Psych Interpersonal Relations Exam 3

Less

A key stressor in close relationships is the perception that others value their relationships with us ____ than we want them to.

Jealousy

unhappy combination of hurt, anger, and fear that occurs when people face the potential loss of a valued relationship to a real or imagined rival.

Reactive Jealousy

occurs in response to an actual threat to a valued relationship.

Suspicious jealousy

occurs when one’s partner hasn’t misbehaved and one’s suspicious do not fit the facts at hand.

Do Not

Men and women __ ___ differ in their jealous tendencies.

Individuals difference susceptible to jealousy

• dependence in a relationship

• feelings of inadequacy in a relationship

Neuroticism

People high in this are more prone to jealousy

60%

Percentage of men that felt more threatened by sexual infidelity rather than emotional infidelity.

Paternity Uncertainty

From an evolutionary perspective, men should be especially threatened by sexual infidelity because they face the problem of

Emotional Infidelity

For women, the greater risk may be that a mate will withdraw his protective resources and transfer them to another mate. Thus, women should be especially threatened by

Women

Asked “are you in love with xyz?” after being cheated on

Men

Asked “did you have sex with xyz?” after being cheated on.

Closeness

Those who are comfortable with _____ tend to express their concerns, trying to repair.

Dismissing or Fearful

Those who are ____ or ____ tend to avoid the issue and to pretend they don’t care.

Benevolent Lies

Lies that are especially common in close relationships. We tell fewer lies to our intimate than to more casual acquaintances.

97%

As many as ___% of participants admitted to have lied to their lovers in the past week.

Deceiver’s Distrust

Coming to perceive the recipients of their lies as less honest and trustworthy than they really are

Idiosyncratic

Specific changes in a person’s demeanor that indicates that she or he is lying may be ____. With practice we can learn to detect deception in a certain partner, but it is limited to that specific person.

Truth Bias

Assumption that their partner is usually telling the truth. Trust increases with duration of relation and the partner’s accuracy in detecting deception declines. The assumption is they would not lie because of the intimacy.

Betrayal

disagreeable, hurtful actions by people we trusted and from whom we reasonably did not expect such misbehavior.

Perceived Relational Devaluation

Betrayals demonstrate that our partners do not value their relationships with us as much as we had believed. That is-

Inconsequential

Betrayers often consider their behavior to be______and innocuous but in almost every case, those who are betrayed think that the betrayal has damaged their relationship.

Forgiveness

Occurs when we give up our perceived right to retaliate against or hold in our debt, someone who has wrong us.

Securely attached and more agreeable

People that are in this attachment style category tend to be more forgiving. Neuroticism impedes forgiveness.

Circumstances for Forgiveness

1. Offender is contrite and apologetic

2. Victim is able to empathize with the offender, being able to imagine why the partner behaved as he or she did

3. Victim stops ruminating about the offense

Hostility

Forgiveness can protect the relationships in which it occurs. And importantly, people who are able to forgive their intimate partners enjoy more well being —more self esteem, less _______ and more satisfaction with life than do those from whom forgiveness is less forthcoming.

Interpersonal Conflict

Occurs whenever one person’s motives, goals, beliefs, opinions or behavior interfere with or are incompatible with those of another.

Dialectics

Opposing motivations that can never completely be satisfied because they directly contradict each other.

2.3 conflicts

Dating couples report ____ conflicts per week and spouses experiences one or two unpleasant disagreements each month.

Neuroticism

Individuals high in this have more conflicts while people high in agreeableness have few conflicts.

Alcohol

Exacerbates conflict. Adding this depressant to a frustrating disagreement is a bit like adding fuel to a fire.