Intimate Relationship Psychology test 1

Clark & Hartfield, 1989

-gender differences in receptivity to sexual offers. -attrative man or women approaches strangers on college campus -50% of men and 50% of women said yes to going out with confederate -6% of women and 69% of men said yes to going to their apartment -0% of women and 75% of men said yes to having sex

adult attachment

-lifelong perspective: "from the cradle to the grave" (Bowlby, 1979) -Hazan and Shaver, 1987: simple, categorical measure of attachment styles modeled after infant-parent attachment. -distributions similar to infancy (55% secure, 25% avoidant, 20% anxious)

empirical support for evolutionary theory: cross national sex differences in desire for sexual variety (Schmidt, 2003)

- 16,000 people from across the globe who were all college students -compared to women, men were more actively seeking a short-term mate -more likely to consent to sex after a short period of time, desired more sexual partners -culturally universal sex differences in socio-sexuality

Ionnidis, 2005 , JAMA replication of highly cited clinical research studies

- evaluated over 1,000 original clinical research studies. 16% contradicted original results, 16% found smaller effect sizes. ex: hormone replacement actually increases risk by 29% -97% of original studies found significant results, when replicated only 36% found significant results

Acevedo & Aron, 2009

- separate components of compassionate love - romantic love; the intense feelings of attraction and engagement - obsession: feelings of jealous dependence and intrusive thoughts about the partner. this component of passionate love tends to diminish over time Meta analysis: -the love component of relationships is most strongly correlated with happiness, romantic obsession leads to less satisfaction with relationships, practical friendship is least positively correlated -romantic obsession leads to less stability in relationships, love leads to more stability, and friendship is less correlated with happiness

alternative approaches to love: Love as a story (Sternberg, 1995, 1998)

- we develop stories (beginning, middle, anticipated end) about love that we seek to fulfill in our lives. -different kinds of stories (similar to scripts). basically, how relationships unfold -potential partners fit with stories to greater and lesser degree, and we are attracted to and satisfied with people who fulfill the roles we create in our stories

Adjustment to a particular illness

-(Coyne et al., 2001): marital quality predicted 4-year survival and illness severity in patients with congestive heart failure. Association with marital quality was similar in magnitude to illness severity - (kimmel et al., 2000): greater dynamic conflict was associated with 46% higher death rate among dialysis patients

hypotheses to social exchange theory

-(profits and losses)= rewards- costs. if the rewards are higher than the costs, we think of the relationship as a profit -satisfaction= outcome- comparison level (CL: expectations, what you believe you deserve). If rewards are better than what you think you deserve, then you will be more satisfied -equity: people will be most satisfied if their outcomes are comparable to their partners' outcomes -if inequitable, people will try to restore equality -Dependence= outcome- comparison level for alternatives. (CLalt: your other options). if the relationship isn't going well, you start thinking about your other options

Jackson et al., 2014

-226 independent samples -cohen's d= 0.4 (husbands > wives). very small difference between men and women but men reported being more satisfied in their marriages

Covariation: psychiatric disorders and intimate relationships

-Disorders studied= mood, anxiety, substance abuse. Studied different age groups. Compared to people without the disorder, people with mood, anxiety, or substance abuse disorders reported relationship distress. People unhappy in relationships were more likely to report disorders. Relationship discord is higher for those with disorders than those without, no gender differences.

Aspects of commitment (pro-relationship behaviors in order to maintain commitment)

-accomodative behavior: choosing to do something because it would make your partner happy, or visa versa -willingness to sacrifice: being willing to sacrifice things because it would make the relationship better -foregoing tempting alternatives: choosing not to cheat or choose another alternative because of your partner -positive illusions: wedding rings, changing status on facebook, etc -cognitive interdependence: are you an "I" couple or a "we" couple -other pro-relationship behaviors ALL THESE LEAD TO QUALITY OF COUPLE FUNCTIONING -commitment increases probability of pro-relationship phenomena -these pro-relationship maintenance phenomena impact the quality of couple functioning IF we observe partners' pro-relationship acts (diagnostic situations) AND we judge this is due to their commitment, THEN trust increases

gender differences in cheating behavior: fisher and burnell, 2014

-asked questions about academic cheating and romance - no difference in academics, men reported higher levels of cheating under socially desirable conditions

meta-analysis: statistical method for combining results across studies

-by combining results across studies, we (a) increase power by increasing people, and (b) improve the precision of our estimate of effect size steps: 1) identify studies to include in analysis (k). need to be thorough, include all relevant studies 2) convert results into effect sizes (d to r) 3) average effect sizes across studies

research methods: obtaining participants

-convenience sample: easier to recruit from people in who don't match the entire population -representative sample: also known as population-based or probability samples. studies using representative samples are more applicable

research methods: choosing a design

-correlation design: more ethical than randomly assigning people to be in an intimate relationship. correlation is necessary (but does not imply) causation. -X can cause Y -Y can cause X -some other variable may cause both X and Y -r values range from -1 to 1

attachment framework

-definitional issue: innate psycho-biological system that motivates people to seek proximity to significant others in times of need as means of protecting oneself from threats and alleviating distress -available and responsive attachment figures serve as a "secure base" and promotes sense of "felt security" -repeated interactions with attachment figures result in "internal working" models of relationships

clinical/ practical significance

-effect size: degree to which phenomenon is present in the population (degree to which null hypothesis is false) -Cohen's d: referring to differences between two groups (M1-M2/SD) the farther apart the means are, the bigger the effect size. -small effect= .20, medium= .50, large= .80 (independent of sample size)

Fehr & Russel (1991) free listing

-free listing: write down as many things about love as you can think about. Some things about love were listed more commonly than others. Idea was that the ones listed more frequently were the defining characteristics about love -prototype ratings: how prototypic are these types of love? central red example. -most people listed: maternal, parental, friendship, sisterly, romantic, brotherly, familial

sexual strategies

-men and women have evolved distinct psychological mechanisms (sexual strategies) to solve adaptive problems confronted to effectively pursue short/ long-term mating a) women: strategies include being more selective about mates and choosing high quality mates (resources, committed, protection) b) men: identify which mates are fertile and mate with as many partners as possible

(Robes et al., 2013): intimate relationships on physical health

-meta analysis of 126 studies (72,000 participants) - greater marital quality is related to better health (mean effect sizes ranging from .07- .21 and lower risk of mortality r= .11) -gender did not moderate association between relationship quality and health -association is comparable to things like diet and health behaviors

Konrath et al., 2014: changes in adult attachment in college students

-meta-analysis of 94 samples between 1988 and 2011 - changes over time: percentage of secure attachment decreased, college students feel less secure in relationships. increase in % of insecure attachment -% of dismissing insecurity has gone up; more positive view of self and negative view of others -changes in parenting? mother labor force? divorce rate? media content and usage?

Neural basis of love (Bartels & Zeki, 2000)

-neural correlates of romantic love are different from other emotional/ affective states -neural correlates of romantic love are associated with dopamine-rich areas of the brain associated with reward system and motivation system; associated with motivation to acquire reward (Aron et al., 2005) -activation in caudate nucleus, associated with obsessive thinking, romantic love, and well-established relationships -brian regions involved in reward functioning, social evaluation, emotional regulation, and mood predict relationship satisfaction/ stability three years later

Research methods: selecting measurement strategy

-operationalization: specific, concrete way of measuring a psychological construct. how do you measure love? -many different ways to measure the same psychological construct -construct validity: degree to which the operationalization used reflects the psychological construct of interest

Intimate relationships and physical health.

-perceived health (Ren, 1997): relationship quality is associated with better self-perceived health -perceived age (Noser, 2017): people who experience more stress/ less quality of relationships make them look older -functional impairments in patients with chronic pain

gignac & szordorai's 2016 guidelines for interpretation

-recommended guidelines based on empirical evaluation of 708 correlations in meta-analysis published in 6 journals.

importance of replication

-researchers test aspects of theories through many different studies -the more studies there are that demonstrate results supporting the theory, the more confidence researchers have in the theory -if the study results contradict a theory, the theory is modified and the modified theory is tested

research methods: choosing who to study

-sample: people from whom data are collected -population: group about which the researcher wants to draw conclusion. sample should match the population

theoretical frameworks: evolutionary framework

-sexual strategies (Buss & Schmidt, 1993) *not conscious -both men and women pursue short-term and long-term mating under conditions where reproductive benefits outweigh reproductive costs. From an evolutionary perspective, surviving offspring are advantageous for evolutionary reasons -because of fundamental asymmetry between sexes in minimum levels of parental investment (higher for women); adaptive problems that women must solve differ form those that men must solve. a) women ensure each child has the greatest chance of survival b) men: ensure access to fertile and selective mates, ensure that pairings result in surviving children, and ensure that they are genetically to children to whom they contribute resources

alexander and fisher, 2003: sex differences in sexuality

-when social desirability was high, women reported fewer sexual partners

Other types of love and two people in the relationship

1) Addiction: addict, co-dependent 2) art: admirer, work of art 3) business: partner and other partner 4) fantasy: saved by prince, marry princess 5) gardening: gardener, plant 6) governor: governed, government

Sternberg's triangular theory (3)

1) Intimacy: closeness, boundedness, connectedness, desire to promote the welfare of the loved one 2) passion: intense longing to be with the loved one (expression of desire and needs) 3) commitment: rational short-term decision that one is in love and long-term commitment to maintain love Types of love based on triangle: -Liking (intimacy alone) -companionate love (intimacy + commitment) -romantic love (intimacy + passion) -Infatuation (passion alone) -empty love (commitment alone) -fatuous love (passion + commitment) -Consummate love (intimacy + passion + commitment) shape of triangle shows balance of the components of love, area shows amount of love. Well matched partners may have perfectly aligned triangles.

Types and kinds of love: Berschied and Walster, 1978

1) Passionate love: a state of intense longing for union with another person, regardless of whether or not that longing is reciprocated or unrequired 2) companionate love: the affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply entwined -two types of love may have evolutionary significance -passionate: solves attraction problems (disrupt existing activities, routines, and social networks to orient the individual's attention and goal-directed behavior towards a specific partner). Helps us pair bonds, more likely to procreate. -companionate: solves commitment problems (keep partners connected to raise offspring and ward off rivals)

Brennan, clark, & shaver 1998: avoidance and anxiety

1) avoidance: distrust others' goodwill and strive to maintain behavioral independence and emotional distance 2) anxiety: worry that others will not be available in times of need

limitations

1) publication bias: researchers only publish studies when they find something statistically significant (rather than null results) 2) dependent upon sample size: p-value is problematic depending on the sample size. more likely to get a lower p-value if you have more participants. instead, focus on effect sizes -p values are a problem because they are dependent on sample sizes -publication bias; people tend to only publish significant findings

3 elements of commitment

1) satisfaction level: if one tends to be happier in the relationship, tends to be more committed 2) quality of alternatives: are there other people out there that maybe a better option? is being single a better option? 3) investment size: how much have you already invested in the relationship? moving in together, financial ties, time, children, social groups

sex vs gender

1) sex: biological features characterizing male and female 2) gender: attitudes, traits, and behaviors culture identifies as masculine or fem

key hypotheses of evolutionary theory

1) short-term mating should represent a larger component of men's relative to women's sexual strategies - there should be sex differences in desire for short term relationships. men would want short-term relationships - sex differences in preference for number of sexual partners. men would want more partners -sex differences in how long people think they should know someone before having sex. men would stay a shorter time. 2) compared to women, men should place a greater emphasis on reproductive value (youth and health). men look for younger and healthier partners 3) women would place a greater emphasis on stability and resources

Predictions of the need to belong theory (6)

1) social bonds should form relatively easily "love at first sight" or strong bonds on little content 2) people should be reluctant to break bonds. Don't want to break bonds because social need would not be met 3) when need is met, people are less likely to pursue another relationship 4) relationship partners should be somewhat interchangeable (substitution) 5) change in belongingness will impact emotions and cognitions 6) deprivation of belongingness will lead to negative outcomes

threats to internal validity

1) social desirability: answering in a social desirable way. people lie to sound better than they actually are 2) demand characteristics: participants figure our what the researchers are trying to study and answer in a way that researchers want 3) organismic variables: things about individuals 4) selective or distorted memory: asking about things that happen in the past, participants may not be completely accurate 5) invalid operational definitions: item overlap problem 6) sentiment override: specific to relationships. responses to questionnaires are overridden by emotions

social ecological models

1) take broader context into account (micro system, macro system, mesh system). Micro= close inner circle. if friends and family do not approve, relationship satisfaction goes down 2) include consideration of stress, supports, and constraints that are external to the relationship 3) ABC-X and double ABC-X models -A= stressor, B= existing resources, C= perception of "a" lead to X, crisis -if a couple has adequate resources, external stress can strengthen the relationship; if not, it can weaken the relationship. stress and support

Why are intimate relationships important?

1) they are universal, in 100 countries, 90% of people are married by their late 40s 2)social control theory: relationships encourage people to internalize and abide by social norms. Maume et al= people in relationships are less likely to abuse drugs 3) They matter to the people around them. Children are more affected by the quality of parents marriage rather than the status. End of a less conflictual marriage is worse for the child 4) They matter to the people in them. Selection effects: people select into relationships because they have positive characteristics. Something we find attractive in partners. Intimate relationships offer protection effects

love: harry harlow

1958 presidential address to APA. "so far as love or affection is concerned, psychologists have failed in their mission. the little we know about love does not transcend simple observation, and the little we write about it has been written better by poets and novelists."

Smith-Slep et al., 2005: random digit dialing to recruit samples

only 5% answer phone, .8% met criteria, only had .3% in their studies. difficult and expensive to recruit participant

Personal

partners consider each other special and unique

life satisfaction

people in intimate relationships report greater life satisfaction than people who are not in intimate relationships. The type of relationship also matters, people who are in more satisfying relationships are positively associated with life satisfaction - meta analysis (Heller, 2004): marital satisfaction was rated higher than social, friend, or career satisfaction

Kunz & Woolcot, 1976 christmas cards

Christmas cards were sent to a random sample of households. 20% of participants returned a card even though they had never met the person. Most cards only contained a signature. A significant number of notes contained words about an old friendship that never existed

Intimate relationships and mental health

Covariation: psychiatric symptoms. Depressive symptoms weighted effect size (r) for women are higher than mens. Well-being was also studied (self-esteem, physical health, global happiness, life satisfaction). PTSD may also contribute to relationship problems, but relationships may also contribute to PTSD through intimate partner violence. Men experience PTSD through war typically, but women experience it in violent relationships

overlap in effect sizes

a small effect size would have a higher overlap (92%). if there were no differences, smallest effect, percentage would be 100. overlap is the % of group B that will exceed the mean of group A.

Lee's love styles (colors)

Different blends or mixtures of what love is. 6 different colors or types: 1) Passionate: Eros. Partners have the right physical chemistry between them 2) Storge. affection or friendship 3) Ludus. Game playing love; keeping partner uncertain about commitment 4) pragma: shopping list love (check off boxes) 5) mania: possessive, dependent love. feeling sick without attention 6) agape: all-giving, selfless love. rather suffer than let partner suffer

social learning theory

basic principles: 1) emphasis on positive and negative behavior exchanged between partners (behavior is the 'final common pathway'); focus on communication/ interaction 2) partners are likely to repeat behaviors that are rewarded and not repeat behaviors that are not rewarded 3) partners learn about the quality of the relationship from interaction 4) negative behavior exists in relationships because it is reinforced

Close

behavior influences each other across time and situations

Time precedence. Relationship discord or psychopathology; which comes first?

can relationship discord be casually associated with mental health issues? well-being studies showing relationship discord at time 1 reported lower levels of well being at time 2. Relationship discord leads to changes in well-being overtime. The quality of relationships at the baseline predicted who became depressed, and who developed a substance use disorder over the next 12 months. Findings were significant even if the people studied had not had previous issues with mental health.

prototype analysis of love

concepts of love represent a set of graded characterizations, with some characteristics more central than others -contrasted with classical classification (necessary and sufficient conditions) -when people contrast types of love, they compare them on the degree to which they process feelings

internal validity

extent to which it is possible to draw conclusions about the hypotheses from the data. researcher's goal is to control threats (rule out alternative explanations)

external validity

extent to which results can be generalized

Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 1993: immune functioning

immune functioning. people who are depressed/ in less healthy relationships are more likely to get sick. study brought newly-wed couples in who were perceived as healthy in their relationships. they stayed in the hospital for 24 hours, and then had to discuss an ongoing problem in their relationship. Video tape interactions and blood samples were taken before the interaction. They took a blood sample the next day. Among happy individuals, those who were more hostile in their interactions had greater decrements over 24 hours in immune measures

social exchange theory

interdependence theory: one person's behavior influences their partner. based on an economic model of relationships -evaluate relationships in terms of rewards and costs -rewards: desirable, pleasurable, gratifying -costs: undesirable, punishing, requires effort -barriers to leaving the relationship and available alternatives

Holmes & Rahe, 1997. social readjustment rating scale

life event has life changing 'units' in terms of experience. Death of a spouse has the highest

Kiecolt- Glaser et al., 2005: wound healing

relationship quality can affect wound healing time. Device like a suction cup creates a blister on the surface of the skin. Researchers draw fluid from the blister to see how the body is recovering from the wound. They give the people the wound, have them have a 30 minute interaction, and then drew fluids from the wound later. Those who were more hostile only healed at about 60% the rate of people who had lower hostile communication.

statistical significance

researcher calculates a test statistic and compares it to a distribution of hypothetical test statistics. -null hypothesis: there is no association (0) -p value: proportion of hypothetical test statistics that are equal to to more extreme than the value you have obtained in the actual study (should be less than .05) if less than .05, null hypothesis is rejected

Intimate

sexual passion that could possibly be expressed or desired. sex alone is not an intimate relationship because it does not have the factor of closeness

investment model

stability in relationships is largely due to commitment (degree to which a person experiences long-term orientation towards the relationship, including intent to persist and feelings of psychological attachment)

Mortality

the odds of dying for married individuals who reported they were unhappy or pretty happy were 20% less likely to die than married individuals who reported that they were not happy. (Whisman et al., 2018). Focusing on a relationship might have the same health benefits as engaging in physical activity. Compared to single people, people in happy relationships are less likely to die.

Baumeister & Leary 1995- Need to belong theory

theory that people have an intrinsic need to belong. A drive to form and maintain a minimum quantity of lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships. According to this theory, we are social beings -fundamental human motivation -2 main features: 1) frequent, positive interactions and 2) enduring concern for the other's welfare

Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991: 4 attachment styles

two dimensions: 1) view of self= deserving of love? (positive vs negative) 2) view of others: able to provide love? (positive vs negative) results in 4 attachment styles 1) secure: view of self and others is positive 2) dismissing: positive view of self, negative views of others 3) preoccupied: negative view of self and positive view of others 4) fearful: negative view of self and negative view of others

extraneous variables

variable capable of explaining findings

intimate relationships can help people cope (Coan et al., 2006)

when faced with possible shock, people in happy relationships who held hands with their partners had less activation in the brain areas that respond to environmental threat. Some people held no hands, others held strangers hands, and others held partners hand. Only partners hand helped.

Interdependent relationship

your behavior affects the other person. MUST be reciprocal.