Theories of the Formation of Romantic Relationships Essay Example for Free

Theories of the Formation of Romantic Relationships Essay Describe and evaluate two or more theories of the formation of romantic relationships (8+16) One theory put forward for the formation of romantic relationships was by Murstein – called the Matching Hypothesis. Murstein argued that we all desire the best looking person; however we accept that this may not happen, so we go for people with a similar attractiveness to ourselves. It makes us far less likely to suffer rejection. So, in theory, Murstein’s argument is fundamentally based on physical attractiveness and does not take into account personality. Murstein says that self esteem can also affect this process. If someone suffers from a low self esteem, they are more likely to go for someone who is not as good looking as them to try and boost their esteem. This also works in reverse, if someone has a high self esteem they will go for someone who they believe is ‘out of their league’ as they feel they have the confidence to make them their partner. Murstein also carried out research to support his theory. He studied 99 couples who were dating and compared them with randomly paired couples. He found that the real couples were consistently rated as more alike in levels of attractiveness. Murstein’s theory can be credited as it offers an explanation of how people with low self esteem find relationships – something that hasn’t been account for in many other theories of the formation of romantic relationships. Murstein also has further research that supported his findings which was carried out by Silverman. He rated dating couples in a bar in similar levels of attractiveness. However we have to account for Silverman’s study that the two people in the bar may have just been friends, just because there was a girl and a boy doesn’t automatically mean that they are in a relationship. Also, Silverman’s study is culturally bias – dates in bars may not happen in all countries and therefore it would be difficult to generalise the findings. Also, both Murstein’s and Silverman’s study’s have researcher bias – the level of someone’s attractiveness is a matter of opinion; what someone could find very attractive may not be attractive for another person at all. It is a subjective measure. Individual differences are also not accounted for e.g. someone may have a fetish. Furthermore, in Murstein’s theory he talks about self esteem, and although it is a valid point he has raised, the term self esteem is very rigid. It doesn’t account for people’s choices and decisions. Finally, in the studies, short and long term relationships have not been established – is it fair for Murstein to categorise people who have been together for a week and people who have been together for a year? The second theory of the formation of romantic relationships is the Filter Model of Attraction. This was devised by Kerchoff and Davis. They stated that people rely on a number of social and personal factors to filter potential relationships. We use three filters to help us narrow down potential partners. The first of the three filters is social/demographic variables e.g. ethnicity, race, religion and social class. The second is similar attitudes or internal values and finally, the last is complementary of needs – will they fulfil each others needs. They argued if a potential partner ticks all three boxes then we are more likely to enter a relationship with them. Research from Bossard supports the theory; he found that half of the couples who applied to get married in Philadelphia lived within a few minutes walk of each other. However, his findings aren’t very strong, it wasn’t the majority of people who he surveyed, it was half. The Filter Model of Attraction is too deterministic, it doesn’t account for the natural free will that everybody possess. Another major weakness is that it fails to account for inter-racial relationships – the first filter is that we are more likely to go into a relationship with someone if they are the same race as us – however it is not uncommon at all in today’s society for people of different races to enter a relationship. In addition, arranged marriages are not accounted for in this theory, as that is down to the parents and the children have no choice in who they spend their lives with, so they do not apply this filter at all. Finally, the filter model of attraction lack empirical evidence – there is no research to support it. On the other hand, we can find some support in the matching hypothesis which also states that people of the same race are more likely to treat them as a potential partner.