Relationships

Question 1

What is preconscious automaticity?

Answer 1

The process in which sensory or perceptual stimuli effortlessly trigger the mental or physiological processes that shape subsequent interpretations or categorisation of events
This was demonstrated by Hansen & Hansen (1988) who showed participants faces in crowds and asked them to spot the one doing a different facial expression
People were significantly better at spotting angry faces than neutral ones

Question 2

What is unconscious thought theory?

Answer 2

Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006
Unconscious deliberation of evolutionarily relevant decisions (such as morality) appears to be more effective than conscious thought
P’s asked to make decisions based on simple principles such as fairness and were either distracted or left to ruminate
Those in the distracted condition made better decisions

Question 3

How does conscious causation affect everyday life?

Answer 3

Baumeister, Mascicampo, & Vohs, 2011
When people consciously imagine future actions they are more likely to carry them out
Mentally practicing difficult actions improves performance
Making specific plans improves likelihood and efficacy of behaviour
Reinterpreting events influences how one responds to them
Taking others’ perspective and empathising
Altering views of the self can alter subsequent behaviour

Question 4

What are the factors that moderate the influence of situational cues on thought and behaviour?

Answer 4

Some people are more self conscious than others
Ones preparation to interact (Cesario et al, 2009): people primed with anti gay sentiment showed more signs of aggression and those primed with pro elderly themes walked more slowly and acted like them
- The salience of the prime, something more relevant to everyday life and survival advantage would be more likely to unconsciously prime behaviour
-Competing goals
-Being aware of the prime drastically reduces its effectiveness
-Environmental constraints (physically can’t act a certain way)

Question 5

What is non-conscious emotional regulation?

Answer 5

The unintentional and automatic control of one’s exposure to, processing of and response to emotionally evocative events (Bargh & Williams, 2007)
- P’s primed with either neutral or reappraisal goal concepts using a scrambled sentence task (words related to reappraisal appeared such as ‘reassessed’)
-Found that instructing participants to reappraise a stressful task as a challenge was as effective as priming them with the concepts of ‘transformation and change’ (williams et al. 2009)
-Shows that non-conscious prompts to reappraise one’s emotional situation can reduce reactivity to emotionally evocative events
OR
- subtle exposure to control-related words “restrained” reduces the effectiveness of an anger-induction task

Question 6

What is goal dependent automaticity?

Answer 6

Accessibility of concepts depends on processing goals
The state we are in and our desires influence our ability to process things.
P’s shown words on a screen and asked to answer ‘me’ or ‘not me’ if they word applied to them or not
People rated as more positive had more positive concepts become active than those who were depressed (they had negative ones)
Depressed people think positively when it comes to “not me” and think negatively when it comes to “me”.

Question 7

What is embodiment?

Answer 7

The assumption that all thoughts and feeling are grounded in sensory experiences and bodily states
Mental processes involve simulations of body related perceptions
Could be because we are evolved from animals that devoted all resources to perception and motor skills so higher cognitive functions could still use systems employed by our ancestors
Holding heavy objects made job candidates appear more important, rough things made social interactions seem more difficult and hard objects reduced negotiation flexibility (Ackerman et al, 2010)
Scores of loneliness correlated with taking more hot baths and showers and physical coldness increased ratings of loneliness (Bargh & Shalev, 2011)
Power posing increases testosterone levels and more dominance is shown.

Question 8

How do automatic thoughts guide behaviours?

Answer 8

They occur outside of our awareness and control, occur unintentionally and are efficient in their use of attentional resources
These thoughts do not entirely control our cognitions and behaviour, they are an interaction between these and conscious thoughts
I.e swerving automatically to avoid a car that appears when navigating your way around town

Question 9

What is post conscious automaticity?

Answer 9

What is post conscious automaticity?
The conscious attention paid to stimuli that alters subsequent thoughts and behaviour
P’s given a free gift in a shopping mall setting
This improved their mood and the evaluation of performance and service record of products they owned (Isen et al, 1978)
e.g. eating cookies increases the accessibility of pleasant life experiences

Question 10

What are some limitations of automaticity?

Answer 10

• individual differences on thought and consciousness
• evaluation of the prime (cesario et al. 2006)
• salience of the prime
• competing goals
• awareness of influence of the prime
• situational or environmental constraints

Question 11

What is Attachment theory?

Answer 11

Bowlby (1973)
Infants must develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver
Infants seek proximity when distressed
Separation leads to protest (crying and searching) despair (deeper issues such as depression) then detachment (symptoms subside)
Supported by Harlow (1958) monkeys show these traits when separated from comforting objects and mothers
This is echoed in romantic partners
We seek them when distressed
Similar processes occur when separation occurs (Parkes, 1972)

Question 12

What does attachment anxiety lead to?

Answer 12

Strong need to be close to people, accepted and reassured
Hyperactivity of negative thought and emotion
Hyper-vigilant focus on attachment figures
Distance from attachment figures minimised
Clinging and controlling
More likely to hold on to feelings for an ex (Spielmann et al., 2010)
Try harder when meeting new potential dates (Brumbaugh & Fraley, 2010)
Less selective at speed dating (McClure et al., 2010)
Fear of being single (Spielmann et al., 2013)

Question 13

What does secure attachment lead to?

Answer 13

Brennan et al (1995)
More stable and satisfying relationships
Knowledge that proximity seeking leads to support and comfort (turn to others when distressed)
The belief that distress is manageable
Distress is acknowledged and events are seen as less str

Question 14

Why are positive illusions hard to maintain?

Answer 14

Making allowances for a spouse’s inevitable shortcomings is difficult. It is cognitively demanding and requires attention and motivation.
Ability to maintain positive illusions is undermined by:
- Cognitive styles, personality traits, childhood
experiences
- Strains: workload, financial stress, health
problems

Question 15

what effects does attachment theory have on development?

Answer 15

Self concepts and beliefs such as self worth and our perception of others develop in childhood
These influence but do not determine adult attachments

Question 16

How does investment size affect investments?

Answer 16

The amount of resources that are tied up in a relationship and, should it end, would decline in value

Question 17

What are positive illusions?

Answer 17

Essential to relationships (Murray, Holmes, &
Griffin, 1996)
Perceptual bias towards the positive

When the negative cannot be ignored, shift what is important to you in a relationship (Neff & Karney, 2003)

Question 18

What have studies found about relationship dissolution?

Answer 18

Most first marriages will end in divorce or
permanent separation (Bramlett & Mosher, 2002)
Even in marriages that remain in tact, newlyweds’ initially high levels of marital satisfaction declines over time (Van Laningham et al. 2001)

Question 19

How does childhood experience affect adult attachment?

Answer 19

Sensitive maternal caregiving at 18 months predicted less anxiety and avoidance with romantic partners at 22 years (Zayas et al., 2011)

Secure infants had higher quality conflict
discussions & more relationship satisfaction as adults (Roisman et al., 2005)

40% environment, 60% genetic (Donnellan et al., 2008; Picardi et al, 2010)

Question 20

What implications do findings about separations raise?

Answer 20

Public policy that improves family and individual
well-being and welfare should reduce strain and
increase capacity for maintaining positive illusions

Norway: After the government began offering cash incentives to parents that elected to stay home with children, divorce rates fell significantly (Hardoy & Schone, 2008)

Question 21

How can relationship closeness be built?

Answer 21

Provide opportunities for people to help and co-operate
Experiment in trust (trust falls)
Promote self disclosure with increasing intimacy
Share new experience and create shared memories
Mutually share personal experiences

Question 22

What is the investment model?

Answer 22

Rusbult (1980)
Composed of 3 levels that are positively correlated with commitment:
Satisfaction level
Quality of alternatives 
Investment size

Question 23

How does the investment model relate to abusive relationships?

Answer 23

• Desire to leave and level of abuse is the satisfaction
• The levels of education and income are the alternatives
• The duration of the relationship and marital status is the investment (Rusbult & Martz, 1995)

Question 24

How do satisfaction levels affect investments?

Answer 24

To what extent are your needs met?

All relationships experience levels of low satisfaction

Question 25

How can you make someone fall in love?

Answer 25

Aron et al 2013: the experimental generation of interpersonal closeness
36 questions requiring increasing levels of trust, disclosure and intimacy
E.g, if you could wake up tomorrow having gained any quality or ability what would it be?

Question 26

What does attachment avoidance lead to?

Answer 26

Feelings of independence, low desire for social bonds
Uncomfortable with closeness, self disclosure and feeling and expressing intimacy
Deactivation of attachment systems (avoid intimacy by not acknowledging distress and suppressing distressing thoughts and memories)
Expect relationship failure (Birnie et al, 2009)
Lower commitment (Gere et al, 2013)
More infidelity (DeWalle et al, 2011)
Separation doesn’t lead to attachment worries unless under cognitive load (Rholes et al, 2007)
Avoid attention to attachment words unless under cognitive load (Edelstein & Gillath, 2008)
Low accuracy in reading the emotions of their partner (Simpson et al, 2011)

Question 27

How do alternatives affect investment?

Answer 27

The quality of alternatives is the attractiveness of the best available alternative to a relationship
Can my needs be met elsewhere?

Question 28

What errors are made when thinking about dates?

Answer 28

We overestimate our ability to reject undesirable romantic partners by underestimating our concern for others (Joel, Teper & MacDonald, 2014)
The more we fear being single, the less choosey we are (Spielmann et al, 2013)

Question 29

What do men find attractive in women?

Answer 29

Baby face:
smaller chins
higher eyebrows
larger eyes
full lips

maturity:
high cheekbones,
narrow cheeks
thick long hair

waist-to-hip ratio: 0.7

Question 30

What physical factors do humans find attractive?

Answer 30

Facial symmetry (Pound et al, 2014)
More symmetrical faces rated as more healthy (Jones et al, 2001)
Could be because we think they have better genes
Averageness (Langlois & Roggman, 1990)
We are more attracted to average looking faces (studied by combining two faces)
Could be because they are easier to process (Winkielman & Halberstadt, 2006)

Question 31

What situational factors lead to attraction?

Answer 31

Proximity, either literal or emotional (Festinger, Schachter, & Bak,1950)
Fear arousing situations- people mistakenly attribute fear arousal to arousal due to the presence of another
- Tested by having a female researcher ask males for a phone number for ‘follow up questions’ either directly after or significantly after crossing a suspension bridge (Dutton & Aron, 1974)

Question 32

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?

Answer 32

Probably
The better the personality description, the more attractive the photo looked (Lewandowski, Aron & Gee, 2007)
When comparing rural and urban UK and Malaysia, rural areas preferred higher BMI and urban preferred lower (Swami & Tovee, 2005)
People find faces more attractive when they are composites merged with their own face (Fraley & Marks, 2010)

Question 33

Do desirable factors cross over to acetyl dates?

Answer 33

Not really
Men and women both based it more on looks and earning potential was a poor predictor despite females rating this as more important
This could be due to the fact that they also value genes or that earning potential in the short term is less important

Question 34

What is the parental investment theory?

Answer 34

First investigated by Fisher (1930)
Any resource the parent spends that is beneficial to offspring but not to them (Trivers, 1972)
Men choose on basis of fertility cues (boobs and hips)
Women choose on the likelihood the male can provide for them and their child

Question 35

What are the gender specific preferences?

Answer 35

Men care about physical attractiveness most, women place more emphasis on status and genes, however both seek more well rounded individuals in the long term (Li et al, 2002)
Majority of singles ads from males stated they were looking for attractive females and females wanted successful men (Baize & Schroeder, 1995)

Question 36

What do women find attractive in men?

Answer 36

Masculinity:
large jaw
broad forehead
prominent cheekbones
moderately broad shoulders
Mix of masculine and feminine
may be preferred (Cunningham
et al., 1990)

Question 37

Do likes attract?

Answer 37

Sort of
We are attracted to those who we think are similar to us (Montoya et al, 2008).
Meta analysis of over 300 studies done, no significant effect size for perceived similarity correlating to actual similarity
More concerned with how similar we think we are than how similar we actually are

Question 38

Do opposites attract?

Answer 38

Kinda
Complementary interaction between two people increases attraction between them (Nowicki and Manheim; 1991)
Women lacking in economic resources tend to be attracted to men with more (Eagly & Wood, 1999)
Women are more attracted to men who make more jokes and men are more attracted to women who appreciate them more (Wilbur & Campbell, 2011)

Question 39

What is social role theory?

Answer 39

Eagly & Wood (1999)
Everyone’s behaviour is part of a defined social role
Historically this was defined by biological differences
People are conditioned to follow their social role Seavey et al (1975) - baby X
The more disempowered a woman is in society, the more they are attracted to higher powered mates (Zentner & Mitura, 2012）

Question 40

What is the halo effect?

Answer 40

A cognitive bias in which an observer’s overall impression of a person, company, brand, or product influences the observer’s feelings and thoughts about that entity’s character or properties (Thorndike, 1920)
Jacobson (1981) Rape victim belief is affected by attractiveness if the raper is more attractive, the less likely people will think they are rapists.

Question 41

How does physical appearance factor into attraction?

Answer 41

First information we have
It was rated as being low on the list of priorities for long term partners (Buss et al, 2001)
That’s probably b.s though, people don’t want to look shallow