Reinforcement/reward need satisfaction theory

Reinforcement/reward need satisfaction theory

1. Operant and classical conditioning are used to explain when we will find somone else attractive

2. Operant conditioning; we find those people attractive who reward us in some way, rewards could be anything finding them physically attractive, to them smiling at us. Could be that they have lots of resources or are very kind. If we find a person is a punishment to be around we are less likely to find them attractive.

3. Classical condiitioning; we are attracted to those who we associate with positive things. Example; if we meet someone on holiday where we are having a good time, we are more likely to find them attractive than if we meet them at work.

4. Giffet and Guay (1969); 1. Paricipants asked to draw picture and an experiment judges their work. The experiment will either praise their work or be very critical and say its not very good. The participants is more likely to say they like the experimenter in the praise condition because they feel rewarded. in the criticism condition they are more liekly to say they do no like the experementer. This is operant conditioning

   • 2. An observer watches the participant recieve praise or criticism. The participant is then asked what they think about the observer. The paticipant is more likely to say they like the observer in the reward/praise condition than in the criticism condition

5. May and Hamilton (1980) found that female participants rate males as more attractive when listerning to pleasent music compared to unpleasent

6. ARon et al. (2005) found that large amounts of dopamine are released during the early stages of relationship. As dopamine is the neurotransmitter associated with rewards it seems likely that relationships have a biological reward that is hard wired into the brain

7. Hays (1985) found that all humans tend to gain satisfaction from giving as well as recieving

8. The theory sees people as fundamentally selfish and only looking for rewards. It may be that this is true at the start of the relationship and so can explain the formation of relationships, but that this may not be true of longer term relationships. It is likely that other theories, such as, equity theory may be better at explaining longer term relationship