culture and race

what is attractive

There is much more agreement than disagreement from culture to culture and group to group about what faces and features are physically attractive.

culture counts too

Standards of attractiveness are affected by changing economic and cultural conditions

During hard times, when a culture’s food supply is unreliable, slender women are less desirable than heavy women are

• Only recently have some cultures come to believe that love and marriage go together

• Today, the belief that romantic love is a reason to marry is commonplace in North America

• However, it is held only in some regions of the world

different culture have held very different views of love

Cultural value: Is love desirable or undesirable?

Sexuality: Should love be sexual or nonsexual?

Sexual orientation: Should love involve same-sex or heterosexual partners?

Marital status: Should we love our spouses, or is love reserved for others?

how we feel when we are in love 

appears to be much the same around the world

fMRI studies show that the areas of the brain that are activated when people see photos of their romantic partners are generally the same in both cultures.

but cultural nuances exist

American vs Chinese experiences of falling in love

Americans emphasize the similarity and good looks of their partners

Chinese emphasize a desirable personality, others’ opinions, and their own physical arousal more

American vs Chinese experiences of being in love

Americans often think of love as like a fairy tale, with expectations of living happily ever after

In contrast, Chinese often believe that one’s partner is baffling and incomprehensible and that love itself is a mixed blessing

Love songs in China (compared to U.S.) refer to love as more enduring, but also more likely to include suffering and sadness, and more likely to result in disappointment

love marriages

People in western cultures such as the U.S. are more likely than those in the collectivist cultures to insist on love as a reason to marry

arranged marriages

those in collectivist cultures such as China, India and Japan are more likely to be guided by their parents wishes regarding who they should marry

The choice of a spouse is often a family decision in collectivist cultures, whereas young adults in America typically expect that their choice will be entirely up to them

what parents want 

• in general probably want the same qualities that you do 

  • They seek sons-in-law and daughters-in-law with good economic prospects who are attractive, smart, stable and kind.

• probably have different priorities than you 

  • Physical attractiveness doesn’t matter as much to them as it does to you.

  • You’ll care more about whether your spouse smells nice and is the right height and a trim weight more than your folks will, whereas they’ll care more about your mate’s race, social class, family background and religion.

  • They also don’t want you hooking up in casual sexual liaisons, especially if you are their daughter.

satisfaction differences

In China and Turkey, those in partner-selected (vs. arranged) marriages are happier, but in India, the opposite is true.

BUT: depends on marriage length. Among newlyweds, partner-selected marriages are happier; over time, arranged marriages in India report higher satisfaction

social norms

support and maintain male dominance

worldwide most cultures are still governed by norms of patriarchy that make it seem ordinary and natural for men to be in charge most of the time 

sex ratio

• are lower in countries in which women have more power

• equals number of men divided by number of women

• Cultures with high, in which there are only a few women, tend to support traditional roles and to be conservative WRT women’s sexuality

• Cultures with low, in which there are only a few men, tend to be less traditional and more permissive

western culture communication

directly expressing personal preferences is valued and linked to relational benefits

“Tell your partner your thoughts and feelings as clearly as possible”

East Asian culture communication

emphasize interdependence and connectedness of the self with others

Because maintaining harmonious relationships are integral to the sense of self, individuals are expected to subordinate their own needs and desires to those of others

Accordingly, these individuals are strongly motivated to adjust their behaviors to fit with others’ needs and expectations, including close others.

Individuals with interdependent selves may communicate indirectly to facilitate adjustment to social environments.

“Find opportunities to raise the topic gently, expecting your partner will get your point”

stressors in the lives of African American couples

Most stressors, such as financial strain, negatively impact couples

Racial discrimination, by contrast, is a stressor that is large in scale, external to the relationship, and difficult to control

Rather than attempting to manage racial discrimination directly, victims of discrimination may attempt to cope with these stressful experiences by turning to their partners

clavel study 

Clavél and colleagues examined how support providers’ stressful experiences (financial strain and racial discrimination) differentially influence their supportiveness, using longitudinal data from two samples of African American couples.

Those who experienced high chronic financial strain behaved less supportively toward their partners

Those who experienced frequent racial discrimination behaved more supportively over a 2-year period.

This suggests that supportiveness in relationships may be differentially shaped by the specific stresses and strains that partners face.