week 5 Flashcards
is considered a SMALL sized gender differences per the guest lecture
self esteem
The development of breasts in cisgender women is considered an example of:
a secondary sex characteristic
Why are new relationships so
exciting?
self expansion
Self-expansion:
we like to grow
and improve
growing sense of self
enjoyment of learning new things
New relationship leads to rapid
self-expansion
Partner has lots of traits, hobbies,
experiences, etc. that we haven’t
been exposed to before
We incorporate these into our self-
concepts
Single undergrads at the beginning of
the semester
Describe yourself
Followed up every two weeks
Falling in love broadened descriptions of
the self-concept
As participants reported falling in love,
they used a larger variety of words to
describe themselves
Self-expansion is highly pleasurable
Part of why falling in love is awesome
Passionate love motivates intense merging
of self and other
Gradually, we come to include the
other”
in our sense of self
Perspective
seeing the world from new points of view
culture, city, family
outcomes tied in relationship
if partner gets promotion both ppl benefit
Resources:
: knowledge, material, social assets
Identity
process partner as part of self
benefits of merge
perspective, resoirce, identity
inclusion of others
the circled over lapping
Too much Closeness?
Too close for comfort
Threat to personal control
Giving up parts of yourself
Thwarts needs for autonomy and
to self-expand
Mismatch in actual and desired closeness à lower relationship quality
partner and self same
fast answer
partner and self not same
slower
Confusing Self and Other
Cognitive confusion of self and partner
Study: presented participants with words that described
either just themselves, just their partners, or both.
Me/Not me reaction time test
Reaction times slower for unshared traits
Speed of reactions to unshared traits predicts
relationship maintenance and closeness
Mistake self and partner in memory
Self-Expansion in Long-Term
Relationships
Self-expanding activity led
to more relationship
satisfaction, less boredom
adventure dates, trying new things, see partner in new light finding new skills, new challenges
challenges together as a couple (ball throwing vs tied together obstacle course)
bigger challenge (tied together obstacle course) results in less bordem and more satisfication
Archie has been dating Veronica for the past 3 months and they are falling in love. Archie
and Veronica both attend Riverdale High and love milkshakes. Archie is a football player,
while Veronica is a cheerleader. Archie is part of a psych experiment where he has to
identify whether traits are true of him or not. Which of the following are true?
A) Archie will be slow to identify Riverdale.student
B) Archie will be slow to identify football player.
C) Archie will be slow to identify cheerleader.
D) Archie will be slow to identify “hates milkshakes”.
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B and C
Which of the following is NOT necessarily true of self-expansion and inclusion of other in the
self.
A) You prefer to be fully overlapped with your partner.
B) You gain a larger perspective on things because of your partner.
C) You confuse partner and self in memory.
D) You describe self with wider variety of adjectives.
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A
How might we be able to use self-expansion theory to explain infidelity?
realtsionship stagnantng, want to try new things and expand in other ways
How can we use self-expansion/ IOS to explain why breakups are tough.
self concept shrinks, loose words, lost a part of yout self concept
