth-fullness, hourglass figure = ability to reproduce demonstrate the female is clearly not pregnant

What does self disclosure mean and what is it?

Self disclosure is when we learn a much as we can about our new partner in the early days of the relationship. revealing personal information, and as the relationship develops, more is revealed.

What does social penetration theory propose?

It proposes that to develop attraction, it is vital that they both begin to exchange personal information, due to disclosure being an initial display of trust. as more information is passed between the couple, they penetrate deeper into each others personal lives which is a vital basic feature of romantic relationships.

What did Altman and Taylor propose about breadth and depth of self-disclosure?

They would argue that for attraction to develop and for the relationship to progress self disclosure needs to become serious and personal. self disclosure is suggested to have ‘layers’, as more important and serious topics are discussed, the relationship becomes more committed and serious.

What did Reis and Shaver propose about reciprocity of self disclosure?

There has to be a balance of intimate self-disclosure or trust will not be established between such well suited individuals.

What is a strength of self-disclosure as a factor affecting attraction.

• research support

• Sprecher used 156 uni students from usa and they were paired in asme sex or opposite sex dyads. the unacquainted pairs were asked to engage in a skype conversation.

• condition 1- dyads were asked to self disclose in a reciprocal manner where each individual in pair took turns to ask the other a question about themselves and alternated. condition 2- self disclosure was not reciprocal and 1 partner disclosed while other listened, they then swapped roles.

• they found that in the condition where ppts self disclosed in reciprocal manner, each alternating in the dyad throughout the interaction compared to the other interaction.

What is a

What is a

What is physical attraction as a factor affecting attraction?

From an evolutionary perspective there are physical traits that highlight fertility and good genetics. Attractiveness is not only important at the start of a relationship it also helps maintain relationships.

What is the Halo Effect and what did Dion et al find out about it?

Dion et al found that attractive people are consistently rated as kind and sociable when compared to unattractive people. This means we not only believe that good looking people are more physically attractive we expect them to have other desirable characteristics, this also means that we tend to behave more positively towards attractive people.

What is the Matching Hypothesis?

Individuals seeking a partner will not automatically go for the most attractive person but someone who matches their own level of physical attractiveness, but for the partners to be matched, a realistic judgement must be placed on our own physical attractiveness first, we have to compromise.

What is a limitation of physical attraction as a factor affecting attraction? (research questioning MH)

• research questioning the matching hypothesis

• taylor et al researched the activity log on a dating website

• they found that website users were more likely to try and arrange a meeting with a potential partner who was more physically attractive than them

• these findings contradict the matching hypothesis because website users should seek more dates with a person who is similar to them in terms of attractiveness because it provides them with a better chance of being accepted, this question the validity of the matching hypothesis

• however, taylor et al only researched websites for online dating and people may be more likely to lie about their attractiveness just to get a potential date.

What is another limitation of physical attraction as a factor affecting attraction? (cannot explain everything)

• cannot explain all relationships

• many researchers have suggested that the matching hypothesis only applies to short term relationships and not long term ones.

• many people compensate for lack of attractiveness with other qualities such as intellect or financial support. which may explain why some form sugar daddy relationships

• this is a limitation as theories into physical attraction may lack validity when it comes to explaining all relationships

What is a strength of physical attraction as a factor affecting attraction?

• research supporting the halo effect

• Palmer and Peterson asked people to rate how politically competent and knowledgeable attractive and unattractive may be based on pictures alone

• they found that attractive people were more likely to be rated as politically knowledgeable

• this is a strength as it supports the idea that physically attractive people would be rated as having a positive personality type too.

Explain Filter Theory

We have a field of available people when selecting a partner, not everyone is desirable. there are 3 main factors that act as a filters to narrow down our range of partner choices

What is Social Demography?

It is the first filter and it is geographical location, social class, education, ethnic group, religion.

How are you more likely to meet someone? (Social Demography)

When they are physically close and and share the same geographical characteristics. close proximity means accessibility and lower effort. Potential partners are constrained by social circumstances.

What is the outcome of this filter? (Social Demography)

Homogamy which is when you develop a relationship with someone who is socially or culturally similar

Why is similarity in attitudes important?

It is important for the development of relationships particularly when they are under 18 months. In the early stages of a relationship it is important for partners to agree over basic values.

What does this promote and what does this result in?

Self-disclosure and it results in attraction

What is complementarity?

The ability of romantic partners to meet each others needs.

When do two partners complement each other?

When they have traits the other lacks, e.g one partner may be dominant and the other may enjoy being nurtured.

What is this important for? (Complementarity)

Long term relationships

What is a parasocial relationship?

A one sided, unreciprocated relationship usually with a celebrity. the fan expends a lot of emotional energy and commitment.

What is the first level of parasocial relationships?

Entertainment Social

What does entertainment social include?

• it is the least intense level of celebrity worship.

• celebrity is a source of entertainment and fuel for social interactions for example friends discussing characters from a TV show.

• entertainment social means a fruitful source of gossip and social interaction.

What is the second level of parasocial relationships?

Intense Personal

What does intense personal include?

• An intermediate level of celebrity worship.

• having frequent obsessive thoughts and feelings.

• considering a celebrity a soul mate.

What is the last level of parasocial relationships?

Borderline Pathological

What does borderline pathological include?

• the strongest level of celebrity worship

• uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviours

• spending large amounts of money on a a celebrity related object or performing some illegal action the celebrity says so.

What does the Absorption-Addiction Model suggest?/ Why do people develop parasocial relationships?

It suggests that people pursue parasocial relationships due to deficits within their real life. relationships with celebrities are seen as an attempt to cope with or escape from reality. People may follow celebrities to gain a sense of personal identity and achieve a sense of fulfilment.

What does Absorption mean in the absorption-addiction model?

Seeking fulfilment in celebrity relationships, when they focus their attention on the celebrity and they become preoccupied with identifying with them.

What does Addiction mean in the absorption-addiction model?

The need to sustain and commit to relationship. ca result in extreme behaviours and delusional thoughts, stalking a celebrity believing they want to reciprocate their feelings but their manager is stopping them.

What is the Attachment Theory explanation/ Why do people develop parasocial relationships?

Forming parasocial relationships is due to attachment issues in childhood.

What are attachment theories?

Bowlby - issues with internal working model in childhood. The adult didn’t develop an IWM in their childhood so they have never learned how to attach to someone else and not had a secure attachment figure in their childhood.

Insecure attachment types?

Insecure-resistant attachment types from early childhood will be more likely to form parasocial relationships as they are too afraid of the criticism and rejection that are a part of real life relationships.