Chapter 9: Attraction & Close Relationships Flashcards
What is the Social Exchange Theory?
It is an economic model of human behavior according to which people are motivated by a desire to maximize profit and minimize loss in their social relationships just as they are in business
What is the Equity Theory?
It states that an equitable relationship is a matter of social justice; people are most content when the ratio between what they get out of a relationship and what they put into it (contributions) is similar for both partners
What is the Mere Exposure Effect?
The more often people see a novel stimulus, the more they come to like it.
What is What-Is-Beautiful-Is-Good Stereotype?
The more attractive the character, the more they were portrayed as virtuous, romantically attractive, and successful
What are Social Anxiety Disorders?
It is a disorder characterized by intense feelings of discomfort in situations that invite scrutiny
What is the Proximity Effect?
It is the single best predictor of whether two people will get together is physical proximity or nearness
What is the Need for Affiliation?
It is a desire to establish social contact with others and to maintain many rewarding interpersonal relationships
What is Need to Belong?
It is a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least minimum quantity of lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships
What is Matching Hypothesis?
It is the idea that people tend to become involved romantically with others who are equivalent in their physical attractiveness
What is a Sociostat or Social Thermostat?
It regulates their affiliative tendencies
Who is Yacov Rofe?
He proposed that stress increases the desire to affiliate only when being with others is seen as useful in reduction of the negative impact of the stressful situation.
What were the findings of Sarnoff’s and Zimbardo’s study?
When we face embarrassment, being with others is more likely to increase stress than reduce it.
What is Approach-Avoidance Conflict?
It pulls an individual between the desire for contact and a fear of being rejected
What is Loneliness?
It is a sad and heart-wrenching emotional state and deprivation of human social connections; it usually happens
What are characteristics of Shy People?
They evaluate themselves negatively, they expect to fail in social encounters and blame themselves when they do, and they fear rejection
What is the objective perspective of beauty?
People everywhere share an image of what is beautiful.
Physical features of the human face that are reliably associated with expression of youthfulness
Babies who are too young to have learned cultural standards show nonverbal preference for faces considered attractive to adults
What Physical Features do ‘attractive people’ have?
Smooth skin, a pleasant expression and youthfulness
Eyes, nose, lips, and other features are no different from the average
Prototypically face-like and have features that are less distinctive
Right and left side of faces line up and mirror each other
Why are people blinded by beauty?
It is inherently rewarding to be in the company of people who are aesthetically appealing
People tend to associate physical attractiveness with other desirable qualities
What is the cost of physical attractiveness?
Positive feedback is hard to interpret
High pressure to maintain one’s appearance
What are characteristics which influence people’s behavior?
Similarity
Reciprocity
Being Hard to Get
What are kinds of Similarities that attract people to each other?
Demographic
Shared Attitudes
Matching Hypothesis
Similarity in Subjective Experience
What is Demograpics?
Similar backgrounds
What is the Two-Stage Model of Attraction?
We first avoid dissimilar others, then we approach similar others
What is I-Sharing?
When people at a common event share the same sentiment, they feel that they have just shared a subjective experience
What is the Balance Theory?
People prefer relationships that are psychologically balanced and a state of imbalance causes distress, people desire consistency in their thoughts, feelings, and social relationships. A balanced pattern of attraction requires that we like someone whose relationships with others parallel our own.
What is Reciprocity?
Mutual exchange between what we give and what we receive, it is also how balance is maintained in a relationship
What is the Hard-To-Get Effect?
The tendency to prefer people who are highly selective in their social choices over those who are more readily available.
What is the Evolution of Desire?
It is the evolutionary perspective of why sex differences exist, that human beings exhibit mate-selection patterns that favor the conception, birth, and survival of their offspring
How do women select their mates?
Women want to protect their children because they can only have a limited number of them. They would then find someone with economic resources as well as a commitment of resources. They will then prefer someone older, financially secure, ambitious, intelligence, stability, and who has traits that are predictive of future success
How do men select their mates?
Men doubt whether the babies their mates have are theirs. They then choose mates who are healthy, who can reproduce, are fertile, and young. They like women who are chaste, faithful, young, and attractive
What is Jealousy?
It is a negative emotional state that arises from a perceived threat to one’s relationship
What bothers men most?
Sexual Infidelity because it threatens paternal certainty
What bothers women more?
Emotional Infidelity because it threatens future support
What are intimate relationships?
Close relationships between two adults
What are characteristics of Close Relationships?
Emotional Attachments
Fulfillment of Psychological Needs or Interdependence
What are components of Intimate Relationships?
Feelings of Attachment, Affection, and Love
Fulfillment of Psychological Needs
Interdependence between partners, each of whom has a meaningful influence on other
What is the Stimulus-Value-Role (SVR) Theory?
Each relationship must go through different stages, the Stimulus Stage, the Value Stage, and the Role Stage
Describe the Stimulus Stage, Value Stage, and the Role Stage of the SVR Theory.
Stimulus Stage - attraction is sparked by physical appearance
Value Stage - attachment is based on similarity of values and beliefs
Role Stage - commitment is based on performance of such roles
What is a Comparison Level as defined by Thibaut and Kelley?
It is the average expected outcome in a relationship. A person with a high comparison level expects his/her relationships to be rewarding. A person with a low comparison level does not expect his/her relationship to be rewarding
What is Comparison Level for Alternatives (CLalt)?
This is people’s expectations about what they would receive in an alternative situation. When the CLalt is high, there is less commitment to stay in the relationship. When the CLalt is low, people remain even in an unsatisfying relationship that fails to meet expectations.
What is an Investment?
It is something a person puts into a relationship that he/she cannot recover if the relationship ends
What predicts how long relationships will last?
Commitment Levels
What does the equation look like as proposed by the Equity Theory?
Your Benefits Your Partner’s Benefits
————————- = ————————————–
Your Contributions Your Partner’s Contributions
What happens when one is Overbenefited?
You receive more benefits than he/she deserves on the basis of contributions made
What happens when one is Underbenefited?
A partner receives fewer benefits than deserved.
What is the Trust-Insurance System?
When one doesn’t feel good enough for a partner, he/she tends to make more sacrifices.
Restorative actions accompanied lowered feelings of inferiority that same day.
The next day, partners who benefitted expressed fewer doubts about their marriage
What are Exchange Relationships?
Relationships which are characterized by an immediate tit-for-tat repayment of benefits
What are Communal Relationships?
A relationship in which partners respond to each other’s needs and well-being over time and in different ways without regard for whether they have been given or received a benefit
What is a Secure Attachment Style?
Satisfying relationships based on mutual trust and are usually enduring
What is an Avoidant Attachment Style?
People who have this Attachment Style fear intimacy and believe that romantic love is doomed to fade
What is Anxious Attachment Style?
It is a love life full of emotional highs and lows, obsessive preoccupation, greater willingness to make long-term commitment, extreme sexual attraction and jealousy
What is a Conflict Negotiation Task?
Couples discuss problems through heated conflict, boyfriends and girlfriends who were insecurely attached exhibited more physiological stress in response to the conflict task than did those who were securely attached
What are the Primary Love Styles?
Eros - Erotic Love
Ludus - game playing, uncommitted love
Storge - friendship love
What are the Secondary Love Styles?
Mania - demanding and possessive love
Pragma - Pragmatic Love
Agape - other-oriented, altruistic
What Love Styles are preferred by Men and Women?
Men are usually high Ludus.
Women are usually high on Storge/Mania/Pragma
What is the Triangular Theory of Love?
There are eight basic subtypes of love which can be derived from the absence or presence of Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment
What is Intimacy?
It is an emotional component, which involves liking and feelings of closeness.
What is Passion?
It is a motivational component which contains drives that trigger attraction, romance, and sexual desire
What is Commitment?
It is a cognitive component which reflects the decision to make a long-term commitment to a loved partner
What are the levels of components which determines what kind of relationships one has?
Ideal lover - HIGH Intimacy HIGH Passion HIGH Commitment
Friend - HIGH Intimacy LOW Passion HIGH Commitment
Sibling - LOW Intimacy LOW Passion HIGH Commitment
What are the different types of Love according Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love?
Liking Romantic Love Companionate Love Empty Love Famous Love Infatuation Consummate Love Non Love
According to Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, what are the levels of the three components when a love is classified as Liking?
HIGH in Intimacy
LOW in Passion
LOW in Commitment
According to Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, what are the levels of the three components when a love is classified as Romantic Love?
High in Intimacy
High in Passion
Low in Commitment
According to Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, what are the levels of the three components when a love is classified as Companionate Love?
High in Intimacy
Low in Passion
High in Commitment
According to Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, what are the levels of the three components when a love is classified as Empty Love?
Low in Intimacy
Low in Passion
High in Commitment
According to Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, what are the levels of the three components when a love is classified as Fatuous Love?
Low in Intimacy
High in Passion
High in Commitment
According to Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, what are the levels of the three components when a love is classified as Infatuation?
Low in Intimacy
High in Passion
Low in Commitment
According to Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, what are the levels of the three components when a love is classified as Consummate Love?
High in Intimacy
High in Passion
High in Commitment
According to Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love, what are the levels of the three components when a love is classified as Non Love?
Low in Intimacy
Low in Passion
Low in Commitment
What is the two-pronged distinction between Liking and Loving?
Passionate Love is emotionally intense and often erotic state of absorption in another person whereas Companionate Love is a secure, trusting, and stable relationship.
What is the Two-Factor Theory of Emotion?
Passionate love is fueled by two ingredients:
Heightened state of physiological arousal
Belief that this arousal was triggered by the beloved person.
What is Excitation Transfer?
Arousal triggered by one stimulus can be transferred to or added to the arousal from a second stimulus. The combined arousal is then perceived as having seen caused by only by the second stimulus.
What is Self-Disclosure?
It is the willingness to open up and share intimate facts and feelings
What is the correlation between Self-Disclosure and Friendship?
We disclose to people we like.
We like people who disclose to us.
We like people to whom we have disclosed.
What are Patterns of Self-Disclosure?
Social Penetration Theory
Patterns of self-disclosure changes according to the state of a relationship
Tendency to share private, intimate thoughts with others
What is Social Penetration Theory?
Relationships progress from superficial exchanges to more intimate ones, people give little and receive little, exchanges become broader and deeper. Broader which means to cover more areas of their lives. Deeper which means it will involve more sensitive areas.
What is Sexual Orientation?
It is a person’s preference for members of the same sex (homosexuality), opposite sex (heterosexuality) or both sexes (bisexuality).
What is Erotic Plasticity?
Sexual flexibililty
What are Communication Patterns in marriages?
Negative Affect Reciprocity
Demand/Withdraw Interaction Pattern
What is Negative Affect Reciprocity?
It is a tit-for-tat exchange of expressions of negative feelings
What is a Demand/Withdraw Interaction Pattern?
A partner demands a discussion of the relationship problem while the other withdraws from such discussions.
How can one reduce the Negative Effects of Conflict?
Increase rewarding behavior in other aspects of the relationship.
Marital stability rests on a fairly high balance of positive and negative emotions.
Understand the other’s point of view
What are Relationship-Enhancing Attributions?
Undesirable behaviors are seen as situational, temporary, and limited in scope.
What are Desirable Behaviors?
Behaviors that are inherent in the partner, permanent, and generizable to other aspects of the relationship
What are Distress-Maintaining Attributions?
Maximizing the bad and minimizing the good
Who proposed the Excitation Transfer?
Dolf Zillmmann
Who proposed the Triangular Theory of Love?
Robert Sternberg
Who proposed Secure and Insecure Attachment Styles in adults?
Shaver and Cassidy
Who proposed the Exchange and Communal Relationships?
Margaret Clark
Who proposed the Investment Model?
Caryl Rusbult
Who proposed the Social Exchange Theory?
Harold Kelley and John Thibaut
Who proposed the Stimulus-ValueRole (SVR) Theory?
Bernard Murstein
Who proposed the Evolution of Desire?
David Buss
Who proposed the Balance Theory?
Fritz Heider
Who proposed the Two Stage Model of Attraction?
Byrne
Who proposed the theory of Similar Demographics as a kind of similarity which attract people to each other?
Theodore Newcomb
Who proposed the Mere Exposure Effect?
Robert Zajonc
Who proposed the Proximity Effect?
Bibb Latane
