Close Relationships

Evolutionary perspectives on relationships
1. Evolutionary fitness
  1. Ability to pass on your genes and survive mating years
2. Reproductive investment
  1. Sex with the most reproductive costs = choosier
    1. Sexual choosiness
  2. Least cost = more partners, competition and more physical variation
3. Human mating
  1. Polygamy
    1. Polygyny
      1. Polyandry
        Many males with one female
      2. Many females with one male
        90% of mammals
  2. Monogamy
    1. Reproductive partnership based on a permanent tie
      1. Usually have less sexual dimorphism
    2. Biological basis of monogamy
      1. Co-occurence of oxytocin and dopamine in nucleus accumbens
        Dopamine
        Reward neurotransmitter
        Oxytocin
        "attachment" hormone
        All 5% of monogamous animals share this anatomical feature
        There are no oxytocin receptors in polygamous animals
  3. Homosexuality
    1. Widely displayed among animals
  4. Young adulthood - more polygamy
  5. Mid 20's - more monogamy
Need to belong
1. Motivation of belonging
  1. Human survival tactics require more people
  2. Children are helpless for many years
  3. People with strong social networks are healthier and happier
  4. Sociometer theory
    1. Self esteem is a gauge of interpersonal relationships
2. Social isolation
  1. Long term isolation is a form of punishment in society
  2. Harlow's monkeys
    1. After 3 months - huddle alone, rocking, self mutilation, abusive parentlng.
Attachment theory
1. Infant attachment
  1. How infants become emotionally attached to caregiver and become emotionally distressed at loss of caregiver
    1. Provides a "secure base" for exploring
  2. Imprinting
    1. Basic form of attachment bond, shortly after birth
      1. Must occur within the sensitive period
2. Adult attachment
  1. Prefers proximity
  2. Turn to partner for support
  3. Use partner as a secure base
3. Attachment styles
  1. Measured through:
    1. Attachment avoidance
      1. Attachment anxiety
  2. Secure attachment
    1. 56% - trust, friendship, positive emotions
    2. Believe in enduring love, trust.
    3. Self is likeable
    4. Caregivers were responsive and caring
  3. Anxious-ambivalent
    1. 19% - love is preoccupying, merge with someone else
    2. Falls in love easily, has self doubts
    3. Mixture of positive and negative experiences from caregivers
  4. Avoidant
    1. Fear of closeness and lack of trust
    2. Doubtful of existence of love
    3. Self is independant
    4. Caregivers are cold and rejecting
    5. Fearful vs. dismissive avoidant
Closeness
1. Cognitive component
  1. Self expansion theory
    1. Information about close others are closely associated with self related information
      1. More situational attributes for self and close other
      2. Longer reaction times when making me/not me judgements of spouse's characteristics
  2. Interdependant theory/investment model
    1. Components of commitment are:
      1. Satisfaction
        Quality of alternatives
        Resource investment
        Reward/cost ratio
        Ratio of positive feedback to negative feedback that partners give in a relationship
        Flourish - 5.1 positive/negative
        Divorce - 0.77 positive/negative
      2. Commitment = high satisfaction + low quality of alternatives + high resource investment
        When commitment is high = more use of plural pronouns
2. Affective component
  1. Companionate love
    1. Feelings of intimacy we feel when we care deeply for a person, without sexual arousal
    2. Can exist between lovers or friends
  2. Passionate love
    1. Feelings of intense longing for a person, accompanied with physiological arousal
  3. Positive illusions
    1. Idealization of close others, seeing them as more positive than they see themselves
    2. Couples who maintain positive illusions have less conflict and are more satisfied
3. Behavioural component
  1. Cooperative dilemmas
    1. When one partners behaves destructively, it is better to focus on long term goals than short, self serving goals
Relationship dissolution
1. What couples do well
  1. Marriage stability correlates with:
    1. Married after age 20
      1. Grew up in 2 parent homes
        Dated but did not live together
        Frequent sex, rare arguments
2. Novel experiences
  1. Sharing new experiences and exploration of environment with partner as secure base
3. Why relationships fail
  1. Low equity
    1. Lack of positive illusions
      1. Low interdependance
  2. How relationships fail
    1. Friendships - use "passive strategies" - ignoring the person
      1. Romantic - use direct confrontation
    2. Rejection
      1. Brain during social rejection
        Neurological experience of physical pain
        Anterior cingulate cortex - associated with distress signal during physical pain
        Right ventral prefrontal cortex - associated with regulation and inhibition of felt pain.
        Tylenol participant reported less hurt feelings than placebo

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Close Relationships

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	Created by andreaarose over 10 years ago