Culture+and+relationships

 Model essay
 //**Explain the role that culture plays in the formation and maintenance of relationships.**//

 **Key point 1**

 Context of romantic love – research suggests that romantic love plays a more important role in individualistic countries – ie the norm in some countries is that love is necessary to form and maintain romantic relationships  **Key point 2**
 *  Goodwin (1995) – western phenomenon
 *  Simmons (1986) – valued more in US and Germany than Japan
 *  Levine et al (1995) – individualistic nations ranked love as essential
 *  Buss (1994)
 * Cross-cultural study across 37 countries consisting of 2 questionnaires on mate selection
 * Significance of love ranked differently

 Physical attractiveness is a factor that contributes to the establishment and maintenance of relationships – influences initial attraction

 But standards of attractiveness tend to be determined by the dominant social group and differ across cultures

 **Evidence**  **Key point 3**
 *  See Eysenck excerpt and select studies from this
 *  Limitations -> Eysenck p. 533

 Social status appears to be a common denominator across cultures in forming romantic relationships – connection to __**age**__
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;"> See notes from Eysenck for explanations and support
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;"> Make sure you select specific studies to support your point

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> **(Exam conclusions can just be 2 to 3 sentences summing up the big picture)**