Week 10: L1: Social Support And Rships Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Week 10: L1: Social Support And Rships Deck (25)
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0
Q

What is social support?

A
  • acts that reflect responsiveness to another’s needs
  • may be protection and nurturance, Or autonomy as encouragement of independence
  • to know which requires sensitivity and responsibility to another’s need
  • research suggests the most important aspect may be the perception, rather than it’s actual receipt
1
Q

Rships and health

A
  • higher well-being positively associated w high quality rships
  • married ppl are, on average, happier than unmarked people
  • single men - 250 times greater mortality then married men
2
Q

Attachment theory view of social support

A

Attachment security involves:

  • safe haven
  • secure base
3
Q

Social support and positivity

A
  • support our loved ones goals and celebrate their triumphs etc -> capitalization
  • sharing positive events with responsive, enthusiastic others increases positive mood as life satisfaction
4
Q

Power of positive emotions (in context of social support)

A
  • Frederick’s “broaden and build” model - a functional approach
  • enjoyment-joy - typically elicited by experiencing goal facilitation by trusted others - has many positive outcomes on cognition, motivation, and behaviors which build and strengthen resources (incl. rships)
5
Q

C/g system (in context of social support)

A
  • part of the attachment system - motivates behaviors designed to reduce suffering or foster growth in sig other
  • activated when the other appears to be in need, deactivated when need is met and/or other is safe
  • may involve powerful emotions - empathy, sympathy, compassion, tenderness
6
Q

Compassion and it’s functions

A
  • emotion that arises in response to an appraisal of suffering, associated with subjective feelings of concern and behaviors that aim to alleviate suffering
    1) motivates care of vulnerable offspring and others
    2) signals kindness and nurturance to potential mates
  • relationship with sympathy
7
Q

Tenderness and warmth

A
  • an expansive, “warm and fuzzy” feeling aroused by the perceived vulnerability of another and the perception that are in need of protection
  • a reward for being a ‘secure base’
8
Q

Attachment and c/g

A
  • individual diff in ability to perceive and respond effectively to others in need
  • anxiously attached individuals are hyper activated - provide support in both low and high stress situations - help whether it is needed or not
  • avoidant individuals are less likely to provide emotional help, especially in time of high stress (deactivated)
9
Q

Reasons for helping/not helping? In context social support

A
  • anxiously attached - love feeling needed; enjoy helping and feeling that they are strengthening their rships
  • but their own need to feel needed contributes to their indiscriminate helping
  • avoidantly attached individuals - many excuses for not helping, including avoiding stressful situations, feeling a lack of concern for partner’s problems
10
Q

Secure individuals (in context of social support)

A
  • have capacity to direct attention away from own concerns, temporarily suppressing own attachment needs and activating c/g system to attend to others needs
  • have seen effective support-giving modeled by others
  • more supportive of classmates and peers and volunteering
  • more likely to plan ahead for care of elderly parents
11
Q

Responsive c/g

A
  • cornerstone of communal rships, beginning in infancy
  • in adult rships, self-disclosure promotes intimacy when met with understanding, validation and caring
  • social support, attachment, intimacy and trust are related through the common element of responsiveness
12
Q

Empathic accuracy in context of social support

A
  • the ability to correctly infer the support seeker’s thoughts and feelings
  • positively associated with instrumental support given
  • negatively associated with neg behaviour toward partner
  • not associated with level of emotional support offered partner
  • emotional support is associated with degree of emotional ‘matching’ with the support receiver
  • responsiveness positively associated with higher levels of perceived support
  • matching sequences important
13
Q

Power of touch

A
  • communicates affection
  • fosters perceptions of intimacy
  • positively related to physical health - lower BP, reduced pain
  • bidirectional rship
  • long-lasting
14
Q

Social support and chronic illness

A
  • critical for quality of life and mental health
  • research shows that chronic illness does not predict the psychological well-being of patients; rather, the support they receive (or perceive) in relation to the illness is the critical factor in determining quality of life over time
15
Q

Ineffective social support

A
  • when they perceive close others to be unresponsive or uncomfortable discussing illness, they experience heightened psychological distress
  • encourages avoidant coping by patient
  • very dysfunctional sequence - emotional disclosure by patient, met with non-responsive reaction from spouse
16
Q

Dysfunctional c/g

A
  • c/g that communicate a lack of regard for the sick person, challenges their competence or makes them feel like a child, is not helpful
  • lowers patient’s self-esteem and feelings of control - exacerbates depression and anxiety
17
Q

Who cares for c/g?

A
  • c/gs also need support - caring can be challenging and difficult (and reward)
  • noticing that support attempts are unsuccessful or rejected elicit feelings of frustration and distress
  • friends, kin, support groups, therapists can be important sources of c/g support - both informational and emotional
18
Q

Most functional approach

A
  • in couple rships, a dyadic approach is often useful - showing both partners how to best support one another
  • can buffer the effects of anxiety as depression in both partners
  • demonstrating to patient that s/he can also support the partner builds confidence and positive emotions
19
Q

Gratitude - the carers award

A
  • a “detection-and-response system” that helps us to “find, remind, and bind ourselves to attentive others”
  • emotion of gratitude builds positive rships w people who care about us
  • needs to be expressed to be functional
20
Q

Attachment and support seeking

A
  • anxiously attached individ. are highly dependent on others for support during periods of stress due to lack of confidence in own coping abilities, and needs for reassurance
  • needs to be encouraged to take more responsibility for own needs - validate self-management
21
Q

Avoidance and support seeking

A
  • doesn’t tend to happen
  • avoidant individual tend to value independence and “compulsive self-reliance” - provision of help may be perceived as threatening to sense of control, despite real needs
  • providing help indirectly or ‘invisibly’ is more useful to such individuals
22
Q

Support-related challenges

A
  • providing info or advice may not be welcome, esp. In intimate rship - may damage self-esteem or be perceived as threatening
  • what to do when partner is at risk?
    • neg control tactics (e.g. Guilt induction) are not effective
    • positive, direct, collaborative tracts are best - partner must be respond
  • ppl who are most supportive are most interfering
23
Q

Cultural diffs in social support

A
  • independent cult. Ppl call on help as an entitlement
  • collectivist, interdependent cultures ppl are reluctant to ‘burden’ others with their needs
  • Asians benefit from receiving unsolicited support
24
Q

Social undermining

A
  • neg social support
  • support given grudgingly, or from sense of obligation
  • “support” compromising criticism, put-downs, neg emotional displays, interference with goals and plans, damage to self-esteem and confidence