Attraction
Communication/consolidation
Buildup
Ending
Deteriorationand decline
Relationshipcontinues
Triggering factors: Proximity,
Similarity, Erotic love etc…
Social-exchange and equity: Communication, Self-disclosure, Communal
concern, External supports
Social-exchange and equity/inequity: Relative
attractiveness of alternatives, Barriers to
dissolution
Important variables
influencing attraction
Emotion
Low: Relationship
in stable stateHigh: Heady
feeling of romantic love
High: Upset of deterioration and trauma of disruption
The life cycle of a
relationship
Relationship-Enhancing and Distress-Maintaining Attributions
Positive Event
Relationship-Enhancing Attribution
Distress-Maintaining Attribution
My partner takes me out to an expensive dinner
My partner is sweet and thoughtful
My partner took me out to write the cost off on
taxes
Internal, stable, global
Negative Event
My partner forgot my birthday
External, unstable, specific
Something unexpected must have come up
External, unstable, specific
My partner is always uncaring and selfish
Internal, stable, global
Procedure?
Attributions Marital Satisfaction
Causal attributions (what lead to an event)
Responsibility attributions (blame, accountability)
Or another non-attributional factor: Relationship expectations (unrealistic)
Focus on attributions for negative events (Your spouse does not pay attention to what you are saying,” Your spouse criticizes something you do)
Background
Overall Conclusions and Interpretations
Attributions cause or lead to marital satisfaction levels
Are attributional styles being used rather than ones based on specific behavior
Role of wife’s attributions: 1) negative attribution for spouse behavior, 2) negative behavior toward spouse, 3) her behavior impacts her assessment of relationship satisfaction, 4) husband’s behavior affected by wife’s behavior
Wives’s attributions may be the barometers of marital satisfaction. Their attributions may influence their marital satisfaction across time, whereas husbands’ attributions only reflect their marital satisfactionHusband’s attributions not related to later marital satisfaction attributional usage; (less?)
Expectations
Attributions Relationship Satisfaction
• Costs (Inputs)
• Benefits (Outputs)
• Comparison Level
(e.g., a standard)
• Comparison Level for Alternatives
Loss of freedom, $, time restrictions, etc.
Companionship, sexual fulfillment, security, etc.
Other person in a relationship, yourself in the past, an ideal
Evaluation of the value of other partners
Social Equity Theory
Inequity (under-benefitting)
Low satisfaction and
commitment(breakups
likely)
High satisfaction and
commitment
Low Inequity (under-benefitting)
Commitment of females
Relationship stability
Greater alternatives
(man & women)
Breakups
Satisfaction (men & women)
Stability
Summary of Findings
Liking Love
Liking Loving
Separate constructs or along a continuum?
Sample Liking Scale Items
When I am with _____, we are almost always in the same mood.
I think that _____ is unusually well-adjusted.
I would highly recommend _____ for a responsible job.
In my opinion, _____ is an exceptionally mature person.
I have great confidence in _____’s good judgment.
I think that _____ is someone one of those people who quickly win your respect.
_____ is one of the most likeable people I know.
_____ is the sort of person whom I myself would like to be.
I would vote for _____ in a class or group election.
Sample Love Scale Items
I would do anything for _____.
I feel responsible for _____’s well being.
I feel very possessive toward _____.
If I could never be with _____, I would feel miserable.
If I were lonely, my first thought would be to seek _____ out.
I would forgive _____ for practically anything.
In would greatly enjoy being confided in by _____.
When I am with _____, I spend a good deal of my time just looking at him/her.
I would be hard for me to get along without _____.
Liking & Loving for Dating Partners and Same-Sex Friends
Index Women Men
Love for Partner 89.5 89.3
Liking for Partner 88.7 84.6
Love for Friend 65.3 55.1
Liking for Friend 80.5 79.1
Interpersonal Relationship --- Newer Approaches
Relationships
• Individual subjective reactions to cues in an interaction
• Active search/detection process for cues
• Timing and sequencing of cues (e.g., baking a cake example)
Thoughts about interpersonal interactions
Evaluation of interaction as good, average, poor
• Future possibilities
• Strategies
Narratives/stories about relationships
• Who is told? When they are told? What is said? Why they are told?
• Difference in perceptions; memory for facts
Interpersonal Relationship --- Newer Approaches (cont.)
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