Chapter 15 Relationships

Close relationships have six components. Name, describe, and give/recognize an example of each.

What is the relationship between these components and relationship satisfaction?

What are parasocial relationships? Describe and give/recognize an example. How are they like and unlike close relationships?

Name some of the costs and benefits (concrete and psychological) of being in relationships.

There are three general theories of why we love people. Name and describe each theory.

What is the basis of attachment? What are the three categories of adult attachment styles? Name, describe, and give/recognize an example of each.

Which attachment style(s) is related to the most successful relationships?

Are adults destined to repeat their infant attachment styles with adult partners? Why or why not?

Describe the evidence to support the terror management theory of romantic relationships.

Describe the evidence to support the self-expansion theory of romantic relationships.

According to the two-factor theory, what are the two factors necessary to feel the emotion of love? How might one or both of these factors mislead a person into feeling an “incorrect” emotion?

According to Sternberg’s theory, what are the three components that combine into love?

Name and describe Sternberg’s four types of love. Be able to say which components lead to which forms of love. Give/recognize an example of each type of love.

According to social exchange theory (which we also saw in the helping chapter), how are romantic relationships like commodities? What are some costs and benefits that people must consider?

What is a person’s “comparison level”? How does that combine with costs and benefits to yield relationship satisfaction?

According to equity theory (which we also saw in the study of fair distribution of resources), what leads to people feeling satisfied in their relationship?

Name/recognize the types of inputs and outputs that people consider when calculating equity.

What is assortative mating? What is the matching phenomenon? Do people always match/sort on the same variable?

Describe the general time course of a romantic relationship. What do people do first, second, etc. At what point will a couple typically decide to get married?

What happens with marital satisfaction over the course of 25+ years? Why? What is the U.S. divorce rate?

The notes provide four social-psych research-based pieces of advice for conflict resolution for couples. Know those.

What is “flow” and how does it relate to having a satisfying long term relationship? What can partners do to remain in a flow state in the relationship?

How can couples use classical conditioning to keep romance alive?