Exam 2 Flashcards
What is the best way to conceptualize intimacy?
- As a quality of persons
- Intimacy motivation: recurrent preference or drive for close interactions with others
Promoting Intimacy Involves
- Relationship maintenance
- Intimacy Process Model
- Individual Differences
Relationship Maintenance
Behaviors thoughts that promote staying together and remaining satisfied
Intimacy Process Model
- Disoclosures can vary in degree of intimacy (“facts” vs. cognitive and emotional reactions to events)
- Individual differences
Individual differences
people come from collectivist cultures may not want to burden their partner with disclosures
Empathy
- Empathy accuracy
- Percieving partner is trying to be empathetic (empathetic effort) is also associated with relationship with satisfaction (Cohen et al, 2012)
Empathetic Accuracy
“Ability to accurately infer the specific content of another person’s thoughts and feelings” (Ickes, 1993, p. 588)
– Meta-analysis of relationship satissfaction (Sened et al., 2017): k =21, r =.14, p
Maintaining intimacy
- shared activities
- Social support
- capitalization
- forgiveness
Shared activities
Self-expansion
- as people learn about each other, they gain knowledge and resources, expanding their sense of self
- – self-expansion adds to relationship satisfactions
- —–Once people know each other well, it is difficutl to maintian self expansion
- ——Engaging in new and novel activities with one’s partner can foster self-expansion
Types of Social Support
- invisible social support
- visible social support
Invisible social support
support that partners are not aware is given
- can be totally out of awareness or not recognized as support because is subtly given
- –Is most strongly associated positive relationship functioning
- —Provides partners with the benefit of help without causing them to question their abilities
visible social support
support that partners are aware of
Communicating social support (Pasch and Bradbury 1988): Task
Helpee: talk about something you would like to change about yourself
Helper: be involved in the discussion and respond in whatever way you wish
Communicating social support (Pasch and Bradbury 1988): Outcomes
Social support behavior predicted marital outcomes 2 years later, controlling conflict behavior
Capitalization
Sharing of positive events in one’s life with one’s partner (Gable et al., 2004)
– Relive events, see others are happy for us and view us favorably, and link event with prior events in the relationship
Capitalization findings
- active-constructive strategies associated with greater intimacy
- destructive and passive strategies associated with less intimacy
Other findings with Capitalization
- capitalization increases positive emotions subjective well-being & self-esteem and decreases lonliness; liking, closeness & stability (Gable & Reis, 2010)
- Capitalization attempts (sharing best event of the day) and capitalization associated with better relationship well-being in women with breast cancer and their partners (Otto et. al., 2015)
Components of Forgiveness
- Motivation on an intrapersonal level
- Behavior on an interpersonal level
- Both ingredients to be present for full forgiveness
- Silent forgiveness
- hollow forgiveness
- Motivation on an interpersonal level
The wronged partner wants to be kind to the other person, rather than feel anger and a desire for vengeance
Behavior, on an interpersonal level:
The wronged partner lets the other know he or she no longer feels anger or a desire for vengeance
Silent forgivenes
If there is a change in intrapersonal motivation but no change in interpersonal behavior
Hollow forgiveness
If there is a change in interpersonal behavior but no change in intrapersonal motivation
Forgiveness is more likely if
- the transgression was minor
- victim is empathetic, agreeable, emotionally stable (ie. low level of neuroticism), and has secure attachment style
- the transgresor apologies
- the relationship contains a high level of commitment
Phases of forgiveness
Impact
Meaning
Moving on
Phases of forgiveness: impact
the victim absorbs what happened and how the transgressor acted
Phases of forgiveness: meaning
the victim tries to find an explanation for the transgresion
Phases of forgiveness: moving on
the victim moves past the transgression
Impact of forgiveness
- When partner misbehaves rarely and deserves to be forgiven, forgiveness improves well-being of forgiving partner and the rlationship
- when the partner is unrepentant, forgiveness can be detrimental to forgiving partner and the relationship
Sex and Physical Intimacy
- cross-sectional associations between sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction
- longitudinal associations between sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction
- physical intimacy leads to relationships satisfaction
- relationship satisfaction leads to physical intimacy
Common problem for couples seeking couple therapy (Whisman et al., 1977)
- survey of randomly selecting practicing couple and family therapists
- rated list of relationship problems on how common, damaging and difficult
- communication was the most common presenting problem
- –therapists viewed this as a problem for >85% of couples
Conflict arises when one person pursues goals in a way that interferes with a person’s goals (Lewin, 1948)
- Conflict is inevitable
- Responses to conflict can vary
Conflict arises when one person pursues goals in a way that interferes with a person’s goals (Lewin, 1948) : Conflict is inevitable
- Moods and preferences of partners occasionally differ
- Partners often experience opposing motivations - fulfilling one will contradict the other
- —Autonomy vs. connection (independence vs. intimacy)
- — Openness vs. closedness (self-disclosure vs. privacy)
- — Stability vs. change
- — Integration vs. Separation (time spent with vs. apart from other people)
Responses to conflict can vary
- how people respond to conflict (rather than whether they conflict on the topics of their conflict) is a key aspect of relationship functioning
- as unresolved conflicts accumulate, negative interactions outnumber positive interactions, resulting in relationship distress
Assessments of conflict
Self report
Quasi-observational
Observational