HECOL 210 | Construction of Meaning In Intimate Relationships

True or false: our conclusions about the world are solely based on other behaviour

False, e e draw on our expectations/personalities/experiences/beliefs/etc. to interpret others' behaviour

How does information processing relate to linking experience to meaning

-Information processing involves how we take our interpretations of
specific experiences to global meaning
-Example: did that person smile because he or she likes us or because he or she is friendly? People with different levels of self-esteem might arrive at different answers

How to map out Information processing and its link to interpretation of meaning

Information processing works as such:
concrete behaviour (partner comes home & is grouchy towards you) ⇨ specific meaning (they had a bad day or they do not care about me) ⇨ global meaning (I really love how hard working they are or this relationship is empty)

3 major ways in which interpreted meaning impacts behaviour or interpretation

1) meaning impacts which behaviours we attend to
2) meaning impacts how we interpret behaviours
3) meaning impacts how we react to certain behaviours

True or false: two people can come to very different conclusions after witnessing the same event

True, this is why meaning matters

Information processing results in a hierarchy of ________ behaviours & general _________

Information processing results in a hierarchy of specific behaviours & general conclusions

True or false: the same specific behaviours can support different general conclusions

True, for example a punctual partner may be reliable and/or a punctual partner may be obsessive-compulsive

What makes a general conclusion more resilient to new information

When multiple specific behaviours support the same general conclusion, that conclusion will be more resilient to new information

What is motivated reasoning

-Processing information in a way to reach certain desired conclusions about ones relationship/partner
-Example: people would prefer a partner that is reliable rather than OCD, so they interpret the information available to help them reach the compulsion that their partner is reliable

True or false: there are limits to motivated reasoning

True, for example, someone with a partner who never engages in behaviour that would indicate reliability could not conclude that their partner was reliable

How does research in the area of motivated reasoning define a motive vs a bias

-Motive: a drive to reach a specific goal
-Bias: a tendency to process information to protect a particular point of view, bias is thus a perceptual tool to help people pursue their motives

Enhancement motive

The idea that one wantsto believe their relationship is successful, their partner is worthy of trust, and their investment of time and energy is justified

What is enhancement bias

a preference for information that supports and strengthens positive beliefs about a partner and a relationship

True or false: people often see their partners more positively than their partner sees themselves

True, this is do to enhancement bias

True or false: its always most beneficial to view ones partner through rose coloured lenses

False, at certain times, its important to accurately decode a partners behaviour rather, such as whether or not someone is interested in you

Accuracy motive

The desire to understand a partner and to be understood in return

Diagnosticity bias

-a preference for information that may indicate important qualities in a partner or a relationship
-Example: trying to figure out if someone likes you

True or false: compared to enhancement bias, diagnostic bias is extremely reliable

False, Just as the enhancement bias can lead people to make overly positive assessments of their ongoing relationships, the diagnosticity bias can lead people to read meanings and intentions into specific behaviors that may not actually be there

Confirmation bias

A preference for information that confirms preexisting positions or beliefs, while ignoring or discovering contradictory evidence

In relationships, why do people fall prey to confirmation bias

People fall prey to confirmation bias because they want to feel that they know their partner well

What influences which information processing bias predominates

The area of perception i.e. whether it's global conclusions or specific conclusions

How do people tend to view their partners in global areas

People view their partners more positively than their partners view themselves (e.g., seeing their partners as kinder than they see themselves)

How do people tend to view their partners in specific areas

People tend to view their partners accurately (e.g., agreeing on how well the partner can make lasagna)

What motivates people in their conclusions about relationships

People want to feel that their conclusions are correct, even if they believe their relationship is not good

Justification motive

A preference for information that makes a person feel moral and reasonable, thereby supporting a positive view of oneself, even if that view does not support the relationship

What is the self-serving bias

It is the fact that people are motivated to feel that they themselves are good people and therefore have the tendency to take credit for success and blame external factors for failure

How does the self-serving bias affect relationships

It can lead to conflicts, as each partner tends to claim credit for positive outcomes and avoid blame for negative outcomes

Most people discover some negative fact about their partner, yet most people are motivated to maintain a positive view of their
partner, what are two ways one can cope with this

1) work to keep negative information out of awareness
2) work to minimize the impact of of negative information

Two strategies for keeping negative information out of your awareness

1) selective attention
2) using the empathic accuracy model

Selective attention

Simply ignoring negative information

What did the study focused on selective attention find when they collected research from university students in intimate relationships who viewed photos of advertising that included attractive models

They concluded that those in happy relationships spent less tike viewing the phots compared to those who were unhappy or unpartnerd

Empathic accuracy model

People's motivation to understand what their partner is saying varies with whether their partner is saying something negative or positive

With regard to the empathic accuracy model, a positive statement leads to ______ motivation to understand

A positive statement leads to high motivation to understand

With regard to the empathic accuracy model, a negative statement leads to ______ motivation to understand

A negative statement leads to low motivation to understand

What is memory bias

memory bias is the idea that people tend to remember their relationships as improving, especially over the recent past

How does memory bias help to cope with negative partner behaviours

It allows a partner to downplay the importance of negative information, instead focusing on the idea that their relationship is only improving over time

True or false: memory is generally accurate

False, memory is not accurate, it can be likened to a film reel that is constantly being edited and re-edited over time

In a study where participants viewed a movie and then rated it over a period of different times, what were the findings

They concluded that memory is not accurate because their ratings varied significantly depending on when they rated the film

What are attributions

peoples explanations for their partners behaviours

How can attributions help to minimize the impact of negative information

People may explain negative information away as being due to
circumstances rather than their partner and as being a temporary
thing

If someone has perceived internal locus of control and stable thoughts, what would they think if their partner was late

My partner is late because they are a thoughtless jerk

If someone has perceived external locus of control and stable thoughts, what would they think if their partner was late

My partner was late because his crappy car broke down

If someone has perceived internal locus of control and temporary thoughts, what would they think if their partner was late

My partner was late because he forgot to set his alarm

If someone has perceived external locus of control and temporary thoughts, what would they think if their partner way late

My partner was late because they got stuck in traffick

What are flexible standards

-People may alter their relationship standards based on how their partner behaves
-Example:

• At times when their partner surprises them with flowers, they may view thoughtful gestures as more important to relationship satisfaction

• At times when their partner does not give flowers but instead sets aside time to have long talks with them, they may instead view long talks as important to relationship satisfaction

What are downward social comparisons

Downward special comparison is characterized by comparing one's own relationship to others who are doing worse

How does downward social comparison help to mimic the impact of negative information

It puts ones problems into perspective

Which couples have a higher tendency to partake in downward social comparison

This tendency is strongest in couples who feel their relationship is threatened

With trying to change our negative perceptions of a partner/relationship what are 3 limits of ability

1) negative experiences do not go away
2) many of the psychological defenses are only short term
3) one cannot just think themselves a good relationship i.e. if its bad its bad

With trying to change our negative perceptions of a partner/relationship what are 3 limits of motivation

1) some people need to ignore/minimize negative things more often than others
2) dependence
3) commitment calibration hypothesis

Commitment calibration hypothesis

Threats to a relationship should motivate activities to protect the relationship only if the threat is calibrated to the partners' levels of commitment

In the commitment calibration hypothesis study where happily married people, unhappily married people, satisfied dating couples, and dating couples in unsatisfying relationships were told they were evaluating pictures for a new dating service, and viewed photographs of people that objective raters had judged to be highly attractive what were the results

The unhappily married and the happy daters rated the photos as significantly less attractive than did the happily married and unhappy daters because they perceived the most threat to their relationship

In the commitment calibration hypothesis study where the addition of everyone being told that the attractive person in the photo had seen the participant's picture and had expressed interest in the participant, what were the findings

-When threatened in this way, the unhappily married and the happy daters no longer evaluated the alternative partners negatively because the increased threat of the interested stranger seemed to overwhelm their commitment
-happily married did the criticizing because the prospect of an attractive individual who was interested in them was threatening enough to require some effort to protect their relationships