Interpersonal Relations - Human Relations (IB Psych), Study notes of Psychology

Download Interpersonal Relations - Human Relations (IB Psych) and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Good Quizlet for evaluating studies with important keywords: https://quizlet.com/109296059/ib-psychology-evaluation-terms-flash-cards/ Etic approach: Refers to research that studies cross-cultural differences (globalization). Seeks to define common phenomena across cultures which can be used to define a set of universal phenomena amongst all cultures. Emic: Refers to research that fully studies one culture with no cross-cultural focus. Bidirectional ambiguity: The concept that in a correlational study, it is impossible to know which variable causes the other or whether it’s just a pure coincidence and no relationship truly exists. Prospective longitudinal study: Study that follows over time a group of similar individuals who differ in respect to certain factors under study to determine how these factors affect the rate of a certain outcomes. Biological Theories of Attraction Attraction is primarily a physiological response including neurotransmitters, hormones, pheromones Role of neurotransmitters: The attraction system is characterized as a biochemical cocktail consisting of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin. Dopamine: Feel-good neurotransmitters - response for motivation Noradrenaline: Helps control emotions and stress - Control emotions and stress, provides rest of excitement - stimulates the production of adrenaline (makes your heart race and palms sweat) Serotonin: Regulates mood naturally Testosterone: Desire + increased aggression Fischer's Lock cocktail: high levels of norepinephrine and dopamine, low levels of serotonin Parts of the brain in the reward system and affected by dopamine: Amygdala, prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens Attachment behaviours: Humans have an innate attachment system that consists of specific behaviours and physiological responses Attraction: more intimate relationship with feelings of comfort, security and relatedness Evolutionary psychologists have found that: facial symmetry is most associated with a health of good health and a strong immune system Shackelford & Larsen, 1997 found that men with less symmetrical facial features were less physically active, manifested more symptoms of depression of anxiety and reported more minor physical problems like colds/headaches/etc Natural selection: The idea that members of a species that survive competition and breed will have characteristics best suited to the environment and are more likely to pass on these traits. Sexual selection: Facet of natural selection, sexual selection is how the best mate is chosen Intersexual selection: One sex (typically males) display a certain trait or behaviour with the goal of attracting and mating with the opposite sex (choice of mates by the opposite sex) Intrasexual selection: Refers to the within-sex component of the broader process of sexual selection. Cognitive Attraction Similarity-Attraction Model: Argues that people like and are attracted to others who are similar, rather than dissimilar to themselves. Support of views and attitudes to be forwarded through validating one’s opinions Aka: couples tend to be similar age/religion/social class/personality/etc Study: Markey & Markey (2007) Internal working model (John Bowlby): As children, we form schema based on our first bonded relationship - often with our mother/another caregiver. The motivation to form attachments is biologically based on the process of forming attachments is based on experience. Three important elements: Ideas about attachment figures and what can be expected, ideas about self, ideas about how self and others relate. Study: Hazan & Shaver (1987) Halo effect: The tendency for an impression created in one area to influence opinion in another area. Most commonly seen as a person’s physical beauty influences our judgement within regards to their other qualities - beautiful people must be good people Study: Dion et al (1972) Reinforcement-affect model at attraction: Found that listening to good news/bad news had an effect on the perception of attraction. Study: Veitch and Griffitt (1976) Listening to good news/bad news had an effect on the perception of attraction, participants rated personal traits of another student based on an application - trait included “probably liking of the stranger” and “desirability as a working partner” so after listening to good news, they ranked the stranger as more likeable. Role of self-esteem: One overall subjective sense of personal worth or value. Study: Kiesler and baral (1970) Communication Social-Desirability Bias: The tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favourably by others Can take the form of over-reporting “good behaviour” or under-reporting undesirable behaviour One of the issues with the study of communication. Bidirectional ambiguity: The concept that in a correlational study, it is impossible to know which variable causes the other or whether it’s just a pure coincidence and no relationship truly exists. Communication: The exchange of information, ideas and feelings. Bradbury and Fincham (1990): Meta-anylsis of studies on couples and how they communicated, the researchers found that couples that are in happy relationships engage in relationship-enhancing patterns when there is disagreement and unhappy couples blame their partners for what happens and don’t give them credit for positive events. Relationship enhancing patterns: They don’t blame their partner or assume that the partner did things “on purpose”. (ex: It’s okay, I know that you didn’t mean to be irritable. I realize this has been a crazy week at work for you) Distress-maintaining pattern: Belief that negative actions are deliberate, and positive actions are accidental. Outcomes of distress maintaining attributions about relationship partners: Cantankerous behaviour, ineffective problem solving and dissatisfaction. Social Penetration Theory (Altman & Taylor, 1973): Argues that close relationships are formed by a process of gradual self-disclosure (aka sharing personal details about yourself. States that there are 4 different stages: 1. Orientational Stage: “Small Talk” Simple information about oneself without revealing anything that would reveal vulnerability (ex: My name is, i live here, my favorite colour) 2. Exploratory Stag: One starts to reveal more about one’s personal feelings and opinions but on rather safe topics (ex: current government, what we do/don’t like in jobs, etc) 3. Affective Stage: Beginning to share information of a private/personal nature - often involves intimate physical relations. 4. Stable Stage: One feels they can be fully open and honest with a partner since trust is strongly developed. Study Criticism of that theory ^ Collins and Miller (1994): Found that people who disclose intimate information about themselves are more liked than people who don’t - researchers also found that people tend to disclose more personal information to those that they like. Indicates that disclosure could be an important factor in establishing and maintaining a relationship. Theory Criticism: Difficult to determine cause/effect relationship between disclosure and health of a relationship, large amount of the research is conducted on western women (sampling bias), overly simplistic since different patterns of disclosure, reductionist to explain the health of a relationship Four Horseman of the relationships: Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, Stonewalling Criticism: Attack your partner at the core of their character, usually to show that you are right Ex: You always, you never learn, why are you so… Contempt: Attacking your partner’s character with insult or abuse. Seeing your partner as inferior. Ex: Sneering, eye-rolling, humiliating, mock. Defensiveness: When one feels unjustly accused so they argue against the concerns of the partner. Ex: You also do that, don’t blame me. That's not true, you're the one. Stonewalling: When the listener withdraws from the interaction/shuts down and stops responding to their partner rather than confronting the issues. Ex: Silent treatment, changing the subject, leaving the conversation. Theory of communication evaluation Gottman: Proposed that there are four communication styles that threaten relationships (criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling) - nicknamed the “Four Horsemen of relationships”. Mainly has been carried out by observing and interviewing couples in the laboratory - observed couples having low-conflict conversations and high-conflict conversations. Measured things like heart rate, blood pressure, skin galvanization. Strengths: Physiological and self-reported data to support this theory. A large amount of data Limitations: Cross-sectional research rather than longitudinal. Most people coming to the clinic are ready to end the relationship so the effect on a healthy relationship is not clear. Bradbury & Fincham: Focused on the role of communication in relationships, found that couples are in happy relationships engage in relationship-enhancing patterns when there are disagreements and don’t blame their partner or assume that the partner did things “on purpose” and unhappy couples blame their partners (distress-maintaining pattern of behaviour). Observational study. Strengths: Prospective research indicated patterns of communication well before there were problems in the relationship. Researcher triangulation in the coding of the observation increases the reliability of the data. Limitations: Overly simplistic explanations of why relationships may end. May be seen as bad advice in case of domestic violence. Question of bidirectional ambiguity. Altman & Taylor: Strengths: A large meta-analysis syndicates that there is reliability in findings of the role of disclosure in healthy relationships. Limitations: Question of bidirectional ambiguity; research is culturally biased; disclosure is difficult to measure; may be seen as an overly simplistic approach to the question of the health of relationships. Why Do Relationships End Social Exchange Theory (Kelley and Tribaut, 1959): Argues that relationships are maintained through a cost-benefit analysis. Belief that ‘’the more one invests in a relationship, the more one expects ‘greater returns’’ - the relationship will continue as long as the relationship is profitable to both partners, balance must be restored if the relationship is to survive. Elain Walster argues social exchange theory is too simplistic and the perception of equity/equality is what determines whether a relationship will be maintained. Equity theory: Theory of justice regarding what individuals are likely to view as a fair return from activities involving themselves and a number of other people. Ex: If a woman beliefs she is putting in more work, she cheats to make her “owe” him and rebalancing the sense of equity. Hatfield et al (1979) Found that people who felt deprived or under-benefited cheater sooner than parterns who felt they were being fairly treated. Fatal Attraction Theory (Felmee 1995) - argues that what attracted us to our partner in the first plae may end up being the reason that the relationship ends. Three common fatal attraction patterns: 1. Fun to foolish 2. Strong to domineering 3. Spontaneous to unpredictable.