Chapter 7

Question 1

Passion

Answer 1

Intensely positive feelings and desires for an-other person. Passion is based on the rewards of involvement and is not equivalent to commitment

Question 2

Personal Relationships

Answer 2

A relationship defined by uniqueness, rules, relational dialectics, and commitment and affected by contexts. Personal relationships, unlike social ones, are irreplaceable

Question 3

Commintment

Answer 3

A decision to remain with a relationship. One of three dimensions of enduring romantic relation-ships, commitment has more impact on relational continuity than does love alone.

Question 4

Investment

Answer 4

Something put into a relationship that can-not be recovered should the relationship end. Investments, more than rewards and love, increase commitmen

Question 5

Rules

Answer 5

They guide how partners interact

Question 6

Relational Dialectics

Answer 6

Opposing forces or tensions that are normal parts of all relationships. Three relational dialectics are autonomy/connectedness, novelty/predictability, and openness/closedness

Question 7

Neutralization

Answer 7

One of four responses to relational dialectics; involves balancing or finding a compromise between two dialectical poles

Question 8

Separation

Answer 8

One of four responses to relational dia-lectics, in which friends or romantic partners assign one pole of a dialectic to certain spheres of activities or topics and the contradictory dialecti-cal pole to distinct spheres of activities or topics

Question 9

Segmentation

Answer 9

One of four responses to relational dialec-tics. Segmentation responses meet one dialectical need while ignoring or not satisfy-ing the contradictory dialecti-cal need

Question 10

Reframing

Answer 10

One of four responses to relational dialec-tics. The reframing response transcends the apparent con-tradiction between two dia-lectical poles and reinterprets them as not in tension

Question 11

Relational Culture

Answer 11

A private world of rules, understand-ings, and patterns of acting and interpreting that partners create to give meaning to their relationship; the nucleus of intimacy.

Question 12

Stonewalling

Answer 12

Refusal to discuss issues that are creat-ing tension in a relationship. Stonewalling is especially cor-rosive in relationships because it blocks the possibility of resolving conflicts

Question 13

4 responses to dialect tensions

Answer 13

neutralization, separation (selection); segmentation, reframing

Question 14

4 Horseman of the Apocalypse

Answer 14

Critisism, Contempt, Defensiveness, and Stonewalling