Summary
Summary Relationships Notes, AQA A Level Psychology
- Module
- Relationships
- Institution
- AQA
These notes are for the 'Relationships' topic in A2 Psychology (AQA). I only used these notes to revise and achieved an A grade.
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RelationshipsSexual Selection & Human Reproductiie ehaiiour
Sexual Selection Inter-Sexual Selection Intra-Sexual Selection
Anisogamy: Male cells (sperm) are small, Female Females make a greater investment of Male strategy: Males do best if they reproduce as
diferences mobile and contnuously from strategy: tme and commitment during and frequently as possible.
between male puberty to old age afer birth
and female sex Quantty over Competton is necessary as females
cells Female cells (ova) are larger, statc Quality over Choosier than males; will seek a male quality are a limited resource and are
and produced at intervals for a quantty who will provide healthy ofspring and choosy.
limited number of years. support them with resources
Males who compete successfully pass
on their genes to the next generaton
and therefore those traits are carried
down through generatons.
Anisogamy Consequences of anisogamy are Impact on Preferences of both sexes determine Impact on Intra-sexual selecton pressures lead
related to matng that there are plenty of fertle matng attributes that are passed on for matng to certain patterns of human
strategies males but fewer males. behaviour example, if height is a marker of behaviour reproductve behaviour:
fitness, a women will seek out the
This gives rise to diferent matng
strategies:
tallest mates, as they will have greater
reproductve success, and height will
Male aggression the most
aggressive males are more
Inter-sexual
be passed on to the ofspring.
likely to reproduce
Intra-sexual Runaway Process: overtme, this leads
to taller and taller men being selected, Male preference for youthful
and taller and taller ofspring being
and fertle women because
produced. Taller = fitter and Fitter =
these are signs of fertlity
more chance of survival.
leading to reproductve
success.
Strengths Limitation
Support for the Buss (1989) surveyed over 10,000 adults in 33 Supports sex diferences due The Partner preferences This suggest that
relationship wiith countries asking about partner preference to anisogamy and partner relationship have impacted over both evolutonary
intra-sexual selection references derived from ignores social tme by changing social and cultural
He found females valued resource-related sexual selecton theory and cultural norms and cultural influences must be
characteristcs (money etc.) more than males infuences practces. These have taken into account
did occurred too rapidly to when explaining
be explained in human and
Males valued reproductve capacity (youth, evolutonary terms. reproductve
good looks etc.) behaviour.
Support for the Clark and Hatield (1989) sent students to Supports the suggeston of Chang et al. (2011)
relationship wiith approach other students and ask, “I have been female choosiness and that report tat some
inter-sexual noticing you aroun campuu. I fin you oo be males have evolved a diferent preferences have
relationship very attractive Woul you go oo be wioh mpe strategy to ensure their changed and others
oonigho?” reproductve success have remained the
same over 25 years in
No female students agreed in response to the China.
males.
75% of the males agreed to female requests.
Support from wiaist- Singh (1993, 2002) measured waist-hip rato Shows that evolutonary
hip ratio research (WHR) preferences of males for females factors are reflected in
patterns of human
Findings were that any hip and waist size can be reproductve behaviour
attractve as long as the rato of one the other is through partner preferences
0.7 (this is thought to signify that female s
fertle but not currently pregnant)
Support from lonely Waynforth and Dunbar (1995) studied lonely Findings support the
hearts research hearts advertsements in American newspapers evolutonary suggestons that
to see how men and women describe the women will seek resources
qualites they desired in and ofered to a whilst men are more focused
potental partner. on signs of reproductve
fitness.
They found women tended to ofer physical
attractveness and indicators of youth and south
resources. Men ofered resources and sought
youth and physical attractveness.
,Factors Afecting Atraction: Self-Disclosure
Self-Disclosure:
S-D refers to revealing intmate informaton to another person.
Most people are careful about telling someone too much too soon.
Social Penetration Theory: Altman and Taylor (1973)
Self- i.clo.ure limpioe a It is a gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else
.oaro Revealing personal informaton is a sign of trust
Partner then has to reciprocate and reveal personal informaton
Peneoration lea . oo As romantc increasingly disclose more informaton they ‘penetrateあ more deeply into each otherあs lives
eveloumpeno Thus they gain a greater understanding of each other
Brea oh i. narrow Both breadth and depth of self-disclosure are key according to the social penetraton theory
Breadth is narrow at the start of a relatonship because if too much informaton is revealed this may be
of-putting and one partner may decide to quit the relatonship.
Deuoh increa.e. As a relatonship develops more layers are gradually revealed
We are likely to reveal more intmate informaton including painful memories, secrets, etc.
Reciprocity of Self-Disclosure:
Reis and Shaver (1988) suggest that, in additon to a broadening and deepening of self-disclosure, there must be reciprocity
Successful relatonships will involve disclosure fro one partner which is received sensitvely by the other partner
In turn this should then lead to further self-disclosure from the other partner
Strengths Limitation
Support from Sprecher and Hendrick (2004) found Supports the Theory does not Tang et al. (2013) concluded that Social penetraton
research studies strong correlatons between several concept of self- apply to all people in the US (individualist theory is therefore a
measures of satsfacton and self- disclosure being cultures culture) self-disclose significantly limited explanaton of
a key component romantc relatonships
disclosure in heterosexual couples. more sexual thoughts and
of committed and not necessarily
romantc feelings than people in China generalisable to other
Men and women who used self- relatonships (collectvist culture) cultures.
disclosure and those who believed
their partners also disclosed were Both levels of self-disclosure are
more satsfied with and committed linked to relatonship satsfacton
to their romantc relatonship. in those cultures but
nevertheless the pattern of self-
disclosure is diferent.
Real-Life Hass and Staford (1998) found that Highlights the Self-Disclosure Sometmes breakdown of This suggests that
Application 57% of gay men and women importance of is linked to relatonships is characterized by increased self-disclosure
reported that open and honest self- self-disclosure relationship a reducton in self-disclosure, may not always lead to
and suggest the breakdowin too positve developments in
disclosure was a maintenance however this is not always the
theory can be a relatonship
strategy. used to support case.
people having
Couples used to ‘small talkあ can be relatonship Duckあs (2007) phase model of the
encouraged to increase self- problems. breakdown of relatonships
disclosure in order to deepen their recognises that couples ofen
own relatonship. discuss their relatonship wit
eachother in intmate detail (self-
disclose) yet this may not be
sufficient to save the
relatonship.
Much of the Studies such as Sprecher and Suggest that such
research is Hendrick (2004) have found a research provides
correlational positve correlaton between self- limited support or the
theory.
disclosure and satsfacton.
However, we cannot assume that
the relatonship is a causal one.
, Factors Afecting Atraction: Physical Atractiieness
Physical attractveness is specifically how appealing we find a persons face.
There is a general agreement within and across cultures about what is considered physically attractve.
There exists an assumpton that we seek to form relatonships with the most attractve person available.
Physical appearance can be seen as a range of indicators of underlying characteristcs. Women with a favourable waist to hip rato (0.7) are seen
as attractve because they are perceived to be more fertle (Singh, 2002), people with more symmetrical features are seen to be more genetcally
fit.
This is because our genes are designed to make us develop symmetrically, but diseases and infectons during physical development can cause
these small imperfectons and asymmetries (Little and oones, 2003).
THE HALO EFFECT THE MATCHING HYPOTHESIS
The halo efect is a cognitve bias (mental shortcut) which occurs when a The matching hypothesis (Walster et al. 1966) suggests that people realise
person assumes that a person has positve traits in terms of personality and at a young age that not everybody can form relatonships with the most
other features because they have a pleasing appearance. attractve people, so it is important to evaluate their own attractveness
and from this, partners which are the most attainable.
Dion et al. (1972) asked partcipants to rate photographs of three strangers for
a number of diferent categories including personality traits such as overall If a person always went for people “out of their league” in terms of
happiness and career success. physical attractveness, they may never find a partner which would
evolutonarily foolish. This identficaton of those who have a similar level
When these results were compared to the physical attracton ratng of each of attracton, and therefore provide a balance between the level of
partcipant (from a ratng of 100 students), the photographs which were rated competton (intra-sexual) and positve traits is referred to as matching.
the most physically attractve were also rated higher on the other positve
traits.
Strengths Limitation
Research Palmer and Peterson (2012) This shows that the Not eieryone Towhey (1979): Those who scored highly on the Suggests that the efects
support for found that physically attractve halo efect can be considers MACHO scale (sexist attitudes) were more of physical
the halo efect people were rated more observed in real-life physical influences by physical attractveness when attractveness can be
politcally knowledgeable and situatons atractiieness judging likeability from a photograph and basic moderated by other
competent than unattractve important biographical data factors and may not be
people. as significant a
As low scorers were less sensitve to this consideraton in
This has implicatons and influence, it would seem that there are individual relatonship formaton
suggests politcians might be diferences in the importance placed upon for all partners.
elected merely because they are physical attractveness
considered physically attractve
enough by voters.
Wheeler and Kim (1997) found
that Korean and US student
judged physically attractve
people to be more trustworthy,
mature, concerned for other
people, and friendly.
Cultural Cunningham et al (1995) found: Consistency Mixed support Walster et al (1996) inital study failed to support These findings from
consistency in large eyes suggests physical for the the theory as they found students preferred more realistc studies
wihat is small nose attractveness is matching partners who were more physically attractve support the hypothesis
considered prominent cheekbones culturally hypothesis rather than matching their level. even though the original
atractiie in females were rated as highly independent and studies did not.
attractve by white, Asian and may have HOWEVER
Hispanic men. evolutonary roots. Feingold (1988) did a meta-analysis of studies of
‘actualあ partners and found a significant
Wheeler and Kim (1997) found correlaton in ratngs of attractveness between
that Korean and US student them.
judged physically attractve Online dating Taylor et al (2011) found online daters sought It may therefore be that
people to be more trustworthy, research has dates with partners who were more attractve the matching hypothesis
mature, concerned for other not supported than themselves and did not consider their own no longer explains
people, and friendly. its assumptions level of attractveness. preferences regarding
physical attractveness
This research involved actual datng choices in a useful way.
(meetng people online is becoming increasingly
popular) yet it does not support the matching
hypothesis.
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