Download Romantic Relationships THEORIES

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Evolutionary theory
Attachment theory
Investment theory
Ecological theory
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Natural selection: Survival of the fittest
Maximize reproductive success
Parental investment: Men and women look for
different things
◦ Fertility cues
◦ Provider cues
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People’s intimate relationships are related to
their relationship with their attachment figure
Humans have a very strong need to form and
maintain stable relationships
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlfOecrr6
kI&feature=related
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Depends on the perception of the main
caregiver’s availability
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH1m_Z
MO7GU
Attachment helps control how close or distant
people will be from others
The same feelings and mechanisms that keep
parents attached to their children may also
keep romantic partners bonded
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Secure:
◦ Attachment figure is seen as reliable
◦ Trust that others will provide love and support
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Anxious/Ambivalent
◦ Attachment figure is seen as inconsistently available
and dismissive
◦ Fear abandonment and feel that their needs will not be
met
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Avoidant
◦ Attachment figure is seen as absent
◦ Defensively detach and withdraw from others
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“I find it relatively easy to get close to others
and am comfortable depending on them and
having them depend on me. I don’t often
worry about being abandoned or about
someone getting close to me”.
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“I find that others are reluctant to get as close
as I would like. I often worry that my partner
doesn’t really love me or won’t want to stay
with me. I want to merge completely with
others, and this desire sometimes scares
people away”
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“I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to
others. I find it difficult to trust them
completely, difficult to allow myself to
depend on them. I am nervous when anyone
gets too close, and often love partners want
me to be more intimate than I feel
comfortable being.”
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AKA: Social exchange theory
Relationships are like doing business
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Rewards: pleasures, satisfactions that a
person enjoys
Costs: Any factor that inhibits a set of actions
Constraints: Barriers of abandoning it
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Comparison Level: Compare the outcome in
the relationship to all outcomes known to the
member either by direct experience or
symbolically
Comparison Level Alternative: Contemplating
what it might be like to be outside of the
relationship
◦ Lowest level of outcome that the partner will accept
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Relationships end when:
COSTS > rewards+ constraints + potential
alternatives
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Satisfaction
Perceived quality of alternatives
Quantity of investments
Subjective commitment: pro-relationship
activities that help relationships persist
relationship stability
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Satisfaction level: Positive vs. negative
emotions that an individual experiences
about the relationship based on needs being
met
◦ John loves Mary because she fulfills his needs of
intimacy
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Dependence level: the extent to which the
person needs the relationship or relies on
partner to meet certain needs
◦ John needs Mary because his needs for intimacy can
not be fulfilled elsewhere
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When level of satisfaction is high: partner
perceives the quality of alternatives to be
poor
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Commitment level: Long term orientation
toward a relationship, intention to stay in the
relationship, feelings of attachment
Investment size: Resources that become
attached to the relationship
◦ Time, money, self-disclosure, memories
◦ Indirect investments: Partner’s friends and family,
children etc.
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Accommodative behaviors
Tendency to isolate attractive alternatives or
threats
Willingness to sacrifice for the relationship
Tendency toward perceived relationship
superiority