most people in modern cultures agree that
to miss out on love is to live a poorer and
emptier life compared to people who
experience those things.having social bonds
is linked to better mental and physical
health. people who marry live longer and
healthier lives than people who never marry.
- HOROWITZ ET AL - 1996. however
unhappy marriages are probably worse than
never marrying
may be thet people who are healthier and
saner to start with are more likely to marry,
so better health may not be a result of
marriage.
PASSIONATE OR
ROMANTIC
LOVE - strong
feelings of
lo0nging, desire
and excitement
towards a special
person. focus on sex.
there is a PHYSIOLOGICAL
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO IN
(PRESENCE OF PEA
(phenylethylamine). people who are
passionately in love have high levels
of PEA. a neurotransmitter that
sends tingling sensations of
excitement.
HONESTY - honesty is crucial for
relationship success. discepency between
idealisation view and complete honesty.
people in passionate love often idealise and
overestimate their partners, relationships
thrive when couples retain their best
behaviour in front of their partners.
feel insecure if partner doesn't know
the real you but hard to sustain idealised
view. SWANN - 1998 - people were
most intimate with partners who viewed
them favourably. HOWEVER marriage
was most intimate when partners saw
them as they were.
COMPANIONATE
LOVE - mutual
understanding and
caring. also called
AFFECTIONATE
LOVE.
LOVE AND CULTURE
is romantic
love
universal?
is a CULTURAL
CONSTRUCTION.?
SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTIONIST
VIEW - cultural values
and meanings have
shaped personal feelings
and changed the way
people run their loves.
romantic
love
universal
JANKOWIAK - 1995 -
SUGGESTS THAT
PASSIONATE LOVE IS NOT A
PRODUCT OF WESTERN
CULTURE.
romantic love is not a social
construction, romantic love is found
in most cultures, forms and
expression vary by culture, attitude
varies by culture and era.
WESTERN culture sees passionate
love as an important part of life. people
in other cultures feel love as we do but
don't place the same value on it and
don't feel a life without passionate love
is a lesser life.
STONE - 1977 -
passionate love in previous
europe was seen as a
form of mental imbalance
that made people act in
crazy ways. they didn't
think passionate love was
a good basis for marriage.
LOVE
ACROSS
TIME
COMPANIONATE
LOVE may be harder
to create than
passionate love.
companionate love
is what makes a
marriage stable,
trusting and lasting.
passionate love is important
for starting a relationship.
passionate love only exists for
brief periods of time and in the
past is compared with insanity..
COMPANIONATE love is
important for making it succeed
and survive.
JAMES - 1981 - over time passion decreases, only
experience passion for one maybe 2/3 years if
lucky. JAMES found that frequency of sexual
intercourse declined by about half after the first
year of marriage.
BLUMSTEIN ET AL -
1983 - decrease in
passion can be found in
data about frequency of
sexual intercourse, as
time goes by, a married
couple has sex less and
less.
ARD - 1977 - sex
continues to go down as
the couple grows old, not
entirely due to aging as if
a couple divorce and then
remarry then sex increases
with new partner
the decline of sexual
desire is normal but is
often mistaken for a
sign of being out of
love. biochemical rush
declines. PEA
declines as it is a
feature linked to new
love.
married people have sex
more often, more satisfying,
married people more likely
indicate physical or
emotional satisfaction from
sex. single people spend
more time at each sexual
episode, more exual
partners, try new things.
STERNBERG'S
TRANGLE
THREE COMPONENTS -
PASSION - emotional state with
high bodily arousal.... INTIMACY -
feeling of closeness, mutual
understanding and concern... AND
COMMITMENT - conscious
decision, remains constant.
after time, a
good
relationship
will have less
passion, but
high intimacy
and
commitment.
a whirlwind
romance on
the otherhand
has high
passion and
intimacy but
no
commitment.
any given love
relationship can mix
any of the three
components.
love at
first sight
usually
involves
low
intimacy.
an ideal love might contain
substantial measurements of
all three ingredients, if none
of the three were present
then sternberg would say
there is no love.
all three
components have
different time
courses, passion
arises quickly but
tends to diminish
after a while,
intimacy arises more
slowly. but continues
arising for a long
time.
DIFFERENT
TYPES OF
RELATIONSHIP
EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIPS
- more frequent in broader
society, increases societal
progress and wealth/
EXCHANGE
RELATIONSHIPS - based
on reciprocity and
fairness, each person
does something for the
other with the
expectation of getting a
benefit in return. e.g. a
dentist or other service.
TWO DIFFERENT TYPES
OF RELATIONSHIP -
EXCHANGE AND
COMMUNAL - CLARK -
1984
COMMUNAL
RELATIONSHIPS -
more frequent in
close intimate
relationships, more
desirable, healthier
and mature.
COMMUNAL
RELATIONSHIPS -
based on mutual love
and concern, people do
things for each other
without expecting to be
repaid. e.g. two sisters.
BLUMSTEIN ET AL - 1983 - couples who pool there
money in a communal account while living together
are more likely to remain together and get married
than couples who work on an exchange basis.
ATTACHMENT
BOWLBY -
influenced by
freudian and leaning
theory. he believed
childhood attachment
predicted adult
relationships.
bowlby
observed
separations of
children from
their parents
during world
war 2.
BOWLBY'S original theory
included three types of
attachment, which SHAVER
later extended. the
categories range along a
continuum, from pulling close
to pushing away.
SECURE - comfortable
balance.... ANXIOUS /
AMBIVALENT - clingy types
who want to be as close as
possible and want a complete
merger with someone,
problem that others don't want
to be as close as them.
AVOIDANT - who are
uncomfortable when others
want to get close and they try
to maintain some distance.
two dimensional theory
- BARTHOLOMEW -
1991 - two dimensions
called anxiety and
avoidance.
FOUR ATTACHMENT STYLES -
SECURE ATTACHMENT - good at
close relationships, trust partners
etc. DISMISSING AVOIDANT
ATTACHMENT - positive towards
self, low of others, see themselves
as worthy but push others away.
FEARFUL AVOIDANT
ATTACHMENT - negative towards
self and others, view potential
partners as untrustworthy, uncaring
and see themselves as unlovable.
PREOCCUPIED ATTACHMENT -
similar to anxious / ambivilant - want
to enjoy closeness but have
negative attitude towards self want
to merge and cling but worry they
will be abandoned. provide too
much.
ATTACHMENT AND
SEX
SECURE - good sex lives.
PREOCCUPIED - use sex
to pull others close to
them. AVOIDANT - have
a desire for connection,
may avoid sex or use it to
resist intimacy.
SELF-ESTEEM
AND LOVE
popular belief that
you need to love
yourself before
others - ERIKSON,
ROGERS AND
MASLOW, not
demonstrated by
theory or facts.
ERIKSON -
people must
solve identity
crisis before
start working on
intimacy.
ROGERS - focused on
self-actualisation -
becoming a better
person all round rather
than self-love. said
people needed to
receive unconditional
love before they were
ready to achieve
self-actualisation.
SELF-ESTEEM - low
self-esteem - may feel
unloveable. high
self-esteem - may feel
more worthy than present
partner.
NARCISSISTS - high
self-esteem, strong, unstable,
self-love. harmful to
relationships, less committed
to love relationships. they
approach relationships as
having fun and getting what
they want. tend to hog credit
when things go well but
blame partners when things
go badly. think they are
superior - CAMPBELL AND
FOSTER - 2002
SELF-ACCEPTANCE - more
minimal form of self-love,
linked to positive
interactions - SCHUTZ -
1999
MAINTAINING
RELATIONSHIPS
good relationships tend
to stay the same over time,
popular myth that they
continue to improve. key
to maintaining a good
relationship is to avoid a
downward spiral.
SPRECHER -
1999 - people
believe their
relationships
are getting
better but they
are mistaken.
the field changed in
order to study
long-term
relationships, as
can't measure in a
one-hour lab
experiment.
MILLER - 1997 - whether
relationships last or not
depends on temptation to
seek other partners. FOUND
that how long they looked at
photos of attractive single
people corresponded with
likelihood of breaking up.
looked longer = broke up.
RUSBULT - 1983 - people stay in
relationships when they are happy and
satisfied. INVESTMENT MODEL -
RUSBULT - factors = 1. satisfaction,
2. quality of available alternatives, will
remain in an abusive relationship if
think there are no alternatives. 3. how
much the person has invested into the
relationship, 20 years children, savings
etc unlikely to leave. PUTTING THESE
FACTORS TOGETHER CAN
PREDICT RELATIONSHIPS.
THINKING
SYTLES OF
COUPLES
crucial differences
between happy and
unhappy couples
are based on the
attributions they
make. (the
inferences about the
causes of events)
RELATIONSHIP ENHANCING
STYLE OF ATTRIBUTION -
partner did something nice say
due to internal "nice guy" etc,
if bad say "oh due to work" -
external. good acts internal,
bad external.
DISTRESS MAINTAINING
STYLE - good acts are
external and bad are internal.
once this attribution is in place,
good actions tend to be
discounted.
OPTIMISM IN THE
RELATIONSHIP -
MACDONALD AND
ROSS - 1999 - happy
couples have an
idealised version of
their relationship.
couples rate
themselves more
positively than do their
parents and roomates,
DEVALUING ALTERNATIVES -
JOHNSON AND RUSBULT - 1989 -
people in lasting relationships do
not find others appealing. people in
lasting relationships didn't find
others appealing. linked to MILLER -
1997 study where looked at
attractive faces longer, broke up,
temptation.
SEXUALITY
humans form relationships based on
two separate systems, ATTACHMENT
SYSTEM - gender neutral. SEX DRIVE -
focus on the opposite sex. LOVE
COMES FROM ATTACHMENT DRIVE,
INDEPENDENT OF GENDER.
DIAMOND -
2003 -
attachment and
sex are
somewhat
separate.
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST THEORIES -
cultural forces and socialisation shape
how people assign meaning to their lives.
sexual attitudes and behaviours are
dependent on culture. sexual revolution
changed sexual attitudes rapidly. sexual
desire is seen as the result of social and
political influences.
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY - BUSS - 1994 - gender differences are
based in reproductive strategies. sex drive has been shaped by
natural selection and its forms are innate. woman can only have a
few children so cautious about sex and mating, but biologically men
can make many women pregnant and walk away. one time sexual
encounters more appealing to men - TRIVERS - 1972
SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY -
analysing the costs and benefits of
interacting with one another. economic
perspective on sex. the minority gender
has more influence. when men
outnumber women, people have little
extramarital sex and men make
commitment before sex. supply and
demand.
SEX AND GENDER
men have a stronger sex drive than
women. COOLIDGE EFFECT - males
exhibit renewed sexual interest if
introduced to new receptive sexual
partners, even after refusing sex
from prior but still available sexual
partners.
EROTIC PLASTICITY
- sex drive can be
shaped by social,
cultural and
situational forces.
SEPARATING LOVE
AND SEX - men are
more likely to seek
and enjoy sex
without love.
women are ore likely
to enjoy love without
sex.
women are
the
gatekeepers
to sexual
encounters.
all studies point to
idea that men want
more sex, think about
it more, more
aroused, more sex
partners, more risks.
HOMOSEXUALITY
homosexuality changes
theories of sexuality, most
cultures condemn
homosexuality AND natural
selection doesn't support it. no
clearly defined gender roles, no
culturally determined script.
sexuality not a product of
cultural conditioning therefore.
and sex drive not based on
evolution it would seem.
BEM - 1998 - "EXOTIC BECOMES
EROTIC" - sexual arousal is labelled
from the emotional nervousness
resulting from exposure to exotic.
difficult to test and verify this theory.
homosexuals play with opposite
gender in childhood so when older the
same sex is exotic and unknown.
EXTRADYADIC SEX
most reliable data
suggests infidelity is rare in
modern western marriages.
tolerance for extramarital
sex is low. extramarital sex
is a risk factor for breakups,
cannot demonstrate
causality.
some couples
can have an
open
relationship to
sex and many
partners. such
as during the
sexual
revolution of
the 1970s.
many different findings from
studies, some say that nearly half
of all married people stray -
THOMPSON - 1983. HOWEVER
more than 75% of husbands and
90% of wives claim to have been
entirely faithful - LAUMANN ET AL
- 1994
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY -
BUSS - 1994 - has suggested that
having affairs and duping the
husband into raising a child that is
not his is a strategy that makes sense
to pass on one's genes.
people who remain faithful
are more likely to stay
together. extramarital sex is a
risk factor for breaking up. -
WIEDERMAN - 1997
REASONS
FOR
STRAYING
men desire novelty,
sometimes engage in
extramarital sex
without complaint
about their marriage.
women's infidelity is
characterised by
emotional attachment
to her lover. usually
dissatisfied by current
partner.
JEALOUSY AND
POSSESSIVENESS
CULTURAL theory of jealousy -
REISS - 1986 - product of social
roles and expectations, sexual
jealousy is found in every culture,
forms, expressions and rules may
vary. society can modify jealousy but
cannot eliminate it.
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF
JEALOUSY - BUSS - 1994 - men ensure
they were not supporting someone else's
child, WOMEN - if husband becomes
emotionally involved with another, the
male may withold resources.
jealousy can either focus on sexual or
emotional connections with another.
men may focus more strongly on
sexual aspects than women.
CAUSES OF
JEALOUSY - jealousy
is a product of both the
person and the
situation, many
suspicions jealousy are
accurate. paranoid
(false) jealousy is rare.
the less of a threat from the other
person / interloper, the less jealousy.
jealousy depends on how their traits
compare to the third party. both men
and women are more jealous if the
third party is a man rather than woman.
SOCIAL REALITY - WICKLUND - 1982 -
public awareness of some event, important
role in jealousy, high social reality = high
jealousy. the more other people know
about your partner's infidelity, the more
jealousy.
CULTURAL REGULATION - all
cultures regulate sex in some
ways, cultural regulation is more
directed at women, erotic
plasticity and paternity
uncertainty.
DOUBLE STANDARD - is defined
as a pattern of moral judgement
that says some sexual behaviours
are acceptable for men but not
women. supported more by women
than men, weaker than is usually
assumed.