Relationships in Context

Example of Stress Spillover: Air Traffic Controller Study

The number of flights a air traffic controller has in one day - the more traffic the more stress the more spillover into other contexts in their home life

What is wrong with all of the longitudinal and self report studies about stress spillover in relationships?

They are all correlational studies, they arent manipulating anything so causation cannot be determined - We must use experimental research as well

How does Social Network Approval and Disapproval impact a couple's relationship?

They can be a useful reality check when deciding if your partner is a good fit or not - We tend to judge our partners more positively than our social networks - disapproval can negatively impact your relationship with friends, family, or partner by causing tension between you, your friend, and your partner

Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation Model

When couples try to cope and function you have to acknowledge their enduring vulnerabilities (personality traits, adverse experiences in family of origin, social skills) and the adaptive processes (coping styles, support systems) This is key because you can have someone who struggles in their relationship even if they experience very few stressful events -Enduring Vulnerabilities can magnify effect of stressful events - Tend to underestimate role of stressful events (controllable or not)

Relate to Third-Party Forgiveness and Balance Theory

- the third party is less likely to forgive the partner who made the transgression - Example if your best friends boyfriend cheated on her she is more likely to forgive him sooner than the friend is - Balance theory

Stress Spillover Experimental Research Study (Lewandowski)

Couples came into lab and were assigned to either a stressful situation (hard math assignment) or a simple one (1, 2, 3, ___, ___) IV: High Stress vs. Low Stress DV's: Behavior to partner (compliments to partner) Behavior towards alternatives (look at photos of 12 attractive people and select as many as you want to interact with in a "get to know" exercise Implications: Individuals with high stress wrote down less compliments and were interested in meeting a greater number of individuals alternative to their partner

Why might some couples be more negatively impacted than others?

Economic Pressure - (financial hardtimes) causing distress (negative attributions, fighting can be an effect of this) can cascade into a negative marriage However, Couples who have strong emotional processes, tend to break this pattern. It doesnt create this cascade because you will cut off the stress

Elements of the Context of a Relationship: Distal vs. Proximal

Elements of the context get more PROXIMAL as the affect the couple MORE DIRECTLY - Example: Friends/Family (people you have close by you - if you need to talk to your partner about a serious issue such as finances, its proabbly better to do so on a relaxing sunday rather than after a long work day) Elements of the context get more DISTAL as they affect the couple LESS DIRECTLY - Example: Things that dont affect the day to day relationship but the broader picture (values and beliefs that stem from various social and religious cultures)

What factors determine why some couples might be more negatively impacted than others?

Enduring Vulnerabilities v Initial Satisfaction External Stressors Adaptive Process Change in Marital Satisfaction Marital Dissolution

What is included in the context of intimate relationships and how can it be defined?

Everything that affects a relationship outside of the couple and their interactions; it includes the physical surroundings as well as social, cultural, and historical elements.

The Good vs The Bad of Long Distance Relationships

Good: - easiter to get "me" time -Easier to idealize partner - more novelty and excitement - report more love, better communication Bad: - More effort -Need more reassurance -Lack of interdependence

Implications of the "Footsie" Study

Half play card game in pairs with strangers have play with partner to share info Half told to keep secret half told other pair would know Secret = greater attraction, preoccupied thoughts

In The Cohan and Cole "Hurrican Hugo" study, what did they find about the benefits of crisis? What explains these findings?

Increases in marriage, childbirth and divorce rates after hurricane, however after a couple of years, and prior trends resumed. Therefore, surviving a natural disaster together made some people decide to get married and others to break up The Hurricane was a crisis that gave partners the opportunity to come together and support each other in a time when support was sorely needed. Relationships that survived the hurricane should have been stronger than ever

Who has the most accurate view of your relationship? Why?

It depends, but usually YOU have the most knowledge about your partner than your friends and family do

How does SES Impact Relationships?

Mainting successful intimate relationships is more difficult in low income communities compared to more affluent communities -DIfficulties do not seem to be related to values or attitudes, members of poor communicities report more positive attitudes toward marriage and stable families than do members of more affluent communities - Couples who are poor face concrete challenges (health problems, inflexible work schedules, lack of social support) that increase the demands on their relationship

Long Distance: Does absence make the heart grow fonder?

Research does not support the idea that absence makes the heart grow fonder -Distance between partners appears to be a significant source of stress for iminate relationshpis (restricts face to face interaction and increases the cost of maintaing the relationship and partners will spend a lot of time around other people creating opportunities for jealousy)

Secret Relationships Longitudinal Study

Secret Romance --> Relationship Burden and Stress ---> Decreased satisfaction -->decreased attraction

Difference between stress spillover and stress crossover?

Stress Spillover: When stress from one domain in an individual's life are transmitted to other domains of your life. Its within the individual -Example: If you are stressed at work, you then take out this stress on your partner, and stress over your family life and take your stress out on other things. Within the individual and is affecting their actions and feelings in other contexts Stress Crossover: When one persons stress is crossing over to their partner so now they are stressed as well. Stress experienced by one partner in a relationship affects the outcomes and functioning of the other partner

Are stressors always bad for relationships? Can they help strengthen a relationship? Why or why not?

Stressors provide an opportunity for a diagnostic situation - you could build closeness

Stressors vs. Resources

Stressors: An aspect of the environment that makes demands on the partners, making it harder to maintain the relationship - Example: Losing a job, having a child, and recovering from an illness - take energy away from relationship (time spent dealing with these issues takes away time engaging in rewarding activities with partner) Resources: A source of support outside the couple that contributes to their ability to interact effectively -Example: a close extended family or a satisfactory income that function as resources because these aspects of the environment provide partners with the flexibility to devote time to eachother (family can watch kids so you can go to dinner together) Most relationships show both stressors and resources in the relationship at every level of the context from proximal to distal,

Yerkes-Dodson Law for Behavioral and Cognitive Effects of Stress

With a little stress, you can focus in more but if you have a lot of stress that is no longer helpful and will be distracting and harm your performance (A little stress is good but too much is bad) - Performance increased with arousal ip to a point, but increasing stress negativeley impacts performance -Example: If you are a little stressed from work, you might be able to make sure your relationship is still strong even though youre a little stressed but if you are so overly stressed and your resources are depleted you may not be able to successfully deal with this stress

Example of Stress Crossover (Rook et al.)

Wive's negative affect/depression was not predicted by parenting, work demands, or support from husbands but was predicted by the amount of husband's job stress Women who were more satisfied with their husband were affected more because it was detrimental and threatening to their relationship

What Factors Might Impact whether a Crisis Helps or Hurts a Relationship?

Your resources matter - financial, physical, and tangible resources