Explain the Role that Culture Play in the Formation and Maintenance of Relationships

1. Explain the Role that Culture Play in the Formation and Maintenance of Relationships By Mr Daniel Hansson

2. Cultural dimensions and Relationships 1. How do you think that the different cultural dimensions (e.g. individualism, power distance, masculinity) relate to relationships in different cultures in regards to: Rights, goals, attitudes, needs and duties, independence? Stability and change? Importance of love? Homosexual relationships? Freedom of choice? 2. Which cultures do you think report the most satisfying relationships and why?

3. Research on Differences in Relationships between Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures Levine et al. (1995): For individualistic cultures love is essential for the establishment of marriage. The disappearance of love is sufficient reason to end a marriage. This is in contrast to collectivist cultures. Simmons et al. (1986): Romantic love is valued more in the US and Germany than in Japan.

4. Research on Differences in Relationships between Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures Gupta and Singh (1982): Couples who married out of love reported more intense love feelings than those whose marriages were arranged. After five years this pattern was reversed and became more exaggerated after ten years.

5. Etics and Emics Rank what qualities you think are most to least important when choosing a romantic partner: Educated, younger than me, intelligent, financial prospects, ambitious, faithful, mutual love, good health, desire for home and children, domestic skills, emotional stability and maturity, dependable, older than me. If a man or woman had all the other qualities you desired, would you marry this person if you were not in love with him or her? Think of five rules that you think are important in all relationships (how you should behave towards each other if you are on good terms with each other). Rank them from most important to least important. How would you react if your friend would break any of these rules?

6. Etics and Emics Research Kephart (1967) & Simpson et al. (1984): American college students asked were asked if they would marry without being in love if their partner had all the other desirable qualities. In 1967 65 % of the men said no and 24 % of the women. In 1984 85 % of both men and women said no. Buss (1994): Buss investigated 10,000 respondents from 37 cultures. He found many cultural differences in qualities important during mate selection. In all cultures, women preferred older men and men preferred younger women. In all cultures except one, women ranked financial prospects as more important than men.

7. Universal Rules of all Relationships (Argyle, 1985) Seek to repay debts, favours and compliments Be emotionally supportive Respect each other's privacy Keep confidences Share news of success Do not criticize the other person in public Stand up for the other person in their absence Look the other person in the eye during conversation Address the other by their first name

8. Cultural differences in Relationships Rules (Argyle, 1985) When Argyle and colleagues compared the relationship rules between Hong Kong, Japanese, Italian, and British samples, they found some cultural differences: People from Hong Kong emphasized privacy more than other cultures People from Japan placed less emphasis on standing up for each other in the other person’s absence There were also cultural differences in regards to levels of intimacy