relationships

Question 1

pros and cons of relationships?

Answer 1

pros: support, emotional connection, share things with, social interaction, share interests, safety and security
cons: lack of privacy, factor into decisions, loss of freedom, money, conflicts

Question 2

so what do the theories of relationships consider

Answer 2

there are benefits and costs to relationships

Question 3

what is social exchange theory

Answer 3

we seek out and maintain relationships in which the rewards exceed the costs
-whether we want a relationship to continue or end depends on the balance of rewards and costs

Question 4

what is Brown’s example of social exchange theory

Answer 4

Brown used to question her relationship with her husband because he had a daughter at the time, the costs seemed better than the rewards

Question 5

what is the research on equity

Answer 5

we like to support people if they can support us

Question 6

what do we compare current costs and rewards to in social exchange theory

Answer 6

alternatives (potential rewards and costs of different relationship or no relationship) & past experiences

Question 7

explain comparison level to past experiences

Answer 7

• if a person is in a relationship with a lot of costs but it’s better than what they had in the past, then they consider it still worth it
• domestic abuse situations are often compared to the past or to being along

Question 8

explain comparison level for alternatives

Answer 8

Research on when someone considers ending a relationship, it is in comparison to what else is out there

Question 9

what does the investment model say

Answer 9

commitment in romantic (and other kinds of )relationships is determined by:

1) rewards/satisfaction
2) few alternative partners (the relationship we are in now is the best)
3) investments so far

Question 10

explain some examples of investments and the importance of them

Answer 10

time, money, housing, children, family/friends attachment, planned trips, pets
-investments make it hard to leave a relationship

Question 11

what is investment model similar to

Answer 11

similar to effort justification (example of cognitive dissonance)
-people will stick in a bad relationship for a long time because of this

Question 12

what is Browns 2 examples of investment model

Answer 12

Brown’s sister used to say she hated the beginning part of the relationship because it takes time to build level of closeness with someone

Brown puts all of this money into her sick cat because she believes the rewards outweigh the costs, loves her cat and wants to spend time with it

Question 13

explain the study that shows how greater commitment predicts relationship stability

Answer 13

subjective self-report of how committed people feel to the relationship now and then followed them over time

level of investment was significantly lower when the person decided to break up compared to the initial commitment

Question 14

what can the investment model also predict

Answer 14

commitment to job and commitment to pets, also predicts how committed people feel to their favorite tv shows and characters (even if the tv show gets bad)

Question 15

what is the example we did in class that shows self evaluation maintenance

Answer 15

Think about different domains in your lives
Think about what is most and least important
Most: family
Least: work
Least important: How would you feel if __________ did better than you in this domain? (1 = feel awful, 7 = feel terrific)
A. best friend,
B. significant other,
C. person next to you,
Most important: How would you feel if ____ did better than you in this domain?
A. Best friend,
B. Significant other,
C. Person next to you,

results:
- If it is important to you and someone is better we feel worse than if it is not important
- If it is your best friend and important to you, you feel worse than if it was someone you do not know

Question 16

what is self evaluation maintenance

Answer 16

people try to maintain or increase their self-evaluation (self-esteem) & relationships with others can affect a person’s self evaluation depending on:

• closeness of the relationship (feelings more influenced by people that are close to us)
• performance of the self vs. others (who is better at the domain?)
• importance of the performance domain (is it something that we value or something that is nor that important to us?)

Question 17

explain the self evaluation maintenance chart

Answer 17

on paper

Question 18

so, what can people do to reduce the threat of losing self esteem

Answer 18

distance self from person, reduce importance of task, sabotage your friend, work hard at something to be better than the person

Question 19

self evaluation study about male partners and the game

Answer 19

Had actual friends come into a lab, used all male dyads, two pairs of men at a time (4 people present), man one and man’s friend, and man two and friend, all men would play a competitive game introduced as either an important game (critical verbal skills and leadership ability) or an unimportant game (had to do with nothing of importance)

• Had opportunity to help friend out in game, could give hint or clue to other player
• Looked at what hint people gave to friend vs. hint they gave to stranger or unknown person

Results; when the game was framed as important people gave hints to strangers more than they did to friend, and when it was framed as non-important people were more likely to give hints to friends

When something is important we are worried about selves or own outcome, there is research that we might sabotage friends

Question 20

self evaluation study about exam score

Answer 20

Participants told to imagine they were in class with friend, friend either had better exam grade (threat condition) or the person had a better exam grade than their friend (no threat condition), told to imagine they were in a study session and got information on how to do better on next exam but their friend was not there, do you tell friend?

results: In threat condition, depended on if they had an excuse to not tell their friend and have it not look bad, friend went home to nap (no I would not wake them up to tell them this) but if they went home to eat (they would tell them because they had no excuse for not telling them)

Took the excuse, and did not help the friend

Question 21

self evaluation study about married couples

Answer 21

Looking at married couples, asked them to think about areas in which they did better than their spouse and areas in which their spouse was more successful and then rate how important each area was

results: People rated the things they were better at as more important to them as compared to the things they were worse at