Relationship Science Exam #2 (11/4/24) Flashcards
1
Q
monkeys and orphans
A
- in 1950s the prevailing view was that infants bond with their mother because she feeds and diapers them
- Harlow: monkeys
Bowlby: orphans - concluded that emotional bonding is an innate, powerful need in its own right
2
Q
Bowlby: orphans
A
- studied children from the Nazi Blitz in which they bombed London every night and so they moved children from London to the countryside
- found that they were maladjusted because they were separated from their parents
3
Q
Harlow: Rhesus monkeys
A
- separated monkeys from their mothers after 9 hours
- isolated they monkeys to reduce the prevalence of disease
- provided a wire mother with food and a cloth mother with no food, monkeys preferred the cloth mother bc she provided comfort
4
Q
three functions of attachment
A
- first identified in children
- proximity maintenance: seeking and sustaining physical closeness
- safe haven: returning for comfort and reassurance when in need of support
- secure base: using the attachment figure as a foundation for confident play and exploration (important for learning)
5
Q
proximity maintenance in adulthood
A
- the airport separation study
- pre-9/11 they studied the attachment behavior of separating and non-separating couples waiting to board at the gate
- research assistants didn’t know whether the partners were traveling together or separating
- results: couples who were separating are engaging in more contact-seeking behaviors
6
Q
safe haven in adulthood
A
- response to trauma and hardship
- look to attachment figure to give is shelter
- the hand-holding study:
- female participants experience electric socks
- experimental manipulation: control, hold husband’s hand, hold stranger’s hand
- results: people dislike receiving shock less when they are holding partner’s hand, but it has to be the hand of an attachment figure, holding stranger’s hand was not helpful
7
Q
secure base in adulthood
A
- Bowlby argues that all of us are happiest when “life is organized as a series of excursions, long or short, from the secure base provided by our attachment figures”
8
Q
secure base in adulthood: the dependency paradox
A
the more we depend on and trust our partner, the more we can be independent, not that we need partner less, but that bc we are confident in relationship, we can lean on partner who will help us be more confident and independent
9
Q
attachment disruption: three stages (adaptive)
A
- protest: intense sadness, anxiety and vigilant denial
- despair: dejection and apathy
- emotional detachment: the bond starts to loosen and a new routine begins
10
Q
assessing attachment styles in infancy
A
Ainsworth’s strange situation paradigm:
- parent and infant come into lab with fun toys
- structured series of separations and reunions
- infant, caregiver and experimenter
11
Q
assessing attachment styles in infancy: three attachment styles
A
- secure: infant plays happily when parent is there, becomes upset when parent leaves, easily comforted upon reunion
- avoidant: infant largely ignores parent and doesn’t react much to separations and reunions, but heart rate is elevated
- anxious: infant is anxious and clingy throughout, especially during separation, and is both clingy and rejecting upon reunion
12
Q
critical question of attachment figures
A
can i count on my attachment figure to be available and responsive when needed?
- secure: yes
- avoidant: no
- anxious: maybe
13
Q
attachment orientations in adulthood
A
- a general tendency to respond in certain ways to the prospect or experience of emotional intimacy
- two dimensions, creating 2x2 structure
- focuses on low/high in given dimension
14
Q
dimensions of attachment in adulthood
A
- anxiety (model of self): fear that we are unworthy of love
- overeager in pursuit of romantic connection
- more likely than others to have sex in order to avoid rejection
- avoidance (model of others): lack of confidence that others are trustworthy and responsive
- discomfort, even hostility, when one’s parter is needy
- less likely than others to have sex in order to express love
- self-fulfilling effects: when we view ourselves as unlovable or believe others can’t be trusted, we behave in ways that push people away
15
Q
four attachment styles in adulthood
A
- secure: low anxiety, low avoidance
- easy to be emotionally close to others, comfortable depending on others and having other depend on them
- preoccupied: high anxiety, low avoidance
- want to be emotionally intimate, find that others are reluctant to get as close as they want, uncomfortable without close relationships
- dismissing: low anxiety, high avoidance
- comfy without close relationships, independent and self-sufficient, don’t want to depend on others
- fearful: high anxiety, high avoidance
- uncomfy getting close to others, want relationships but diff to trust others and depend on them, fear of getting hurt
16
Q
identity in relationships
A
- as a relationship gets more serious it becomes an increasingly central part of each partner’s sense of self
17
Q
cognitive interdependence
A
- the idea that our sense of identity becomes relational
- P asked to “share some of their thoughts concerning their relationship”
- coded based on pronoun use, “we, us vs me , I”
- Results: more committed partners used more plural pronouns: I am happy w James vs we are happy together
18
Q
porous identity
A
- in serious relationships, partners find it increasingly difficult to determine which of them possesses which traits
- The Me/not-me study
- P judged as quickly as possible whether each of 90 traits was true of them
- P responded faster for traits that were either true or false both for self and partner vs true for only one of them
19
Q
transactive memory def
A
- a shared system for encoding, storing and retrieving info
- in a literal sense couples come to share a mind
20
Q
transactive memory study: 7 knowledge domains
A
Science
Food
Alcohol
History
Psychology
Television
Spelling
- affording partners the ability to not have to waste their time remembering things in certain memory areas because their partner will remember
21
Q
transactive memory study
A
- asked to memorize facts in natural pair (w partner) or impromptu pair (w stranger)
- across groups some were assigned expertise condition and others had no assigned expertise
- results: paris in natural condition without assigned expertise out preformed other groups because they had implicit understanding of certain cateogries within their relationship
22
Q
communal norms
A
- prioritize concern for each other’s welfare
- individuals give benefits because partner needs them or to show concern
- not focused on keeping track of who contributed what
- payback is not expected
23
Q
exchange norms
A
- prioritize reciprocity
- individuals give benefits bc partner has given them benefits in the past or is expected to do so in the future
- partners are not focused on each other’s welfare
24
Q
reciprocated benefit study
A
- attractive confederate women is presented to 1 group of men as single and to 2nd group as married
- men completed task, and then watched woman do her task, if they sent materials to someone w a harder task they got 1 point
- women got 4 extra credit points if they sent her materials
- in no-benefit condition, men got a thank you note, in benefit condition they got a note and an extra point
- found that men who were in the communal condition were more willing to give without immediate reciprocation whereas in exchange they wanted transaction
25
Q
word find study
A
- P got paid for each word they found
- lead to understand that someone else had gone first and already found some using red pen
- if you have communal norm then you don’t want it to be clear who found which words (also use red)
- if you have exchange then you want to be clear so you can get paid (use green pen)
