Close Relationships Flashcards
Attraction is
Positive feelings towards someone and a tendency to seek out their presence (Buunk & Dijikstra)
Social exchange theory
Thibaut & Kelly
Economic approach: what’s in it for me - seek to maximize our profit
Relationship satisfaction = rewards - costs
Equity Theory
Similar to Social exchange, but considers fairness:
Benefits are proportionate to perceived input from each partner
Critiques of Social exchange and equity theory
Calculations only done in times of crisis.
Few longitudinal studies
Cross cultural challenges
Liking and loving prototypes
We engage in social comparisons where we compare our relationship with idealised prototype –> influence on behaviour
Gibson & Gerrard
Triangular theory of love
Sternberg: Intimacy, passion, commitment
8 types of love: non-love liking (intimacy only) infatuated (passion only) empty (commitment only) romantic (intimacy and commitment) fatuous (passion and commitment) consummate (all three)
Used in counselling (Hendrick)
Critique of triangular theory
No mentions of interactions or communication
Love styles
Lee: ways of loving are ways of being and feeling = 6 love styles
on a Scale: Eros - emotional, physical love Ludus - love as a game Storage - affectionate love based on friendship Pragma - Love driven by head not heart Mania - obsessive love Agapa - selfless love
Hendrick and Hendrick: standardised measurement - linked to personality (Davies)
Critiques of love styles
oversimplifies love as a property of individuals, but love styles changes over time. (Watts and Stenner)
Discourses on love
Watts & Stenner: We position ourselves in relations to the discourses of love circulating in our culture
Cultural Constructions of Gender and relationship
available discourses to construct gender and sexuality:
1) ideological implications of constructing gender
2) Interactional implications: everyday communication
Relationship in interactions
Stokoe: Categorical upshot (the way men for example is uttered). Delicate interactional work.
Singlehood
Hostetler: coupledom is norm due to culture.
Can lead to ideological dilemmas when singles try to identify themselves as single not because of deficit.
Family relationships
Network of affection (Williams): frequently includes people outside the biological definition
Community relationships
Groups based on geographic locality
