Problem 8 Affiliation and love

Question 1

How are relationships formed?

Answer 1

• Warmth-trustworthiness – showing care and intimacy
• Vitality-attractiveness – signs of health and productive fitness
• Status-resources – being socially prominent and financially sound
• Evolutionary attraction

Question 2

Social exchange

Answer 2

People often use a from of everyday economics when they weigh up costs and reward when deciding what to do (relationship market place)

Question 3

Parts of social exchange

Answer 3

o Cost-reward ratio: Liking for another is determined by calculating what it will cost to be reinforced by that person
o Minimax strategy: We try to minimise the costs and try to maximise the reward that come with a relationship
o Profit: When the rewards are more significant in a relationship compared to the costs
o Comparison level: A standard we gained over time (former experience) which tells us if a new relationship is profitable or not (can be negative an positive)

Question 4

The need to affiliate

Answer 4

The urge to form connections and make contact with other people

Question 5

Isolation and anxiety

Answer 5

Being alone (isolated) increases anxiety, in other words company reduces anxiety
→other people might serve as distraction or as an instrument for social comparison

Question 6

Proximity

Answer 6

do they live or work close by?

→important in early status in forming relationships (accessible so little effort)

Question 7

Familiarity

Answer 7

do we feel we know them?
→when we become more familiar with a stimulus, we feel more comfortable with it and we like it more (mere-exposure effect) (less is more effect when you get to know a person better it can happen that you discover more and more features you don’t like so you dislike the person)
Physical similarity can increase in a relationship

Question 8

Similarity

Answer 8

are they people who like us?

→similarity of attitudes is one of the most important positive, psychological determinations of attraction

Question 9

Assortative mating

Answer 9

A non-random coupling of two individuals based on their similarity on one or more characteristics

Question 10

Self-disclosure

Answer 10

The sharing of intimate information and feelings with another person (important for long term intimacy)
→important base for trust

Question 11

Partner-regulation

Answer 11

Strategy to encourage a partner to fulfil an ideal standard of behaviour

Question 12

Equity theory

Answer 12

A special case of social exchange that defines a relationship as equitable when the ratio of inputs and outputs are seen to be same by both partners
→a mutual exchange of resources (marriage)
→an exchange where limited resources must be distributed
→distributive justice (fairness of an outcome)

Question 13

Social support network

Answer 13

People who know and care about us and can provide back-up in difficult times

Question 14

Three factors that contribute an ongoing relationship

Answer 14

1. Personal dedication: positive attraction to a particular partner and relationship
2. Moral commitment: a sense of obligation, religious duty or social responsibility controlled by values and moral principles
3. Constraint commitment: factors that make it costly to leave a relationship

Question 15

Commitment

Answer 15

The desire or intention to continue an interpersonal relationship. These factors feed into commitment:

1. Strong psychological attachment.
2. A long-term orientation
3. An intention to persist

Question 16

Differences of gender in relationships

Answer 16

• Men see love more as a game

* Women are more friendship orientated and pragmatic but also more possessive (parent potential)

Question 17

Seeing red

Answer 17

The colour red makes a women more attractive for a man

Question 18

The hourglass figure

Answer 18

Men prefer women who have an hourglass figure but there are differences in culture (thin or thick women are more attractive)

Question 19

Averageness effect

Answer 19

Humans have evolved to prefer average faces over faces with unusual or distinctive features

Question 20

Hormonal markers

Answer 20

Feminine faces are preferred by women and men (women like different faces depends on which kind of men the women looks for long term or short term

Question 21

Reinforcement-affect model

Answer 21

Model of attraction that which states that we like people who are around when we experience a positive feeling (reinforcement)
→associating people with positive feelings like e.g. dogs associate a certain stimulus with food

Question 22

Social deprivation(sozialer Entzug)

Answer 22

o Hospitalism: A state of apathy and depression noted among institutionalised childs/babys deprived (beraubt) of close contact with a caregiver
→ a mother is the first link in the chain of the babies experience of socialisation

Question 23

Attachment behaviour

Answer 23

The tendency of in infant to maintain a close physical proximity with the mother/main caregiver (infants tend to stay close to their mother)

Question 24

Attachment styles

Answer 24

Description of the nature of peoples close relationships, thought to be established in childhood

1. Securely attached: find it easier to get close to others, enjoy long lasting relationships, have a feeling of energy and willingness so explore their social and physical environment
2. Avoidantly attached: less comfortable with being close with others, more likely to be jealous and less likely to disclose, more likely to be unfaithful, more likely to generate fight-flight schemas when threatened, less likely to be empathically accurate when interpreting the thoughts and feelings of strangers
3. Anxiously attached: fall in love more easily, experience more up and downs in their relationship and are more often unhappy, are often more vigilant to possible threat, show hurt feelings that transform threat into guild in their partner, yet they do not succeed in forming a satisfying relationship

Question 25

Emotion-in-relationship model

Answer 25

close relationships provide a context that elicits strong emotions due to the increased probability of behaviour interrupting interpersonal expectations.

Question 26

Love

Answer 26

A combination of strong emotions, thoughts and actions which are often associated with intimate relationships
→love adds the element of trust, being in love adds sexual desire and excitement
o Passionate (romantic) love: State of intense absorption in another person involving physiological arousal
o Companionate love: The caring and affection a person that usually arises from spending time together

Question 27

Three-factor theory of love

Answer 27

1. A cultural determinant that acknowledges love as a state
2. A presence of an appropriate love object – in most cultures, the norm is a member of the opposite sex and similar age
3. Emotional arousal, self-labelled love, that is when interacting with, or even thinking about, an appropriate love object

Question 28

Consummate love

Answer 28

Sternbergs argues that the ultimate love involves passion, intimacy and commitment

Question 29

Michelangelo effect

Answer 29

Manipulate the self-concept of the partner to create more similarities

Question 30

Relationship dissolution model

Answer 30

Ducks proposal of the sequence through most long-term relationships proceed if they brake up

1. Intrapsychic phase: the hope of putting things right. Can lead to needling the partner and talking to a third person about your concerns
2. Dyadic phase: Some action should be taken, two person decision. Contains talking about difficulties and problems
3. The social phase: The relationship is near an end so they may start with compromising. Each social network will take a side and will sanction the dissolution
4. Grave dressing phase: can involve more than leaving the partner. May include the division of property and working to assure ones reputation. Public distribution of own version

Question 31

Attractiveness

Answer 31

Among women positive correlation between ones own attractiveness and that of ones best friend

Question 32

Sexual competition

Answer 32

Competition between you and another person interested in the same sex when it comes to finding a partner

Question 33

Love activate VTA

Answer 33

The reward part of the brain is activated so it brings you the same experience as taking cocaine or drinking alcohol

Question 34

Immunsystem

Answer 34

we can smell and taste the MHC system of others if its different to yours the person is considered as a good kisser

Question 35

Good smell

Answer 35

good smell is based of the MHC system of another person we want to have a partner with a different MHC system so that our potential children have the most effective MHC system