Romantic Relationships Trivia Quiz

Answer: Byrne, Clore and Smeaton (1986)

Byrne, Clore and Smeaton suggested that an individual will first sort through all potential partners, narrowing down the list of partners by avoiding those too dissimilar. Then they will sort through who is remaining and choose the individual who is most similar in personality and attitudes.

Research has also suggested that a process of 'attitude alignment' occurs, with partners modifying their own attitudes to become even more similar to their partner.

Answer: True

In the Social Exchange Theory, we judge a current relationship using our comparison level to see if the relationship is considered worthwhile maintaining. If the relationship requires investment costs more (e.g. in time or money) than they are gaining, it may be considered lower than the comparison level, and the relationship will not be maintained.

However, if the rewards of the relationship outweigh the costs of maintaining it, the relationship will continue.

Answer: False

The correct answer is intra-sexual selection.

The victor of the competition wins access to the member of the other sex, allowing them to mate with them, and pass on their genes through natural selection. The loser will not be able to mate, and therefore cannot pass on their genes to the next generation. This leads the characteristics that helped the victor to win the competition to be passed down to the next generation, helping them win their competitions to gain access to a mate. For example, male peacocks compete with each other to have the brightest tail feathers, and attract the females.

Answer: Intrapsychic process

During a relationship breakdown, the intrapsychic process occurs when they reflect on the deficiencies of the relationship, perhaps using costs and benefits, but will not outwardly say that they are unhappy to their partner. The second phase is called the Dyadic process, where they confront their partner with their problems, usually resulting in an argument with both sides refusing to take responsibility for the problem. Up till this point the relationship can be saved. If it isn't saved, the next step is the Social process, where they tell their friends and family through their social networking.

After this, the Grave-dressing process is when they will attempt to justify their role in the breakdown of the relationship in order to portray themselves in a positive light, allowing them to appear loyal and trustworthy to a new partner. Finally, the Resurrection process allows the individual to recreate their own social values and define what they would get out of a new relationship, reflecting what they have learnt about themselves and others.

Answer: Maintenance Difficulties

Duck said that if there was a lack of skills, there is a lack of interpersonal skills to make the relationship mutually satisfying, causing the relationship to fail before it really gets going.

Lack of stimulation is another reason why a relationship might fail. Stimulation is considered a reward within a relationship, and if the relationship is not considered rewarding, it is unlikely to continue. If the relationship doesn't develop or change in some way, one or both of the individuals will become bored of the relationship, causing it to fail.

Finally, maintenance difficulties occur when the relationship is strained because the individuals do not see each other, perhaps due a job or going to university. A limitation of this explanation is that it does not explain why many long-distance relationships succeed.

Answer: False

The three systems are the Attachment System, Caregiver System and Sexuality System.

Bowlby's concept of the internal working model within the attachment system suggests that the attachment formed by a baby to the primary caregiver will form the basis to all relationships (friendship, professional and romantic) in adulthood. In extreme cases, the internal working model could lead to the development of an attachment disorder, which has been linked to abuse and neglect in childhood.

The caregiving system is the knowledge about how one cares for another, and is learnt by modelling the behaviour of their primary attachment figure through social learning theory.

The sexuality system is learned in relation to early attachment and shows how the view of having sex is reflected in their childhood attachment. For example, individuals who suffered from insecure avoidant attachment are more likely to view sex without love pleasurable.

Answer: False

The study actually showed that those who were classified as having an insecure avoidant attachment showed anxiety about intimacy and reluctance to share with their partner, as well as reporting less personal satisfaction in their relationships than those who were determined to have a secure relationship.

This does not necessarily suggest that those who are not securely attached as children will not succeed in relationships.

Answer: True

Because individualistic cultures tend to focus on the personal gain of the individual, their relationships tend to have an emphasis on the freedom of choice for their relationships. They can choose who they want to form a relationship with (partly because there is high social and geographic mobility, so they interact with large amounts of people), and if they are not happy about the relationship, because they receive too many costs against the rewards, they choose to leave.

Answer: There was no difference in the satisfation found in a relationship compared to ones in the USA

In many non-Western, collectivist cultures, arranged marriages are common. They base their relationships on the concerns of the family, and are far more willing to marry in the absence of love (Levine, 1995). Also, because they have less social and geographical mobility than Western cultures, their interactions with potential partners are more limited, and are therefore described as non-voluntary relationships.

Myers et al's study suggested that non-Western, non-voluntary relationships experience similar satisfaction of their relationships as voluntary relationships. This opposes the Western view that only voluntary relationships work.

Answer: False

It is actually collectivist cultures that are pressured to maintain their relationships and regard divorce as shameful. Compare this to Western relationships who hold the view that if they are not happy with their relationship, they leave. This automatically means that their divorce rates are significantly higher.

Therefore, collectivist relationships tend to be considered more permanent than Western cultures.