CFS 3070 Vocabulary Flashcards

Flashcards of vocabulary terms from CFS 3070 Lecture Notes, Chapters 8-15

Relationship maintenance

Behaviors and thoughts that promote staying together and remaining satisfied (intentional or not)

The Intimacy Process Model

View that intimacy arises from interactions in which person A discloses important self-relevant thoughts and feelings to person B, and based on person B’s response, Person A comes to feel understood, validated, and cared for.

Empathy

The capacity to understand and share another person’s thoughts and feelings

The Self-Expansion Model

Focuses on the behaviors of the 2 people in the relationship; as people learn about each other, they gain knowledge and resources, expanding their sense of self

Social support

Responsiveness to another’s needs

Invisible social support

Support that partners are not aware is given

Visible social support

Support that partners are aware of

Capitalization

Relies on partners sharing positive information

Forgiveness

Addresses how one partner responds to the negative behavior of the other partner

Silent forgiveness

Change in intrapersonal motivation but no change in interpersonal behavior

Hollow forgiveness

Change in interpersonal behavior but no change in intrapersonal motivation

Sexual satisfaction

Each partner’s evaluation of the sexual aspect of their relationship

Involuntary celibacy

Situation in which a person goes without sex for an extended period of time despite experiencing sexual desire

Approach motives

Involve the desire to pursue rewards

Avoidance motives

Involve the desire to avoid costs

Sexual afterglow

A period of elevated closeness and well-being following a sexual interaction

Sexual coercion

Using verbal strategies, physical means, or other manipulative tactics to pressure a partner into having unwanted sex

Cognitive editing

Happy couples tend to view each other’s behaviors in a more positive light than unhappy couples do

Reactivity hypothesis

Unhappy couples tend to be vigilant for negative behaviors and tend to respond in kind

Demand/withdraw pattern

One partner wants a change and pushes the other for discussion on the topic; the other partner does not respond

Infidelity

A violation of an agreement between two people that they will share their intimate, emotional, and sexual lives exclusively with each other

Emotional infidelity

Occurs when more energy is put into a relationship with someone other than the primary partner

Extrapair mating

Sex outside a committed relationship, is thought to increase the chance for reproductive success

Coercive controlling violence

Goal is to dominate the other partner through aggression; proactive and reflects a systematic and sustained strategy to intimidate another person and control their behavior

Situational couple violence

Conflict interaction that gets out of hand and turns physical; reactive, in that it reflects partners’ feelings of frustration and hostility in the middle of a conflict

Belief

An idea or theory about what relationships are like

Value

An opinion or attitude about what relationships should be like

Perceptual confirmation

Occurs when people use their existing relationship beliefs and values to interpret ambiguous behaviors of their partners

Behavioral confirmation

People's behavior toward their partner matches their specific relationship beliefs and values

Enhancement motive

Everyone wants to be in a relationship with a wonderful person

Enhancement bias

People are motivated to process information that supports the desired positive belief

Accuracy motive

People are motivated to view their partners accurately, especially when making crucial decisions

Justification motive

A preference for information that suggests that we are moral and reasonable

Self-serving bias

The tendency for people to feel that they themselves are good people; they tend to take more credit for success and blame external factors for failure

Accommodation

Existing beliefs are changed in response to new information

Assimilation

New information is simply added to old information to elaborate on views about the partner or the relationship

Memory bias

People tend to remember their relationship in a way that is consistent with how they currently feel

Downward social comparison

People may compare their relationship with others' relationships and conclude that their relationship is better

Commitment calibration hypothesis

People may not always feel that they have to explain away negative behavior or negative information; if they feel their relationship is strong enough to withstand the negative behavior or information, they will not try to explain it away

Context

All outside factors that affect a relationship

Proximal context

Factors that are in close proximity to the relationship, such as people’s friends and immediate environment

Distal context

Factors that are in more distant proximity to the relationship, such as the country where people live

Stressor

Something that makes demands on partners

Resource

Sources of support for partners

Chronic conditions

Stressors that persist over time

Acute events

Stressors that come and go

Stress spillover

Stress from one area of someone’s life has an impact on other areas

Stress crossover

Stress that one partner faces has an impact on the other partner

Systems Models

The systems models approach focuses on unspoken rules and expectations within the relationship

Behavioral Models

Behavioral models of couples therapy emphasize the behavioral exchanges of spouses, such as how partners’ behaviors are followed by rewards or punishments

Cognitive-Behavioral Couples Therapy

Emphasizes couples’ cognitive interpretations of each other’s behavior

Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy

Emphasizes teaching couples that some behaviors and aspects of their relationships need to be tolerated and focuses on helping partners accommodate each other’s behavior, rather than changing each other’s behavior

Emotion Models

The emotion models’ approach encourages the free expression of core emotions in healthy ways that bring partners closer

Primary emotions

Feelings related to basic attachment needs

Secondary emotions

Feelings that may mask primary emotions for reasons of self-protection

motivation on an intrapersonal level

The wronged partner wants to be kind to the other person rather than feel anger and thirst for vengeance.

behavior on an interpersonal level

The wronged partner lets the other know that he/she no longer feels anger or a thirst for vengeance.

phases of forgiveness

Impact: the victim absorbs what happened and how the transgressor acted

meaning: the victim tries to find an explanation for the transgression

moving on: the victim moves past the transgression

sociocultural perspective on aggression

violence is common in the media; when partners disagree, violent responses come to mind

interpersonal perspective on aggression

Common couple violence is a product of the 2 people involved if their communication is poor, they may turn to violence

intrapersonal perspective on aggression

common couple violence is a product of people’s backgrounds if their parents engaged in it, they are more likely to do as well.

ideal standards model

the more people’s current relationship differs from their ideals, the less satisfied they are with the relationship

diagnosticity bias

people show a preference for info that indicates important qualities about a partner.

confirmation bias

people want to feel they can predict what their partner will do and how their partner is likely to respondin a certain situation, leading them to favor information that confirms their existing beliefs about their partner's behavior.

selective attention

people may simply ignore this negative information and focus on positive aspects, which can distort their overall perception of the partner.

attributions

people may explain away negative information as being due to circumstances rather than to their partner

flexible standards

people may alter their relationship standards based on how their partner behaves

upward social comparison

people conclude that other’s relationships are better than their own

locus dimension

whether the attribution is internal or external to the person

stress pile-up

chronic stress, which involves the accumulation of events over time, may be more likely to have an impact on relationships

provide resources

social networks provide social capital, which can help partners cope with stressors

socioemotional selectivity theory

A theory suggesting that as people age, they prioritize emotionally meaningful relationships and experiences over acquiring new knowledge or social connections.

behavioral couples therapy

incorporates social learning theory into a testable, measureable model

efficacy studies

couples randomly assigned to a control group or type of therapy

effectiveness studies

study of therapy outcomes that does not involve random assignment