relationships A03

what is a strength of evoluntionary explanations of partner prefrence

there is research support from Buss. Across 33 countries, 10k adults were asked about their mate prefrences. It was found that males prioritised factors that indicates reproductive capacity- such as young age.

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what was found for women

they tended to priortise factors that indicated the abibility to provide resources such as being tall and strong. This indicates that the evolutionary basis has a place, as it shows its relevant in real world

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another strength

research(buss) accounts for cultural differences, research has been conducted in over 33 countries- showing that universal partner prefrences are universal.

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research support for the hip to waist ratio

one of predictions is that men will prefer a particular body shape- that indicates fertility. Singh studied this as long as hip to waist ratio is around 0.7 is dont matter size- as this shows not pregnant, sexually mature and fertile.

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weaknesses

evolutionary explanations cannot explain why homesexual relationships develop- and is also less relevangt in societies where many women have experienced great changes- meaning they no longer require on male to provide resources, oudated.

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this shows that

its a mix of cultural and evolutionary factors(contraception, peoples end goal isnt to have children if they use contraception)- suggesting that relying on evolutionary explanation would be incomplete.

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strength of physical attractiveness is that there is research support for the halo effect

Palmer and peterson found that attractive people were seen to be more politically knowledgeable and contempemant than unattractive people- this persisted even when they knew they had no experitise- demonstrates power of halo effect

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real world implications in political systems

MPs may just be elected based on the basis of good looks- as the halo effect has been found to effect many other areas of life- attractive people are kind, sociable, freindly in relation to unattractive people

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research has contradicted the matching hypothesis

taylor studies the activity logs on a popular online dating site, found that people arranged meetings with those who they perceived as more attractive than themselves- this contradicts the matching hypothesis- suggesting its oudated.

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last strength

Research support for differences in importance of physical attraction between genders.if its more important for men, those with fit gyal should have higher satisfaction. Meltzer concluded this bjective ratings for wives atrtaciveness were positively corre

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yhhh

so this remained for 4 years and it was found that men generlaly value physical attractievness more than women. and this was not the same for women in meltzer.

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what is a strength of self disclosure as a theory of attraction

theres research support from spreecher and hendrick. A longidunal study of couples on dates, men and women were found to show similar levels of self disclosure. Positive correlation between disclosure/quality of relationship

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what does this sugggest?

suggests that self disclosure is reciprocal , and that higher levels are assosiated with attraction towards a partner.

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weakness of this research- spreacher and hendrick is that

it estalishes correlelation not casuality- there may not be a casual link- instead of disclosure causing attractiveness, attractiveness may cause self disclosure- filter theory as well because we may disclosure more to those with similar attitudes.

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real world applications

research suggests that it may improve romantic relationships and communictaion, people may wish to use it as a way of improvinhg their own relationships- to strengthen their bond- maintain and deepending is done by self disclosure.

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clear weakness is cultural differences

the prediction that increased depth abd breadth of self disclosure will lead to more satisfying and intimate relationships, this may not hold true for all cultures. In Individtaulostic (USA) versus china- different levels of sexual self disclosure and var

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gender bias- alpha

women are better communicators than men- share more information, but is there a great diffeence? apha bias

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whats a strength of kerchoff and davies filter theory

there is face validity-importance of the three filters changes over time- which makes intutive sense- as ,most couples would describe this experience.

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counterpoint

low temporal validity as the rise of online dating and virtual relationships, in apps like tinder, has meant that filter theory is outdated. For example, social demographic variables are much less of a factor-different locations, social classes than say 5

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research support from winch

simialirties in attitudes, personalities, intrests are typical of early stages- echoes the matching hypothesis in terms of not only physical attractiveness, but that we match ourselves based on similar attitudes/ needs- and complimentary- opposites attrac

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failure to replicate(levinger)

many studies have failed to replicate the original findings that form the basis of filter theory, due to changes over time and challenges in determining depth of relationship based on length.

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what did kirchoff and davies suggest

a relationship is deep if it carrys on past 18 months- but this may not always be the case-

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what is a strength of social exchange theory

research support from rusbults longitudnal study using questionaires, 17 males and females in normal relationships acsessed. questions were based on costs/ rewards, comparisons with alternatives

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findings

cost benefit analysis meant little in early stahes, but perceived profits and balance between rewards/ costs became greater in later stages- all costs/ benefits were considered in regard to CL and CLOA.

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what does it suggest?

that people judge whether or not they should end a relationship based on there alternatives/ perceived profits- a central prediction of the social exchange theory

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who is this research futher supported by?

spreecher in a study of 101 dating couples found that commitment/ satisfaction decreased as alternatives increased

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how do we critise this research

we are unlikely to conciously examine the precise costs/ rewards of a relationship- physiologcial rewards are challenging to measure- untestable concepts, many percieved rewards or cost benefit analysis occurs unconciously.

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major weakness

the social exchange theory ignores equity- fairness, overly focused on balance of rewards/ costs but ignores fairness in relationships- which research suggests is of greater importance than simple costs/ rewards.

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strength of the investment model(rusbult

research support. Le/ agnew meta analysis 52 studies, from 5 countries. found that satisfaction, comparison level for alternatives and investment were key predictors of commitment. where commitment was greatest, relationship was stable/long lasting

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strength of these findings

they were true for men/ women across all cultures. and gays. suggests that there is validity in rusbults claim that these factors are universally important in romantic relationship

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practical application in explaining abusive relationships

people may remain in a relationship even tho they feel very low satisfadction levels because they may have large investments and low quality of alternatives- making ending it too costly, investments are too big so high commitment is shown

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who demonstrated this

rusbult and matz in a study of battered women in a shelter. those most likely to return to their partner were the ones who had low quality alternatives and greatest investments

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but, research is correlational.

correlations have been found on all predictors of commitment, but this is correlational not cause- because it could be the case that the more comitted u feel more sacrifices youll make. direction of causality may be reverse to how model predicted.

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However- there are problems in measuring the variables of rusbults investment model

as satisfaction is subjective and hard to measure, so is quality of alternatives- however rusbult developed the investment scale to overcome this- which is high in validity but relies on self report techniques

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what is a strength of equity theory

theres research support from animal studies. Bronsan, in his study of capchion monkeys found that females became angry if they were denied the reward of grapes, in regards to playing and if they saw another monkey being rewarded for same task.

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what did this do

they became extremely angry and started throwing food at the experimenter.

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there are gender differneces in the importance of equity

de marris found that women were more likely to be underbenefitted and were more affected by this because of their greater relationship focus making them more senstive to inequalities.- more likely to react.

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weaknesses

cultural differences in the role of equity, suggesting that its importance is not universal. most of research been carried out in US, so cant be generalised universality, for other cultures as different cultures have different norms about what is importan

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and

may be differences in collectvist and individualistic cultures.

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strength of ducks relationship breakdown

it has real world application to relationships , stresses the importance of communication and paying attention, gives insight and intervention from family and freinds- which can stop the breakdown from progessing-repair

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weakness

fails to mention the 5th stage, personal growth- oppurtunity to move beyond the distress engaged in personal growth.... research has supported this

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ethical issues in breakdown research

vulnrability, distress may occur- its personal so privacy is an issue, cant cope with reliving distress/trauma

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strength of virtual relationships- absence of gating can be benefical

Bargh looked at online usage of shy, anxious and lonely people and found that in virtual relationships individuals could express their true selfs more than in F to F relationships- benefits for gated individuals

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virtual relationships are of a lower quality

they lack physical cues such as appearence and confience- meaning that when individuals face real world relationships they struggle to form them..

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counterpount

rosenfield and thomas found no evidience to suggest that these relationships were of a lower quality....

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parasocial relationships

Maltby- parasocial relationships link to mental health. correlation with CAS and poor mental health. Usinh student, two surveys were completed. The celeb attitude scale and a questionnaire to measure mental health . entertainment social level individuals

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what dos this suggest

This suggests that level of parasocial relationship(CAS) may be associated with overall mental health, perhaps suggesting that borderline pathological may be unhealthy in that it causes depression,,

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poor quality

metholdogical issues- rely on self report techniques

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relationships A03

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