Similarity and Relationship Satisfaction Research Proposal

Similarity and Relationship Satisfaction - Research Proposal Example These results reveal that majority of people view marriage as bondage that hinder their liberty or put extra responsibilities on them. Although marriage is meant to share responsibilities, ideas, happiness and grieves, and rear offspring, people view marriage quite the other way. This anti-marriage phenomenon seems to have erupted as a lack of understanding, a lack that demonstrates absence of similarity essential to sustain marriage relationship. While identification of the factors influencing marital satisfaction is of theoretical interest to social psychologists and potential practical value to clinical psychologists working with married couples, research in this area provided only minimal information about the specific characteristics of stable and/or happy marital relationships and has provided no coherent theory of marital satisfaction. Social psychological theories of love and marriage are, in general, based on the principle of similarity, i.e., that we tend to associate with others who reward us and not associate with those who don't (Walster and Walster, 1978). The theory of Complementarity proposed by Winch (1952) was based on Murray's theory of needs. The theory postulated that within a field of eligible (which necessitates a certain level of similarity) an individual will seek out the person who can offer maximum need-gratification. Specifically, Winch suggests that the need patterns of A will complementary, rather than similar to the need patterns of B. By complementary he means that the needs of A will be different in kind from those in B (Type I Complementarity) or they will be different in intensity (Type II Complementarity) from the needs that are met for B. in one of the first studies, (Winch, Ktsanes & Ktsanes, 1954) findings suggested that for a sample of married couples, individuals tend to select mates whose needs are complementary rather that similar to their own. Subsequently, Winch (1954) attempted to explore additional evidence of complementary needs while also taking into account the contradictory viewpoint of similarity of needs. By examining the correlations between husbands and wives, results showed husband-wife correlations were lower on average that the correlations of randomly paired dyads. Since these findings failed to support the idea of similarity, Winch argued that they supported Complementarity theory. There have been several studies that have tried to replicate Winch's findings, but most research has failed to do so. For example, Bowerman & Day (1956) attempted to replicate Winch's findings of need Complementarity of married couples. Sixty college couples who were engaged or going steadily filled out the Edwards Personal Preference Scale. Results suggest a pattern of similarity rather than complementary. Another study also attempted to address Winch's theory of complementary needs by examining data from standardized psychological tests, to determine whether married couples are characterized by Complementarity of needs, as well as to determine whether there is a positive relationship between the degree of Complementarity and marital happiness (Blazer, 1963). Fifty married couples who were emotionally well-adjusted (i.e. neither partner had history of mental illness) completed the Wallace Marital Happiness Scale and Edwards Personal Preference Scale. Results do not support the complementary nee