Culture and Human Relationships
- Culture can affect the way we perceive, value, and pursue relationships.
Example
Perception of Marriage in Western Cultures
- In Western cultures, it may be normal to marry out of love. The idea is based on the fact that you fall in love before you get married.
- This has led to lack of love being a leading cause for divorce in those cultures (Levine et al., 1995).
- Marriage is viewed as a declaration of love.
Perception of Marriage in Non-Western Cultures
- In other cases, arranged marriages may be the norm. Here, love typically grows after one is married.
- Marriage is viewed as the joining of two families, economically and sociologically.
Neither is necessarily better than the other, they are simply different.
Challenges in Research
- Much of the research is correlational since it is difficult to manipulate human relationships.
- Self-report bias may be common, as well as confirmation bias.
Case study
Gupta & Singh (1982)
Aim
To investigate the type of marriage's role on love and satisfaction
Method
- Half of the sample came from an arranged marriage, the other half a love marriage. All participants were from Jaipur, India.
- They completed a questionnaire on feelings of love (Rubin's Love Scale) 1, 5, and 10 years after marrying.
Results
- Love marriages had a more passionate start but love declined over time.
- Arranged marriages had more of a 'slow burn'. Overall, they ended up higher than love marriages.
Link to Concepts
- Measurement: we are using quantitative measures to calculate the effect of culture on love.
- Bias: There is a bias towards monogamous relationships as opposed to polyamorous. There is also a bias towards heterosexual relationships as opposed to homosexual relationships.
