HDF 304: Exam 2

What is transformation of motivation?

Replacing immediate self-interest with behavior guided by broader values, especially the relationship.

How does transformation of motivation appear during partner negativity?

Inhibit the impulse to retaliate or self-protect and respond in a more relationship-protective way.

What is accommodation in close relationships?

Responding constructively rather than destructively when a partner behaves negatively.

What did the time-pressure accommodation study show?

Fast responses were more destructive; time to inhibit the first impulse allowed more constructive responding.

What is sacrifice in relationships?

Ignoring or giving up self-interest to promote a partner's or relationship's well-being.

Why is sacrifice an example of transformation of motivation?

Personal costs are accepted because relationship goals override immediate self-interest.

What 3 variables define outcomes in interdependence theory?

Outcomes, comparison level (CL), and comparison level for alternatives (CLalt).

What are relationship outcomes in interdependence theory?

The rewards and costs obtained from the current relationship.

What is the comparison level (CL)?

Your expectations for how rewarding a relationship should be.

What does CL determine?

Relationship satisfaction: current outcomes are evaluated against expectations.

When is a relationship satisfying in interdependence theory?

When current outcomes meet or exceed the comparison level (Outcomes ≥ CL).

What is the comparison level for alternatives (CLalt)?

Expected outcomes from the best available alternative to the current relationship.

What does CLalt determine?

Dependence: whether the current relationship is better than available alternatives.

When is dependence on the current relationship high?

When current outcomes are better than the best available alternative.

Can someone be satisfied but low in dependence?

Yes. Outcomes can exceed expectations while an even better alternative is available.

Can someone be dissatisfied but highly dependent?

Yes. Outcomes can be below expectations yet still better than any available alternative.

What does high satisfaction + high dependence imply?

The relationship exceeds expectations and is better than available alternatives; it is relatively stable.

What does high satisfaction + low dependence imply?

The relationship is rewarding, but attractive alternatives create instability.

What does low satisfaction + high dependence imply?

The relationship disappoints expectations, but leaving may still seem worse or costly.

Do people consciously calculate CL and CLalt?

Not necessarily; research supports the concepts without assuming conscious numerical calculation.

What does the Investment Model add to interdependence theory?

Investments and the construct of commitment.

What 3 factors predict commitment in the Investment Model?

Higher satisfaction, poorer alternatives, and greater investments.

How does satisfaction relate to commitment?

Positively: greater satisfaction predicts greater commitment.

How does quality of alternatives relate to commitment?

Negatively: better alternatives predict lower commitment.

How do investments relate to commitment?

Positively: more resources that would be lost by leaving predict greater commitment.

What are investments?

Resources tied to the relationship that would be lost or diminished if the relationship ended.

Examples of relationship investments?

Time, emotions, money, children, a house, marriage, and shared social networks.

Are alternatives only other romantic partners?

No. They include singlehood, friends, family, career opportunities, or other sources of need fulfillment.

Why can poor alternatives increase commitment?

Leaving becomes less appealing because other options provide worse expected outcomes.

How did the Investment Model explain returning to an abusive partner?

Low satisfaction alone was insufficient; poor alternatives and high investments could create strong dependence/commitment.

What is involuntary dependence?

Remaining dependent because alternatives are poor and investments are high even when relationship satisfaction is low.

What is relationship maintenance?

Thoughts and behaviors used to preserve a relationship a person values.

What is the basic function of commitment?

It motivates behaviors and cognitions that preserve the relationship over time.

What is the relationship between commitment and maintenance?

Bidirectional: commitment promotes maintenance, and some maintenance processes can strengthen commitment.

What maintenance behaviors does commitment predict?

Perspective taking, accommodation, derogating alternatives, sacrifice, perceived superiority, and fidelity.

How is capitalization relevant to commitment?

Sharing and responding to good news is a positive maintenance process that can strengthen relationship quality/commitment.

What is inattention to alternatives?

Committed partners allocate less attention to attractive alternative partners.

What did the attractive-ad study show about commitment?

Greater commitment predicted less attention to attractive alternatives, which predicted staying together.

What is derogation of alternatives?

Downplaying the appeal of attractive alternatives to protect the current relationship.

How is willingness to sacrifice linked to commitment?

More committed people are more willing to incur personal costs for a partner, supporting relationship persistence.

What did the pornography/commitment studies broadly suggest?

Pornography use was generally associated with lower commitment, but the lecture emphasized that this literature is controversial/context-dependent.

What is motivated reasoning?

Motives, desires, and preferences shape how information is selected, interpreted, and organized toward a desired conclusion.

How can motivated reasoning facilitate relationship maintenance?

It can bias interpretations in ways that protect positive views of the partner and relationship.

What is enhancement bias?

Preferring information that supports positive beliefs, even when those beliefs are not fully accurate.

What are positive illusions about a partner?

Viewing a partner more positively than the partner views themself; linked with satisfaction and stability.

What is verification bias?

Preferring feedback that confirms one's existing self-view rather than simply preferring positive feedback.

How can enhancement and accuracy motives coexist?

People may enhance broad/global partner qualities while being more accurate about specific qualities.

Why are global qualities easier to enhance?

They allow more interpretation and explanation than concrete, specific traits.

What is the exam-level takeaway from Hailey's motivated-reasoning lecture?

Know the definition and how motivated interpretations can protect relationships; detailed sub-strategies are lower priority.

What is the goal-oriented view of conflict?

Conflict occurs when one person's goals, needs, or objectives interfere with another person's goals.

Why is conflict considered inevitable in close relationships?

Partners are highly interdependent, so their many goals and preferences will sometimes collide.

With whom are we especially likely to experience conflict?

People whose goals and outcomes are intertwined with ours, especially intimate partners and family.

What is the hopeful implication of the goal-oriented view?

Conflict may be inevitable, but people can choose constructive versus destructive responses.

How is couple conflict commonly studied?

Couples discuss a real disagreement in a lab while the interaction is recorded and behaviorally coded.

What do behavioral coders do in conflict studies?

Identify specific behaviors turn-by-turn or rate broader constructive/destructive interaction patterns.

Examples of coded constructive behaviors?

Problem description, self-disclosure, agreement, validation, and positive solutions.

Example of a coded destructive behavior?

Criticism or blaming attacks during the discussion.

How does conflict generally differ in satisfied vs. unsatisfied couples?

Unsatisfied couples show less positivity, more negativity, criticism, rejection, interruptions, and escalation.

How do happy couples respond to negativity compared with unhappy couples?

Happy couples are more likely to de-escalate; unhappy couples more often reciprocate negativity tit-for-tat.

What is criticism in Gottman's Four Horsemen?

An attack on the partner's character, not a complaint about a specific behavior.

Complaint vs. criticism?

Complaint targets a specific behavior; criticism generalizes to the person's character.

What is contempt?

Disrespect/disgust expressed through sarcasm, mockery, name-calling, sneering, or eye-rolling.

What is defensiveness?

Rejecting responsibility and shifting blame back onto the partner.

What is stonewalling?

Withdrawing, shutting down, and disengaging from the interaction.

Why are Gottman's Four Horsemen important?

They are destructive communication patterns strongly associated with relationship distress and divorce risk.

What is the demand-withdraw pattern?

One partner pressures for contact/change or problem resolution while the other avoids or leaves the discussion.

Why can demand-withdraw become self-perpetuating?

More demand triggers more withdrawal, which triggers stronger demand, creating a polarized loop.

What does polarization mean in demand-withdraw?

Partners become increasingly stuck in opposing positions and the gap between them widens.

How do counselors approach demand-withdraw?

Target the broader interaction cycle rather than only the surface issue being argued about.

What gender pattern was emphasized for demand-withdraw?

Women tend to demand more and men tend to withdraw more, including across different couple compositions.

Is demand-withdraw limited to one culture?

No. It has been documented across multiple countries/cultural contexts.

What factors predict or accompany demand-withdraw?

Lower relationship happiness and depression; relationship happiness can be both a predictor and an outcome.

What is the key principle about constructive conflict?

Conflict itself is not necessarily harmful; constructive responses can be neutral or beneficial.

What is the key principle about destructive conflict?

Destructive patterns are associated with broad relational, psychological, and physiological problems.

What does emotional security theory broadly propose?

Children monitor interparental conflict because it signals the security and stability of the family system.

What child outcomes were linked to interparental conflict in the course?

Behavior problems such as aggression and oppositional behavior.

Why might constructive interparental conflict benefit children?

Resolved, respectful conflict can model regulation/problem solving and signal that family relationships remain secure.

What did the large meta-analysis on relationships and mortality find?

People with stronger social relationships had about a 50% higher survival likelihood than those with weaker relationships.

How do social relationships compare with other health risk factors?

Their association with mortality is large enough to be comparable with major established health risks.

Why does relationship quality matter, not just relationship status?

Higher-quality marriages predict better subjective and objective health; strained marriages can be harmful.

What did the heart-failure marriage study broadly show?

Marital quality strongly predicted survival, with predictive power comparable to baseline illness severity.

What did the hostile-marital-interaction wound-healing study show?

Conflict slowed wound healing; couples with less hostility healed substantially faster.

Which group showed the healthiest blood pressure: happy married, single, or unhappy married?

Happily married healthiest, then single, then unhappily married.

Does marriage automatically cause better health?

No. Both protective effects and health-selection effects contribute.

What is a health-selection effect?

Healthier people may be more likely to enter or remain in marriage, partly creating the marriage-health association.

How can longitudinal studies improve tests of marriage-health effects?

Control baseline health and track health change and likelihood of marriage over time.

What is social integration?

Participation in a broad range and diversity of social relationships and social roles.

What is social isolation?

A lack or scarcity of social relationships.

What did the Alameda County study show?

As the number of social ties decreased, mortality risk increased.

What health outcomes are associated with greater social integration?

Lower mortality, less depression/anxiety, better survival after illness, less cognitive decline, and fewer cold symptoms.

What was the design of the Pittsburgh cold study?

Adults reported social-role diversity, received rhinovirus nasal drops, were quarantined, and had objective illness measured.

Main finding of the Pittsburgh cold study?

People with fewer social roles were more likely to develop cold symptoms and produced more mucus.

Why is the cold study especially compelling?

Viral exposure was experimentally standardized and illness was measured objectively.

What mattered more in the cold study: network diversity or sheer network size?

Diversity of social roles was the key predictor, not simply the number of people known.

What is social support?

A social network's psychological or material resources intended to help a person cope with stress.

What is instrumental support?

Tangible/material aid or direct assistance.

What is informational support?

Advice, guidance, or useful information.

What is emotional support?

Reassurance, caring, affection, love, and validation.

What did the hand-holding threat study show?

Holding a spouse's hand reduced neural threat responses more than holding a stranger's hand or no hand.

What moderated the benefit of spouse hand-holding?

Marriage quality: better-quality marriages showed stronger buffering of neural threat responses.