The Formation of Romantic Relationships - AO2

Support for the role of reward
1. There has been significant research support for the importance of reward in romantic relationships.
  1. Point
2. Griffit + Guay - participants were evaluated on a task by an experimenter and then each participant had to rate the experimenter on how much they liked them - found higher ratings for those who positively evaluated p's
  1. Evidence
3. This shows that that reward is important when it comes to liking someone - the more rewarding the more likely they are to like someone
  1. Explanation
4. However - cultural bias - some countries women focus more on the needs of other rather than reinforcement - isn't universal explanation
  1. Conclusion
Physiological support
1. Aron et al - found that participants who measured high on a self report scale for romantic love showed strong areas of activity in the brain and intense love was associated with elevated levels of dopamine
  1. Evidence
2. Dopamine is associated with reward parts of the brain and this shows that reward plays an important role in relationships
  1. Explanation
3. There has been physiological support for the idea that reward plays an important role in the formation of relationships
  1. Point
4. However, this can also be explained through evolution. Aron et al suggests that the brain reward system associated with romantic love may have evolved to drive our ancestors to focus on specific individuals. Also suggests love at first sight was a key response to our ancestors as it helped speed up the mating process.
  1. Conclusion
Mundane realism
1. Most research carried out involves laboratory studies - may not apply to real life - despite Caspi + Herbener's research
Limitations on research into similarity
1. narrow view of factors - could be several other factors- doesn't take economic level or physical conditions into consideration
Support through Facebook
1. Other support for reward and satisfaction in relationships is through the use of Facebook
  1. Point
2. Research has shown that greater Facebook use was positively correlated with positive feelings - satisfied needs to reach out to others
  1. Evidence
3. This shows that people interact because they find it rewarding which shows that rewards in relationships are particularly important. Suggests that it is associated with positive feelings
  1. Explanation

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The Formation of Romantic Relationships - AO2

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	Created by lauren-oke over 11 years ago