relationships

natural selection

A natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment.

sexual selection

A form of natural selection in which individuals with certain inherited characteristics are more likely than other individuals to obtain mates.

Human reproductive behaviour

Any behaviours which relate to opportunities to reproduce and thereby increase the survival chances of our genes.

intersexual selection

Selection whereby individuals of one sex (usually females) are choosy in selecting their mates from individuals of the other sex; also called mate choice.

intrasexual selection

A direct competition among individuals of one sex (usually the males in vertebrates) for mates of the opposite sex.

Supporting evidence: intersexual selection Buss 1989

Questionnaires in 33 countries studying 37 cultures

Questionnaires to respondents to date factors like age, intelligence ( relating to variety of attributes which evolutionary theory predicts will be important to partner preference)

Men found physical attractiveness more than women did, women were more likely than men to value good earning potential/high occupational status ( sign on resourcefulness that could be invested in offspring)

Men also more likely to value youth and chastity

EVALUATION: INTER SEXUAL SELECTION STRENGTH

P: A strength of intersexual selection is that the supporting evidence has high population validity.

E: Buss' study used a very large cross-cultural sample of 10,000 participants from 37 cultures in 33 countries.

E: This is a strength of the study as the findings are therefore representative of large numbers of people from many cultures

L:This study therefore provides strong reliable evidence to support inter-sexual selection as the same behaviours were found across all cultures

(universal) which suggests that mate selection is innate/genetic rather than culturally determined.

LIMITATION

P: A limitation of inter sexual selection is that social desirability may have affected female responses.

E: Females may be less likely to want to report finding physical attributes attractive in a

potential male partner.

E: This is a limitation of the study as the findings, at least for female respondents, may not be totally valid reflections of their preferences.

L: This study therefore may only provide limited evidence to support inter-sexual selection.

STRENGTH

P: A strength of the inter-sexual selection explanation of human reproductive behaviour / partner preferences is that it has high face validity.

E: The existence of 'trophy wives', 'gold diggers',

and 'sugar daddies' and that females often alter their appearance through use of make-up, cosmetic surgery etc. and lie about their age to appear younger and more fertile. In addition males use deceit to exaggerate their resources in order to persuade females to mate with them. This indicates that males and females use different strategies to maximise reproductive potential.

E: These behaviours provide real world evidence in support of the validity of gender differences in mate choice because they are predicted by evolutionary explanations.

L: This therefore provides good evidence for evolutionary explanations and suggests that they have high explanatory

sexual dimorphism

Differences in physical characteristics between males and females of the same species.

suppporting evidence: intra sexual selection (buss 1988)

- Men are significantly more 1lkely than worn en to make threats of violence towards others who were

perceived to have made sexual advances towards their mate:

- Females, in contrast, are more likely to use verbal aggression towards potential tivals.

- Females often target the attractiveness of the sexual conduct of their competitors in their verbal

aggression and appear to aim to reduce their competitor's attractiveness in the eyes of the male.

Daly and Wilson (1988)

90% of all same sex murders involve men at an age when mate competition is most intense and that a large proportion of this violence is connected to sexual rivalry.

Parental investment

any investment by a parent that increases the chance that the offspring will survive at the expense of the parents ability to invest in any other offspring (alive or yet to be born)

Anisogamy

Refers to a difference in gamete size in males and females. Eggs large and costly, sperm small and cheap

Supporting evidence: Parental investments Clarke & Hatfield (1989)

-Attractive confederates approached opposite-sex strangers on a university campus and asked one of three questions : "I've noticed you around and I find you very attractive: a) would you go out with me tonight ? M&F\= 50%B)would you come over to my apartment tonight ? F\= 6% M\= 69% C) Would you go to bed with me tonight? F\= 0 % M\= 75%

-96 students asked no woman agreed

- findings suggest that females are choosier than men when it comes to casual sex- arguably because of their higher parental investment

-Clark and Hatfield' study helps us to understand intersexual selection because it suggests that men are more promiscuous than women.

-Evolutionary theory suggests that these behaviours have evolved because males have low parental investment and lack paternity certainty whereas women have both high parental investment and maternity certainty.

Evaluation (Limitations)

P: C&H have low population validity

E: study only used sample of uni students from one uni, could be expected due to young age and environment they're used to concept of causal sex so students may given response that doesn't reflect all

E: The results provide limited evidence for sex differences relating to parental investment particularly as the low population validity cannot help us understand the universality of promiscuity in males and the lack of promiscuity in females

EVALUATION LIMITATIONS 2

P:Clark and Hatfield's study may not be as relevant to today's society.

E: 75% of men, but no women, agreed to have sex with a stranger but the participant's answer to the question might not be a true reflection of their feelings. Their answer might instead be influenced by social desirability and the fact that it was socially unacceptable in 1989 for women to agree to have sex with a stranger.

E: Due to change in social attitudes it is now more acceptable for women to be sexually active and to talk freely about sex. Sex isn't always directly linked to reproduction as women are now less dependent than previous generations so male resources are less important. Access to contraception has clearly had an impact on sexual behaviour. Women's greater role in the workplace means they are no longer dependent on men. Bereczkei (1997) suggests women no longer have resource orientated mate preferences. Chang (2001) compared partner preferences in China over 25 years, some changed, and others remained the same, changing in line with social changes.

L: Therefore the results may lack temporal validity and the social and cultural climate should be considered when using evidence to support evolutionary theory.

EVALUATION: EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

P: Limitation is that explanation of human reproductive behavior/partner preferences only cover heterosexuality, assumes that all relationships are sexual. this is not the case, so it is oversimplified cant explain diversity of human relationships

E: cant explain long distance romantic relationships, those done over the internet. or couples choosing to not have kids, assumes all relationships motivated by desire to reproduce.

E: suggests evolutionary explanations cannot be applied to all types of relationships

L: evolutionary explanations may not be a valid expo of all relationships

FURTHER EVALUATION OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

P: deterministic

E: if sexual selection, human reproductive behavior all driven by evolutionary considerations they would be predictable. but non hetero relationships and fact that human reprodcutive behavior has changed dramatically (widespread use of contraception and couples choosing not to have kids) implies we have more control (free will) than they EA suggests.

Fact women have been denied economic/political power in many countries might account for tendency to rely on resources provided by men

E: limitation\= shows mate preferences are outcome of combination of evolutionary/ cultural influences. E theory underestimate impact as it it based solely on genetic factors.

E: therefore, evolutionary explanations may not be a valid expo of all relationships

self-disclosure

the act of revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others which leads to increased attraction

Altman and Taylor's Social Penetration Theory

-focuses on the pradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else, of revealing your deepest thoughts/feelings

-romantic relationships this involves reciprocal exchange of information between/intimate partners

-When one partner reveals some personal information they display trust, for the relationship to develop the other partner must do the same in return.

- as each partners gradually discloses more and more personal info romantic partners penetrate more deeply into each others' lives and gain a greater understanding of each other

Breadth and Depth of Self-Disclosure

As each of these increases, so romantic partners become more attracted to each other. Breadth of disclosure means at the start of a relationship we disclose low risk' information we would share with many other people.

• This is because if we reveal too much about ourselves too soon this can reduce the attractiveness of a person.

• As the relationship develops self-disclosure becomes deeper as we progressively reveal more about ourselves. A wider range of topics are covered as we gradually discuss those things that matter most to us, 'high-risk' information such as

painful memories, strongly-held beliefs, and secrets.

Reciprocity of self-disclosure

There must also be a reciprocal element to high-risk self-disclosure. There is an expectation that as one person has begun to self-disclose, particularly if the information is high-risk, there is an expectation that any response will be understanding and empathetic. This increases attraction due to increased intimacy that deepens the relationship and making it more likely to be maintained.

Factors affecting self disclosure

-appropriateness if the disclosure is influenced timing: Sometimes disclosing personal information is inappropriate, for example doing so on a first date may be viewed as 'over the top', indicating that a person is maladjusted and lacking in social skills.

-culture: Social norms influence what information is okay to reveal at what times. Those found more attractive are likely to display what is expected. Disclosure of highly intimate information may be seen as inappropriate and as violating social norms especially if a relationship is in early stages

Gender differences: women seen as better communicators & more interested by intimate info. Intimate self disclosure by males may be seen as like desirable. Alternatively, self disclosure by male may be seen as rewarding in eyes of female as indicates he wants to disclose personal info to her specifically. Men may feel uncomfortable if women do it to them.

Supporting evidence: self disclosure sprecher & hendrick (2004)

-Sprecher & Hendrick (2004) conducted a longitudinal study of mainly white, middle class heterosexual dating couples using questionnaires and found strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction and reciprocal self-disclosure.

-They found both men and women who self-disclosed and believed that their partner did likewise were more satisfied with, and committed to, their relationship than those for whom this was not the case.

-However, self-disclosure was not a strong predictor of whether the couple stayed together or broke up

Evaluation of self disclosure LIMITATION\= correlational

P:A limitation of self-disclosure is that this research evidence is correlational.

E:Much self-disclosure research is correlational (such as that of Sprecher & Hendrick 2004) which does not demonstrate causation.

E:This is a limitation because evidence doesnt enable us to conclude self-disclosure causes a partner to be seen as attractive but could be another factor such( perceived similarity). Factors other than high levels of self-disclosure may explain why some romantic relationships are successful / others fail.

L:Therefore only weak evidence for the social penetration theory of factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships.

Strength of self disclosure practical solutions

E:It can help people who want to improve communication in their relationships and strengthen their romantic bond with their partner. Hass and Stafford (1998) found that 57% of gay men and women in their study said that open and honest self-disclosure maintained and deepened their relationship.

E:If less-skilled individuals, for instance, those who tend to limit communication to 'small talk' can learn to use selt-disclosure effectively then this could bring benefits to their relationships in terms of satisfaction.

L: This is a strength because effective applications in relationship counselling suggests that the theory that self- disclosure leads to more satisfying relationships is valid. Such real-life application demonstrates the value of psychological insight.

Limitation of self disclosure:Researchers outline that there may be differences in the levels of self-disclosure over the internet compared to face

to face relationships.

E: Individuals communicating over the internet are often anonymous, this may lead them to reveal more information about themselves, known as the 'boom and bust' phenomenon. When people reveal more information about themselves earlier than they would in a face-to-face interaction, relationships get intense very quickly (boom)).

E: However, because of the underlying trust and true knowledge of the other person are not there to support the relationship, it becomes difficult to sustain (bust).

L:This would explain why many individuals who are certain that they have found their "soulmate' online may leave an established relationship to meet people who do not turn out to be what they fist seemed

A limitation of social penetration theory of factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships is that the evidence

to support it may be culturally biased.

E:For example, Sprecher & Hendrick (2004) studied mainly white, middle-class couples in America. However, Tang et.al's (2013) meta-analysis concluded that men and women in the USA (an individualist culture) self-disclose significantly more sexual thoughts and feelings than do men and women in China (a collectivist culture). Each of

these levels of self-disclosure was linked to relationship satisfaction in those cultures suggesting that high levels of sexual self-disclosure are not a key feature of relationships in China but are in the USA.

E:This suggests that the importance of self-disclosure as an aspect of attraction is moderated by the influence of culture.

L: Therefore self-disclosure theory which is based on findings from individualist cultures may not generalise to collectivist cultures.

halo effect

Physical attractiveness stereotype

- physically attractive people constantly rated as kind, sociable/successful when compared to unattractive people.

- belief that good looking people probably have these characteristics makes them even more attractive so we behave positively towards them- exmp of SFP

-existence of (HE) confirms that physical attractiveness is an important factor in the initial formation of relationships, romantic or otherwise.

Supporting evidence: physical attractiveness Eastwick and Finkel (2008)

-To investigate whether physical attractiveness predicts real-life partner choice for men and women.

- They used evidence from speed dating and backed this up with longitudinal follow-up procedure 30 days later. Prior to the speed dating sessions, participants showed traditional sex differences when stating the importance of physical attractiveness (men) and earning prospects (women) in an ideal partner.

- Ideal preferences failed to predict what inspired their actual behaviour at the event.

-No significant sex difference emerged in the degree to which judgements of targets' physical attractiveness or earning prospects influenced speed daters' romantic interest in those targets.

Eval physical attractiveness strength

P: physical attractiveness in long-term partners is more important for males, then research should show that males with physically attractive partners are more satisfied with their relationship. There is research to support sex differences in the importance of physical attractiveness.

E:Melter et al. (2014) provided support for this claim. They found that objective ratings of wives' attractiveness were positively related to levels of husbands' satisfaction at the beginning of the marriage and remained that way over at least the first four years of marriage.

E:This is strengthened by the findings that females' objective ratings of husband's physical attractiveness were not related to wives' marital satisfaction, either initially or over time.

L:This may have important implications in that women may experience increased pressures to maintain their physical attractiveness in order to successfully maintain a long-term relationship.

matching hypothesis

The matching hypothesis claims that when people look for a romantic relationship they tend to look for someone whose level of physical attractiveness matches our own.

When choosing a partner, individuals must first assess their own 'value' in the eyes of a potential romantic partner and then select the best available candidates who would be most likely to be