Relationships AO1

Relationships AO1

1. Sexual selection

   • explains why some characteristics that might appear disadvantageous actually confer an advantage in human reproductive behaviour as the characteristics are attractive to potential mates.
   • Anisogamy: refers to the difference between male and females sex cells. Male have an unlimited amount of sperm cells, they can reproduce as many times as they want. Females can only produce once every 9 months.
   • Inter-sexual selection: women lose more resources so they are picky about who they mate with, likely to pick a partner who is genetically fit and willing to offer the maximum resources to raise their offspring.If they have made a good choice- offspring will inherit positive features, and more likely to be chosen in the next generation.
   • Intra-sexual selection: females prefer quality over quantity, antisogamy suggests that mean want to mate with as many partners as possible. Men must compete against other males as who is most attractive, indicates to the opposite sex an ability to protect both them and their offspring.

2. Factors affection attraction

   • Self disclosure
     • refers to how much information someone is willing to share. Initial stages- couples often seek to learn as much as they can about their partner, share information which brings them closer.
     • Altman & Taylor- breath and depth: start of relation, self disclosure is likely to over the basics of a person, these are seen as superficial. Relationship develops- share personal and detailed information about each other. Person feels like they have reached a suitable level of investment. They referred to this sharing of information as social penetration.
     • Reciprocity- if one person shares more than the other is willing to, there may be a breakdown of trust as one person establishes themselves as more invested than the other
   • Physical attractiveness
     • Women- waist to hip ratio as are seen as attractive as they are perceived as more fertile. (Singh 2002)- people with more symmetrical features are been to be more genetically fit.
     • Halo effect- occurs when a person assumes that a person has positive traits- personality and pleasing appearance.
     • Matching hypothesis (Walster et al 1966)- suggest that people realise at a young age that not everybody can form relationships with the most attractive people, they evaluate their own attractiveness. States that people choose romantic partners who are roughly of similar physical attractiveness to each other.Providing a balance between the level of competition and positive traits is referred to as matching.
   • Filter theory- (Kerckhoff and Davis)
     • suggested when selecting partners from a range of those who are potentially available to them, they use filter to narrow them down to the whose who have the best chance of a suitable relationship with.
     • 1st filter (social demography)- similar background to them, relate to geographical proximity, social class, ethic group, level of education.
     • 2nd filter- similarity in attitudes. Longitudinal study completed of two groups of student couples, been together more or less than 18 months. Couples completed questionnaires based on their views and attitudes. They suggested that similarity of attitudes was the most important factor in the group who had been together less than 18 months. It is supported by the self disclosure research.
     • 3rd filter- (complementarity) a partner who complements their spouse has traits which the other lacks. They found that this filter was good in those who had been together more than 18 months. This may link to the theory of "opposites attract"

3. Theories of romantic relationships

   • Social exchange theory- Thibault and Kelley
     • stipulates that one motivation to stay in a romantic relationship, and a large factor in its development, is the result of a cost-benefit analysis that people perform, either consciously or unconsciously.
     • In a relationship people gain rewards (sex, gifts, attention) and incur costs (spend their time or stress). Also opportunity cost in relationships, as time spent that does not develop into a lasting relationship could have been spent with someone else.
     • How much value is placed on each cost and benefit is subjective and determined by the individual
     • Thibault and Kelley- different stages of a relationship which progress from the sampling stage, couples experiment with potential costs and rewards of relationship through direct or indirect interactions, through the commiment stages as negotiations of each partner's role in the relationship occur. Finally institutionalisation stage- couples are settled and the norms of relationship are embedded.
     • Comparison level (CL)- relationship is a judgment of how much profit an individual is receiving. acceptable CL needed to continue to pursue a relationship can be affected by internal or external factors.
       • external factors- media, seeing friends and family in relationships, or experiences of previous ones, which have taught the person to expect more or less from a partner. Internal factors- perceptions of self worth, such as self esteem as it can affect what a person believes they are entitled to in a relationship.
       • Comparison level for alternative (CLalt)- a person's judgement of if they could be getting fewer costs and greater rewards from another, alternative relationship with another person. Duck(1994)- suggested that a persons CLalt can depend on the level of rewards + satisfaction in their current relationship. If the CL is positive, then they won't consider the potential benefits of another relationship.
   • Equity theory
     • builds upon the assumption of SET that romantic relationships can be seen as economic model (loss, risk, benefits), but factors in people's desire for equity in relationship. 1 person benefiting more than the other, then feel unsatisfied.
     • Walster- distinction between an uneven level of rewards or costs between partners which may be balanced out over time or be perceived to have different values and the imbalance of profit, where one person suffers from greater costs but not higher benefit for their trouble. They are under-benefiting whilst their part over benefits, likely to make them both feel uncomfortable.
     • can be seen is damaging is the change in equity over time. One partner may lose interest or what is initially perceived as fair may be viewed as unfair if it continues to develop. Such as one chasing the one.
     • partner who feels they are receiving less profit in an inequitable relationship may respond by working hard for it to last or shift their own perception of rewards and costs on to something else more profitable.
   • Rusbult's Investment Model
     • proposed that three factors contribute to the level of commitment in a relationship.
     • said that satisfaction and CLalt contribute but so does investment size, explains why relationships don't all breakdown when the CL or CLalt are low.
     • can be measured as a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic investment- have been made over the course of the relationship. Intrinsic- been added by a single partner, such as money towards a date. Extrinsic- created or developed over the course of the relationship which are shared by both partners, such as large purchases or even children.
     • he said that commitment happens when the CL and CLalt are high and the investment level is high. we can observe this through relationship maintenance mechanisms, or behaviours which only couples who are committed to a relationship will exhibit. behaviours such as forgiveness, willingness to sacrifice.
   • Ducks phase modell
     • suggests that the breakdown of a relationship is not a single event, but system of phases which a couple progress through which incorporate the end of the relationship.
     • 1(intra psychic phase)- one partner begins to have doubts. spend time thinking about pros +cons and possible alternatives, including being alone. may confide in a trusted friend.
     • 2(dyadic phase)- discuss feelings with each other, leads to hostility and may take place over number of days or weeks. discussion often focus on the equity in the relationship and will either culminate in a renewed resolution to invest or realisation to break down.
     • 3rd(social phase)- other people are involved- friends encouraged to choose a side, each partner may seek approval from their friend. relationship is unlikely to be repaired.
     • 4th(Grave-dressing phase)- relationship has completely ended, each partner will seek to create a favourable narrative of the events, justify themselves as to why it wasn't their fault, to retain social value and not lower chances for future relationships.

4. Virtual relationships in social media

   • Self disclosure
     • Sproull+Kiesler's- reduced cues theory, say that we are less likely to self-disclosure over the computer. People in online communications are more likely to be aggressive and rude in response to any personal disclosure made.
     • Walther's- hyper personal model, argues that actualy CmC relationaships encourage self-disclosure much earlier than FtF interations, due in part to the sender of messages' ability to alter and manipulate exactly how they come across to the other party.
   • Absence of gating
     • refers to a peripheral feature becoming to barrier to the connection between people. This gate could be a physical feature. It may be that 2 people's personalities are very compatible, and attraction would occur if they spoke for any length of time, but a gate prevents this from happening.
     • McKenna and Bargh- said that CmC relationships remove these gates and mean that there is little distraction from the connection between people that might not otherwise have occurred. May portray themselves differently over the internet than they would in FtF relationships.
       • People who lack confidence may use the extra time avilable to messaging to consider their response more carefully, and those who perceive themselves as unattractive may choose an avatar or edited picture which does not show this trair.

5. Parasocial relationships

   • levels of parasocial relationships
     • may be one sided- Horton and wohl- defined them as where a 'fan' is invested in relationship but celebrity is unaware of their existence.
     • Maltby- used celebrity attitude scale in a large scale survey and classified responses into three levels of behaviours and beliefs linked to relationships with celebrities.
       • 1. Entertainment- person sees the celebrity as a source of entertainment and may speak about them often with like-minded friends.
       • 2.Intense- personal relationships occur when people connect aspects of the celebrity to their own identity
       • 3, Borderline pathological relationships are used to describe the actions of someone who displays obsessive behaviours relating to a celebrity.
   • Attachment theory explanation
     • Bowlby's theory suggests that those who do not have a secure attachment earlier in life will have emotional difficulties and attachment disorder when they grow up. Para social- associated with teenagers, who may have had less genuine relationships to build an internal working model which allows them to recognise parasocial as abnormal
   • Absorption-addiction model- McCutcheon
     • they form due to deficiencies in peoples lives. They look to the relationship to escape reality, due to traumatic events or to fill the gap left by a real-life attachment ending.
     • absoption- behaviour designed to make the person feel closer to the celebrity. they do anything to strengthen the relationship.
     • Addiction- refers to the escalation of behaviour to sustain and strengthen the relationship. Peron starts to believe that the "need" the celebrity and behaviours become more extreme. Stalking is an example.