Maintenance and Breakdown of romantic relationships The Formation Maintenance and Breakdown of romantic relationships

Formation Sociobiological All relationships form with regards to reproductive success Buss - 30 Countries, 37 cultures F: Males prefer young attractive females, Females prefer older, ambitious males. Singh – Males are attracted to a low waist to hip ratio on females Davis – Personal ads show, females advertise their attractiveness, and youth. Males advertise their wealth and success. Schmitt – 48 Nations 140000 participants, universal fact than males are promiscuous. Form a close family relationship to ensure survival of genes Fellner and Marshall – support for kin selection, the closer the genetic relationship the more we are likely to sacrifice, 80% of parents would give their child a kidney compared to 40% of aunts/uncles

Reinforcement and need satisfaction Formation Reinforcement and need satisfaction Relationships forms because they provide us with rewards Foa and Foa – identifies rewards such as love, money, sex, drugs Byrne(classical conditioning) – Come to like those who we associate enjoyment and satisfaction and dislike those whose presence is unpleasant Griffit(classiscal conditioning) – When interacting with a stranger behind a broadcast of good news we rate them higher : bad news Argyle(classical conditioning) – People who are kind, happy and loving are popular Argyle – Parent-child bonds provide little rewards, therefore the parent-child relationship isn’t based upon reward

Maintenance Social Exchange Theory Relationships provide rewards and costs and during the relationship we try to maximise reward, reduce cost. Argyle – Child-parent bond provides little reward, and has high cost Foa and Foa – identifies rewards such as love, money, sex, drugs Homans – Relationships are in terms of profit, the greater the profit the greater the attraction Blau – As interactions are expensive, the rewards must be great for commitment to last Levinger – Maintenance is dependant on 3 factors such as: Rewards Barriers Alternatives

imbalance of rewards leads to dissatisfaction Maintenance Equity Theory Relationships are maintained on the grounds that the rewards are equal, imbalance of rewards leads to dissatisfaction Hatfield – Under rewarded leads to anger and resentment, over rewarded leads to guilt Buunk – Contradictory evidence shows no link between equity and reliability of future relationships Buunk – Large significant individual difference as to how much the other person is expected to be equitable in the relationship. Argyle – Women over – rewarded were dissatisfied:men who weren’t, suggesting men are biologically and psychologically selfish Bowlby – Socail releases, provides rewards to parent, that are equal to those provided by the mother such as food, maintaining the parent-child relationship

Breakdown Stage Model - Lee 100 premarital break-ups therefore must have some validity as a hypothesis Suggest how relationships breakdown, but not why they breakdown and the factors involved Levinger(Socail Exchange Theory) – Rewards, Barriers, Alternatives Dissatisfaction Exposure Negotiation Resolution Attempts Termination Argyle – Women over – rewarded were dissatisfied:men who weren’t, suggesting men are biologically and psychologically selfish Schmitt – males more universally promiscuous offering a biological explanation of breakdown Buss - 30 Countries, 37 cultures F: Males prefer young attractive females, Females prefer older, ambitious males. Homans – relationships are seen in terms of profit, little profit leads to little attraction.

Breakdown Stage Model - Lee Duck’s phase model – focus on when the relationship is over, compared to the transition from problems to end as in stage model Social exchange theory – cost exceed the reward Reward and need satisfaction – when there is little reward Dissatisfaction Exposure Negotiation Resolution Attempts Termination