Chapter 14: Exam 5 Flashcards
Robert Havighurst Adulthood Development
Stages
- Getting started in an occupation
- Selecting and courting a mate
- Learning to live contently with one’s partner
- Starting a family and becoming a parent
- Assuming the responsibilities of managing a home
- Assuming civic responsibility
- Finding a cogenial social group
Separation
- Parents sometimes psychologically leave the “nest” [child’s room] the same for when the grown kids need it
- Highly traditional or insecure parents find their son’s or daughter’s departure to college to be so stressful that it damages the parent-child relationship.
More stressful for a daughter because women appear to be more vulnerable than men are “out there” in the “real” world and mothers report higher degrees of separation anxiety than fathers
Boomerang Generation
Young adults that may return home to live for financial reasons
Individuation
Young adults process becoming an individual by means of integrating his or her own values and beliefs with those of his or her parents and society at large.
*Most men consider this to be a key role in personality development [when they differ views of their parents, they are more likely to engage in an active struggle or fight for independence]
*Women, the establishment and maintenance of social relationships are also of primary importance [Work on becoming their own person, separating their values and patterns of behavior of their mothers]
Feelings of connectedness are related to the amount of financial and emotional support students receive from their parents
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Central conflict or life crisis of early adulthood, in which a person develops an intimate relationship with a significant other or risks heading down toward social isolation
Erik Erikson’s view on intimacy vs. isolation
*Believed that young adults who had not achieved ego identity may not be ready to commit themselves to others
- Young adults who do not reach out to develop intimate relationships risk retreating into isolation and loneliness
“Seasons”
Certain periods of life adults go through, according to Daniel Levinson.
He also viewed that psychological well being was shaped by the following social and physical demands:
a. development of relationships
b. child-rearing
c. establishing and developing a career
d. coming to terms with one’s own successes and failures
Life Structure
Levinson’s theory, underlying pattern of person’s life at a given stage, as defined by relationships, career, race, religion, economic status and the like.
“the dream”
The drive to become, to leave one’s mark on history, serves as a tentative blueprint for the young adult.
- Labeled ages 28 to 33, the age-30 transition, reassessment: “Where is my life going?” and “Why am I doing this?”
- Later 30s are often characterized by settling down and planting roots
Attraction
Research for many decades has shown – and keeps on showing – that physical attractiveness is a major determinant of interpersonal and sexual attraction.
*Men appear to be more responsive to visual stimuli than women
*Women are somewhat flexible and more willing to trade (some) good looks for a good relationship
Evolutionary Psychologists View on Attraction
Note that it would make sense for males and females to be more attracted to one another when the women is ovulating [capable to conceiving a child]
Tallness in attraction
- Taller men play a key role because it suggests social dominance, status, access to resources, protection, and a positive heritable trait.
- Consistent with stereotypical gender roles, tall women are not viewed so positively as tall men are.
Allure of Red
Cultural conditioning and biological heritage make the color red associated with feelings of attraction
Cultural Conditioning for the allure of red
Men found women more attractive when they were shown with red backgrounds as opposed to white.
Biological Heritage for the allure of red
Men: redding of the skin is caused by elevated estrogen (relative to progesterone), which increases the flow of blood under the surface of the skin [widely believed that reddish skin tones are a sexual signal that attracts mates, during time of ovulation]
- Women: red coloration could be indicator of health [highly oxygenated blood levels can be maintained only in organisms in good health]
Inborn attractiveness preferences (gender)
Gender differences in preferences for mates because they may provide reproductive advantages
- Cleanliness, good complexion, clear eyes, good teeth, good hair, firm muscle tone, and a steady gait are universally appealing to both females and males. [possibly markers of reproductive potential]
- Age and health relatively more important to woman’s appeal with her reproduction capacity [Biological Clock]
- Mens reproductive value may also depend on how well he can provide for his family
Nonphysical traits that affect the perception of attraction
A partner’s attractiveness is likely to be enhanced by traits such as familiarity, liking, respect, and sharing values and goals. [Also rate the attractiveness of faces when they are smiling than when they are not smiling.]
Truth or Fiction
People are considered to be more attractive when they are smiling
True
So put on a happy face!
Gender Differences in Perceptions of Attractiveness
Women are more likely to be attracted to socially dominant men than men are to be attracted to socially dominant women
Pew Research Center Survey:
- 78% of women say that it is very importantly to them that a spouse or partner holds a steady job, compared to 46% of men.
- 62% of men and 70% of women found it important that the couple shares similar beliefs and having and rearing children.
- 7% of men and 10% of women said very important that their partner or spouse share their racial or ethnic background.
Attraction-similarity hypothesis
View that people tend to develop relationships with people who are similar to themselves in physical attractiveness and other traits
Truth or Fiction
“Opposites Attract”
Fiction
It does not appear to be borne out by research evidence. People who are similar in physical attractiveness and attitudes are usually more likely to be attracted to one another.
Reciprocity
Tendency to respond in kind when we feel admired and complimented [when someone confesses his or her feelings of attraction, the recipient of the feelings is certainly likely to pay more attention to the other person]
Romantic Love
A form of love fueled by passion and feelings of intimacy
Social psychologists Ellen Berscheid & Elaine Hatfield define romantic love
In terms of a state of intense physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal of that arousal of love
Arousal
Pounding heart, sweaty palms, butterflies in the stomach, or thinking about one’s love interest.
Appraisal of Arousal
Attributing the arousal to some cause, such as fear or love
The perception that one has fallen in love derives from:
- State of intense arousal that is connected with an appropriate love object
- Cultural setting that idealizes romantic love
- Attribution of the arousal to feelings of love for the person
Sternbergs Triangular Theory of Love
{Building blocks or components of loving experience}
- Intimacy - the experience of warmth toward another person that arises from feelings of closeness and connectedness
- Passion - the intense romantic or sexual desire for another person
- Commitment - Decision to devote oneself to a cause or another person
Sternbergs model of various kinds of love
Liking - intimacy alone [true friendship w/out passion or long-term commitment]
Romantic Love - Intimacy & Passion [Lovers physically & emotionally attracted to each other but w/out commitment “Summer Romance”]
Compassionate Love - Intimacy & Commitment [Long-term committed friendship, such as a marriage in which has faded]
Infatuation - Passion Alone [Passionate, obsessive love at first sight w/out intimacy or commitment]
Empty Love - Commitment Alone [Commitment to remain together w/out intimacy or passion]
Fatuous Love - Passion & Commitment [commitment based on passion but w/out time for intimacy to develop – shallow relationship such as whirlwind courtship]
Consummate Love - Intimacy, Passion & Commitment [A complete love consisting of all three components – an ideal difficult to obtain]
Truth or Fiction
Couples remain in love after passion fades
True
Assuming that they have developed companionate love
Jealousy
Partners become jealous, for example, when others show sexual interest in their partners or when their partners show sexual interest in others.
Leads to loss of feelings of affection, feelings of insecurity, rejection, anxiety, loss of self-esteem, and feelings of mistrust. In the end onset of depression possibly gives rise to domestic abuse.
Truth or Fiction
Jealousy can lessen feelings of affection and heighten feelings of insecure and depression, leading to breakup
True
Yet, in a milder form, jealousy may have the effect of reinforcing how much one cares for ones partner.
Loneliness
Young adolescents are likely to encounter feelings of loneliness because life changes such as entrance into college or graduate school, or moving to a new city to take advantage of job prospects
Truth or Fiction
Many people remain lonely because they fear being rejected by others
True
Lonely people tend to have the following characteristics
- Lack of social skills
- Lack of interest in other people
- Lack of empathy
Fear of rejection is often connected with self-criticism of social skills and expectations of failure in relating to others
The Single Life 3 Main Reasons
- 30% have not met the right person
- 27% do not have sufficient financial stability
- 22% are not ready to settle down
Single mothers have doubled to more than 1/4 compared to three decades ago
Truth or Fiction
Being single has become a more common US lifestyle over the past few decades
True
There is less stigma connected with remaining single
Serial monogamy
A series of exclusive sexual relatonships
Celibacy
Abstention from sexual activity, whether from choice or lack of opportunity.
Cohabitation
Living together with a romantic partner without being married
POSSLQ - People of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
46% of adults say people and society at large will be better off if marriage and children are a priority in people’s lives
50% say society will be just as well off if people have other priorities
24% never married adults aged 25 to 29 are currently cohabiting [increased tenfold since 1960 in US]
Truth or Fiction
Cohabitation has become a normal stage of courtship for many US couples
True
Marriage
Decreased sharply in last 50 years
% of people aged 15 or above who are married is now 50% compared to 65% in 1960, however most common lifestyle among adults aged 35 to 44.
Monogamy
Marriage between one person and one other person
Polygamy
Marriage in which a person has more than one spouse and is permitted sexual access to each of them
Arranged Marriages
Lower divorce rates, more traditional and beyond infatuation developing a deep abiding love.
Whom we marry
Young adults tend to marry others from the same area and social class.
Also similar physical attractiveness, attitudes, background, and interests.
Homogamy
The practice of people getting married to people who are similar to them
Age homogamy
To select a partner who falls in their own age range [with husbands 2 to 5 years older than wives.]
Marital Satisfaction
Quality of marital relationship appears to positively affect an individual’s physical and psychological health.
Parenthood
The median age for a woman’s first birth is 26.3
The average woman needs to have 2.11 children for a couple to be at the “replacement level” because some children will not survive to reproduce.
Truth or Fiction
Having a child is a way to help save a marriage that is in trouble
Fiction
The resultant environment is not conductive to the adjustment of the child or the parents
Parenthood and Role Overload
Consistency between mother and father expressed beliefs and their behaviors predicts adjustment after the baby is born
Parenthood and Dual-earner families
Mothers in dual-earner families encounter more stress than fathers do
Divorce: Breaking Bonds
40-50% of marriages in the US end in divorce
