Summary AQA A level Psychology - Relationships Topic Notes
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Relationships
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AQA
This document has all the information you need for A level Psychology Relationships topic. It was made for my exams and used it to feel confident in my knowledge of the topic.
The evolutionary explanation for partner preference, including the relationship between sexual
selection and human reproductive behaviour.
- they state that human behaviour can be explained in terms of adaptiveness and
reproductive success.
- sexual selection was created by Darwin looking at how characteristics may evolve that give
reproductive advantages as opposed to a survival advantage.
anisogamy – difference between male and female gametes
- biological differences give rise to the need for males and females to use reproductive
strategies.
Inter sexual selection:
Females refer this strategy – choosing quality over quantity. Females make more biological
investment before and after the birth of offspring than males. This way females are very choosy as
the consequences are more serious for a female.
The best mating strategy for females is to select a genetically fit partner who is able to provide
resources.
Intrasexual selection:
Males prefer this strategy choosing quantity over quality. Males only try to reproduce and pass on
their characteristics to offspring.
Larger males have an advantage due to physical competition meaning size matters, so larger men
are more likely to mate. As females dot engage in intra sexual selection there is no evolutionary
advantage to size.
Intrasexual selection also has behavioural and psychological consequences such as behaving in a
certain way to acquire a female and protect them from other males.
Evaluation:
- Buss tested the hypothesis that factors affecting mate choice in men and women were
consistent across a range of cultures. He use da questionnaire using 10,000 adults and asked
about their partner preferences.
o Females placed higher value on resource related characteristics.
o ,ales valued reproductive capacity more than females.
- Nomothetic approach
- Biological reductionism
- Preferences are universal. While cultures differ on ideal weight for women, the ideas of
waist to hip ration was all the same for about 0.7 (e.g. hourglass figure)
o Evolutionary explanation due to it being universal.
- Showed that female’s choosiness is a reality. Psychology students went up to students
individually and said how they had noticed them around campus and asked if they would
have sex with them:
o None of the women said yes.
o 75% of the men said that they would.
, o This shows that women look for quality – intersexual selection.
- Culture changes faster than evolution
o As more women are in the workplace, they are less reliant of men having the most
resources
o Higher availability of contraception so people don’t have to have children
- No cultural bias as evolution is universal.
- Biological determinism
- Lacks temporal validity as it only talks about heterosexuality and does not reference the
preferences in homosexuality.
Factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships: self-disclosure; physical attractiveness,
including the matching hypothesis; filter theory, including social demography, similarity in attitudes
and complementarity.
Self-disclosure – sharing information about yourself within friendships ad relationships. It has two
elements breadth (wide range of topics) and depth (detail). As these increase. Romantic partners
become more committed towards each other.
A social penetration theory
Altman and Taylor developed social penetration theory which focuses on self-disclosure. It looks at
the gradual process of revealing your inner self to another person through reciprocal exchange of
information between partners. This leads to a deep understanding of each other’s lives.
Self-disclosure helps to display trust within a relationship and for a relationship to progress the other
partner must also reveal sensitive information. With this sharing of information a deeper connection
is created between the partners.
Low risk information is revealed early in the relationship and high risk is later on.
Evaluation
- Sprecher and Hendrick – studied heterosexual dating couples and found strong positive
correlations between several measures of relationship satisfaction and self-disclosure
o It is reciprocal.
o However might not be applicable to everyone.
- Cultural differences – the prediction that increasing depth and breadth of self-disclosure will
lead to a more satisfying and intimate relationship is not the same for all cultures. It was
revealed that regarding sexual self-disclosure men and women in the USA disclose
significantly more than mean and women in China.
o Showing it is not universal.
o Theory can only be applied to mainly western cultures.
Physical attractiveness, including the matching hypothesis.
The matching hypothesis –
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