Marriage and divorce statistics- Marriage rate in the United States: ~95%- The divorce rate is ~40% (higher for the second marriage)- Median (ie 50th percentile) duration of marriage is 7.2 years- Average age for women is lower than in men- Numbers keep going up all the time- 20 years the average marriage age goes up by a yearMore findings- The first year in history that more marriages ended in divorce rather than death was 1974, and this trend has not reversed since.- Back then, divorce was looked down upon, and if people were unhappy in their marriages, they would wait it out.Risk factors for divorce- Low income- Having a child before marriage- Marrying under age 18- No religious affiliation- High school dropout- Live in a large cityCommunication patterns predictive of divorce - Gottman and others research studyo 130 childless newlywed coupleso 15 minute laboratory interaction about an ongoing problem area in the marriageo Physiological, verbal, and nonverbal behavior were recorded- Gottman’s cascade model of marital dissolution- Cascade, irreversible process. Once it starts in full force, future stages are inevitable o Criticism with insultso Defensiveness (with insults) Refusal to accept responsibility Desire to protect oneself from partner’s accusations Usually includes negative or demeaning statements directed toward partner. o Contempt* (worse and most severe) Not trusting or believing  Suspicion of motives Overall negative feeling Continued complaining and criticizing Extremely corrosive to a marriage o Withdrawal Stonewalling Silent treatment towards one’s spouse Problematic because it constitutes emotional disengagement from the relationshipThe importance of positive affect- 5:1 ratio – you can have negative problems in a relationship, as long as it’s balanced out by 5 times as much good times- Angero Not harmful to relationships. Can be helpfulPersuasion Terms- Def: a conscious attempt to reinforce, shape, or change a person’s attitude, belief, or behavior - Reinforce: keeping something in place- Shape: Creating something where previously nothing existed- Change: Shifting from one state to another- Attitude: Evaluation (+/- judgement)- Belief: what one believes to be true- Behavior: actionPersuasion matrix: 9 cells- Attitude, belief, behavior vs reinforce, shape, change- All of the cells countMass vs interpersonal contexts- Mass: Tv, newspaper, radio, internet, billboards, etc (don’t feel bad about ignoring)- Interpersonal: between people (feel bad about ignoring)Approaches to studying persuasion- Heruristic decision making (Shortcut)  Downside is it means you’re not truly doing the worko Scarcity – when something is rare, it is valuable o Liking – we usually say yes to people who we like vs people we don’to Commitment and consistency – we like to be seen as people who follow through with our commitments o Reciprocity – what I do for you, you do for me. Mutual fairnesso Social proofo Authority – transmits the authority over the social atmosphere