CH.7: communication in personal relationships

Question 1

personal relationships

Answer 1

unique commitments between irreplaceable individuals who are influenced by rules, relational dialectics, and surrounding contexts

Question 2

passion

Answer 2

intensely positive feelings and desires for another person; based on the rewards of involvement and not equivalent to commitment

Question 3

commitment

Answer 3

decision to remain in a relationship in spite of troubles, disappointments, sporadic boredom, and lulls in passion

Question 4

investments

Answer 4

what we put into relationships that we could not retrieve if the relationship were to end

Question 5

rules

Answer 5

patterned ways of behaving and interpreting behavior; all relationships develop rules

Question 6

relational dialectics

Answer 6

opposing and continual tensions that are normal in personal relationships: autonomy/connection, novelty/predictability, and openness/closedness

Question 7

neutralization

Answer 7

negotiates a compromise in which each dialectical need is met to an extent but neither is fully satisfied

Question 8

separation

Answer 8

favors one need in a dialectic and ignores the other

Question 9

segmentation

Answer 9

partners assign each need to certain spheres, issues, activities, or times

Question 10

reframing

Answer 10

redefines apparently contradictory needs as not really in opposition

Question 11

relational culture

Answer 11

a private world of rules, understandings, meanings, and patterns of interacting that partners create for their relationship

Question 12

stonewalling

Answer 12

refusing to discuss issues that are causing tension in a relationship

Question 13

guidelines

Answer 13

manage distance, create equitable romantic relationships, resist violence and abuse, negotiate safer sex

Question 14

psychological responsibility

Answer 14

remembering, planning, and coordinating domestic activities; women assume this responsibility