Exam 2 Social Psychology Honors KU 361

Clarify how passionate love differs from unrequited and companionate love

Passionate love: a powerful, but oftentimes unrealistic response to another individual a. while this may be though of as "true love" people outside the relationship tend to perceive it as "infatuation" b. When a person is in love, sexual attraction is part of the relationship (Meyers & Berscheid 1997) c. Hatfield and Walster (1981) proposed three necessary conditions for passionate love to occur: - Learning about love from our childhood through movies, songs, and fairy tales about love - Finding an appropriate love object, usually meaning an attractive, unattached person - Physiological arousal must be present and interpreted as love (this is rooted in Schachter's (1964) theory of emotion). ii. Unrequited love involves falling in love with someone who does not love us in return iii. Companionate love is a critical component of a long-lasting relationship. This refers to love that is based on reciprocal attraction, common interests, respect, and caring about another's well-being.

Discuss the general methods and findings of the famous "Robber's Cave" study and why it is relevant to the study of prejudice

Sherif's Robber's Cave study demonstrated how competition can turn aggressive a. young boys at a summer camp divided into two groups b. once competition was introduced, there were various forms of aggression c. only when a superordinate goal was introduced could the conflicts be resolved. This is a goal that can only be accomplished if groups work together

Understand what Sherif's studies on the autokinetic effect tell us about how and why norms develop

Sherif's findings indicate that we have a strong desire to be correct and to behave in an appropriate way. Social norms develop and are maintained to help us attain these goals.

How is the need for affiliation influenced by situational factors

Situational influences: external events can elicit temporary states of increasing the need to affiliate a. an increase in affiliation needs is seen when one's mortality is brought to mind, e.g. during natural disasters b. affiliating allows us to engages in social comparison, where we can get a clear sense of the appropriateness of our emotional reactions

Explain the differences between conformity, compliance, obedience, and symbolic social influence

conformity: pressure to act in line with social norms compliance: making a direct request of another person symbolic social influence: when our behavior can be influenced by another person who is not even with us at the time obedience: where people are basically ordered to perform a certain behavior

Detail and contrast the four types of attachment

i. Attachment style refers to how secure one feels in their relationships. Infants are thought to adopt two basic attitudes: a. Self Esteem: Our attitudes toward ourselves along a positive-negative dimension. b. Interpersonal Trust: Our attitudes about others; whether or not they are reliable and dependable ii. Depending on our level of self-esteem and interpersonal trust, we may develop one of four possible attachment styles a. Secure attachment style: involves high self-esteem and high interpersonal trust. This style is the most desirable and leads to very positive outcomes. b. Fearful-avoidant attachment style: involves low self-esteem and low interpersonal trust. This is the "least adaptive" style in that relationships are either avoided or are unhappy c. Preoccupied attachment style: involves low self-esteem and high interpersonal trust. This style leads to a very strong motive to establish relationships couples with a fear of rejection. d. Dismissing attachment style: involves high self-esteem and low interpersonal trust. This is a conflicted style in that an individual feels deserving of a good relationship, but is suspicious of possible partners.

Explain the differences between men and women in what they look for in a mate according to evolutionary theory

i. Bonding was important to the success of the species. So we may come into the world with a genetic predisposition to seek out a partner we love and to reproduce. ii. the role of physical attractiveness a. women's physical appeal and youth play a stronger role in men's preferences for them than men's physical appeal and youth play in women's choices of romantic partners iii. For both men and women, when people expect to be a provider, they rate homemaker skills in their potential mate as more important than provider-related skills. When they expect to be a home-maker, they rated provider skills in a potential mate as more important. iv. Men still prefer younger mates, and women are still more concerned with provider skills than are men. a. According to an evolutionary perspective, the reason is that females have a limited age span during which reproduction is possible, men are usually able to reproduce into old age. Thus men were more concerned with age than were women. b. As compelling as this evolutionary explanation is, it is not universally accepted.

Consider how cohesiveness and group size affect conformity

i. Cohesiveness is the extent to which we are attracted to a particular social group and want to belong to it a. When cohesiveness is high the pressure to conform is magnified b. When cohesiveness is low we feel little pressure to conform ii. The bigger the group, the more pressure to conform a. Many early researchers discovered that conformity rises as there are more members of a group, but after about three people, it either levels off or is reduced b. However, more recent research indicates that with eight or more people, conformity increases

List the six basic principles of compliance an the seven tactics for gaining compliance that are grounded in these principles

i. Compliance: asking people directly to go along with a request ii. Cialdini (1994) identified 6 underlying principles of compliance: a. Friendship/Liking: we are more likely to comply if a friend or someone we like makes a request as opposed to a stranger or someone we do not like b. Commitment/Consistency: if we have made a commitment to a position or action, we tend to comply with requests for actions that are consistent with the position or action as opposed to requests that are inconsistent. c. Scarcity: we tend to comply with a request if it involves outcomes or objects that are relatively scarce. d. Reciprocity:we are more likely to comply if the request comes from someone who has done a favor for us in the past e. Social Validation: we are more likely to comply if we believe that similar others are behaving in the same way f. Authority: we are more likely to comply if the request comes from an authority figure (it can be someone with real authority or someone who "appears" to have authority). iii. Tactics for gaining compliance: a. Friendship/Liking: - Ingratiation: involves first getting another person to like us, thereby increasing the odds that they will comply with our requests - Incidental similarity: increase liking by drawing attention to small similarities between ourselves and the target person (Burger et al, 2004). b. Consistency/Commitment: - Foot in the Door Technique: begin with a small request and, once this request is agreed to, we move on to a larger request - Lowball Procedure: getting others to comply by changing a deal after the person has accepted it. c. Scarcity: - Playing Hard to Get: pointing out that an object is difficult to obtain - Deadline Technique: suggesting that targets have a finite amount of time to take advantage of a special deal d. Reciprocity - Door in the Face Technique: making a large, outrageous request first, and once it is refused, move to a smaller request - That's Not All Technique: a compliance strategy in which a requester adds additional bonuses to "sweeten the deal" before the target person has accepted the deal

Consider how contact, re-categorization, cognitive interventions, collective guilt, and social influence can all be used to reduce prejudice

i. Contact Hypothesis: the view that increased contact between members of various social groups can be effective in reducing prejudice between them a. Increased contact between persons from different groups can lead to a growing recognition of similarities between them - which can change the categorizations that people employ ii. Re-Categorization is a shift in boundaries between an individual's in-group ("us") and some out-group ("them"). As a result, persons formerly viewed as out-group members may now be viewed as belonging to the in-group, and consequently are viewed more positively a. Common In-Group Identity Model: a theory suggesting that to the extent individuals in different groups view themselves as members of a single social entity, intergroup bias will be reduced b. Robber's Cave demonstrated that when the groups worked towards a superordinate goal they came to see themselves as a single social entity, and thus feelings of hostility faded away iii. Cognitive Guilt: the emotion that can be experienced when we are confronted with the harmful actions done by our in-group against an out-group. It is most likely to be experienced when the harmful actions are seen as illegitimate a. Since guilt is a negative self-focused emotion there are several ways to avoid feeling it: - "blame the victims" - they deserved it - Derogate or dehumanize the victims if they are less than human, i cannot feel guilty - Our actions had a moral purpose - Moral Disengagement - no longer seeing sanctioning as necessary for perpetrating harm that has been legitimized b. Research suggests that feeling collective guilt can reduce racism (Powell, Branscombe, & Schmitt, 2005) iv. Social influence: our prejudices are often predicted by what beliefs we think other members of our own group hold, therefore providing individuals with evidence suggesting that members of their group hold less prejudiced views than them can reduce prejudices.

Contrast descriptive and injunctive norms and, in doing so, state the relevance of normative focus theory.

i. Descriptive Norms are those that describe what people do under different circumstances ii. Injunctive norms are those that tell us what is "approved or disapproved behavior" under different circumstances iii. Normative focus theory proposes that norms will have an influence on our behavior only if they are personally relevant

Discuss how gender stereotypes and differential respect often provide the foundation for the cognitive bases of sexism

i. Gender stereotypes concern the traits possessed by men and women, and that are thought to distinguish the two genders from each other a. Women are seen as kind, nurturing, and considerate (positive) as well as dependent, weak, and overly emotional (negative). Thus, women are "warm" but they are not competent b. Men are seen as decisive, assertive, and accomplished (positive) and aggressive, insensitive, and arrogant (negative). These traits are thought to show that men are a higher status group than women c. Women Are Wonderful Effect: because of the strong emphasis on warmth in the stereotype for women, people tend to feel somewhat more positively about women on the whole compared to men d. Women's traits tend to make them seem appropriate for "support roles" which is reflected in the actual occupational roles of women in the United States today (clerical, nursing, or service occupations) that are given less status and monetary compensation than comparably skilled male-dominated occupations

Understand how gender stereotypes contribute to subtle forms of discrimination in the workplace and explain what is meant by a "glass ceiling", "glass cliff" and a "glass excalator"

i. Glass Ceiling: a barrier based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevents qualified females from advancing to top-level positions a. Stereotypical attributes of a "typical manner" are seen as overlapping with the "typical man" but not the "typical women" this leads to a perceived lack of fit of women for positions of leadership b. some evidence that perceived lack of fit between women and leadership has been decreasing in the last 10 years c. Even when women do break through the class ceiling, they experience less favorable outcomes in their careers because of their gender than do men - they tend to receive lower evaluations from subordinates than males, even when they act similarly ii. Glass Cliff Effect: choosing women for leadership positions that are risky, precarious, or when the outcome is more likely to result in failure. a. what this effect implies is that when men's stereotypical leadership attributes appear not to be working, then and only then are women with their presumed stereotypical communal attributes seen as suitable for leadership iii. Glass Escalator: in contrast to the glass ceiling effect for women, men in female-dominated careers (such as teaching and nursing) are promoted to leadership positions faster than their female colleagues a. this is seen as a hidden advantage for men produced by stereotypes about attributes associated with masculinity and leadership

Highlight the key prediction of balance theory

i. Heider (1958) and Newcomb (1961) both proposed balance theory, meaning that similarity and liking leads to balance, which is a pleasant internal state. ii. If two people like each other, but have dissimilar views (imbalance), changes will occur to restore balance. If two people do not like each other, it is presumably the result of non- balance, which is an unpleasant internal state iii. According to social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954), we compare ourselves to others to be sure our attitudes and behaviors are appropriate . So, when we discover someone else shares our views, we feel validated and are left with positive feelings

Contrast the elements of Hendrick and Hendrick's (1986) love styles with that of Sternberg's (1986) triangular model of love

i. Hendrick and Hendrick (1986) Love Styles: Based upon the Love Attitudes Scale developed in 1986, Hendrick and Hendrick (1993) asked students who were currently dating (n=35) or married (n=6) to wrtie a personal account of a romantic relationship. The following are excerpts depicting the six major styles of loving (percentages of students who expressed each theme are in parentheses). a. Storge: Friendship Love (66%) - "We were very close friends - virtually inseperable - but we were not dating...I'm not sure where our friendship turned into love." b. Eros: Passionate Love (34%) - "When we first met, we ended up dancing and talking all night. It was sort of 'love at first sight'." c. Pragma: Logical Love (17%) - "When I met him, I began to realize he was everything I wanted in a man. He matched everything I had on my list, plus things I hadn't realized were important" d. Ludus: Game-Playing Love (2%) - "I find myself being attracted to other girls. I dont want to hurt her, but I feel so tied down and prevented from being the social, flirtatious person that I really am." e. Mania: Possessive Love (2%) - "During the time we were together, I would do practically anything to be with her...but eventually my jealousy and insecruity made our relationship impossible." f. Agape: Selfless Love (2%) - "We are both unselfish and giving with each other, and we make sure to look out for one another's needs....it is as if our souls were connected." ii. Sternberg's (1986) triangular model of love proposes that a love relationship contains three parts: a. Intimacy: the closeness and strength of the tie between the partners. b. Passion: the physical/sexual attraction between the partners c. Decision/commitment: the cognitive processes involved in deciding if the partners are in love and are committed to nurturing the relationship. - Consummate love occurs when all three components (intimacy, passion, and decision /commitment) are included in the relationship, this is what couples should strive for as a model, but it is difficult to reach. iii. Research has indicated that physical attractiveness is an important aspect in maintaining all three parts of love. (Sangrador & Yela, 2000).

Provide a detailed overview of the initial Milgram obedience study, including its methods, results, and ethical concerns. Also, provide a few examples of subsequent obedience studies conducted by Milgram and their results

i. In his research laboratory, Milgram set up the following experiment: a. An actual participant was the "teacher" and a confederate was the "learner" b. The teacher was instructed to deliver increasingly painful electric shocks when the learner made a mistake c. when the learner began to protest as the teacher went higher and higher on the shock scale, many participants wished to stop, but were urged to continue by the researcher d. Findings indicated that 65% of participants obeyed and delivered the highest-possible level of shock to the learner, even when they supposedly fainted and therefore were no longer responding. ii. Milgram's work seemed to indicate that even though they may protest, ordinary individuals are willing to inflict harm on a stranger simply because an authority figure has told them to do so

Consider when and how the minority can influence the majority

i. In some cases, a minority opinion can overtake the majority and can be accepted. ii. The people in the minority group must have consistency in their opposition to the majority as well as display that they can be flexible in their opinions iii. If the opinion of the minority mirrors contemporary social trends, they are more likely to have an impact on the majority

State the two basic reasons for why prejudice persists

i. Many theorists have suggested that stereotyping will be stable as long as the nature of the intergroup relationship that exists between those groups is stable a. Because we construct stereotypes that reflect how we see members of different groups actually behaving, stereotype change should only occur when the relations between the groups change

Understand what subtle prejudice is and how it is measured

i. Modern Racism is more subtle beliefs than blatant feelings of superiority a. it consists primarily of thinking minorities are seeking and receiving more benefits than they deserve and a denial that discrimination affects their outcomes b. people may mask their prejudice views in public, but may share them in the presence of others who hold the same views ii. Measuring subtle forms of prejudice - because people may not want to admit these feelings (social desirability) or these feelings may be unconscious, various methods have been developed to measure "subtle" forms of prejudice a. Bona Fide Pipeline is a technique that uses priming to measure implicit racial attitudes. People continue to be socialized in terms of ethnic attitudes well beyond childhood iii. Research suggest that many Americans maintain an "unprejudiced self-image" through social comparison with extreme images of bigots that many people who are prejudiced can perceive themselves as not matching that prototype.

Identify the differences between normative and informational social influence

i. Normative social influence refers to social influences stemming from our need to be liked and accepted by others ii. Informational social influence refers to a type of social influence rooted in our need to have correct perceptions of the social world

Outline the methods, goals, and general findings from Asch's famous studies of conformity

i. Participants viewing a standard line and three comparison lines. Confederates choose the wrong answer and a large number of participants conforms with the group ii. Conformity diminished if a confederate dissents iii. Difference between public conformity and private acceptance (Mass & Clark, 1984).

Understand the role specific emotions play in prejudice - including a discussion of incidental feelings

i. Prejudice reflects a negative response to another person based solely on that person's membership in a particular group. Some theorists have argued that prejudice is more than just generic negative feelings toward a group, but rather is comprised of distinct emotions such as fear or anger (Smith, 1993) ii. Depending on what emotion underlies prejudice toward a particular group, the discriminatory action that might be expected could be different. Knowing what emotion a prejudice is based on is important when attempting to reduce that prejudice (Miller, Smith & Mackie, 2004) a. when peoples' prejudice primarily reflects anger, they may attempt to harm the out-group directly b. prejudice based on pity or guilt might lead to avoidance of the out-group because of the distress their plight can evoke iii. Incidental Feelings are those feelings induced separately or before the target is encountered - so they are irrelevant to the group being judged, but can still affect judgments of the target and generate automatic prejudice towards members of groups to which we do not belong iv. Implicit Associations are links between group membership and trait associations or evaluations that the perceiver may be unaware of. They can be activated automatically upon activation of the group membership of a target a. Can influence overt behavior, including our judgments and decisions about people and how we interact with them

Understand how proximity and repeated exposure can influence attraction (for better and sometimes worse)

i. Proximity leads to attraction due to repeated exposure ii. Zajonc (1968) defined repeated exposure as frequent contact with a stimulus that leads to "increasingly positive evaluations" of the stimulus a. The repeated exposure effect has also been used to point out that exposure to a stimulus is often all that is required to lead to positive feelings about that stimulus iii. It is important to note that if we have an intensely negative initial reaction to a stimulus, repeated exposure can actually increase our dislike of that stimulus

Consider how and why people evaluate others on the basis of physical attractiveness

i. Research has consistently shown that we tend to respond positively to attractive people and negatively to unattractive people (Collins & Zebrowitz, 1995) ii. "what is beautiful is good": (Dion Berscheid & Hatfield 1972) more attractive people are also assumed to have other positive qualities, such as intelligence and good social skill a. Originally thought to be caused by positive stereotypes of attractive people b. Alternative explanation with three steps: 1. Have desire to form relationships with attractive people 2. Desire leads to perceive them as inter-personally responsive 3. As a result of our own desire, we perceive them as inter-personally responsive in return - as kinder, more outgoing, etc. iii. Judgments of one's own attractiveness may not match the judgments of others very well, but there is surprisingly good agreement when two people are asked to rate a third person iv. When faces are averaged together the result is considered quite attractive v. Gendered standards of what is considered attractive vi. Cultural influences (e.g. media)

Understand how stereotyping may still be present even when members of different groups are evaluated the same by discussing the idea of shifting standards, including the definitions of subjective and objective scales.

i. Shifting Standards: when people use one group as the standard, but shift to another group as the comparison standard when judging members of a different group a. research by Biernat and colleagues work on shifting standards indicate that, although he same evaluation ratings can be given to members of different groups, stereotypes may have, nevertheless, influenced those ratings. b. A woman may have to perform at a much higher level to receive the same good rating that men receivein a stereotypically male domain (pretty good leader "for a woman" ) c. More likely to occur when rating scales are subjective ii. Subjective Scales: response scales that are open to interpretation and lack an externally grounded referent, including scales labeled from good to bad, or weak to strong. They are said to be subjective because they can take on different meanings depending on the group membership of the person being evaluated. iii. Objective Scales: measurements that are tied to external reality that mean the same thing regardless of category of membership (e.g. dollars earned, feet, inches)

Understand that we can be victims of stereotyping and not even recognize it - include the definition of singlism

i. Singlism: the negative stereotyping and discrimination directed toward people who are single ii. Can be unaware of this discrimination even if affected by it iii. DePaulo and Morris (2006) research found that 50% of the time, married people were described as kind, giving, and caring, but those attributes were applied to single people only 2% of the time a. even greater when targets are described as 40 years old than when described as 25 years old iv. There are a number of legal privileges that come with married status v. Only 30% of singles say singlism might exist vi. people are more likely to see discrimination based on marital status are legitimate when it is compared to other types of discrimination

Discuss how the social learning view of prejudice affects how a person develops attitudes about other racial or ethnic groups

i. Social Learning View (Of Prejudice) is the view prejudice is acquired through direct and vicarious experiences in much the same manner as other attitudes ii. Children acquire negative attitudes toward various social groups because they hear such views expressed by significant others, and are directly rewarded for adopting these views. a. The degree to which parents' racial attitudes and their children's are related may depend on the extent to which those children identify with their parents b. Children who care about making their parents proud of them show the greatest parental influence iii. People continue to be socialized in terms of ethnic attitudes well beyond childhood.

Explain what a "social norm" is and how it functions

i. Social norms: rules that tell us how we are expected to act in different situations a. explicit (e.g. handicapped parking signs) or implicit (e.g. showing up "fashionably late" to a party). b. Powerful influence that most people adhere to ii. Introspection illusion: our belief that social influences play a smaller role in shaping our own action than it does in shaping the actions of others

Contrast the key difference between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination

i. Stereotypes are beliefs about social groups in terms of the traits of characteristics that they are believed to share. Stereotypes are cognitive frameworks that influence the processing of social information a. can be positive or negative b. can be accurate or inaccurate c. can be agreed with or rejected by the stereotyped group members ii. Prejudice is the negative attitude toward the members of a specific social group iii. Discrimination is the differential (usually negative) behavior directed toward members of different social groups

Explain how schemas provide the basic foundations for stereotypes and how stereotypes influence our information processing

i. Stereotypes often function as schemas - cognitive framework developed through experience that affects the processing of new social information ii. Information relevant to an activated stereotype is often processed more quickly, and remembered better, than information unrelated to it - can conserve the cognitive effort that would be required to perceive the person as an individual

Explain what is meant by symbolic social influence

i. Symbolic social influence is a type of social influence where mental representations of others are influencing our behavior ii. How we think important others would react to our behavior can influence us

Understand the nature and effects of social categorization and, in doing so, highlight the relevance of social identity theory

i. Tajfel (1982) argued that a history of conflict, personal animosity or group competition were not needed in order to create discrimination, people merely need to be categorized into different groups ii. Social Identity Theory is concerned with the consequences of perceiving the self as a member of a social group and identifying with it a. groups want to feel positive about the group they belong to because these feelings are important to our self-esteem b. In-Group Favoritism: people ensure these positive feelings by expressing favoritism toward their own group and a corresponding bias against out-groups

Explain the repulsion hypothesis and how it is viewed by most contemporary social psychologists

i. The repulsion hypothesis offered by Rosenbaum (1986) stated that increases in attraction are not the result of similar attitudes; rather attraction is decreased when dissimilar attitudes are present ii. While research has refuted this idea, it has been shown that dissimilar attitudes have negative effects that are somewhat stronger than the positive effects of similar attitudes

Explain how realistic conflict theory helps to understand the origins of prejudice

i. Threat is seen as a basis for prejudice. If one fears that the interest of their group will be damaged or that there is a threat to their self-esteem, we may see prejudice a. threat to self-esteem: when people's perceptions of their group's value is threatened they may derogate the source of threat b. competition over limited resources can be a source of prejudice ii. Realistic Conflict Theory is the view that prejudice stems from direct competition between various social groups over scarce and valued resources

Consider why tokenism exists and its implications

i. Tokenism can refer to hiring based on group membership a. People perceived as "affirmative action hires" are less liked by colleagues and viewed as less competent ii. Tokenism can also concern infrequent presence of members in a particular category a. If some limited numbers of women are in positions of leadership, then it makes prejudice seem like less of a problem. This can be a highly effective strategy for deterring collective protests from disadvantaged groups b. it can lead members of disadvantaged groups to accept that they "can move up" from their position of disadvantage iii. Tokenism can also refer to instances where individuals perform trivial positive actions for members of out-groups that are later used as an excuse for refusing more meaningful beneficial actions for members of these groups a. Prior positive actions serve as a credential that indicates their "non- prejudiced" identity, which in turn frees them to later discriminate

Describe the social psychological basis for destructive obedience and how individuals can resist its effects

i. Type of obedience observed in Milgram's studies may have occurred because the person in authority is assumed to take the responsibility for the consequences of one's actions a. there are also outward indicators of someone's authority, thereby reminding people of the norm to "obey the person in charge" . In Milgram's studies, the experimenter was wearing a white lab coat. b. If one is reminded that they, not the authority figure, will be help responsible for their actions, they are much less likely to obey ii. Similar to the foot-in-the-door technique, the authority figure in Milgram's study gradually increased the commands that were given to the participant, which may have contributed to the results iii. The fast pace of the laboratory experiment may have also let to the type of obedience seen in Milgram's studies iv. The use of disobedient models can help, because these individuals refuse to give in to the authority figure's demands to obey v. If one begins to question the motives of the authority figure, they may be better able to resist obedience

Discuss the various reasons why we sometimes do not or cannot conform

i. Valuing individuality and control over our own lives helps us to resist the pressure to conform a. people who possess power or are merely primed to think about it are less likely to conform b. people have a motive to be unique - the need for uniqueness - and when this is threatened they are less likely to conform. ii. Just like men, women are more likely to conform when they are uncertain about how to behave or about the correctness of their judgments a. earlier studies on conformity used materials more familiar to men, and this is why they may have concluded that women were more likely to conform b. women are generally not more susceptible to conformity pressures than men.

Consider the nature of close friendships and highlight gender differences in close friendships

i. We are often friends with children who are close in proximity to us and/or who share the same interests as us. ii. A close friendship: a relationship where two individuals spend a lot of time together and provide emotional support for one another iii. In research, women report having more close friends than men (Fredrickson, 1995) and value intimacy more (Fehr, 2004). iv. It appears that perceived similarity between people is a better good predictor of friendship than is actual similarity

Explain how subtypes can be used to resist stereotype change

i. When we do encounter members of group who do not fit the stereotype of that group we still may not change our stereotype a. we often subtype people that aren't consistent with the group stereotype b. business women are a common subtype of women, because business women are aggressive and they do not fit the stereotype of nurturing women ii. Subtypes are exceptions that prove the rule and thus, we do not change our stereotypes

Outline some of the major characteristics of parent-child and sibling relationships

i. importance of interactions with family members other than the mother, who is usually the primary caregiver. Fathers and grandparents can play a crucial role in a child's life, especially if the child's mother is not trustworthy ii. Sibling relationships form the basis for later interactions with peers. a. Youngsters learn to share, which will benefit them in their later relationships b. Sibling relationships usually involve a combination of fondness and rivalry

Discuss the costs of secret relationships

i. it is clear that secret romances are enticing, but they often come with significant costs in terms of health and commitment to the relationship ii. Feelings of jealousy: concerns that a romantic partner or other person about whom we care deeply for might transfer their affection or loyalty to another are deeply distressing a. jealousy is a major factor in a large proportion of homicides b. Growing evidence now points to the conclusion that jealousy is largely the result of threats to one's self-esteem.

Understand the role that similarity plays in attraction

i. the idea that similarity leads to attraction is a widely accepted belief and has been supported by decades of research ii. The similarity-dissimilarity effect indicates that people consistently respond positively to others who they perceive as similar to them and negatively to those who they perceive as dissimilar iii. Attitude similarity refers to the degree to which two people share the same attitudes about any number of subjects. This can be expanded to include the ideas that similarity in values, beliefs, and interests impacts upon attraction as well. iv. "Attraction is determined by the proportion of similarity". The larger the proportion of parallel attitudes, the greater the attraction. This remains a strong effect, even if people are sharing attitudes about relatively insignificant topics.

State the two most important characteristics of affect and note how emotions can influence attraction

i. the presence of positive affect leads to positive evaluations of other people (liking), while negative affect leads to negative evaluation (disliking) ii. Associated attraction occurs when another person is simply present at the time that one's emotional state is aroused by something or someone else's a. We feel increased attraction if we are in a good mood (e.g. we just received a good test grade) or we feel decreased attraction if we are in a bad mood (e.g. we just received a bad test grade) b. this phenomenon is explained with classical conditioning. we are pairing a neutral stimulus with either a positive or negative stimulus. iii. Advertisers and political parties constantly try to manipulate affect to get us to buy their products or vote for their candidate a. Salespeople compliment us to make us feel good and political candidates choose words for themselves that elicit positive affect (and words that elicit negative affect for opponents) b. Effective when audience is homogeneous and unaware of the attempts to manipulate

How is the need for affiliation influenced by personal factors

i. there are individual differences in need for affiliation (our motivation to seek out and maintain relationships). ii. People seek out optimal social interaction a. some people prefer more time alone, while others prefer more time socializing iii. When our affiliation needs are not satisfied, it can have many negative consequences. a. when we are left out of a situation, we experience negative emotions as well as a decrease in cognitive functioning (Baumeister, Twenge, & Nuss, 2002) iv. Recent research indicates even people who claim they have little need for emotional attachments to others (dismissing avoidant attachment style) still display a need for affiliation

Affiliation Need

we wish to reach out and form bonds with other people. We actively select those people with whom we would and would not like to form a bond - some have suggested this is one of our most basic psychological needs -even our ancestors benefited from affiliating, as cooperation was important for survival. Affiliation needs, it is argued, remained part of our genetic make-up -We are very sensitive to social exclusion