COMM 1500 Exam 3

Need to Belong Theory

Each of us is born with a drive to seek, form, maintain, and protect strong relationships

Commitment

Our desire to stay in a relationship no matter what happens

Emotional Commitment

A sense of responsibility for each other's feelings and emotional well-being

Social Commitment

Motivates us to spend time together

Interdependence

What happens to one person affects everyone else in the relationship

Investment

The commitment of one's energies and other resources to those relationships

Dialectical Tensions

Conflicts between two important but opposing needs or desires

Autonomy

The feeling of wanting to be one's own person

Connection

The desire to be close to others

Openness

The desire for disclosure and honesty

Closedness

The desire to keep certain facts, thoughts, or ideas to oneself

Predictability

The desire for consistency and stability

Novelty

The desire for fresh, new experiences

Interpersonal Attraction

Any force that draws people together

Physical Attraction

Being drawn to someone because of his or her looks

Social Attraction

Being attracted to someone's personality

Task Attraction

Being attracted to someone's abilities and dependability

Uncertainty Reduction Theory

You will find uncertainty to be unpleasant, so you'll be motivated to reduce your uncertainty by using communication behaviors to get to know them

Predicted Outcome Value Theory

When we first communicate with others, we try to determine whether continued communication with them will be worth our effort

Approach Behaviors

Communication behaviors that signal interest in another person

Avoidance Behaviors

Communication behaviors that signal a lack of interest in someone else

Social Exchange Theory

People seek to maintain relationships in which their benefits outweigh their costs

Comparison Level

Your realistic expectation of what you want and think you deserve from a relationship

Comparison Level for Alternatives

Your assessment of how good or bad your current relationship is compared with your perceived options

Equity Theory

Borrows the concepts of cost and reward from social exchange theory and extends them by defining a good relationship as one in which your ratio of costs and rewards is equal to your partner's

The five Relational Maintenance Behaviors

• Social Networks
• Openness
• Assurances
• Positivity
• Sharing Tasks

Social Networks

All of the relationships one has

Openness

A person's willingness to talk with his or her friend or relational partner about their relationship

Assurances

Verbal and nonverbal behaviors that people use to illustrate their faithfulness and commitment to others

Positivity

Makes others feel comfortable around us

Sharing Tasks

Performing one's fair share of the work in a relationship

Initiating Stage

When people meet and interact for the first timeE

Experimenting Stage

You have conversations to learn more about that person

Intensifying Stage

People move from being acquaintances to being friends

Integrating Stage

A deep commitment has formed, and people share a strong sense that the relationship has its own identity

Bonding Stage

Partners make a public announcement of their commitment to each other

Differentiating Stage

Begin to see their differences as undesirable or annoying

Circumscribing Stage

Begin to decrease the quality and quantity of their communication with each other

Stagnating Stage

The relationship stops growing and people feel as if they are just "going through the motions"

Avoiding Stage

Create physical and emotional distance between each other

Ghosting

When someone you have been seeing suddenly and unexpectedly stops all contact with you on social media

Orbiting

Someone who has ghosted you continues to interact with you on social media, such as by watching your stories or liking your posts

Terminating Stage

The relationship is officially judged to be over

Divorce

The legal discontinuation of the marriage

Relational Repair

Comprising their efforts to fix problems in their relationship so that the relationship can continue

Relational Transgression

Any behavior that violates an important expectation in the relationship

Investment Model of Commitment Processes

Commitment to a relationship is a function of three factors

• We are more committed to a relationship if we feel more satisfied in it
• If we receive resources from it
• If we believe our alternatives to being in that relationship are undesirable

Apologies

• Admission of responsibility
• Expression of regret
• Commitment not to repeat the offense
• A request for forgiveness

Explanations

Accounts of why an offending behavior occurred

Denials

Instead of explaining or apologizing for our behavior, we calim we have done nothing wrong

Appeasements

Forms of compensation that we offer someone to make up for a transgression

Avoidance

Making a conscious effort to ignore the transgression and to prevent discussion about it

Forgiveness

The process by which a wronged person stops feeling angry or resentful about an offense

Arranged Marriage

One's parents select a romantic partner for him or her

Polygamy

A person can have more than one spouse at a time

Creeping

Checking out someone's information on Facebook or a similar site without the person's knowledge

Catfishing

Using false information, including stolen or edited photos, to create a fake online persona

Parasocial Relationship

One-sided friendship with someone who isn't aware of your existence

Platonic Relationship

A relationship that is nonromantic and nonsexual

Friends-with-Benefits (FWB) Relationships

Friends engage in sexual activity with each other, even though they don't consider their relationship to be romantic

True Friends

Consider themselves to be close friends who share sexual activity

Just Sex Partners

Interact almost exclusively for the purpose of sexual interaction

Network Opportunists

Casual friends who engage in sexual activity if neither finds a more desirable partner

Successful Transition Pairs

Friends with benefits who eventually form a romantic relationship with each other

Unintentional Transition Pairs

Friends with benefits who end up falling in love with each other, even though that wasn't their intention

Failed Transition Pairs

Friends with benefits who tried unsuccessfully to become romantic partners

Transition Out Pairs

Former romantic partners who now have a FWB relationship

Peer

Someone similar in power or status to oneself

Monogamy

Being in only one romantic relationship at a time and avoiding romantic or sexual involvement with people outside the relationship

Infidelity

Having romantic or sexual interaction with someone outside of one's romantic relationship

Polygamy

One person is married to two or more spouses at the same time

Polyamory

Having more than one consensual romantic or sexual relationship at once

Spousal Privilege

Communication between spouses is privileged and protected

Visitation

Marriage gives spouses rights of visitation if one spouse is hospitalized or imprisoned

Stepchildren

Stepparents have legal status with stepchildren only if they are legally married to the children's parentC

Cohabitation on Controlled Properties

Marriage allows spouses to live together on military bases and other controlled properties

Inheritance and Property Rights

Unless a person's will specifies otherwise, a spouse is entitled to receive a person's estate when he or she passes away

Medical and Burial Decisions

Spouses have the ability to make medical decisions for each other and to make burial or cremation decisions when one of them dies

Domestic Violence Protection

If one spouse is abusive or violent, the other spouse can request domestic violence protection orders from a court

Marital Schemata

Represent cognitive models for what marriage is and should be

Traditional Couples

Take a culturally conventional approach to marriage.

• Wives should be in the kitchen, housewives
• Husbands are responsible for home repair and auto maintenance
  Conflict: Engage in it rather than avoid it

Separate Couples

Spouses are autonomous rather than interdependent

• Have their own interests and social networks, and they think of themselves as separate individuals rather than as one couple
  Conflict: Don't engage in conflict

Independent Couples

See themselves as being independent of social expectations for marriage

• Don't necessarily believe in conventional gender roles or divisions of labor, so the wife might support the family financially while the husband stays home with the children
  Conflict: Engage in conflict when it arises

Validating Couples

Talk about their disagreements openly and cooperatively

Volatile Couples

Talks about disagreements openly, but in a way that is competitive rather than cooperative

Conflict-Avoiding Couples

Deal with disagreements indirectly rather than openly

Hostile Couples

Experience frequent and intense conflict

Communication Privacy Management (CPM) Theory

Explains how individuals and couples manage tensions between disclosing certain information and keeping it private

Family of Origin

Family one grows up in, so it typically consists of one's parents or stepparents and siblings

Family of Procreation

The family one starts as an adult, and it consists of a spouse or romantic partner and/or any children raised as one's own

Blamer

Holds others responsible for whatever goes wrong but accepts no responsibility for his or her own behaviors

Placater

Peacemaker who will go to any lengths to reduce conflict

Computer

Attempts to use logic and reason -rather than emotion- to defuse the situation

Distracter

Makes random, irrelevant comments so that the rest of the family will forget about the conflict

Rituals

Repetitive behaviors that have special meaning

Sexual Harassment

Unsolicited, unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature

Quid Pro Quo

A supervisor offers an employee rewards in exchange for sexual favors

Hostile Work Environment

Work conditions are sexually offensive or intimidating

Workplace Bullying

Occurs when a superior engages repeatedly in aggressive and anti-social behavior directed at a subordinate

Interpersonal Conflict

An expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from the other party in achieving their goals