Qualitative Study Psychology

I found it interesting that the authors found that actual similarity did not predict romantic attraction, that in fact similarity was significantly or marginally related to romantic liking for 6 of the 26 results were in the expected direction. They also found that significant effect of socio-sexuality similarity on liking, and socio-sexuality shares some conceptual overlap with extraversion.

QP engaged Maunica in participating in a CBT activity geared towards managing mood, stress and anxiety. QP explained to Maunica that the activity will enhance her awareness on how to cope with her mood, stressors and anxiety, and examined what causes those feelings. QP asked Maunica to list some events or situations in her life that causes her to have low mood. QP explained to Maunica, what anxiety and low mood is, and provided examples of each. QP pointed out to Maunica that a person cannot change the experiences they go through, however thy can change the way in how they react to the experience they go through. QP asked Maunica to list some anxiety feeling she has experienced. QP asked Maunica to list some of her physical symptoms of stress

This essay aims to show a comparison between the differences between both female short-term mating strategies and female long-term mating strategies. It will explore the evolution of psychology that has shown reasons for human mating and how these reasons go above and beyond the general idea of physical attractiveness and love. This essay will identify how mate preferences have evolved and further identify psychological mechanisms that women have used to select their mates over the past. This essay will compare and critically discuss the differences and outline them between female short-term mating strategies and female long-term mating

The second study which is a lot more recent and had a very different goal behind it, “In the current set of studies, we aim to determine the degree to which men and women experience romantic attraction in these purportedly non-romantic alliances, and the frequency with which they perceive attraction as a benefit rather than a cost of being involved in cross-sex friendships.” (Bleske-Rechek, 2012). Basically, this study focused more on the opposite sex and attraction between the participants. In this study they refer to their hypotheses as “predictions”. A prediction that was stated within the research was that “Young men would experience more attraction to their female counterparts.” And the turnout was

The study called, “The Misperception of Sexual Interest” was completed in 2012 at the University of Texas. Essentially, the purpose was to see if men and women misperceived sexual interest and if that was the case then how much. They evaluated the extent of men’s over perception of women’s sexual interest to test whether and how this impacted women’s misperception of men’s sexual interest. The hypothesis in this experiment is that men possess a sexual over perception bias and their short term mating increases this over perception of sexual interest.

In this sense, we could also think of other relationship stages which are categorized before and after having a sexual relationships or having offspring with the sexual/romantic partner (or corresponding events such as having married/cohabited). Moreover, we could also add a biological component to the model to consider what kinds of adaptive problems we face when choosing and assessing potential or existing partners. Both men and women should react to familiarity with their partners with the ultimate aim to attain whatever qualities they need to solve adaptive problems effectively. For instance, when people themselves are in the stage of choosing mates or friends, familiarity should be a prerequisite to assess their quality as a desirable mating or cooperative partner, so that familiarity should promote a form of attraction designed to gather more information. On the other hand, once people get enough information and decide to commit to a relationship with the target, such as they are in the

Throughout our lives, we encounter situations of meeting a significant other, however, there is dilemma that comes up way too often. When meeting this significant other, should we display the feelings we truly feel or should you keep it hidden inside? Do people find us more appealing if we show an attraction towards them, or should we be somewhat of a mystery? These are the questions addressed in the article “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not…” written by Erin Whitchurch, Timothy Wilson, and Daniel Gilbert. Substantial research demonstrates the reciprocity principle, which states that people like others who like them. It does sound agreeable that being adored by others might generate positive feelings, however, if the feelings are uncertain, this might cause them to think more about the possibilities of the situation and increasing their attractiveness towards that significant other. In this paper, it is believed that showing a little uncertainty would lead to a higher rate of attraction and to prove this, an experimental study was taken place with forty-seven female undergraduates at the University of Virginia.

Adversely to the concept of an attraction between similar individuals, a common perception in society is that opposite personalities and characteristics attract. In their study, “Do People know what they Want: A Similar or Complementary Partner”, Pieternal Dijkstra and Dick Barelds establish that opposing personality characteristics result in more spontaneous relationships. Furthermore, psychologists such as Christopher Dryer and Leonard Horowitz introduce the idea that differences in dominance levels and personality allow the best suited relationship to occur, in their study, “When do opposites attract? Interpersonal Complementarity Versus Similarity”. Both writers claim that individuals that contrast in personalities compensate for each other’s lacking of characteristics possessed by the other.

Research is critical to the advancement of our current knowledge and plays a significant factor in addressing challenges we currently face (Hagan, 2010). Through research, new methods of solving problems, as well as gaps which exist in current practice are identified and new methods of resolving them identified. Research also helps policymakers within the system of law enforcement to recognize gaps which may exist in the enforcement of law and come up with solutions to such. For research to be undertaken, a clear research problem needs to be identified. According to Hagan (2010), a research problem is an expression or detail of a clear statement touching on the area the research is concerned about, a specific condition which needs to be improved,

Human attraction has also become a sensitive topic over the course of history due to the fact that in earlier times, attraction was used just as a method to produce offspring, however, nowadays, attraction is used to create relationships that are meant to last. In other words, attraction is no longer just about producing offspring, but to find the perfect mate that will become a lifetime companion. Furthermore, literature that has been written on the subject has mainly focused on the attraction that form heterosexual romantic relationships. However, this

The purpose of this qualitative/descriptive study was to find out “...the self-reported educational experiences and aspirations of youth in the foster care system, and...the charcteristics of youth in the foster care system...associated with educational experiences and aspirations (Auslander, Elze, McMillen, et. al., 2003 476).” In short, the purpose was to determine the effect of different fostercare programs on the professional/educational aspirations of youth. It was conducted among 262 teenagers living in independent living preparation programs in a midwest US county (476).===================

It was hypothesized that, (Study 1): Partner security would be sacrificed when potential mates with undesirable qualities use flattery, (Study 2): Physical attractiveness would lead individuals to sacrifice attachment security, and (Study 3): higher social status and possessing more resources would result in selecting insecure mates.

Tisdell (2000) conducted her study also using the qualiative research method. She used a 4.5 – 3 hour taped interview to gather data. The taped interviews were later transcribed for review and analysis. Tisdell’s (2000) study population consist of 46 participants from various ethnic backgrounds. Tisdell’s research study appeared to be theoretical with an intent to determine how the participants spirituality affected their chosen careers in education, in addition to, how they viewed knowledge and education. The vehicle which Tisdell (2000) used for data analysis was the “constant comparative method.” (Merriam, 5998). Riessman (5993) tells us that “Interviews are transcribed to best represent the dynamic nature of the living conversation.”

Murray (2005) gives an example of an argument between a couple and how their level of closeness could impact one’s willingness to fuel the argument through reciprocating negative remarks. Murray (2005) also looked at certain behaviors that would be reciprocated to avoid sending negative impressions to a potential mate (i.e. feelings of rejection), which include inferences about their partner’s perceptions of risk, inferences about their perceptions of risk, and promoting the relationship versus promoting self-interest. These notions of preserving the relationship even through perceived threats and risk really help relate how risk reduction reciprocity can be seen in the formation of romantic relationships. This is seen through the reducing perceived risks and threats by cooperating with another individual on a more romantic level. For example, if a guy feels lonely, but another guy feels self-conscious about his body, so much so that they may be willing to engage in self-harm. Then, it is possible that by getting involved with one another they reduce the risk that they will engage in self-harm, and they reciprocate by helping one another to gain confidence. Romantic relationships contain many examples of risk reduction reciprocity, but there is also potential for free riding. For example, free riders could be cheaters, lovers that don’t reciprocate affection, partners that desire lust over love, etc…, and with these free riders the risk

What are the social factors that influence interpersonal attraction? Discuss in relation to relevant psychological theories and studies