Relationships Lesson 1

Personal Space Who do you allow into your personal space? (by Hall) Interaction impossible One-way communication Formal business Business, casual social gatherings Arm’s length Some intimacy YOU 18in 4ft 12ft Intimate Zone Personal Zone Social Zone Public Zone

Learning Objectives 1) To be able to understand the way that PSYA3 is assessed. 2) To be able to understand the reward/need satisfaction theory of relationship formation. Success Criteria 1) Produce two case studies showing why couples form relationships using knowledge gained. 2) Criticise the reward/need theory using information from the synoptic toolkit.

Personal Space Compare your diagram to your study buddy. Interaction impossible One-way communication Formal business Business, casual social gatherings Arm’s length Some intimacy YOU 18in 4ft 12ft Intimate Zone Personal Zone Social Zone Public Zone

PSYA3 Lets look at your booklets (page 2-4) and see how PSYA3 is assessed

Formation You need to know how relationships are formed. In order to do this we will look at two different theories: Reward/need satisfaction theory (Byrne and Clore, 1970) PAGES 5-6 Matching hypothesis (Walster et al., 1966) PAGES 7-8

Reward/need satisfaction theory We are attracted towards people who are satisfying and gratifying to be with. Can you think of any examples of this? We are motivated to seek rewarding stimuli and avoid punishing stimuli. What would we find punishing and rewarding in relationships? When we meet each other’s needs there is a mutual attraction. Attractive, fun-loving, attentive, supportive, loving. Rewarding = company, financial support, attractive partner etc. Punishing = unattractive, lack of support, bad company etc.

Rewards and Punishments Rewarding stimuli make us happy Punishing stimuli make us unhappy So, some people make us happy, and some people make use unhappy This is similar to which type of conditioning? We repeat behaviours which lead to a desirable outcome and avoid behaviour with undesirable outcomes Therefore, we enter relationships based on reinforcement 1. Operant

Attraction through Association We associate people with pleasant experiences If we meet someone when we are in a happy mood we are more likely to like them than when we are in an unhappy mood A neutral stimulus (e.g. someone we have only just met and have no previous feelings for) can become associated with a pleasant experience. What type of conditioning is this? Byrne and Clore said that the positive feelings need to outweigh the negative in order for the relationship to develop. 1. Classical

Synoptic Toolkit Answer the question at the top of page 6 in your booklets using the synoptic toolkit Approaches Issues Debates

Evaluation You need to make evaluation notes on page 6 of your booklets. We will recap this at the end of the lesson. Make sure you ask for help (if you need it).

Griffitt and Guay (1969) Griffitt and Guay (1969) carried out an experiment where participants were evaluated on a creative task by the experimenter. When the experimenter evaluated the participants positively, the participants rated the experimenter higher. This supports the idea of direct reinforcement (rewards and punishments). Participants also had to rate how much they liked an onlooker. The onlooker was rated more highly when the participant was evaluated positively by the experimenter – supporting the idea that we like people associated with nice events (attraction through association).

Additional evaluation The theory does not take into account cultural differences. Lott (1994) suggests that women in many cultures are more focused on the needs of others rather than receiving reinforcement (rewards). Early-stage, intense romantic love is associated with elevated levels of activity in sub-cortical reward regions of the brain rich in dopamine, this means that there is a biological link with relationship formation. Rewards can be financial or biological in order for us to form a relationship (i.e. they do not have to be monetary rewards).

Additional evaluation Aron et al. (2005) suggest that the reward system of the brain is an evolutionary adaptation to speed up courtship. Love at first sight speeds up mating! Hays (1985) found that we also receive satisfaction from giving rewards to our partners. An importance is placed on equity and fairness in rewards and demands, rather than maximising their own rewards. This is a criticism of the model because the model suggests that we can only feel rewarded when we receive a gift of some kind. These studies are often carried out in a lab, meaning they have low ecological validity...etc

Learning Objectives 1) To be able to understand the way that PSYA3 is assessed. 2) To be able to understand the reward/need satisfaction theory of relationship formation. Success Criteria 1) Produce two case studies showing why couples form relationships using knowledge gained. 2) Criticise the reward/need theory using information from the synoptic toolkit.