Formation of romantic relationships

Reward/Need Satisfaction Theory (Byrne and Clore, 1970)
1. Rewarding stimuli produce positive feelings and punishing stimuli produce negative feelings. Operant conditioning suggests we are likely to repeat any behavior that's leads to a desirable outcome. Byrne and Clore's theory suggests that we enter into relationships due to the presence of people who provide direct reinforcement, making them more attractive.
2. It is suggested that we are attracted to people who we find satisfying to be with. Most stimuli is rewarding or punishing and we are motivated to seek rewarding stimuli. Things we find rewarding tend to reflect our unmet needs. Mutual attraction occurs when each partner meets the other person's needs.
3. We like people who are associated with pleasant events. If we meet someone when we are in a positive mood, we are more likely to like them than if we like them in a negative mood. Classical conditioning explains how a neutral stimuli can be positively valued due to association. Byrne and Clore believed positive and negative balance is crucial and if the positive outweigh the negative then the relationship is likely to succeed.
4. Griffitt and Guay (1969) found when participants were evaluated on a creative task by an experimenter and asked to rate the experimenter, the rating was higher if they were evaluated positively. This supports the theory that says we like someone due to direct reinforcement.
5. Sheldon et al (2011) found that greater Facebook use was correlated with both positive and negative indicators of relationship satisfaction. Positive indicators were shown by people using it due to sociability whereas negative indicators were shown by people who lacked satisfaction through face-to-face relationships and used it as coping mechanism.
6. Aron et al (2005) found participants who measured high on a questionnaire of romantic love also showed elevated activity in reward regions of the brain, supporting how rewarding people produce positive feelings. It is suggested that this system probably evolved to drive ancestors to focus courtship on one mate, speeding up the process.
7. Cate et al (1982) asked 337 ppts to assess current relationships in terms of reward level and satisfaction. Results showed that reward level was superior to all factors in determining satisfaction. However, Hays (1985) found we also gain satisfaction from giving as well as receiving.
8. Most of the studies in this area are lab studies so lack mundane realism and may not apply to real life relationships.
Similarity Theory (Byrne, Clore and Smeaton, 1986)
1. According to this model, there are two main stages in the formation of relationships. 1) People first sort partners for dissimilarity, avoiding differing personality and attitudes. 2) From the remaining, we choose someone who is similar to ourselves.
2. We are more likely to be attracted to others with similar personality traits (Berscheid and Reis, 1998). This is not always the case but research suggests similarity is important, especially in long-term relationships. E.g. Caspi and Herbener (1990) found that married couples with similar personalities were happier.
3. Research suggests that a process of 'attitude alignment' occurs when partners disagree. One or both of the partners modify their attitudes to become more similar.
4. Rosenbaum (1986) suggested that dissimilarity rather than similarity was more important. The dissimilarity-repulsion hypothesis has been tested in many cultures (Singapore and USA). These found that participants were first attracted to each other due to similarity but as they got to know each other better, those who found more dissimilarities than similarities became less attracted to each other. This challenges the theory.
5. Yoshida (1972) found that only a few important factors are considered by this theory, with factors such as self-concept, economic level and physical condition being equally important. E.g. Speakman et al (2007) found that people often choose partners with similar levels of body fat.
6. Similarity is important in the formation of relationships for 2 main reasons. 1) We assume similar people will like us, ruling out the chance of rejection. 2) When people share our attitudes, it tends to validate them, which is rewarding.
7. Lehr and Geher (2006) studied students to test importance of attitude similarity and reciprocal attraction in liking. Ppts were given a description of a stranger with varying similarity and inserted a statement if they liked the ppt or not. Researchers found significant effects for attitude similarity and liking, on degree of liking and likelihood of dating.

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Formation of romantic relationships

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	Created by oliviabligh almost 10 years ago