Relationship Development Flashcards
What are exchange relationships
Where people exchange rewards in order to receive benefits in return
What is cost reward ratio
Liking for another is determined by calculating what it will cost to be reinforced by other person
What are communal relationships
People reward partner out of direct concern to show caring
What is interdependence
Situation in which each person’s thoughts emotions and behaviours influence those of other people
What is a close relationship
Strong and frequent interdependence in many other domains of life
What is intimacy
+ve emotional bond which includes understanding and support
What is commitment
Combined forces that hold partners together in enduring relationship
What are attachment styles
People’s basic securely attached, avoidant or anxious orientation towards. Others in close relationships
What is social support
Emotional and physical coping resources provided by other people
How do we form new relationships
Initial feelings of attraction based on physical attractiveness, similarity and interaction
How can physical attractiveness form attraction to liking
- symmetrical faces are a biological basis for attractiveness
- prototypical faces are more attractive; closer to the mental prototype of a face and therefore more familiar and easier to process
Physical cues that men look for in attraction to liking
- youth and fertility: facial femininity linked to higher oestrogen levels
- look for features associated with reproductive fertility
Attractive incentives that women look for in men
- women prefer men to be older, look for financial stability, and athletic strong physical appearance and health as unhealthy mate are less likely to provide
- testosterone suppresses immune system which is not seen as +very as only well adapted males can tolerate high levels of this
What is the matching phenomenon
- where people tend to be attracted to others who are on the same level of attractiveness as themselves
- matched couples have longer relationships
- people compensate for their looks in other ways such as humour
Evidence of the matching phenomenon
Studies using ‘lonely hearts’ advertisements
- though these give no indication of how successful people are in attracting mate
- show what attractive incentives women and men look for in each other