9.1.12

Evaluation of Filter Theory

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Support for Filter Theory

Research studies, such as Winch (1958), support filter theory.

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Validity of filter theory

  • Filter theory has high face validity, which means it achieves its stated aims well.
  • The theory makes intuitive sense and reflects most people’s experiences of romantic relationships.
  • This is particularly true of the way relationships change over time.
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Research support - Winch’s (1958)

  • Winch’s (1958) study also found evidence that similarities in personality, interests and attitudes between partners are typical of the earliest stages of a relationship.
  • Winch (1958) found that complementarity of needs is more important than similarity between partners who had been happily married for several years.
  • This supports the conclusions Kerchhoff and Davis (1962) made about filter theory.

Criticisms of Filter Theory

Other studies have challenged filter theory.

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Lacking temporal validity

  • Filter theory lacks temporal validity - it’s predictions do not stand up over time.
  • The rise of the Internet and dating apps have reduced the importance of some social and demographic variables, leading to greater likelihood of people pursuing a relationship outside their own social demographic.
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Levinger (1974)

  • Levinger (1974) notes that many studies have failed to replicate the original findings that formed the basis of filter theory. This reduces reliability.
  • He also points to social changes over time and problems with defining the depth of relationships in terms of length (Kerchhoff and Davis used an 18 month cut-off).
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Levinger (1974) cont.

  • The assumption that a longer relationship is a deeper one creates problems when applying filter theory to other heterosexual couples within individualistic cultures, homosexual couples or relationships in other cultures.
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Anderson et al. (2003)

  • There are also problems with filter theory in terms of cause and effect.
  • Filter theory suggests that people are initially attracted to each other because they are similar.
  • But a longitudinal study by Anderson et al. (2003) found that cohabiting couples became more similar in their emotional responses over time, a phenomenon known as emotional convergence.
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Davis and Rusbult (2001)

  • Davis and Rusbult (2001) discovered an attitude alignment effect in longer-term relationships.
  • Over time, romantic partners bring their attitudes into line with each other. This suggests that similarity is an effect of initial attraction and not a cause.

Challenging Complementarity

Some researchers have challenged the claim that complementarity becomes more important than similarity later in a relationship.

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Anderson et al. (2003)

  • Anderson et al.’s (2003) findings - that similarity increases over time - would suggest that complementarity is not a particularly common feature of long-term relationships.
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Gruber-Baldini et al. (1995)

  • Gruber-Baldini et al. (1995) carried out a longitudinal study of married couples.
  • They found that the similarities between spouses in terms of intellectual ability and flexibility of attitudes increased over a 14-year period.

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1Social Influence

2Memory

3Attachment

4Psychopathology

5Approaches in Psychology

6Biopsychology

7Research Methods

8Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

9Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

11Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

12Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

13Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

14Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

15Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

16Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

17Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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