Interpersonal Relations Exam 1

Humans are social or nonsocial?

social

Do we suffer or flourish when we are deprived of close contact?

suffer

What is at the core of human social natures

need for intimate relationships

What are the 7 components of intimacy

Knowledge
Interdependance
Caring
Trust
Responsiveness
Mutuality
Commitment

Knowledge

intimate partners have extensive personal, often confidential, information about each other

Interdependence

intimate partners have strong, diverse, and enduring influence on each other

Caring

intimate partners feel more affection for one another than they do for most others

Trust

intimate partners expect treatment from one another that is fair, honorable, and benevolent

Responsiveness

intimate partners are more attentive to each other's needs and they support each other more effectively than they do most others

Mutuality

: intimate partners think of themselves as a couple instead of as two entirely separate individuals

Commitment

intimate partners expect their relationship to continue, and they work to realize that goal

Are all 7 charactistics needed to be understood as intimacy?

No

The Need to Belong

a powerful drive to establish intimate connections to others

Do We Need Intimacy?

Fulfilling our needs to belong can be a matter of life or death.

What is The Influence of Culture?

Experience
Individual Differences
Human Nature
Interaction

Are more or less people getting married than in the past?

Fewer, only half of the adults in the U.S. are presently married.

Are people waiting longer to marry?

Yes

T/F? People routinely live together even when theyre not married?

True, most young adults will live with a partner before they ever marry.

T/F? People often have babies when theyre not married?

True, on average an american mother has her first child before she gets married.

how many marriages end in divorce

50%

Do most preschool children have mothers who work outside or inside the home?

outside

WHy have our social norms changed?

#NAME?

Building blocks of relationships include

#NAME?

attachment styles shaped by their caregivers influences:

their learned orientations toward relationships with others

secure attatchment style

trusting and relaxed

anxious/ambivalent attachment style

nervous and clingy

avoidant attachment style

suspicious and withdrawn

are attachment styles found in adults too?

yes

what percentage of us are secure in our romantic relationships?

60%

How do we get attachment styles?

they are learned through our experiences

How different are men and women?

The actual interests, styles, and abilities of men and women overlap substantially.

is variation between sexes or within a sex higher?

within a sex

gender roles

The patterns of behavior that are culturally expected of men and women.

how many of us fit into our gender role's stereotypes

about half

agreeableness

cooperative and trusting

extraversion

outgoing; sociable

conscientiousness

dutiful and dependable

Neuroticism

anxious and angry

openness to experience

imaginative and unconventional

What may have instilled in us certain tendencies that shape our relationships.

evolution

What different reproductive dilemmas do men and women face?

parental investment
paternity uncertainty

Parental Investment

Men and women differ enormously in the minimum time and biological effort they have to provide to each child they produce.

Paternity Uncertainty

Men, but not women, may face doubts about whether or not a particular child is theirs.

are relationships dynamic or static?

dynamic, fluid and changing

what do relationships emerge from?

combinations of the partners' experiences and talents, and are often much more than the sum of those parts.

can exposure or repeated contact with someone increase our liking for him/her

yes

T/F Familiarity does not breed contempt

TRUE

Why is is close proximity rewarding in a relationship?

close partners can provide us with more benefits at lesser expense

T/F We tend to assume automatically that physically attractive people also have other desirable traits.

TRUE

How Judgments of attractiveness are multifaceted:

#NAME?

are physical attraction standards the same around the world?

yes

T/F?Babies are born with preferences for the same faces that we find attractive as adults.

TRUE

T/F People with symmetrical, attractive faces tend to enjoy good physical and mental health

TRUE

How Standards of attractiveness are also affected by changing economic and cultural conditions.

During hard times, when a culture's food supply is unreliable, slender women are less desirable than heavy women are.

T/F? Attractive people tend to be a little happier than unattractive people are

true, , but they don't trust other people as much.

People tend to pair off with others of __________ levels of physical attractiveness

similar

Desirability =

physical attraction X Probability of accepting us

Balance theory

suggests that we prefer consistency and symmetry in our relationships...so we like those who like us, and dislike those who dislike us.

Birds of a feather---- flock together.

do

We tend to like those who share our:

Age, race, education, religion, and social class
attitudes and values
Personalities

Do our Perceptions of how much we have in common matter more than our actual similarities?

yes, and partners routinely think that they have more in common with each other than they really do.

Fatal attraction

Something we initially like about a new partner can gradually become one of the most obnoxious, irritating things we dislike about that partner.

Dissimilarity May Dissimilarity May --- Over Time

decrease

do opposites attract?

Opposites don't attract, but some opposites may gradually fade if a couple stays together for other reason

WHich similarities are important?

similarities in housework and gender roles do routinely matter.

The theory of psychological reactance

states that when people lose their freedom, they strive to regain it. So, we may want someone more if we are threatened with losing him or her.

the Romeo and Juliet effect

The more parents interfere with their romances, the more love teenagers feel for their partners.

casual flings

Both men and women are less selective when they're picking a partner for a casual fling than for a lasting union.

For long-term mating:

Men insist on moderate attractiveness but they want all the warmth, honesty, humor, and intelligence they can get.
Women insist on moderate status and resources but they want all the warmth, honesty, humor, and intelligence they can get

Convenience Sample

anyone is readily available

Representative Sample

a group of people who resemble the entire population of interest

Volunteer Bias

Of those invited, people who agree to participate may differ from those who refuse

Karney et al., 1995

volunteers were better educated, employed in higher-status jobs, and more likely to have cohabited than were those who refused to participate in a longitudinal study of their relationships.

Two different research designs are used by relationship science:

Correlational designs
Experimental designs

Correlational designs

measure naturally occuring events, looking for associations between them.

positive correlation

increases in one event are associated with increases in the other. Some correlations are stronger than others. 1.00 means perfect correlation. The direction does not matter. -.5 and +.5 have the same strength. Don't look at the sign.

negative correlation

increases in one event are associated with decreases in the other.

Experimental designs

a group of approaches that allow inferences about causes and effects to be drawn

Independent variable

a variable manipulated by the researcher.

Dependent variable

a variable measured by the researcher.

Self-reports

Asking people about their feelings and behavior. they are inexpensive and easy.

potential problems with self-reports

Participants may misunderstand some questions.
Their memories may not be accurate
People may not be able or willing to tell the truth

Social desirability bias

: People may be reluctant to report anything that makes them look bad.

Observations

watching behavior directly. Observers are highly trained and their watching is often highly detailed.

Problems with observation

reactivity is sometimes a problem: People may change their behavior when they know they are being observed.