Filter theory

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Filter theory

Kerckhoff and Davies (1962)

Compared attitudes and personalities of students couples in short terms (<18 mths) and long-term relationships (>18mths)

Devised a filter theory to explain how romantic relationships form and develop

Partner choice there is a field of availables - all the people we could realistically form a relationship with though not every one available will be desirable

3 main factors that act as filters to narrow down range of choice to a field of desirables

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Social demography - 1st level of filter

Includes factors such as: geographical proximity, social class, level of education, ethnic group, religion, educational level etc

Benefit of proximity is accessibility and likelihood of increased interactions and meaningful memories

Realistic field is much narrower because our choices are constrained by our social circumstances - anyone too different is discounted as a potential partner

Outcome of this filtering is homogamy - more likely to form a relationship with someone who is socially or culturally similar as probably have more in common 

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Similarity in attitudes - 2nd level of filter

Often share important values and beliefs 

Kerckhoff and Davies found similarity of attitudes was important to development of romantic relationships but only for couples who had been together <18mths - need in earlier stages of relationships to agree over basic values - encourages greater and deeper communication and promotes self-disclosure

Evidence that most of us find similarity attractive - law of attraction - if simiarity does not exist then relationship is unlikely to last

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Complementarity - 3rd level of filter

Concerns ability of romantic partners of meet each other's needs

Found need for complementarity was more important in long-term couples

It is attractive as it gives the feeling that together they make a whole - adds depth to the relationship

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Research support

Longitudinal study in which both partners in couples completed questionnaire to assess 2 main factors - similarity of attitudes and complementarity

Relationship 'closeness' was measured by another questionnaire 7 mths later

Found that closeness was associated with similarity of values but only for couples who been together <18mths - couples in longer relationships, complementarity of needs predicted closeness

Evidence that similarity is more important in early stages of relationship but complementarity is more important later

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Counterpoint to research support

Levinger (1974) - studies have failed to replicate the original findings of K and D

Put down to social changes over time and also problems in defining the depth of a relationship in terms of its length

K and D chose an 18 mth cut off to distinguish between short-term and long-term relationships

Assumed long-term partners were more committed and had a deeper relationship

Questionable assumption which means that filter theory is undermined by lack of validity of its evidence base  

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Problems with complementarity

Prediction of filter theory is most satisfying relationships - partners are complementarity

Markey and Markey (2013) found that lesbian couples of equal dominance were the most satisfied - sample of couples had been romantically involved for a mean time of more than 4 1/2 years

Suggests that similarity of needs rather than complementarity may be associated with long-term satisfaction

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Actual v. perceived similarity

Limitation is that actual similarity matters less in a relationship than whether partners percieve themselves to be similar

Supported in a meta-analysis of 313 studies by Montoya et al - found that actual similarity affected attraction only in very short-term lab-based interactions 

Real-world relationships - percieved similarity was a stronger predictor of attraction

One interpretation of this is that couples may percieve more similarities the greater their attraction to each other

Percieved similarity may be an effect of attraction and not a cause - filter theory does not predict

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