The Formation of Romantic Relationships

The Formation of Romantic Relationships

1. The Reward/Satisfaction Theory

   • Bryne & Clore emphasise the reward and satisfaction of our needs we need to recieve in relationships
     • Initially the rewarding aspects of the relationship was emphasised - aids to the formation
     • Mutual attraction and the formation of a romantic relationship occurs when each partner meeets the other's needs
     • Form relationships who those who we find satifying or gratiying to be with
     • If there is no reward than a relationship does not form
     • Rewards eg. affection, loyalty, support, alleviate lonliness
   • Formation due to reward - Operant Conditioning
     • Being in a relationship is positive reinforcing as it brings rewards - direct reinforcement
     • Can also form due to negaitve reinforcment eg. alleviate loneliness
     • Rewarding stimuli = positive feelings
     • Similarity is important and rewarding as it validates our beliefs
       • :-) Bryne Clore and Smeaton (1986): married couples with similar personalities tent to be happier than couples with less similar personalities
     • Self disclosure is rewarding as it implies trust
     • Physical attractiveness is rewarding
     • :-) Aron (2005): dopamine rich areas of the brain were activated to a greater extent when shown photos of the person they were in love with
       • The amount of activity correlated to the degree to which they felt in love as measured by self report
       • Physiological support - MRI scan - beg in low raises dopamine activity = rewarding
   • Formation by association - classical conditioning
     • Neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that already produces a positive response
     • Overtime the neutral stimulus produces that same positive feeling - reward through association
     • Neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus
     • :-) May & Hamilton: females typically rated photographs of men as more attractive (more rewarding) under conditions that induced a good mood rather than a ad mood eg. listening to good or bad music
       • :-( Would have to ask what music the participant likes first
       • :-( Order effects
   • :-( Mundane realism - lab studies
     • :-) Aron
     • :-) Real life couples (Caspi 1990)
   • :-( Not all types of reward = relationship formation eg. sex
   • :-( Hays: Giving can be rewarding too
   • :-( Cultural Issues
   • :-( Gender issues/bias
   • :-( Temporal validity - online relationships
   • :-( Evolutionary explanation

2. The Matching Hypothesis

   • When we choose a long term partner we choose someone who we perceive as being an equal level of social desirability
     • We seek the best possible match as it minimises the chance of rejection - rewarding
     • :-) Walster's blind date (1969): participants paired up with people who were percieved by the researchers to be of a similar level of attractiveness
     • :-) Murstein (1972): real couples showed more similarity in level of attractiveness that fake couples
     • :-) Silverman (1971): similar results rating dating couples in bars
   • In the initial stages of formation social desirability refers to physical attractivenesss
     • rewards = aesthetically pleasing
     • Indicator of re-productive fitnesss
     • Increases your status amongst peers
   • The Halo Effect
     • Assumption that those who are physically attractive have other positive qualities
       • Successful
       • Popular
       • Intelligent
     • Makes them more desirable - increased liklihood of formation
     • Inadvertently enhances the power of physical attractivenesss
     • :-) Shaw Taylor: people contacted others who were significantly more attractive than they were
   • Other attributes important too eg. social attractiveness - status, wealth, humour, kindness
   • :-) Online relationships
     • Fiore & Donath
   • :-( Gender difference/bias
     • :-( Evolutionary explaination
   • :-( Redefined = Complex Matching - Whelan and Boxer :-)
   • :-( Reductionist