Breakdown of Romantic Relationsips

  • Summary

REWARD/NEED SATISFACTION THEORY

Similarity Theory

Keywords: Gratifying, Rewarding Stimuli, Operant Conditioning, Classical Conditioning

  • Byrne & Clore (1970)

Keywords: 1. Dissimilarities 2. Similarities, Personality, Attitude

  • Byrne et al. (1986)
  • Griffitt & Guay ('69)
  • When ppts. asked to rate how much they liked experimenter, those who were positively evaluated by experimenter on creative task gave much higher rating. 
  • Supports classical conditioning claims
  • More reliable
  • HOWEVER! ... Lacks Mundane Realism

+ SUPPORTING RESEARCH

  • Cunningham ('88)
  • Male ppts watched happy or sad film then interacted with female. Positive interactions from those who watched happy film. 
  • Supports classical conditioning claims
  • More reliable
  • HOWEVER! ... Androcentric leading to low generalisability to wider population

SUPPORTING RESEARCH +

  • Rosenbaum ('86)
  • Dissimilarity much more important factor has been tested in multiple cultures and found that partners who discovered more dissimilarities as relationship developed became less attracted to each other.
  • Problematic because similarity theory says similarity is prime factor in formation.
  • Less reliable and needs to be revised to take into account dissimilarity as an equally important factor.

- CONFLICTING THEORY

  • Focus on personality and attitudes.
  • Yoshida (1972) states that factors such as economic level and physical condition are equally important but are ignored.
  • Problematic because similarity theory only focuses on personality and attitudes as the factors in FoRR.
  • Limited theory as ignores other potential factors.

REDUCTIONIST -

  • Useful for internet dating sites.
  • Create algorithm to match people with similar personality/attitude.
  • Pro-social consequences as useful to society and high ecological validity as can be applied to real life.

+ PRACTICAL USE

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