Week 3-Relationships

Question 1

Formation: What’s the need for affiliation?

Answer 1

■ Need to form positive and lasting interpersonal relationships
■ Lack of social contact can cause serious long term consequences
■ Harlow monkey research
■ Self-regulation of social contact, but Individual differences
■ Korean and Caucasian Americans (You & Malley-Morrison, 2000). Caucasian Americans reported more intimate friendships and higher expectations

Question 2

Formation: What variables are associated with loneliness (Berscheid and Reis, 1998)

Answer 2

a) Dispositional factors
b) Social circumstances
c) Social cognitive tendencies

Question 3

Formation: How do Proximity and Similarity influence relationships?

Answer 3

■ Proximity allows familiarity, availability, and expectation of continued interaction
■ Important consequences for design of housing, workplaces etc
■ Implications for both the formation and maintenance of relationships
■ Proximity and similarity may be particularly important for elderly men and women living in residential care (Roberts, 2018)
■ Co-presence leads to friendship in elderly meeting in Beijing public parks (Richaud, 2018)
■ Important outcomes (Costa, et al. 2018)
■ Assortative mating – background, personality etc
■ Increased similarity over time

Question 4

What contextual factors influence relationships?

Answer 4

■ Killias (2018)
■ Iranians (mostly students) living in Malaysia viewed others with suspicion
■ Potential friends (from the same cultural background) were perceived to pose a risk of betrayal and political infiltration
■ Due to formal and informal monitoring within the apartment complex, they often chose to maintain a distance from those of a similar background

Question 5

Formation: How does Reciprocity influence relationships?

Answer 5

■ We like those that like us and dislike those that do not like us
■ Important individual differences
■ Attachment
■ Self-esteem
■ Situation – gain loss hypothesis
■ We like most those who initially dislike us but then start to like us
■ We dislike most those who initially like us but then become cold or distant

Question 6

Formation: How does Disclosure influence relationships?

Answer 6

■ Premature disclosures
■ Dishonest disclosures
■ Factual disclosures
■ Failure to notice the information or dismiss the disclosure as unimportant
■ Laurenceau, Barrett, and Rovine (2005) self disclosure predicts partner responsiveness, which predicts stronger feelings of closeness
■ Disclosure important for the formation of both romantic relationships and
friendships
■ Kudo and Simkin (2003)
■ Interviews with Japanese students at an Australian University
■ Factors impacting on the development of a friendship include frequent contact, similarity, and self-disclosure (including openness of communication)
■ For example, “I don’t take the initiative in telling my acquaintances about my secrets …or something important to me…. If they disclose such important things to me, I recognise that they trust me. Then, I start to trust him or her. Gradually, we come to know about one another.”

Question 7

Formation: How does Physical Attractiveness influence relationships?

Answer 7

■ Broad cross-cultural agreement re physical attractiveness
■ Attractive people rated more positively (“beauty is good” effect) and attractiveness influences romantic relationships
■ Friends tend to be of similar attractiveness (Bleske-Rechek & Lighthall, 2010)
■ Range of physical characteristics are important
Hendrie and Brewer (2012):
■ Genetic and environmental factors
■ Disease and ageing

Question 8

How does signalling commitment maintain relationships? (Yamaguchi et al., 2015)

Answer 8

■ The pro-relationship acts used to signal a commitment to a friend or romantic partner are similar
■ Costly commitment signals are more effective than non-costly commitment signals
■ Failing to display appropriate signals of commitment (e.g., forgetting a birthday) is more detrimental to romantic relationships than friendships

Question 9

How does shared activities maintain relationships?

Answer 9

■ In romantic relationships, declining expressions of affection and perceived responsiveness after the first two years
■ “typical honeymoon then years of blandness pattern”
■ Self expansion model – desire to enrich identities, may share perspectives
■ Shared activities lead to additional opportunities for understanding each other, disclosure
■ Shared activities can lead to relationship satisfaction (Reissman, Aron, & Bergen, 1993)

Question 10

How does support maintain relationships?

Answer 10

■ Support provided by a partner is unique and difficult to replace
■ Supportive relationships are more satisfied
■ Perceived support can be beneficial
■ Received support can be beneficial or detrimental
■ The partners response to positive events are also important
■ Broaden and Build Theory (Frederickson, 2001)
■ Experience and expression of positive emotions
a) Expands how we attend and respond to events
b) Builds resources for maintaining wellbeing

Question 11

Define relationship maintenance

Answer 11

Behaviours and strategies to ensure that the
relationship will continue
■ Maintaining strong relationships, avoiding relationship decline, repairing poor relationships

Question 12

Define the Intimacy Process Model (Reis & Patrick, 1996; Reis & Shaver, 1988)

Answer 12

Framework for understanding daily exchanges and their impact on intimacy

Question 13

How can information processing maintain relationships?

Answer 13

■ The same events may be interpreted very differently, by different people or at different times
■ Felmless (1995, 1998) fatal attraction phenomenon
■ Qualities that are initially attractive in a partner become the same qualities that end the relationship

Question 14

How can memory bias maintain relationships?

Answer 14

■ McFarland and Ross (1987) memories of past feelings are distorted by current feelings about a relationship
■ Memory bias allows us to forget information which may threaten our current feelings about the relationship

Question 15

How do long-distance relationships affect the maintenance of relationships?

Answer 15

■ May include a range of categories, e.g. college students, military couples, dual career commuter couples
■ LDRs typically report higher levels of dedication, relationship quality, trust, andcommitment (e.g. Kelmer, et al. 2013; Jiang & Hancock, 2013)
■ LDRs appear to engage in more adaptive self-disclosures which may promote intimacy (Jiang & Hancock, 2013)
■ Greenberg and Neustaedter (2013) - the importance of digital technologies (particularly video chats). Allow people to spend time together over extended periods of time which enhances intimacy. The remaining issues include time zone distances, technical issues

Question 16

How does forgiveness affect the maintenance of relationships?

Answer 16

■ Various hurts and betrayals e.g. infidelity, breaking promises, divulging information
■ Baumeister, Exline, and Sommer (1998)
■ Intrapersonal level - anger and blame to charity and compassion Interpersonal level - express and demonstrate those feelings
■ Intrapersonal change only – silent forgiveness
■ Interpersonal change only – hollow forgiveness
■ Important factors, minor acts, empathic emotionally stable victim, apologies and expressions of remorse, committed satisfied relationship

Question 17

What’s the link between COVID-19 and Relationship Satisfaction?

Answer 17

■ Yang and Ma (2020) Married people experienced a greater decline in emotional well-being than unmarried people during the COVID-19 pandemic
■ There has been an increased number of filings for divorce following the COVID-19 outbreak (Prasso, 2020)
■ Luetke et al. (2020) 34% of those in relationships reported conflict with their romantic partners due to the spread of COVID-19 and related restrictions
■ BUT The pandemic can have both positive and negative consequences for relationships
■ For example, Schmid et al. (2021) identified 20% people reporting positive and 40% experiencing negative changes in relationship satisfaction during the pandemic

Question 18

What are important factors in relationships? (COVID-19-related too)

Answer 18

■ Stressors (e.g., fear of infection, redundancy, homeschooling) may increase in anxiety, depression etc
■ Compromised coping strategies and access to social support (e.g., visiting friends, going to the gym, counselling)
■ The immediate environment (e.g., your own flat or house)
■ Separation from partners or greater time together
■ Pre-existing issues
■ Stressors threaten the quality and stability of romantic relationships
■ Maladaptive behaviour (e.g., withdrawal, hostility, lack of responsiveness) may increase

Question 19

What were the findings when Pietromonaco and Overall (2020) applied the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation Model (Karney & Bradbury, 1995) to understand the impact of COVID on romantic
relationships?

Answer 19

■ COVID increases harmful dyadic processes (e.g., hostility, withdrawal, less responsive support)
■ Harmful effects may be exacerbated by broader contextual factors (e.g., social class, minority status, age), and individual factors (e.g., attachment insecurity, depression)

Question 20

How does infidelity impact relationships? Coop (Gordon and Mitchell, 2020)

Answer 20

■ Coop Gordon and Mitchell (2020) outline the ways in which COVID-19 impacts the risk of affairs and the recovery process
■ Increased stress and decreased relationship satisfaction may lead to infidelity though social distancing makes this problematic
■ A dating site for married individuals has been adding 17,000 new members per day during the pandemic
■ Affairs more likely to be discovered – whether the affair occurs during or before the pandemic
■ Difficulties recovering from the affair – difficulties distancing, lack of social support
■ Difficulties protecting children

Question 21

What 3 strategies did Stanley and Markman (2020) identify that therapists and relationship educators can use to help couples preserve and protect their relationships?

Answer 21

a) Make it safe to connect
b) Do your part
c) Decide, don’t slide

Question 22

Dissolution: What are the Prevalence and Causes?

Answer 22

■ Relationship dissolution is a common experience (Robak & Weitzman, 1998)
■ Issues leading to relationship dissolution may include a partner’s failure to meet expectations (including sexual dissatisfaction), a desire for freedom, love that is not reciprocated
■ External challenges include conflicting work patterns, family and friend involvement. Even the time of year influences the likelihood of breakups…

Question 23

According to Levinger (1980), what 4 factors indicate the end of a relationship?

Answer 23

1. A new life seems to be the only solution
2. Alternative partners are available
3. There is an expectation that the relationship will fail
4. There is a lack of commitment to a continuing relationship

Question 24

Dissolution: What’s The Break Up Strategies Questionnaire? (Collins & Gillath, 2012)

Answer 24

■ Avoidance / withdrawal “I avoided scheduling future meetings with my partner whenever possible”
■ Positive tone / self-blame “I tried to convince my partner that the break up was in both our
interests”
■ Open confrontation “I openly expressed to my partner my desire to breakup”
■ Cost escalation “I became unpleasant to my partner in the hopes that s/he would make the
first move”
■ Manipulation “I promoted new relationships for my partner to make the breakup easier”
■ Distant / mediated communication “I terminated the relationship indirectly (through email, text-messaging, or other unidirectional methods of communication)”
■ De-escalation “I procrastinated in saying or doing anything in the hopes that things would improve”

Question 25

Dissolution: What range of factors including personality predict the selection of a break-up
strategy?

Answer 25

Women high on Machiavellianism are more likely to use:
■ avoidance / withdrawal
■ cost escalation
■ manipulation
■ distant / mediated communication (Brewer & Abell, 2017)

Question 26

What’s Duck’s (1988) Relationship Dissolution Model?

Answer 26

1. Intrapsychic Phase
2. Dyadic Phase
3. Social Phase
4. Grave-dressing Phase

Question 27

Dissolution: What are the Consequences and Distress?

Answer 27

■ Those initiating the breakup report lower levels of distress after the break-up (Sprecher, et al. 1998), but both typically report distress (Akert, 1998)
■ The termination of a relationship has important consequences for physical and mental health (Davis, Shaver, & Vernon, 2003)
■ Distress following breakup is associated with commitment, satisfaction, having few perceived alternatives (Sprecher, et al. 1998)
■ McShall and Johnson (2015):Association between relationship quality and psychopathology (e.g., depression) consistent across cultures, but…
■ Yip, et al. (2015): Divorced people from Asian countries have a higher suicide rate than divorced people from non-Asian countries
-Risk of suicide was associated with the individualism-collectivism, long-term orientation, survival / self-expression, and gender inequality score of the country
■ McNamee and Smyth (2019):Following divorce, parents of Caucasian women are more likely to encourage moving on whereas parents of Latina women are more likely to discourage it and view the first marriage as sacred

Question 28

According to Griffith et al. (2017), what reasons are there for staying friends with an ex?

Answer 28

■ Security (e.g., not wanting to lose emotional support)
■ Practical (e.g., shared possessions)
■ Civility (e.g., avoiding confrontation)
■ Unresolved Romantic Issues (e.g., romantic feelings for the person)
■ Staying friends due to security or practical issues resulted in positive outcomes
■ Staying friends due to unresolved romantic issues led to negative outcomes
■ Friendships based on practicality or civility were less likely to last long-term