Chapter 1 The Building Blocks of Relationships Intimate Relationships differ from casual relationships because they include Knowledge Caring Independence Mutuality Trust and Commitment The Need to Belong Baumeister and Leary said that humans need frequent pleasant interactions with intimate partners in lasting caring relationships if we re to function normally It doesn t matter who our partners are as long as they provide us with stable affection and acceptance Sex Ratio number of men to every 100 women High Sex Ratio more men than women more traditional cultures Low Sex Ratio fewer men than women more permissive cultures Economic changes increase individualism and new technological advances contribute to cultural changes Attachment Styles Global orientations toward relationships 1 Secure Babies who received responsive care learned that people were trustworthy sources of security They happily bonded with others and relied on them comfortably and readily developed relationships characterized by relaxed trust 2 Anxious Ambivalent Caregivers were only around occasionally They became nervous and clingy They display excessive neediness in their relationships with others 3 Avoidant Rejective parents caused children to learn no good came from depending on others Because suspicious of and angry at others Do not easily form trusting close relationships 4 Preoccupied New name for anxious ambivalent Nervously depend on others approval to feel good about themselves Such people are preoccupied with and worried about the status of their relationships 5 Fearful Avoid intimacy with others because they fear rejection 6 Dismissing Feel that intimacy with others just wasn t worth the trouble They reject interdependency with others because they feel self sufficient Avoidance of Intimacy Affects the ease and trust with which they accept interdependent intimacy with others Anxiety about Abandonment The dread that others will find them unworthy and leave them Sex Differences Biological distinctions between men and women Gender Differences Refers to social and psychological distinctions that are created by our cultures and upbringing Gender Roles The patterns of behavior that are culturally expected of men and women o Androgynous People associated with being stereotypically female and male o Instrumental Masculine oriented tasks o Expressive Feminine social and emotional skills Personality Influences people s behavior in their relationships across their entire lifetimes Self Esteem Our evaluations of ourselves Parental Investment Different levels of investment from female and male Single ejaculation for males 9 months for females making less promiscuous then males Paternity Uncertainty Women are sure the child is theirs but men are not Causing men to be more worried about infidelity and wanting to marry someone less promiscuous Sociometer theory if others regard us positively our self esteem is high but if others don t want to associate with us self esteem is low Chapter 2 Research Methods Representative Samples the participants resemble the entire population of people who are of interest Correlation The relation of two variables between 1 and 1 If it is positive it x goes up as y goes up If it is negative x goes up as y goes down If it is 0 there is no correlation Experiments provide cause and effect relationships because conditions in the study are controlled Developmental Designs study the manner in which behavior or events change over time Cross sectional compares people at one stage of a developmental process to other people at another stage Longitudinal same people are followed with repeated measurements over a period of time o Participant attrition the loss of a participant over time Retrospective people describe events from the past Validity measuring the events we are really trying to measure Reliability being able to get the same scores everytime Self Reports asking people about their experiences Self Serving Bias leads to overestimation in responsibility for positive events and underestimate blame for negative occurrences Social desirability Bias refers to the distortion that results from people s wishes to make good impressions on others Experience sampling uses intermittent short periods of observation to capture sample behavior that occur over long periods of time Archives nonreactive material to compare present with past Significant when the likelihood of the results occurring by chance are very low Meta analysis statistically combines results from several studies Chapter 3 Attraction The Fundamental Basis of Attraction is that we are attracted to others whose presence is rewarding to us Rewards influence attraction Direct Rewards the obvious positives we receive such as interest and approval and enjoying someone s pleasing characteristics Indirect Rewards the benefits of which we re not always aware our feelings about someone emanate from the emotional tone of the surrounding situation Direct and Indirect rewards highlight the interactive nature of attraction Attraction involves the perceived characteristics of the other person but it also involves the needs preferences and desires of the person who becomes attracted and on the situation the people are in Thus great variety is possible Proximity like those who are near People s friendships and their love relationships usually grow out of the daily interactions they have with those around them Convenience closeness is an advantage long distance partners are more costly The mere exposure effect familiarity repeated contact with someone usually from gas and effort increases our liking for him or her Whenever we choose the exact place where we will live or work or go to school we also take a major step toward determining who the significant others in our life will be It is important to realize however that the effects of proximity when they do occur are not always positive The negative effects of proximity have been called environmental spoiling Festinger Schacter and Back 1950 M I T study Random assignment in 17 different buildings People living close to each other were much more likely to become friends then those who were not 270 people listed 3 closest companions Physical Attractiveness looks are the first thing we notice we ask people why they become attracted to someone most people will tell us that a person s physical attractiveness is not very important However when we examine what people really do when they respond to others we
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