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A2 Psychology (yr13)

Relationships

Relationships

You should be able to explain the following:

formation of relationships
maintenance of relationships
benefits of relationships
breakdown of relationships
cultural differences
understudied relationships (homosexuality, internet, mediated/arranged)

Maintenance of Relationships

Stimulus - Value - Role

You should explain how relationhips serve different functions to us as the relationship progesses. You should explain what is meant by stimulus, value and role and how each of these is more important at different stages of a relationship.

Economic Theories

Theories of relationship maintenance from the 1950's began to look at the costs and rewards that we experience in a relationship and how we weigh up the expense of a relationship against what we gain from it. You should discuss Social Exchange Theory with the four stage model by Thibault and Kelly and the comparison levels that we use when making judgments. You should discuss Brown's equity theory based on fairness rather than reward and cost; you should explain what we do when faced with an imbalance.

The role of similarity in maintaining a relationship

You should explain why similarity is so important in a relationship; the studies by Hill and Duck can be used to support this claim.

You should evaluate the theories of relationship maintenance:

- economic theories do not take into account the importance of emotion in relationships

- economic theories assume that we are selfish and seek to gain from a relationship

- a concern with equity makes compatability difficult

Relationship breakdown

You should explain the factors that contribute to the breakdown of a relationship and try and relate each one to any theories ro studies that you hae looked at in relationship formation or maintenance.

Communication breakdown - this can be related to social exchange theory for if one partner is trying to communicate and the other is not, he or she may feel that they are putting in all of the effort; you can relate this problem to the role of similarity - if you have nothing to talk about because you have no shared interest, this will cause problems in the relationship.

Infidelity - this may be considered unfair and so can be related to equity theory. Infidelity involves a breach of trust and security in a relationship so may alter the value or role in the stimulus-value-role theory; also if our partner finds someone else attractive we have lost the reciprocal liking element as well as having different shared interests.

Violence/abuse - this will change the value or role of a relationship; it may be considered unfair (equity theory); it would suggest that reciprocal liking is not evident.

Sexual problems - a lack of intimacy can result in a lack of shared interests, can leave one partner feeling they are not getting as much out of a relationship so can be related to social exchange theory.

Stage theories of relationship breakdown

You should explain both Duck and Lee's models of stages of relationship breakdown. They differ slightly but they also have similarities and you should compare the two. You should explain the risk factors to relationships breaking down and the strategies that are used once the relationship is in trouble (Rusbult and Zembrodt 1983 and Hatfield et al 1982).

Understudied relationships
	Homosexuality You should explain how homosexuality was considered to be a mental health issue and featured on the DSM. Historical changes have meant that homosexuality has been accepted more in recent years in certain cultures. You should highlight the differences between the reasons for attraction in homosexual couples rather than heterosexual couples. You should discuss the different factors that are important in maintaining homosexual realtionships including the role of communication and equity. You should discuss the problems in homosexual relationships, including meeting partners, disclosure (coming out), the psychological effects of growing up in heterosexist society, and recieving discrimination or prejudice targeted at your relationship. You should identify similarities or differences in breakdown of the relationship You should explain how research into homosexual relationships is fundamentaly biased as it cannot represent the homosexual population fully.

	Internet relationships You should discuss how internet relationships have become more commonplace and the role of communication in relationship formation. There are many differences to the communication online than face to face. You should explain Culnan and Markus' Reduced Cues Theory and the SIDE model. You should also explain the differences in internet relationships: the role of physical appearance asynchronous communication entrainment You should discuss how relationships are formed through the internet and the advantages and problems with these relationships. Ethical issues need to be considered when researching relationships made over the internet and these should be discussed.

Relationship formation
	Proximity Festinger (1950) found that people who lied close to each other in shared accommodation blocks became friends. Attraction You should discuss the sociobiological theory of how men and women look for different things in a partner - women look for sign sof strength and men look for signs of fertility. You should also explain Walster's matching hypothesis. Criticisms of these explanations can be made as it places too much emphasis on sexual attraction so it cannot explain platonic relationships; it focuses on reproduction so it cannot explain homosexual relationships or attraction by infertile partners (including older relationships) Shared interest Newcombe found that we are more likely to have relationships with people who share our backgrounds, interests, values and beliefs. Reciprocal liking We are more likely to like people if we know that they like us. Hess examined the role of pupil dilation in our opinion of who was attractive.

	You should evaluate the theories of relationship formation: - overemphasis on romance - overemphasis on physical attraction - does not allow for attitude change - does not take into account the influences of friends and family

	Benefits of a relationship There are several factors to consider: Health benefits - you should explain mortality rates and oxytocin levels Self-esteem - you should discuss how a poor relationship affects your self-esteem; you should explain the impact of anger, criticism, conflict, abuse and rejection on self- esteem; research by Aron & Aron, Aron, Paris & Aron and Murray should be used as evidence to support these claims.

	Cultural differences in relationships

(to follow)