Cultural Differences
in Relationships
www.psychologywebsite.co.uk
A2 Psychology
Lecturer: Zoe Cross
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Critical Issue: Cultural difference in relationships
Most research into relationships has been carried out in Western cultures – UK and
USA
It is also limited in the fact that it uses heterosexual subjects and voluntary
relationships (as opposed to obligatory ones)
It could be argued that behaviour needs to be understood within the context in which
they occur
There are undoubtedly differences between cultures, but over the years there have also
been changed within cultures
Celia Mosher asked her middle class female patients about their sex lives during the
latter part of the 19th century =
Those born in the middle = sex was necessary for reproduction
Those born later in the century = pleasurable and positive (Western, 1996)
Individualistic vs Collectivist cultures…
Individualistic cultures = stress the personality of the potential spouse
Collectivist cultures = stress social status of potential spouse
Levine (1995) = there was a positive correlation (+0.56) between a society’s
individualism and the perceived necessity of love for marriage
In other words, there was a fairly strong tendency for members of individualistic
societies to regard love as more important for marriage, than did collectivist cultures
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Voluntary and Involuntary relationships
Shaver et al (1991) = most Chinese people associate romantic love with sorrow and
pain etc
In the eyes of the Chinese, the western view that marriage should be based on romantic
love is unrealistically optimistic
Harris (1995) = studied 42 hunter gatherer societies around the world…
There was evidence of romantic love in 26 of these…
But only 6 gave individuals complete freedom of choice of marriage partner
Are arrange marriages happier or less happier than love marriages?
About the same actually
But…don’t you think that even in individualistic societies, parents often strive to
influence the marriage choice of their children?
Other cultural variations…
Physical attributes
In north America – light skin is regarded as more attractive than dark skin (Cash,
1992)
The study below by Anderson (1992) highlights the differences in cultural attitudes
to female body shape (complete activity on the follow page, in groups, and we will
discuss as a class)
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Differences – yes? What about similarities?
Buss (1979) – studied 37 cultures around the world…
Men – preferred younger women
Women – preferred older men
Why?
Sociobiological approach? How would it explain these findings?
Now evaluate the sociobiological approach…
Doesn’t explain why men and women in nearly all cultures regard kindness and
intelligence as being more important than age?
The sociobiologists continually underestimate the importance of cultural factors in
their explanation
Howard et al (1987) tried to explain these preferences in terms of social and cultural
factors…
Historically they argue, women have had much lower status than men…
And marry an older man with status to enhance their social status…
Women, who have no status to offer, offer instead, youth and physical attractiveness
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But times have changed? Does this explanation apply now?
Monogamy and Polygamy?
In some societies it is the norm to have two or more wives (polygyny)
Humans are normally regarded as monogamous by nature, but studies have shown
that this isn’t always the case
The arguments for polygamy are put forward by the sociobiologists
How? Explain this…
Sub-Cultural Differences
What is a sub-culture?
Gender Differences
Wright (1982) said…
Male friendships = ‘side by side’
Female friendships = ‘face to face’
What does this mean? Side by side and face to face?
Men – engage in activities together - ‘instrumental relationships’
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Women – involve sharing emotions – ‘expressive relationships’
Older men = pragmatic love styles than younger men
Women showed no age differences
Social Class Differences
There are trends that can be seen in the way working and middle class people engage
in relationships…
Divorce rates four times higher in unskilled manual families than professional
families (Haskey, 1987)
Argyle (1994) middle class – based on shared interests
Working class – more community based
But… these differences don’t extend to all aspects of relationships…
e.g. Risavy (1996) found no effect on love style for social class
Understudied Relationships
Understudied relationships provide us with further information about sub-cultural
differences
Why are they called ‘understudied’?
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Gay and Lesbian relationships
Most has concentrated on heterosexual relationships
What are the misconceptions about homosexual relationships?
It has often been assumed that homosexual relationships are short lived
But in-fact, it seems that about 50% of gay en and 65% gay women are in steady
relationships
Schmitt et al (1986) measured love for their partner and liking for their partner in
heterosexual, gay and lesbian couples…
The mean level of love didn’t differ significantly amongst them
The mean level of liking was also fairly high in all types of couple
this was reinforced by Coyle (1995)
What are the differences between homosexual and heterosexual relationships?
The view that homosexual and heterosexual relationships are similar is an
oversimplification
Homosexual couples – are more likely to have additional sexual partners outside of the
relationship
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Another difference…
Homosexuals have to content with the hostility of society
Heterosexual couples tend to stay together for longer
WHY?
Cultural support? Social support?
Electronic Friendships
New area
Conduct studies through participant observation and online questionnaires
Electronic = emails, chat rooms etc
How does email differ from other forms of communication?
Paralanguage
For business – email is ideal- why?
But for more personal contacts, a new vocabularly is growing?
Happy :-)
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Devil with grin >:-)
Language and paralanguage are used as a means of creating a social group
Usernets – anyone know what they are?
Umbrella for about 14000 forums or newsgroups
e.g. UFOs, low self esteem etc
there are lots of counselling and diagnostic services available online to help with
things like low self esteem…
what are the ethical concerns relating to this though?
MUDs
Multi user dungeon/dimension
Multi user simulation environment which collectively grows over time
But…. There are problems with policing such MUDs
***********read attached handout on JennyMUSH************
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Problems?
98% communicated by direct email
28% used postal system
One third telephoned
One third actually met each other
Key study ‘The Computers that Bind’
Complete this key study by reading the information and answering the two question
at the bottom of the page
Problems with Electronic Affairs
People may pretend to be someone they are not
Not all bad though…
Might be an interesting experience to try out being a man or being a member of a
minority group – to see how others behave towards you
Second drawback – vulnerability
But….
We need to remember that many of the problems inherent in internet relationships
have always been with us…
Telephone was and is used for erotic conversations
Letters for communicating with pen pals
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