Relationships

Question 1

Rewards and punishments

Need/reward

Answer 1

All to do with operant conditioning, if that person brings positive stimuli (attractive, money, love) then we the behaviour of being with them is reinforced. As we avoid the negative stimuli we get into relationships with people that we associate with positive reinforcement.

Question 2

Attraction through association

Reward/ need

Answer 2

Classical conditioning, sometimes people are associated with a positive event and this makes us like them. If we meet someone in a bad mood then we won’t be as attracted to them if we meet them in a good mood. We associate them with positive feelings so we are attracted to them, the balance of positive and negative feelings is vital in relationships.

Question 3

Griffith and guay

Answer 3

1969, Found supporting evidence for operant condition, when people were asked to make a creative piece they were evaluated. When asked if they like the experimenter those who had been positively evaluated rated him more highly.

Question 4

Mundane realism (need/reward)

Answer 4

The research took place in labs so it lacks mundane realism.

Question 5

Aaron (evolutionary)

Answer 5

2005, He found that our reward system that is based around romantic love is an evolved mechanism so that our ancestors placed all of their courting energy on one individual which Increased their success. Also love as first sight speeds the process up.

Question 6

Aaron (brain)

Answer 6

2005, Found that participants who measured highly on self report questionnaires on romantic love had higher levels of brain activity. In early relationships where the interest is high the ventral tegmental area is stimulated and more dopamine is released.

Question 7

Sheldon

Answer 7

2011, Found a positive correlation between fb use and both positive/negative relationship satisfaction levels. Those who were connected only went online because their sociability drove their satisfaction with reaching out to others. Those who weren’t connected went on fb because they weren’t satisfied with relationships in real life.

Question 8

Cate et al

Answer 8

1982, Asked 337 individuals to asses their current relationship in terms of reward level and satisfaction and found that the reward level was the most important determinant.

Question 9

Lott

Answer 9

1994, Cultural bias, she found that other/ non western cultures are more concerned about the collective rather than receiving reinforcements.

Question 10

Similarity theory general points

Answer 10

Byrne, clore, smeaton; 1986
We get into relationships with people who are similar to us, we do this by first getting rid of everyone who is dissimilar then we pick out from those who are left the one that is most like us.

Question 11

Personality in the similarity theory

Answer 11

Berschied and reiss 1998,

We get with people who are similar to ourselves because it creates less conflict when we agree with everything.

Question 12

Capris and herberner

Answer 12

1990, yes there is the idea of opposites attracting but they found that in terms of long term relationships and marriage
Similar couples last the longest

Question 13

Attitude in the similarity theory

Answer 13

There will be a time when a couple argues but they go through attitude alignment where either one or both members changes their ideas in order for the relationship to grow and development - people don’t like to do this so we tend to pick people with similar personalities to ourselves.

Question 14

Rosenbaum

Answer 14

1986, found that dissimilarity was more important that similarity. The dissimilar repulsion hypothesis has been tested in many countries and shows that when couples get together they may seem really similar but as they get to know each other they soon realise they aren’t similar at all and they end up being unattractive to each other.

Question 15

Yoshida

Answer 15

1972, she found that a lot of the research for the similarity theory is all to do with personality and beliefs whereas there are loads of other (and more important) qualities like money and self concept that are ignored.

Question 16

Condon and crank

Answer 16

1988, we get with similar people because it lowers the risk of rejection because they will actually be able to stand us. Plus it means that someone will always validate our beliefs and that is reinforcement.

Question 17

Social exchange theory, profits and loss

Answer 17

1959, idea that every social behaviour is an exchange that can either leave us in profit of loss. We always want to be in profit so in terms of relationships we need to calculate how much we will gain from it. Costs include time, money, love and rewards include love, sex, companionship etc. Commitment is based on how much profit we will get from this relationship.

Question 18

Social exchange theory, comparison level

Answer 18

1959, the comparison level is what we create as a result of previous experiences in relationships. It’s what we expect from this potential relationship and we compare the two, if the profit from a potential relationship exceeds out comparison level then we will go for it but if we feel like we will be at a loss when comparing it to our cl then we won’t bother.

Question 19

Social exchange theory, comparison level for alternatives.

Answer 19

When we are in a relationship we may meet someone who we would like to be with. The comparison level is then used against our current relationship whereby we see whether the profit of the new relationship will overcome the cost of ending the current relationship, if the profit succeeds the cost then we will start the new relationship.

Question 20

Reward/ need satisfaction theory

General points

Answer 20

Byrne and clore, 1970
We are attracted to people because they bring satisfaction and gratification, positives include sex companionship ect and negatives include effort and arguing. We avoid the negatives and focus on the positives and tend to find our unmet needs in someone. Mutual attraction occurs when each person fits the others unmet needs.

Question 21

Rusblut and Martz

Answer 21

1995, women stay in abusive relationships because the rewards (having a house, money and being able to see their children) is more than the costs (being homeless, having no money etc)

Question 22

Simpson

Answer 22

1990, comparison level
One way of ruling of any potential threats to the relationship is to make everyone other than your girlfriend seem ugly. They asked people to rate members of the opposite sex and those who had girlfriends/boyfriends rated them the lowest (so the alternative was not as profitable as their current partner)

Question 23

Duck and Sants

Answer 23

1983, they criticised the social exchange theory because it focuses too much on the individuals perspective and ignores social perspective such as communication and interpret shared events.

Question 24

Moghaddam

Answer 24

1998, suggests that economic theories only apply to western cultures and even then it’s more students. This is because they are only interested in short term relationships therefore they are concerned with what they will get out of it.

Question 25

Equity theory; inequity and distress

Answer 25

Walster 1978,
Extension of the social exchange theory, where they individual is not concerned with their gain but in gaining equity with their partner. It’s an equation where neither person can be over or under benefited, if they are under-benefited then they will feel under appreciated whereas if they are over-benefited then they will feel guilty which will lead to frustration.

Question 26

Equity theory; ratios of inputs and outputs

Answer 26

Walster 1979,
Important to realise that equity does not mean equality and that for each person the costs and rewards are totally different. Some people are happy to put loads in and get nothing back and some people want to put nothing in and get loads back, Thai is fine as long as they are balanced with the other person and both people see this as equitable.

Question 27

Clark and mills

Answer 27

1979, suggested that to see relationships as a equation is completely wrong. They saw that this was the case for exchange relationships (acquaintances and business partners) but communal relationships (between family, lovers etc) were more to do with the individual trying to make the other person happy.

Question 28

Demaris

Answer 28

2007, they looked at martial disruption and whether it was connected to inequity. He looked at 1500 couples through the marital and home survey and found that the only inequity that had an effect was when women felt under benefited, this disruption eventually ended in divorce.

Question 29

Ragsdale and Brandau-brown

Answer 29

2007, claimed that this was an insufficient theory because it didn’t take into account the behaviour or communication between couples.

Question 30

Seil and weltman

Answer 30

1991, found gender differences. When the male was earning more both the man and woman accepted that the male was the breadwinner and had the superior job however when the female earned more neither accepted that the female was superior.

Question 31

Reasons for relationship breakdown DUCK

Answer 31

1999,
Lack of skills- relationships don’t work because some lack interpersonal skills, they are poor communicators they never show interest and they don’t provide the other person with any mental stimulation or rewards.

Lack of stimulation- set shows that we need rewards in order to see a relationship as worthwhile and without the stimulation we can become bored (boredom is a really common reason for breaking up)

Maintenance- when people move (especially uni) then it becomes too difficult and the relationship breaks down

Question 32

Boekhout

Answer 32

1999, extramarital affairs are one of the main reasons, they seem to be because of perceived lack of stimulation and/or skills. He asked undergraduate students to rate each reason and found that males tend to say lack of stimulation whereas women tend to use lack of skills.

Question 33

Rohfling

Answer 33

1995, maintenance is not much of a problem anymore. He found that 90% of students experience long distance friendships and 70% have long distance relationships. Because society is such a mobile thing now and travel is so easy this isn’t a problem anymore.

Question 34

Gender differences for DUCK relationship breakdown

Answer 34

Women tend to say unhappiness and incompatibility whereas men tend to say lack of sex and stimulation.

Question 35

Model of breakdown

Duck and Rollie

Answer 35

2006,
Breakdown- dissatisfaction, kept to themselves, link to inequity

Intrapsychic processes- again kept to themselves but they start to write it down, keep track in other ways

Dyadic processes- now they confront their partner, may be able to save it at this stage

Social processes- now everyone knows, they offer advice and support and even extra info to try and help put it back together

Grave dressing- relationship is gone so they try and make themselves out to be nice for new partners, all to do with creating a story and making the other one look bad

Resurrection- now try and put things behind them and get into a new relationship

Question 36

Ethical issues with research into relationship breakdown

Answer 36

May cause psychological stress, may have issues of privacy and for those who have been abused it may cause them to be in harms way again.

Question 37

Real world application, breakdown

Answer 37

Through talking to couple who is going through problems (communication is key) a therapist can quickly see which stage they are in and recommend appropriate interventions.

Question 38

Tashiro and Frazier

Answer 38

2003, asked uni students who had recently been in a breakup what they thought, they reported emotional stress but also personal growth. Grave dressing and resurrection meant that they could move on.