Chapter 12: Power and Violence

Question 1

power in relationships today

Answer 1

55% of people today say their relationships are equal partnerships where both partners have about the same influence on important decisions

Question 2

power in relationships in previous generations

Answer 2

In previous generations, men were the dominant partners in heterosexual relationships

Question 3

social power

Answer 3

the ability to influence or change the thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of others to suit our purposes and to resist their influence on us

Question 4

interdependency perspective on power

Answer 4

Power is based on the control of valuable resources

Question 5

caveats of the interdependency perspective on power

Answer 5

• The person who has power doesn’t have to possess the resources; controlling access to them is enough
• One derives power from controlling a resource only if others want it
• The availability of alternative sources of desired resources is also critical

Question 6

Principle of lesser interest

Answer 6

in any partnership, the person who has less interest in continuing and maintaining the relationship has more power in that relationship

Question 7

why are men more powerful in traditional marriages?

Answer 7

• In traditional marriages, men may be more powerful than women because they have higher CLalts
• They may encounter large numbers of other potential partners by working outside the home
• They’re more likely to have the money to pursue other potential partners if they want

Question 8

fate control

Answer 8

one can autocratically determine what outcomes a partner receives, thereby controlling their fate

Question 9

behaviour control

Answer 9

when, by changing one’s behaviour, one encourages a partner to alter their actions in a desirable direction

Question 10

power as a reciprocal relationship

Answer 10

In almost all relationships, both partners have power over each other
In many cases, one partner’s power over the other will be matched by the other’s counterpower, so both can get each other to do what they want some of the time

Question 11

reciprocity

Answer 11

encourages us to do unto others as they have done unto us

Question 12

social responsibility

Answer 12

urges us to be generous to those who depend on us

Question 13

6 types of power

Answer 13

• reward power
• coercive power
• legitimate power
• referent power
• expert power
• informational power

Question 14

resource that grants reward power

Answer 14

rewards

Question 15

resource that grants coercive power

Answer 15

punishment

Question 16

resource that grants legitimate power

Answer 16

authority, and norms of equity, reciprocity, or social responsibility

Question 17

resource that grants referent power

Answer 17

respect and/or love

Question 18

resource that grants expert power

Answer 18

expertise

Question 19

resource that grants informational power

Answer 19

information

Question 20

why does reward power gets people to do what you want?

Answer 20

you give them something they like or take away something they don’t like

Question 21

why does coercive power gets people to do what you want?

Answer 21

you can do something to them they don’t like or take something away they do

Question 22

why does legitimate power gets people to do what you want?

Answer 22

they recognize your authority to tell them what to do

Question 23

why does referent power gets people to do what you want?

Answer 23

they identify with you, feeling attracted, and wanting to remain close

Question 24

why does expert power gets people to do what you want?

Answer 24

you have the broad understanding they desire

Question 25

why does informational power gets people to do what you want?

Answer 25

you possess some specific knowledge they desire

Question 26

why do men tend to be the dominant partners in heterosexual relationships?

Answer 26

• Men have more relative resources than women
• Social norms support and maintain male dominance
• Equality is elusive: we’re not sure what it looks like

Question 27

Universalistic resources

Answer 27

can be exchanged with almost anyone in a wide variety of situations, and whoever controls them has considerable freedom in deciding what to do with them

Question 28

Particularistic resources

Answer 28

valuable in some situations but not others

Question 29

influence of men vs. women

Answer 29

Women have more influence at home, but men have more influence when it matters

Question 30

inequality in heterosexual couples today

Answer 30

Most heterosexual couples still tolerate substantial inequality

Question 31

coercive power and gender

Answer 31

• Men tend to have more coercive power due to their larger size and greater strengthen
• However, coercion is an ineffective way to influence an intimate partner

Question 32

what differentiates powerful and nonpowerful people?

Answer 32

• Powerful people experience a lot of positive moods and feelings of well-being and feel in control of things
• Powerful people are less good at taking other people’s perspectives
• Powerful people are more likely to cheat on their partners while being more strict at condemning other’s cheating. They judge other’s moral transgressions more harshly than their own
• Powerless people suffer more depression, behave more cautiously, and timidly fear punishment more than powerful people do

Question 33

power dynamics in same-sex conversations

Answer 33

Women and men behave similarly when talking to members of the same se

Question 34

power dynamics in opposite-sex conversations

Answer 34

• Women tend not to speak to men with the same implicit strength and power that they display toward other women
• Men interrupt women more than women interrupt men
  Men speak more than women

Question 35

nonverbal behaviour and power

Answer 35

• Powerful people use larger interpersonal distances, look at others longer, assume less symmetrical postures, and take up more space than less powerful people
• These behaviours tend to be more masculine
• When people feel more powerful, their testosterone levels rise and they take bolder risks in a gambling game

Question 36

nonverbal sensitivity and power

Answer 36

• Powerful people recognize emotion in others’ voices and facial expressions less accurately than people with lower power do
• This allows them to gain valuable information and increase their limited power

Question 37

two themes of styles of power

Answer 37

• Direct vs. indirect
• Bilateral (involving both partners) vs. unilateral (independent)

Question 38

men’s style of power

Answer 38

• Heterosexual men tend to use direct and bilateral styles
• More characteristic of those who are satisfied and powerful

Question 39

women’s style of power

Answer 39

• Heterosexual women tend to use indirect and unilateral styles
• More characteristic of those who are unsatisfied and powerless

Question 40

direct strategies in women nowadays

Answer 40

• More recent studies show that women use direct strategies just as often as men do
• Each new generation of women is higher in instrumentality than the one before (more direct)

Question 41

direct vs. indirect requests to use a condom

Answer 41

Softer, more indirect requests to use a condom are more likely to be ignored, particularly when people are intoxicated

Question 42

pecreptions of men vs. women in situations of power

Answer 42

Male autonomy and female conformity are seen as natural by many

Question 43

the outcome of power

Answer 43

• Disparities in power are linked to lower satisfaction in close relationships
• Women are a lot happier when they’re as powerful as their husbands, and their husbands are a little happier too

Question 44

the two faces of power

Answer 44

• Power does not need to be a corrosive force in relationships
• Happy lovers often use influence to benefit their partners and enhance their mutual contentment
• However, some actively seek to be the top dogs in their relationships, which can lead to violence

Question 45

violence

Answer 45

behaving in a manner that is intended to do physical harm to others

Question 46

prevalence of violence in relationships

Answer 46

• Almost ⅓ of women and 1/7 of men in the U.S. have encountered severe physical violence in relationships
• The highest rates of victimization occur in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, where 37% of women were assaulted by a domestic partner
• When a couple has a history of angry disputes, rates of violence are higher

Question 47

prevalence of psychological aggression

Answer 47

• Psychological aggression occurs at one time or another in most relationships
  -It is associated with lower marital satisfaction and personal well-being
• Verbal aggression is less worrisome to most of us than physical violence

Question 48

types of couple violence

Answer 48

• Situational couple violence (SCV)
• Intimate terrorism (IT)
• Violent resistance

Question 49

Situational couple violence (SCV)

Answer 49

• Occurs when both partners are angry and is tied to specific arguments, so it is only occasional and is usually mild and mutual
• Equally common in men and women

Question 50

Intimate terrorism (IT)

Answer 50

• One partner uses violence as a tool to control and oppress the other. It is more likely to be one-sided, to escalate over time, and to involve serious injury to its target
• More common in men

Question 51

violent resistance

Answer 51

• A partner forcibly fights back against intimate terrorism. Occurs in some, but not all cases of IT, so it is the least common type
• More common in women

Question 52

facets of intimate terrorism

Answer 52

• isolation
• intimidation
• economic abuse
• emotional abuse
• minimizing

Question 53

isolation

Answer 53

controlling where she goes, what she does, whom she sees

Question 54

intimidation

Answer 54

threatnening, destroying her property, abusing pets

Question 55

economic abuse

Answer 55

taking her money, preventing her employment

Question 56

emotional abuse

Answer 56

humiliating, disregarding, and blaming

Question 57

minimizing

Answer 57

denying any abuse

Question 58

gender differences in intimate violence

Answer 58

• Women direct just as much or even more physical violence at their partners than men do
• Women tend to display less severe physical violence while men display more severe violence
• When couple violence occurs, more severe injuries are suffered by women

Question 59

mate-guarding

Answer 59

working to regulate and control our partner’s access to potential rivals

Question 60

evolutionary perspective of mate-guarding

Answer 60

Makes sense from an evolutionary perspective because we want our partners to be faithful to us

Question 61

posessiveness vs. violence

Answer 61

If a partner’s possessiveness turns surly, violence may not be far behind

Question 62

I-cubed model

Answer 62

• Organizes influences on SCV into instigating triggers, impelling influences, and inhibiting influences
• Argues that we refrain from violence because the impelling influences were too weak or the inhibiting forces were too strong

Question 63

Instigating triggers

Answer 63

cause one or both partners to be on edge

Question 64

Impelling impulses

Answer 64

make it more likely that the partners will experience violent impulses

Question 65

Inhibiting impulses

Answer 65

encourage the partners to refrain from acting on violent impulses

Question 66

classifying impelling and inhibitory influences

Answer 66

Impelling and inhibitory influences can be distal, dispositional, relational, or situational

Question 67

distal

Answer 67

influences emerge from one’s background

Question 68

dispositional

Answer 68

personality traits and long-standing beliefs

Question 69

relational

Answer 69

involve the current state of the couple’s relationship

Question 70

situational

Answer 70

involve the immediate circumstances

Question 71

instigating triggers

Answer 71

• Jealousy-evoking events, remembered or discovered betrayals, real or imagined rejection
• Verbal or physical abuse from one’s partner

Question 72

impelling influences

Answer 72

• People who witnessed violence between their parents, were abused as children, or consumed a lot of aggressive media
• Mean, impulsive character traits
• High in anxiety about abandonment or avoidance of intimacy
• Men with traditional, sex-typed gender roles and those with attitudes that condone the use of force
• Poor communication skills and mismatched attachment styles
• Recent stress at work
• Hot, noisy, uncomfortable environment

Question 73

inhibiting influences

Answer 73

• Cultures that promote gender equality and are enjoying economic prosperity
• Conscientiousness
• Disposition for self-control
• Good problem-solving skills
  Commitment

Question 74

reoccurence of ipv

Answer 74

Once violence starts in a particular relationship, it is likely to reoccur

Question 75

explaining intimate terrorism

Answer 75

• Also explained by the I-cubed model
• Rooted in more enduring influences than SCV

Question 76

2 types of intimate terrorism

Answer 76

• Threats of harm are their efforts to keep partners from leaving
• Use violence as a tool to get what they want

Question 77

preexisting characteristics of intimate terrorists

Answer 77

Men who are intimate terrorists have often witnessed violent conflict between their parents, been sexually abused, grown up in homes that taught them traditional gender roles, think of women as adversaries to be used for pleasure, and are more abusive in general

Question 78

reasons for IT

Answer 78

Intimate terrorists tend to be poor, feel intellectually inferior, and have low self-esteem

Question 79

IT as a vicious cycle

Answer 79

Intimate aggression can be transmitted intergenerationally, but it doesn’t have to be

Question 80

rationales for IT

Answer 80

• Perpetrators of IT feel that their behaviour is a legitimate response to their partner’s provocation
• They believe men are supposed to be dominant and are entitled to use violence
• Most don’t believe they are “real wife abusers” because they don’t enjoy hurting women and have limited their level of abuse
• Only about ½ of the men expressed remorse

Question 81

women’s reactions to IT

Answer 81

• Women are ordinarily surprised when they encounter IPV and struggle to make sense of it
• They are influenced by notions that encourage them to “forgive and forget”
• They sometimes blame themselves for their partner’s aggression and remain silent
• Sometimes, they minimize their partner’s behaviour, thinking it will change

Question 82

psychological consequences of IT

Answer 82

Psychological consequences of IT include low self-esteem, mistrust of men, depression, and PTSD

Question 83

social consequences of IT

Answer 83

Battered women are often absent from work and may become homeless when violence forces them to flee their homes

Question 84

stalking

Answer 84

repeated, malicious following and harassing of an unwilling target

Question 85

reasons for stalking

Answer 85

• About half of stalkers are people pursuing ex-partners after the end of a romantic relationship
• Stalkers may also be mentally unstable or lonely
• They often wrongly believe that their victims are interested in them

Question 86

why don’t all victims of IPV leave?

Answer 86

• ⅓ of women stay in abusive partnerships for an extended period
• Despite their abuse, maybe women don’t think they’ll be better off if they go. This is usually wrong
• Some people don’t want to go because they’re drawn to possessive and controlling men