interpersonal and romantic relationships Flashcards
Why are interpersonal relationships a fundamental need for human affilitation?
They are evolutionary - affiliation and group living enhanced our prehistoric ancestors’ chances of survival and reproduction, as well as the survival of their offspring - as a result, natural selection may have forged a strong motive for affiliation as part of human psyche
Why are interpersonal relationships important for social support and wellbeing?
There is a strong association between being in relationships and overall wellbeing through both instrumental support (practical assistance) and emotional support
What have mortality studies shown about social support and wellbeing in interpersonal relationships?
Patients who were married or had a confidant have 30% more chance of survival after 5 years compared to those who were unmarried/without a confidant
What did Schachter (1959) study in relation to affiliation in distressing situations?
Study 1 - female ppts given choice to wait alone or with others for a study in which they believed they would receive painful vs non-painful electric shocks - those who expected pain preferred to wait with others significantly more.
Study 2 - ppts given choices to wait alone vs with women who were waiting for same study vs women who were waiting for an academic tutorial
Why are interpersonal relationships important to obtaining information?
People affiliate to obtain information about other people’s attitudes and behaviours to:
- reduce uncertainty, ambiguity and confusion
- provide guidance on how we should respond to situations
How are interpersonal relationships important according to Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory?
Comparing oneself with others is essential for evaluating and enhancing aspects of the self
What was William et al. (2002) research on effects of social exclusion/ostracism/rejection? What did ppts report and what did brain activity show?
Cyberball
A virtual ball-tossing game between ppt and 2 confederates (or computer-controlled)
ppts are eventually excluded from receiving the ball.
Ppts reported feeling bad, having less control, losing a sense of belonging.
Brain activity showed that being socially excluded corresponded to the same neurological activity as when feeling physical pain.
What have meta-analyses shown about the relationship between loneliness and health/mortality?
- A meta-analysis of studies from 1980-2014 showed that loneliness and living alone increased the likelihood of mortality by 26-32% (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015)
- A meta-analysis study showed medium to large effects of loneliness on all health outcomes including mental and physical health and overall wellbeing (Park et al., 2020)
What is the physical attractiveness stereotype?
Increased liking based on attractiveness.
Physically attractive people are more likely to:
- be liked more on a first date
- raise higher sums of money for charity
- be successful in a job interview
- earn more money once they have a job
- be treated leniently in the legal system
- be perceived as trustworthy
What is the matching phenomenon?
People more likely to choose partners who are a similar match to themselves in terms of physical attractiveness (correlational studies, experimental studies, study of online dating advertisements)
What is asset matching in the matching hypothesis?
Seeking complimentary assets eg. wealth, intelligence - allows people to exchange what they want from relationships
How does proximity increase liking?
Being in close proximity to others can facilitate attraction - the propinquity effect
How did Back et al. (2008) research proximity and liking?
Randomly assigned students to sit next to someone or in the same row as that person for one whole term. They found the closer students sat to that person, the more they like them
What does spatial proximity also increase?
Attractiveness rating
How does familiarity increase liking?
Repeated exposure effect on liking
How did Moreland and Beach (1992) investigate familiarity and liking?
In a classroom setting, arranged 4 new female students taking part in class on 0,5,10,15 occasions and found that the new student was rated as more attractive the more often other students saw her.
What is the arousal attraction effect?
It is possible for people to make mistakes about what is causing their physical arousal - misattribution of psychological arousal for attraction
What did Dutton and Aron (1974) research on arousal attraction effect?
Male ppts either crossed risky Capilano bridge or a safer bridge. Researcher (male or female) at the end of the bridge asked them to fill out a questionnaire, and gave them a phone number to call if they had any questions
- higher percentage of ppts called the female experimenter after crossing the risky bridge
How does similarity affect attraction?
- Similarity of attitudes, interests, and values is one of the most important positive psychological determinants of attraction
- Law of attraction - attraction towards a person is linearly related to the proportion of attitudes shared with them
How does mutual liking affect attraction?
In general, we like people who like us and dislike people who dislike us (reciprocity principle)
Who proposed the reinforcement affect model?
Byrne and Clore (1970)
What is the reinforcement affect model? (Byrne & Clore, 1970)
People can be liked or disliked depending on their association with positive/negative feelings
- liking by association: people associate others with features of the environment
What did Griffitt and Veitch (1971) research into reinforcement in relationships?
Heat, population density, and attitude similarity as independent variables - people associated others with features of the environment
What does social exchange theory posit?
Relationships work like economic exchanges
eg. love, status, information, money, goods, and services
According so social exchange theory, what 3 things do people’s evaluation of their relationship depend on?
- Rewards gained from relationship
- Cost incurred from relationship
- Comparison levels (what they expect from the relationship) and comparison levels for alternatives (the likelihood they could have a better relationship with another person)
What is equity theory?
- People are happiest in equitable relationships in which the cost-reward payoff is approx the same for both parties.
- Over-benefitting may lead to guilt
- Under-benefitting may lead to resentment
