Into the Nature of Relationships in Different Cultures

Relationships Discuss research into the nature of relationships in contrasting cultures. (9 marks + 16 marks) In Western Cultures, it has been found that relationships ar voluntary, transitory and focus on the needs of the individual as due(p) to the preponderantly urban settings in which we live in, we are able to (on a insouciant basis) interact with a large number of people. Western cultures therefore erupt to be characterised by a high degree of extract in personal relationships and a greater pool of potential relationships.Non-western cultures however, prepare slight choice ab emerge whom they interact with on a daily basis, importee that interaction with strangers are rare and relationships are frequently tied to separate factors, such(prenominal) as family or economic resources. In societies with reduced mobility, (predominantly non-western cultures) staged marriages are common as go to bed is expected to grow due to the fact that it is not seen as necessary for ma rriage.Arranged marriages seem to work well(p) and make good sense as divorce rates are low and Epstein (2002) found that perhaps about half of them report that they have fallen in erotic fuck with each other. Myers et al. , (2005) studied individuals in India liveness in arranged marriages and found no differences in marital expiation in comparison to individuals in non-arranged marriages in the US. This is also supported by Gupta and Singh (1982) who studied 100 degree-educated couples living in India, 50 of who had chosen their partners and 50 of who had their marriages arranged for them.The couples were asked to indicate how much they liked/loved their partners and it was found that love and liking was high in love marriages but decreased whereas love increased in arranged marriages and after 10 years exceeded love marriages. However, this study is difficult to generalise as it studies only a tiny sample and so cannot be generalised to the wider population. It therefore la cks validity. However, in just about adapting cultures such as China, there has been a noticeable increase in love matches as the Chinese are currently attempting to move international from traditional arranged marriages.Instances in which parents dominate the process of partner choice in china have declined from 70% prior to 1949, to less than 10% in the 1990s. Xioahe and Whyte (1990) studied women in love marriages and found that they were more at ease than those in arranged marriages. Western cultures are also seen as single due to their focuses on individuals rather than groups, with individual happiness and pleasure seen as fundamentally important. On the other hand, non-western cultures are seen as collectivised cultures as people are encouraged to be interdependent rather than independent.Moghaddam et al. (1993) claim that the cultural attitudes of single cultures, are consistent with the formation of relationships that are establish on freedom of choice, whereas colle ctivism leads to relationships that may have more to do with the concerns of family or group. Norms and rules act as guidelines for behaviour and influence how we act out any given relationship. One such norm that plays a chance on part in personal relationships is the norm of reciprocity.Ting-Toomey (1986) found that in individualist cultures, reciprocity in personal relationships tend to be voluntary. In collectivist cultures however, it is more obligatory. In such cultures, failure to return a spare is seen as a failure of ones moral duty. In Japanese culture, for example, there are specific rules about gift-giving and reciprocating, whereas n such formal norms exist in Western cultures. Argyle et al. s cross-cultural comparison of relationship rules in different cultures did find support for more or less predictions but failed to support others.However, a problem with this research is that the list of rules was theorise in the UK and may have failed to include rules that are specific to a particular culture such as Japan. Research on cross-cultural differences in norms and rules is important to be able to conduct cross-cultural relationships successfully. intimacy of the norms and rules underlying cross-cultural relationships is an important aspect of any attempt to render and improve relations between different cultural groups within a host country. Finally, relationships are difficult to study scientifically.Laboratory experiments, through the manipulation of isolate multivariates, are seen as the most rigorous way of establishing cause and effect, and he best way of furthering our understanding of the processes involved in human relationships. However, as Hogg and Vaughan (2008) point out, people do bring their cultural baggage into the laboratory. Although cultural background may be seen as a moot extraneous variable to some researchers, it is clear that culture itself is an important variable that influences the relationship processes being s tudied.