Deck 9: Mate Selection

Question 1

A prescriptive mating system

A) Allows people to marry whomever they fall in love with.
B) Requires the parents to select the mates for their sons and daughters.
C) Specifies that all marriages must be approved ahead of time by a religious or secular leader.
D) Is a set of norms that specifies whom a person should marry.
E) Allows people to select mates only after they have been through a puberty ritual.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

At the universal, permanent availability point on the mate selection continuum,

A) There is no legal marriage system.
B) Any individual, even if currently married, is always a potential mate for someone else.
C) There are only random liaisons.
D) Mate selection is completely controlled by arrangement or normative structure.
E) There is a very low divorce rate.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Agrarian societies tended to be at what point on the mate selection continuum?

A) Between "completely controlled" and "restricted choice."
B) Between "restricted choice" and "open choice."
C) Between "open choice" and "total choice."
D) Agrarian societies were equally distributed across the continuum.
E) The mate selection continuum does not apply to agrarian societies.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Victorianism

A) Was a value system emphasizing a strong sense of duty and strict sexual morality.
B) Was named after Queen Victoria of England.
C) Coincided roughly with Phase Two of the industrial revolution (1850-1900)
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 5

The practice of dating probably originated in which social class?

A) The underclass.
B) The working class.
C) The middle class.
D) The lower-upper class.
E) The upper-upper class.

Question 6

Which is accurate regarding median age at first marriage from 1890 to 1998?

A) It has steadily and gradually gone up.
B) It has steadily and gradually gone down.
C) It started high, bottomed out in the 1950s and 60s, then started back up.
D) It started low, peaked in the 1950s and 60s, then started back down.
E) It remained constant throughout that period of time.

Question 7

It is true about mate selection today that

A) At marriage, more people have had other sexual partners, and more of them, that at any other time in American history.
B) The age difference between first-married men and women is the smallest in history.
C) The time between a person's first date and their marriage is going consistently down.
D) All of the above.
E) Only (a) and (b) above.

Question 8

The concept of the "marriage market" is central to which theory of mate selection?

A) Conflict theory.
B) Social exchange theory.
C) Functionalism.
D) Developmental theory.
E) Scripting theory.

Question 9

The reason not all women want the exactly same man, and not all men want exactly the same woman, is that

A) General marital desirability varies from one society to another.
B) General marital desirability remains constant in a society.
C) Person-specific marital desirability varies.
D) Person-specific marital desirability remains constant.
E) In today's world, general and specific marital desirability are nearly identical.

Question 10

The group of individuals constituting realistic potential mates

A) Is called general marital desirables.
B) Is called pool of eligibles.
C) Declines in size for individuals once they end their formal education.
D) Both (a) and (c).
E) Both (b) and (c).

Question 11

In which social class do parents exert the most social control over their children's dating?

A) Lower class.
B) Working class.
C) Middle class.
D) Upper class.
E) There are no known class differences in parental control of dating.

Question 12

The terms endogamy and homogamy differ in that

A) Endogamy is mate selection from within a recognized group, homogamy is selection from those with similar social characteristics.
B) Endogamy is most likely to be used by sociologists; homogamy is used by anthropologists.
C) Endogamy is selection from outside the group; homogamy is selection from within the group.
D) Both (a) and (b) above.
E) Both (b) and (c) above.

Question 13

"The phenomenon that persons marry other like themselves more often than would be expected by chance" is

A) Called assortive mating.
B) The definition of homogamy.
C) The "accidental" theory of mate selection.
D) Not true with religion.
E) Only a recent phenomenon.

Question 14

Miscegenation laws

A) Prohibit same-sex marriage.
B) Have never existed in the United States.
C) Were, until 1967, in force in several southern states.
D) Still exist in nearly every state.
E) Both (a) and (d) above.

Question 15

It is true about racially mixed marriages that

A) The mixed marriage rate is higher for White marriages than for Native American and Black marriages.
B) The rate has generally gone up since 1960.
C) In Japanese-White marriages, the husband is more likely to be Japanese.
D) Both (a) and (c) above.
E) Both (b) and (c) above.

Question 16

It is true about religious homogamy in America that

A) It is probably increasing.
B) It is interrelated with racial and ethnic homogamy.
C) Its extend depends on how religions are grouped.
D) All of the above.
E) Only (b) and (c) above.

Question 17

Economic exchanges at marriage, such as bride wealth,

A) Increased the odds of class homogamy.
B) Decreased the odds of class homogamy.
C) Were unrelated to class homogamy.
D) Were less common in agrarian than industrial societies.
E) Both (c) and (d) above.

Question 18

Hypergamy is

A) A type of mésalliance.
B) Marriage in which the woman marries into a higher social level.
C) Marriage in which the woman marries into a lower social level.
D) Both (a) and (b) above.
E) Both (a) and (c) above.

Question 19

A "mating gradient" occurs when

A) There are more eligible mates of one sex in a particular age group.
B) There is more hypergamy than hypogamy.
C) More males or females in a racial group marry outside the group.
D) More males or females from a particular geographic area marry outside the area.
E) A mating gradient can result from any of the above.

Question 20

Equity theory in mating

A) Assumes that each person is out to maximize his or her own rewards, even at the expense of the other.
B) Assumes reciprocity in that persons look for a fair, even match of resources.
C) Assumes that partners are identical in each type of resource.
D) Would predict that all men would want to marry the same, most beautiful woman.
E) Is completely unrelated to social exchange theory.

Question 21

According to conflict theory, class homogamy

A) Brings together persons with shared meanings.
B) Is the result of bargains people make with the resources they have available.
C) Results in increasing concentrations of wealth and power in fewer families.
D) Is likely to cause struggles for power for individuals in matched couples.
E) Encourages gender equality.

Question 22

Propinquity

A) Is the tendency to select mates from persons who live nearby.
B) Is related to social class, racial, and religious homogamy.
C) Is no longer a factor in mate selection in the United States.
D) All of the above.
E) Only (a) and (b) above.

Question 23

That women marry men who are older than themselves

A) Is true only in post-industrial societies.
B) Can result in a marriage squeeze.
C) Is truer for first marriages than for second marriages.
D) All of the above.
E) Only (a) and (b) above.

Question 24

It is true about cohabiting couples that

A) They made up over half of first unions in the 1990s.
B) They make up a bigger percentage of people under 25 than any other age group.
C) They are more likely to be college educated than couples who do not cohabit.
D) They make up a bigger percentage of Whites than of Blacks.
E) All of the above.

Question 25

Which of the following self-perceptions persons had of their cohabiting relationship was most common in the 1990s?

A) Coresidential dating.
B) Trial marriage.
C) Precursor to marriage.
D) Substitute for marriage.
E) Percentages were the same for all perceptions.

Question 26

A comparison of couples who cohabited before marriage with those who do not finds that those who cohabited

A) Had more satisfying marriages.
B) Had less commitment to the institution of marriage.
C) Had lower divorce rates.
D) Both (a) and (c) above.
E) None of the above.

Question 27

Compared to their married peers, cohabitants

A) Had lower levels of overall life satisfaction.
B) Had lower levels of sexual exclusivity and satisfaction.
C) Had poorer relationships with their parents.
D) All of the above.
E) Only (a) and (c) above.

Question 28

National surveys asking married and single men and women about their overall life happiness find that

A) Married men are happier than single men, but married women are less happy than single women.
B) Married men are less happy than single men, but married women are happier than single women.
C) Both married men and women are happier than their single counterparts.
D) Both married men and women are less happy than their single counterparts.
E) There is no correlation between marital state and happiness, for either men or women.

Question 29

A content analysis of personal want ads written by heterosexual and homosexual men and women found that

A) Gay men emphasized physical characteristics more than other groups did.
B) Heterosexual women mentioned attractiveness more than lesbians did.
C) Heterosexuals were more likely than homosexuals to mention pursuing a long-term relationship.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 30

Explain the Mate Selection Continuum. At what point would the contemporary United States be on the continuum? Why?

Question 31

Summarize the history of courtship in American, with particular attention to social class differences.

Question 32

How did median age at first marriage change in the 20^th century? What are the reasons for these changes?

Question 33

Explain and evaluate the social exchange theory of mate selection.

Question 34

Explain how the concept of assortive mating relates to racial, religious, and social class homogamy.

Question 35

Explain what propinquity is, and how it relates to racial, religious, and social class homogamy.

Question 36

Is cohabitation more like a stage in the mate selection process, or is it more like a substitution for marriage? Explain.

Question 37

Compared to other options, what are the outcomes of cohabitation?