Describe 2 Explanations Of The Formation Of Relationships:

The matching hypothesis states that couples are attracted to people at around the same level of attractiveness as themselves, this is done because we are all looking for rewards in a relationship like everyone else and therefore we are likely to be successful if we settle for someone similar as it is more likely that the relationship will be stable and therefore we will achieve a lasting and rewarding relationship. This is typically a tradition found in the West. In 1972, Murstein did an experiment where he took photographs of engaged or long lasting couples and gave individual pictures of one member of the couple to judges with instructions to rate them on the level of attractiveness out of 5. At the end of the experiment it was found that the couples had similar levels of attractiveness, more so, of what could have happened by chance.

Another theory is the sociobiological theory by Darwin. Darwin was a naturalist who was famous for his theories of evolution and natural selection. He claimed that many factors affect whether a member of a certain species can pass on its genes to the next generation, e.g. competition for food, climate etc. If a member of a species cannot is weaker e.g. a cheetah with shorter legs, they do not have the successful genes to survive to pass on these weak genes to the next generation. We can link his theory to relationships also. Sociobiologist’s believe that because men can reproduce into later life then they will be attracted to woman who are healthy, attractive and young etc and who will able to bear many children that can pass on their parents successful genes. Women are attracted to men who are strong and will be able to provide for her and the children. There are many problems with Darwin’s theory : This theory disregards homosexual relationships and also the fact that heterosexual couples may prefer not having children and that much effort goes into avoiding the likelihood of children being produced when sexual activity takes place. I personal believe that this theory is also flawed because as human beings are a successful species we very rarely worry about climate in our survival or the competition for food and therefore passing on successful genes is not an issue.