Commitment Flashcards
What is Commitment?
The intention to maintain a relationship over time.
or
the choice to give up other choices.
What are the two basic forces of commitment?
Dedication and Constraint
What is Dedication?
The “want to”
- Personal dedication comprises all of the forces that increase that desire to maintain relationship: Wanting to share a future together, having a couple identity.
What is Constraint?
The “have to”
- All of the forces that make it more difficult to end a relationship: family expectations, religious beliefs about divorce, having a pet together.
True or false:
Dedication is more closely associated with satisfaction; whereas constraint is more to stability in relationships.
True.
What are precived Constraints?
- Internal or external forces that encourage partners to stay together: social pressure, the sense that you have made substantial investments that would be lost.
What are material constraints?
Specific, tangible resources couples share: having a lease, shared debt, kids
What is felt constraint?
- Sense of feeling trapped in a relationship “I would leave my partner if I wasn’t so difficult to do so”
What does felt constraint predict?
- Felt constraint is the only aspect if constraint that predicts relationship dissolution
- It also predicts in a relationship with physical violence.
Why is dedication important?
It gets us to commit
Why are constraints important?
They keep us in a relationship.
True or false:
Constraint is a unavoidable negative byproduct of a relationship.
False:
It is not a negative thing all the time, only sometimes.
Is constraint avoidable?
Nope
When do you begin to notice constraint?
When satisfaction gets low within a relationship.
When Satisfaction is High what is our perceived constraint, material constraint, and felt constraint.
High Perceived Con + High Material Con + low felt Con
When Satisfaction is low what is our perceived constraint, material constraint, and felt constraint.
High Perceived Con + High Material Con + high felt Con
What does constraint help us explain about low quality relationships?
It helps us explain why they persist, but also stabilize high quality relationships that have periods of unhappiness.
True or false:
Being committed to a relationship has a drastic impact on relationship acquaintance behaviors.
True.
What is the importance of Sacrifice?
sacrifice of Intimidate self-interest for long-term, benefit of a partner, highly linked to commitment.
What is the relationship between sacrifice and commitment?
High commitment leads to High number of sacrifices, then leads to satisfaction with sacrifice, and higher willingness to sacrifice.
True or false:
Greater commitment reduces the belief that sacrifice is harmful (Especially for men)
True
What is satisfaction with sacrifice a predictor of?
It is the strongest predictor of future relationship satisfaction.
What is the fundamental function of commitment?
The formation of and securing of romantic relationships.
What is the key factor that is needed for commitment to breed a happy and healthy relationship?
it must EXIST in both partners and be communicated between partners.
True or false:
One’s personal dedication to a partner will lead to behaviors that signal commitment.
True.
What is a emblem of commitment? are they more or less common today?
An engagement ring
They are far less common in today’s society.
What is one of the major implications of fewer emblems of commitment?
Greater miscommunication of commitment levels from each partner
along with less communication with the outside world that you are in a committed relationship.
What is Inertia theory?
Romantic relationships have their own form of inertia.
“Keep doing what you’re already doing”
Once in a relationship, inertial theory dictates an increasingly intertwined life.
What are the steps:
- Casual dating
- Exclusive dating
- Sex
- Live together
- Engagement
- Marriage.
True or false:
As a relationship progresses, constraint will increase.
True.
As a relationship progresses, what happens to deication
It MIGHT increase.
The combination of inertia and constraints seem to cause some people to continue progressing in a relationship that would end if it was not so hard to do so, what is this called?
Sliding
What is good example of sliding?
Cohabitation
A lower risk sequence would look like what? what steps should you take?
Information
Decision
Transition
Inertia & Constraint
What is involved in the Information step of transition?
Risks - is it safe
Compatibility - Is there a fit
Is the commitment mutual?
What leads to a higher risk transition?
they skip the information step, instead SLIDING.
What happens during the Decision step of transition?
Choose
Give up other options
Intend to follow-through
What happens during the Transition step of transition?
Sexual contact
Biological attachment
cohabitation
marriage
pregnancy
What happens during the Inertia&constraint step of transition?
Structural
relational
moral
biological&health
What is the big deal about sliding?
You lose options before making a choice.
generates constraints before dedication is fully developed
In a healthy relationship, how do we generate constraints?
We choose them, freely
Is cohabitation before marriage a precursor to divorce?
Yes this is true, although couples that are engaged before they live together see no increase in percentage on divorce.
marriage is the stringiest sense of dedication.
What are the implactions of inertial theory?
being intentional and deciding that you want a relationship to progress, rather than sliding into a increasing involvement.
What are the effects of a Prenub on marriage?
marriages that sign prenub are at a MUCH greater risk of dissolution/divorce than normal marriages (Almost 50%)
what is sliding
a transition that high risk due to skipping the “information step”
