The Breakdown Of Relationships Flashcards
What are the 3 theories behind relationship breakdown?
Duck’s reasons
Model of breakdown
Evolutionary
Duck’s reasons:
What 3 reasons did he propose were the reasons for relationship breakdown?
Lack of skills
Lack of stimulation
Maintenance difficulties
Duck’s reasons
Lack of skills
Where one or both people lack social skills e.g. communication and so they fail to talk to their partner about everyday things. This can be unrewarding for the person. This can cause the other person to think they are uninterested and so the relationship ends.
Duck’s reasons
Lack of stimulation
This is where one person feels a lack of rewards e.g. feels bored with the relationship because they are not being rewarded and feel no profit and hence the relationship ends.
Duck’s reasons
Maintenance difficulties
This is where one partner moves away e.g university, so the partners cannot see each other enough, the relationship ends because there is a lack of face-to-face contact and so feel not in profit.
Ducks reasons
Evaluation
Extra-marital affair
A major reason why relationships break down is because one of the partners have an extramarital affair. An affair may be a direct reaction to lack of skills/stimulation. Undergraduates recorded that males rated sexual reasons for infidelity as higher than compared to women who rated emotional reasons for infidelity.
Ducks reasons
Evaluation
Maintenance Difficulties
Research disputes that maintenance difficulties is an issue in maintaining relationships. Undergraduates showed that long distance relationships can be maintained as long as sufficient communication and face-to-face contact is maintained.
Ducks reasons
Evaluation
Real-World Application
Couples who have had a lack of skills in their relationship can become sensitized through the process of CCET training. Couples are trained to be able to communicate effectively. After training, satisfaction in those couples, compared to a control was higher.
Model of breakdown
First stage
Breakdown
One of the partners becomes distressed, this is the first stage in the eventual breakdown of the relationship
Model of breakdown
Second stage
Intrapsychic
One partner becomes increasingly distressed but says nothing to the partner but instead expresses their feelings in other ways such as diary entry.
Model of breakdown
Third stage
Dyadic
Partner expresses feelings to partner including talking about the future- the relationship may be saved or partners involve others in their dissolution.
Model of breakdown
Fourth stage
Social Process
Friends and family are involved and they can offer support, advice and can even speed up the dissolution of the break-up.
Model of breakdown
Fifth stage
Grave-dressing
Partners attempt to re-interpret the views of their partner to make them seem loyal and trustworthy- both attributes one looks for in a partner. They justify their actions by constructing a a representation of the failed relationship.
Model of breakdown
Final stage
Resurrection
Partners begin to get ready for a new relationship, taking what they have learned from their previous one.
Model of breakdown
Evaluation
Research support
Researchers surveyed undergraduates and found that those who had recently broken up with a romantic partner experienced not just emotional distress, but personal growth too. Breaking up with their partner had given them new insights into themselves and through the final 2 phases, they were able to move on effectively.
Model of breakdown
Evaluation
Implications for intervention
This model shows the importance of communication in relationship breakdown; what people say and how they say it will help determine which stage the partner is in meaning which intervention is most appropriate for them.
Model of breakdown
Evaluation
Ethical issues
Carrying out research in this area can cause ethical issues among participants, issues can arise out of confidentiality and privacy. A person in an abusive relationship may fear harm from their abuser should they discover their participation in the study. And so the researcher is stuck between pursuing and potentially causing harm or terminating their involvement and stopping harm coming to the participant.
What are the 3 evaluation points for Duck’s reasons
Extra-marital affairs
Maintenance difficulties
Real-world application
What are the 3 evaluation points for Duck and Rollie?
Research support
Ethical issues
Implication for intervention
Evolutionary Explanation
What are the 4 predictions from the Evolutionary Explanation about the things we may expect when relationships fail?
Costs related to emotional investment
Increasing commitment
Infidelity
Reputational damage
Evolutionary Explanation
Costs related to emotional investment
Women prefer mates with resources or the ability to acquire resources. The willingness to share these resources are gauged by the level of emotional commitment by the man towards to woman.
Evolutionary Explanation
Increasing commitment
Males threatened with the breakdown of a romantic relationship may employ strategies to exploit the fact women value emotional commitment. They may attempt to maintain sexual access to their partner by signalling an increase in emotional investment e.g getting married.
Evolutionary Explanation
Infidelity
Males have an evolved desire for sexual variety and infidelity can serve this purpose or it can be used as a tactic to end the relationship and help the rejector find a replacement mate quicker. Males are more likely to use this tactic.
Evolutionary Explanation
Reputational damage
Those responsible for ending the relationship may be seen as cruel and heartless and hence could effect the chances of them obtaining a long-term mate in the future, So to avoid this problem, the rejector may act sympathetically to the rejectee to prevent their reputation from being damaged.
Evolutionary Explanation
Evaluation
Research support
Research supports the adaptive behaviour of coping behaviours when faced with a relationship breakdown. The largest sex difference reported was that after a break-up a woman would use shopping as a coping strategy, this may function as a strategy of appearance enhancement prior to re-entering the ‘market place.’
