Com1290 - Chapter 8

Front 1

What are the relationship characteristics?

Back 1

1. Duration

2. Contact frequency

3. Sharing

4. Support

5. Interaction variability

6. Goals

Front 2

Define duration

Back 2

The length of your relationship with another person

Front 3

Define contact frequency

Back 3

How often you communicate with another person

Front 4

Define sharing

Back 4

The more time we spend with other people and interact with them, the more likely we are to share information about ourselves

Front 5

Define support

Back 5

Supporting others when they need help, money, time, or advice

Front 6

Define interaction variability

Back 6

When we have a relationship with another person, it's not defined on your interaction with them, rather on the different types of conversations you can have with that person

Front 7

Define goals

Back 7

Every relationship we enter into, we have goals and expectations about how the relationship will function and operate

Front 8

What are considered significant relationships?

Back 8

1. Parents/guardians

2. Teachers

3. Friends

4. Family members

5. Love interests

Front 9

What are the purposes of relationships?

Back 9

1. Work

2. Task

3. Social

Front 10

What are the 3 primary types of attraction?

Back 10

1. Physical

2. Social

3. Task

Front 11

Define physical attraction

Back 11

The degree to which you find another person aesthetically pleasing

(differs by culture)

Front 12

Define social attraction

Back 12

The degree to which an individual sees another person as entertaining, intriguing, and fun to be around

Front 13

Define task attraction

Back 13

People we are attracted to because they possess specific knowledge and/or skills that help us accomplish specific goals

Front 14

What are the reasons for attraction?

Back 14

1. Physical proximity

2. Physical attractiveness (physicality)

3. Perceived gain

4. Similarities & differences

5. Disclosure

Front 15

Define physical proximity (attraction)

Back 15

Commonplaces that create opportunities for people to meet and mingle

Front 16

Define perceived gain

Back 16

We form relationships with people who can offer us rewards that outweigh costs

Front 17

Define comparison level in a relationship

Back 17

The minimum standard someone is willing to tolerate in a relationship

Front 18

What is the comparison level of alternatives?

Back 18

The comparison between current relationship rewards and what someone might get in another relationship

Front 19

Define similarity thesis

Back 19

We are attracted to and tend to relationships with others who are similar to us (e.g. similar culture, ethnic, or religious backgrounds)

Front 20

What are the 3 reasons why similarity thesis works?

Back 20

1. Validation

2. Predictability

3. Affiliation

Front 21

Define validation (similarity thesis)

Back 21

It's validating to know that someone likes the same things we do, it confirms and endorses what we believe in

Front 22

Define predictability (similarity thesis)

Back 22

When we are similar to another person, we can make predictions about what they will and won't like, and how they behave

Front 23

Define affiliation (similarity thesis)

Back 23

We like others that are similar to us and thus they should like us because we are the same

Front 24

What is a complementary relationship?

Back 24

A relationship where each person can help satisfy the other person's needs

(E.g. one likes to talk and the other likes to listen, one likes to cook and the other likes to eat)

Front 25

Define disclosure (relationship)

Back 25

Disclosure increases liking because it creates support and trust between you and another person (must be appropriate and reciprocal)

Front 26

What are the stages of relationships (coming together)?

Back 26

1. Initiating

2. Experimenting

3. Intensifying

4. Integrating

5. Bonding

Front 27

What are the stages of relationships (coming apart)?

Back 27

1. Differentiating

2. Circumscribing

3. Stagnating

4. Avoiding

5. Terminating

Front 28

What are the different types of initiation? (Coming together)

Back 28

1. Sustaining (trying to continue conversation)

2. Networking (contact others for a relationship)

3. Offering (presenting your interest)

4. Approaching (directly make contact)

Front 29

Define experimenting (coming together)

Back 29

Trying to figure out if you to continue a relationship further

Front 30

Define intensifying (coming together)

Back 30

Sharing more intimate and/or personal information about ourselves with the other person

Front 31

Define integrating (coming together)

Back 31

When two people truly become a couple

Front 32

Define bonding (coming together)

Back 32

When you reveal to the world that your relationship to each other now exists

Front 33

Define differentiating (coming apart)

Back 33

When both people are trying to figure out their own identities, engage in more disagreements

Front 34

Define circumscribing (coming apart)

Back 34

When the partners tend to limit their interactions with each other, communication lessons in quality and quantity

Front 35

Define stagnating (coming apart)

Back 35

The relationship is not improving or growing, motionless. Partners try not to communicate, distance themselves

Front 36

Define avoiding (coming apart)

Back 36

Both partners avoid each other completely

Front 37

Define terminating (coming apart)

Back 37

When the parties decide to end their relationship

Front 38

What are the 3 strategies for maintaining interpersonal relationships?

Back 38

1. Avoidance (evade communication that might threaten the relationship)

2. Balance (maintain equality so partners don't feel under/overbenefited)

3. Direct (evaluate and remind partner of relationship objectives)

Front 39

What are the 7 key relationship maintenance behaviors? (Laura Stafford & Daniel Canary)

Back 39

1. Positivity (communicating in happy, supportive manner)

2. Openness (focus communication on relationship)

3. Assurances (Words emphasizing commitment to duration of relationship)

4. Networking (communicating with family and friends)

5. Sharing tasks (doing work or household tasks)

6. Conflict management

7. Advice

Front 40

What are the 4 propositions for relationship maintenance?

Back 40

1. Relationships will worsen if not maintained

2. Both partners must feel there are equal benefits and sacrifices in the relationship for it to sustain

3. Maintenance behaviors depend on type of relationship

4. Maintenance behaviors can be used alone or in mixture to affect perceptions of the relationship

Front 41

Define relationship maintenance

Back 41

The stabilization point between relationship initiation and potential relationship destruction

Front 42

What are the 2 elements to relationship maintenance?

Back 42

1. Strategic plans are intentional behaviors and actions used to maintain the relationship

2. Everyday interactions help to sustain the relationship

Front 43

Define relationship dialects

Back 43

The every day pushes and pulls of a relationship

Front 44

Define dialectical tension

Back 44

How individuals deal with struggles in their relationships

Front 45

What are the different relational dialectics?

Back 45

1. Separation-Integration

2. Predictability-Novelty

3. Openness-Closedness

4. Similarity-Difference

5. Ideal-Real

Front 46

Define separation-integration (relational dialectics)

Back 46

Where partners seek involvement but not willing to sacrifice their entire identity

Front 47

Define predictability-novelty (relational dialectics)

Back 47

Rituals/routines compared to novelty

Front 48

Define openness-closedness (relational dialectics)

Back 48

Disclosure is necessary, but there is a need for privacy

Front 49

Define Similarity-Difference (relational dialectics)

Back 49

Tension dealing with self vs. others (couples with similar thinking communicate easier, yet if too similar they can't grow)

Front 50

Define Ideal-Real (relational dialectics)

Back 50

Couples' perceptions of what is real may interfere or inhibit perceptions of what is real (e.g. a couple might think their relationship is perfect but from an outsider, they might think the relationship is abusive)

Front 51

What are the different ways of managing dialectical tensions?

Back 51

1. Denial

2. Disorientation

3. Alternation

4. Recalibration

5. Segmentation

6. Balance

7. Integration

8. Reaffirmation

Front 52

Define denial (dialectical tensions)

Back 52

Where we respond to one end

Front 53

Define disorientation (dialectical tensions)

Back 53

Where we feel overwhelmed, we fight, freeze, or leave

Front 54

Define alternation (dialectical tensions)

Back 54

Where we choose one end on different occasions

Front 55

Define recalibration (dialectical tensions)

Back 55

Reframing the situation is perspective

Front 56

Define segmentation (dialectical tensions)

Back 56

Where we compartmentalize different areas

Front 57

Define balance (dialectical tensions)

Back 57

Where we manage and compromise our needs

Front 58

Define integration (dialectical tensions)

Back 58

Blending different perspectives

Front 59

Define reaffirmation (dialectical tensions)

Back 59

Having the knowledge and accepting our differences