PBSI 315 Exam 4

Attraction and Relationships

• Anticipating interaction: If we expect someone to be nice, we behave nicely towards them.

• Similarity in relationships: Similar people typically get along better than different people.

  • Reasons similar people get along:

    • They are expected to be nice to us.

    • Facilitates smooth interactions.

    • Validates our own beliefs.

  • Complementarity is NOT a reason why similar people get along.

• Mere Exposure Effect: Increased exposure usually leads to increased liking, not threat perception.

• Attraction defined: The interest or desire to form a relationship with another person.

• Halo Effect: Attractive people are assumed to have other positive qualities.

Relationship Models

• Investment Model of Relationships: Commitment influenced by:

  • Rewards

  • Alternatives

  • Investments

• Commitment is not influenced solely by rewards.

• Sternberg’s Triangle Theory of Love:

  • Three components: Passion, Intimacy, Commitment.

  • Companionate love (mutual understanding, long-term partnership).

Building Strong Relationships

• I-sharing: Feeling another person "shares" your subjective experience.

• Ways to create stronger relationship bonds:

  • Being playful.

  • Setting reasonable expectations.

  • Forgiveness.

  • Thoughtful critiques are not a recommended way to strengthen bonds.

Prosocial Behavior and Helping

• Bystander Effect: The more people present, the less likely someone is to help (Kitty Genovese case).

  • Caused by diffusion of responsibility.

• Steps to helping (in order):

  1. Notice the event.

  2. Interpret as emergency.

  3. Assume responsibility.

  4. Know what to do.

• Factors increasing likelihood of helping:

  • Similarity to victim.

  • Fewer bystanders.

  • Knowing how to help.

  • Being in a hurry decreases likelihood of helping.

• Good Samaritan Study: The primary factor influencing help was time pressure, not content of the speech.

Motivations for Helping

• Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis: True altruistic helping motivated by feelings of empathy.

• Types of helping:

  • Egoistic Helping: Helping for personal benefit (e.g., rewards).

  • Altruistic Helping: Helping purely for benefit of others.

• Helping someone for selfish reasons is still considered prosocial behavior.

Positive Psychology and Happiness

• Subjective Well-Being (SWB): Scientific term for happiness and life satisfaction.

  • Three components: High life satisfaction, frequent positive feelings, infrequent negative feelings.

• Optimal Happiness:

  • Romantic and volunteering contexts: Higher happiness always beneficial.

  • Income, education, political participation: Moderate happiness best, very high happiness may limit ambition and effort.

• Adaptation (Hedonic Treadmill): People tend to return to a baseline happiness level after both positive and negative events.

Increasing and Slowing Adaptation to Happiness

• Strategies to slow down adaptation to positive events:

  • Practicing gratitude.

  • Acts of kindness.

  • Counting one’s blessings.

  • Social comparison speeds up adaptation, not slows it down.

• Strategies to speed up adaptation to negative events:

  • Downward social comparison (seeing others who are worse off).

  • Cognitive reappraisal (changing perspective positively).

  • Socializing.

Meaning in Life

• Three components of Meaning in Life:

  • Coherence: Life makes sense, aspects fit together.

  • Purpose: Life has clear goals, direction, motivation.

  • Significance/Mattering: Life has inherent value and matters.

• Experiential Appreciation: Valuing life experiences intrinsically (for their own sake).

Miscellaneous Key Points

• Money and Happiness: Weak positive correlation; money matters less at higher income levels.

• Intrinsic Goals: Positively correlated with happiness (pursuing personal growth, relationships, etc.).

• Authenticity: Living according to one's own values and beliefs.

• Happiness and Physical Health: Higher happiness correlated with better health and longevity.

Practice Exam Questions & Correct Answers

These are answers to your provided practice questions for quick review:

• Anticipating interaction → Nice behaviors.

• Similar people get along better.

• Investment Model → Rewards, alternatives, investments.

• Mere exposure → Does not increase threat.

• Attraction → Desire to form relationships.

• Halo Effect → Attractive people assumed positive qualities.

• Slowing positive adaptation → Gratitude, kindness, counting blessings (not social comparison).

• Empathy-Altruism → Motivated by empathy.

• Companionate love → Mutual understanding.

• Sternberg's Triangle Theory → Passion, Intimacy, Commitment.

• Bystander Effect → More people, less help.

• Helping steps: Notice event first.

• Hedonic Treadmill → Return to baseline happiness.

• I-sharing → Shared subjective experiences.

• Optimal happiness → Moderate happiness best for achievement; high happiness best for relationships.

• Egoistic vs altruistic helping → Egoistic (self-benefit), altruistic (others-benefit).

• Being playful, setting expectations, forgiveness → strengthen relationships; thoughtful critiques do not.

• Intrinsic goals → Positively correlated with happiness.

• Authenticity → Living by your own values and beliefs.

• Money & happiness → Positive but weak correlation.

• Experiential appreciation → Valuing experiences intrinsically.

• Adaptation to negative events → Downward social comparison, cognitive reappraisal, socializing.

• Adaptation to events → Return to baseline over time

Additional Flashcards: Attraction & Relationships

• Physical Proximity (Festinger Dorm Study):

  • Greatest predictor of friendship formation is proximity.

• Misattribution of Arousal:

  • We may attribute physiological arousal (e.g., excitement from a rollercoaster) to romantic attraction.

• Physical Attractiveness & Matching Phenomenon:

  • People tend to match with others of similar attractiveness.

Additional Flashcards: Love & Relationships

• Passionate Love:

  • Strong, intense longing and desire for union with another.

• Companionate Love:

  • Deep affectionate attachment, mutual understanding, commitment over time.

• Social Exchange Theory:

  • Relationships involve an exchange of costs and rewards; people seek maximum reward for minimal cost.

Additional Flashcards: Prosocial Behavior

• Social Responsibility Norm:

  • Societal rule suggesting we should help those who depend on us.

• Reciprocity Norm:

  • Expectation that people help those who help them.

• Good Samaritan Study specifics:

  • Participants under time pressure less likely to stop and help someone in need.

Additional Flashcards: Meaning & Positive Psychology

• Forgiveness:

  • Letting go of resentment; promotes emotional healing and better relationship quality.

• Gratitude Journaling:

  • Writing things you are thankful for regularly; significantly boosts happiness and life satisfaction.

• Humility:

  • Realistic assessment of personal abilities and limitations, openness to feedback.

Additional Flashcards: Happiness & Subjective Well-being

• Three Forms of Happiness:

  • Life satisfaction (cognitive), frequent positive feelings (affective), infrequent negative feelings (affective).

• Adaptation-level Phenomenon (Hedonic Adaptation):

  • Emotional reactions to positive/negative events tend to return to a baseline over time.

• Benefits of High Happiness:

  • Healthier life, increased productivity, better social relationships, greater longevity.

• Happiness and Income:

  • Money improves happiness mostly at lower income levels; diminished returns at higher incomes.

• Positive Events:

  • We adapt quickly; actively practicing gratitude and appreciation slows adaptation.

• Negative Events:

  • Strategies such as downward comparison and socializing help speed up emotional recovery.

Additional Flashcards: Romantic Selectivity (Finkel & Eastwick Study)

• Embodied Approach in Romantic Selectivity:

  • Physically approaching potential partners makes individuals less selective, more confident, and positively influences romantic interest.

• Sitting vs. Rotating in Speed Dating:

  • Individuals who rotate (approach) rate partners as more desirable and are less selective.

Additional Flashcards: Psychological Needs & Goals

• Three Basic Psychological Needs (Self-Determination Theory):

  • Autonomy: Control over one's actions.

  • Competence: Mastery of tasks.

  • Relatedness: Connections to others.

• Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Goals:

  • Intrinsic goals (personal growth, relationships) positively correlated with happiness.

  • Extrinsic goals (wealth, popularity) less strongly correlated with happiness.

• Authenticity:

  • Consistently acting in line with personal values and beliefs enhances life satisfaction.

Additional Flashcards: Meaning in Life (Three Dimensions)

• Coherence:

  • Sense that life makes logical sense, comprehensible.

• Purpose:

  • Sense that life has clear aims, direction, and valued goals.

• Significance:

  • Feeling that life matters and is valuable intrinsically.

1. When we think someone is going to be nice, so we behave nicely when interacting with them:
   Anticipating interaction

2. More often than not, do people who are similar or different from each other get along more?
   Similar

3. According to the Investment Model, commitment is only influenced by rewards in a relationship.
   False

4. What is NOT a reason people who are similar get along?
   Complement each other

5. The more exposed you are to something, the more likely you will view it as a threat.
   False

6. How is attraction defined in social psychology?
   It is the interest or desire to form a relationship with another person.

7. What is I-sharing?
   Feeling that another person "shares" your subjective experience

8. What is the halo effect?
   That attractive people must have other positive qualities as well

9. Which of the following strategies is NOT listed as a way to slow down adaptation to positive events?
   Social comparison

10. According to the empathy-altruism hypothesis, true altruistic helping is motivated by:
    Feelings of empathy

11. Derek and Vic feel they have a mutual understanding and want their relationship to succeed. What kind of love is this?
    Companionate

12. What is NOT one of types of love in the Triangle Love Theory? (Note: The original question as you provided had an error—Companionate IS a type of love. Likely meant to say a different term. Confirm with instructor, but as written, the provided answer by your professor was:)
    Companionate (as listed)

13. According to the Investment Model of Relationships, what factors lead to commitment?
    Rewards, alternatives, investments

14. Shown in the Kitty Genovese case, the more people around an event decreases the likelihood of someone to help.
    True

15. What is the 1st thing someone must do before deciding to help?
    Notice the event

16. Happiness has no correlation with physical health or longevity.
    False

17. In the Good Samaritan study, which IV had the greatest effect on the DV?
    Time

18. What is NOT a reason we behave prosocially?
    To use downward social comparison

19. The halo effect is when someone:
    possesses one positive quality, so we assume they will possess others.

20. One component of the model of relationship investment is the amount of resources someone has invested.
    True

21. A reward is offered to whoever can find someone's lost cat and so Emily decides to help. What kind of motivation is this?
    Egoistic helping

22. Gracie takes care of an elderly woman for no charge three times a week, this is an example of:
    Altruistic helping

23. What is NOT a way to create stronger bonds?
    Thoughtful Critiques

24. What is the key link that differentiates egotistical from altruistic helping (antisocial vs prosocial)?
    Empathy

25. Research shows that people actively seeking out happiness are less happy.
    True

26. Helping someone for selfish reasons is still a prosocial behavior.
    True

27. Which factor does NOT increase the likelihood of helping behavior?
    Being in a hurry

28. According to Festinger’s dorm study, what factor significantly increased the likelihood of friendship?
    Proximity

29. Intrinsic goals and happiness are positively correlated.
    True

30. What are the three components of Sternberg’s Triangle Theory of Love?
    Passion, Intimacy, Commitment

31. Izzy wants to like and be liked by the people around her. Which of the basic psychological needs is this?
    Relatedness

32. "I live in accordance with my values and beliefs" on a Likert scale would be measuring?
    Authenticity

33. Can you change your happiness levels?
    Yes

34. Helping someone because you don't want them to struggle is:
    Altruistic Helping

35. What is the relationship between money and happiness?
    Positive, weak

36. What is the hedonic treadmill concept?
    People always return to a baseline level of happiness

37. What does the hedonic treadmill say about happiness?
    The most desirable experiences are not permanent

38. How did the 'smoke experiment' demonstrate social proof?
    People were less likely to react when others ignored the smoke

39. In the Triangle Theory of Love, which component refers to emotional closeness and connectedness?
    Intimacy

40. In the Good Samaritan study, what was the main variable affecting helping behavior?
    Limited time led to less helping

41. Ways to speed up adaptations to negative events (3 correct answers):

• Downward social comparison

• Cognitive reappraisal

• Socializing

42. What is the bystander effect and what causes it?
    Less likely to help when more people are present; Diffusion of Responsibility

43. According to research, people tend to recover to baseline levels of happiness after both positive and negative events.
    True

44. What term describes the feeling that someone “shares” your subjective experience?
    I-sharing

45. Psychologists mainly depend on ____ to study meaning in life:
    Self-report measures

46. Sydney says, "I can see how the aspects of my life fit together." Which of the 3 components is this an example of?
    Coherence

47. Egoistic helping is motivated primarily by the desire to benefit another person.
    False

48. What is experiential appreciation?
    Appreciating the intrinsic value of life experiences

49. The more connections we make, the less we attribute meaning to each of those connections.
    False

50. What's more salient (important)... how or why?
    Why