Deck 7: Premarital and Non-Marital Relationships

Question 1

With role theory, the focus of attention is on behaviors and attitudes that are characteristic of the person, irrespective of the situation.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The Principle of Least Interest suggests that the person most interested in a relationship is in a position to be dominated or even exploited.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

One of the most fruitful approaches to the study of mate selection has been to analyze the personality traits of each spouse.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Many sociologists suggest that instinct is far more important than traditionally thought in bringing two people together for marriage or intimate relationship.

Question 5

Ira Reiss's Wheel Theory of Love proposed that sociocultural influences are important in relationship formation.

Question 6

Relatively few societies have socially approved procedures that couples must follow when getting married.

Question 7

Some form of engagement has existed in almost every society in the world.

Question 8

Evidence appears to suggest that in partner selection, boys seek out someone like their mothers and girls seek out someone like their fathers.

Question 9

"Hooking up" refers to two sets of parents arranging for their children to get together and hopefully date and even marry one another.

Question 10

It is more likely that "likes marry likes" than "opposites attract."

Question 11

There is a general consensus among researchers that people tend to marry those whose needs complement their own.

Question 12

Value theory tends to support the idea that opposites attract.

Question 13

The Electra complex refers to a female falling in love with her father, but being unable to marry him, seeks a male much like him.

Question 14

Murstein's sequential theory of mate selection described dyadic pairing as a three stage process involving (1) stimulus, (2) values, and (3) roles.

Question 15

The process mate selection today is less individualized and flexible than it was in the 19th and early 20ᵗʰ centuries.

Question 16

Exchange theorists argue that if one person does all the giving and the other does not reciprocate, the relationship is likely to terminate.

Question 17

Studies suggest that scripts for dating today maintain the traditional dominant/subordinate relationship between the sexes.

Question 18

A frequent feature of "hooking up" is sex without commitment, often between persons who don't know one another very well.

Question 19

The male-female game of partner selection has been described as one in which the goal of the male was sexual intimacy while the goal of the female was commitment.

Question 20

According to the text, love has four dimensions: emotional, cognitive, relational, and behavioral.

Question 21

Cohabitation is an incomplete institution.

Question 22

Complementary needs theory can be used most effectively when

A) marriages are arranged by parents.
B) marriages are arranged by marriage brokers.
C) couples have little interaction before marriage.
D) couples have some choice in whom to marry.

Question 23

In most western nations, cohabitation is increasing while first marriage and remarriage rates are declining.

Question 24

Cancian has suggested that we are moving toward a more egalitarian form of love which she calls

A) agape love.
B) courtly love.
C) androgynous love.
D) None of the above is correct.

Question 25

Studies of cohabiting couples are prone to self-selection bias.

Question 26

Since love has different meanings in different contexts, the text states that love is

A) an illusion.
B) impossible to study.
C) socially constructed.
D) biologically determined.

Question 27

Researchers have shown that those who cohabit have a higher desire to marry and an increased likelihood of ever getting married.

Question 28

Census data reveals that the majority (over 50 percent) of non-marital cohabitors are young people under the age of 25.

Question 29

In Sweden and Norway, non-marital cohabitation is an established institution in which these couples have basically the same rights as married couples.

Question 30

According to some sociologists, instinct as a factor in partner selection appears to be

A) one of the few important universal criteria, that is, it is found everywhere.
B) supported by recent research as one of the most important factors.
C) basic in men, but less important in women.
D) nonexistent not only in mate selection, but in humans generally.

Question 31

The Freudian idea that a female wants to marry a male much like her father is called

A) penis envy.
B) castration anxiety.
C) the Electra complex.
D) the Oedipus complex.

Question 32

The theory of complementary needs has been

A) found to have little empirical support.
B) proven to exist in all societies.
C) shown to be most important where marriages are arranged.
D) developed by Eshleman, the author of the text.

Question 33

Several U.S. studies have found that couples who cohabit before marriage report lower-quality marriages, lower commitment to the institution of marriage, more individualistic views of marriage, and greater likelihood of divorce.

Question 34

The "wheel theory of love" was proposed by

A) Ira Reiss.
B) Kingsley Davis.
C) Scott South.
D) Bernard Murstein.

Question 35

A value theory of mate selection suggests that

A) when persons share similar value orientations, interpersonal attraction is reduced.
B) opposites attract.
C) the interaction of persons with similar values is boring and unrewarding.
D) interpersonal attraction is facilitated when persons share similar value orientations.

Question 36

According to the discussion of role theory found in the text,

A) this explanation appears to be conceptually more justifiable as an explanation of mate selection than the individualistic theories.
B) roles and personality needs are one and the same thing.
C) role consensus or agreement is unrelated to marital satisfaction.
D) the role itself is as important as the consensus of the partners in regard to the role.

Question 37

In a study of a half century of mate preferences, the cultural value attached to virginity before marriage

A) declined between 1939 and 1977, but leveled off or increased since then.
B) declined since 1939.
C) increased between 1939 and 1977, but decreased since then.
D) increased since 1939.

Question 38

Which of the following societies did not link love to marriage?

A) The early Greeks
B) The Romans
C) The early Christians
D) None of these groups linked love to marriage.

Question 39

Cohabiting couples have more liberal gender role attitudes and a greater proportion of these households are two-earner households.

Question 40

In colonial times, banns were posted to punish couples who had intercourse before or outside of marriage.

Question 41

During the Colonial period in America, the function of banns was to

A) punish young people for inappropriate behavior.
B) set the young couple up in housekeeping.
C) publicly announce the intent to marry.
D) serve as a bride-price or dowry.

Question 42

A(n) ___________ theory of mate selection examines the transactions, bargaining, and attempts to maximize gains and minimize costs.

Question 43

Murstein sees dyadic pairing as a three stage sequence involving

A) attraction, love, and sex.
B) stimulus, values, and roles.
C) instincts, interactions, and intimacy.
D) complementary needs, interpersonal development, and exclusivity.

Question 44

As a cognitive state, love is a way of ____________.

Question 45

The partner selection process in the United States has been compared in the text to a

A) boxing match where each gets hit, fakes moves, and hits back.
B) race which has a beginning, a process, and an end.
C) school where each is taught new ideas and behaviors.
D) game which has rules, goals, and strategies.

Question 46

An exchange theory of mate selection would assume

A) people tend to overlook costs when they are in love.
B) individuals with similar values and roles will make the best partners.
C) the behavior of socialized persons is purposive and goal oriented.
D) all of the above three statements are true.

Question 47

"Hooking up" refers to

A) a contemporary term for dating.
B) couples who knew one another for a long time and dated with no expectations that the relationship would lead to anything serious.
C) sex without commitment or even without affection toward one another.
D) parents who arrange for their children to get together.

Question 48

Studies reveal that cohabiting couples

A) are more traditional in gender-role behavior than married couples their age.
B) have intercourse nearly as frequently as married couples.
C) report higher quality marriages after cohabiting.
D) are nearly twice as likely as daters to be physically abusive.

Question 49

__________ theory was the idea of Murstein who saw mate selection as going through a three-stage sequence involving a mutual stimulus, similar values, and consensus of roles.

Question 50

Robert Winch developed the theory of __________ that suggests we select partners not on homogamous factors but on characteristics of opposites or at least differences.

Question 51

According to census data, the greatest number of non-marital cohabitors are

A) under age 25.
B) age 25 to 34.
C) age 35 to 63.
D) over age 65.

Question 52

Ira Reiss's __________ theory of love proposed that the process of attraction and relationship formation is never independent of sociocultural influences.

Question 53

In most western nations, the rate of

A) unmarried cohabitation is increasing while rates of first marriage and remarriage are declining.
B) unmarried cohabitation is increasing, but so are rates of first marriage and remarriage.
C) unmarried cohabitation is increasing, but rates of first marriage and remarriage remain about the same.
D) unmarried cohabitation is decreasing while rates of first marriage and remarriage are increasing.

Question 54

The relationship between cohabitation and marital stability appears to be that

A) couples who cohabit before marriage have higher marital dissolution rates.
B) couples who cohabit before marriage report higher quality marriages.
C) cohabitation is an effective training ground for marriage.
D) both B and C are true.

Question 55

A(n) __________ theory of mate selection suggests that interpersonal attraction is facilitated when persons share or perceive themselves as sharing similar value orientations.

Question 56

The text suggests that as rates of cohabitation rise

A) rates of marriage also rise.
B) rates of marriage remains the same.
C) rates of marriage decline.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 57

The traditional social norm in the United States implied that the females' basic goal in the game of partner selection was to:

A) get as much sex as possible.
B) move the relationship towards commitment
C) get her partner to buy her as much as possible
D) date as many men as possible

Question 58

An analysis of published advertisements about what females and males were looking for in dating partners, revealed that females sought

A) older mature men and marriage.
B) financial security and longer-term relationships.
C) physical appearance and sexual partners.
D) companionship, loyalty, and integrity.

Question 59

Studies of non-marital cohabitation suffer from which of these methodological problems:

A) non-random sampling
B) self-selection bias
C) non-representativeness D lack of reliabililty

Question 60

According to the discussion in the text of non-marital heterosexual cohabitation,

A) in 2007, 4.7 percent of all households in the United States were headed by cohabitors.
B) this lifestyle is primarily the domain of young people and college students.
C) this behavior is quite unique to the United States.
D) all of the above three are true.

Question 61

The __________ suggests that the person least interested in continuing a relationship is in a position to dominate the other.

Question 62

How do cohabiting couples differ from non-cohabitors? To what extent is cohabitation a "trial" marriage or an effective training ground for marriage?

Question 63

What methodological considerations must be taken into account when examining studies comparing cohabitors and non-cohabitors?

Question 64

Explain what is meant by individualistic explanations of partner selection. What are they? Why do they appear to have little empirical support?

Question 65

Explain Willard Waller's "Principle of least interest." What does it mean? To whom does it apply?

Question 66

Explain the theory of complementary needs. Does research evidence support it? Why or why not?

Question 67

How prevalent is non-marital cohabitation? What changes are occurring in this practice?

Question 68

What is "hooking up?" How is it similar to or different from dating?

Question 69

Cross culturally, why is there a consistent finding of lower quality relationships, less happiness, and higher dissolution rates among cohabitants than marrieds?
Chapter 8 Sexuality and Non-Marital Relationships
8.1

Question 70

The practice of __________ was described in the text as a common practice in which couples who often do not know one another very well, have sex without commitment or even without affection.

Question 71

Unmarried couples sharing a household is known as non-marital __________ or consensual unions.

Question 72

What is meant by the social construction of love? Explain.

Question 73

In colonial days, the announcement to marry was accomplished by __________.

Question 74

List and describe three socio-cultural explanations of partner selection. How does each differ from individual explanations?