Women’s Psychology Unit 8

Unit Eight: Relationships Social Support ● A feeling of being cared for and having support and assistance from people around us such as family, friends, and partners. ● Informational social support: Giving others advice or ideas to help people find strategies or resources to better cope with life events. ● Instrumental social support: Involves others providing assistance in terms of money, goods, or services. ● Emotional social support: Occurs when we feel nurtured and/or cared for by others. ● Social support has been linked to decreased psychological distress such as depression and anxiety. ● Tend-and-befriend coping strategy: Involves nurturing and protecting others in times of stress and developing social networks that facilitate these patterns. ● Active constructive responding: Reacting enthusiastically and asking follow-up questions to prolong the conversation and sense of excitement. ● Can lead to co-rumination which involves discussing problems and dwelling on negatives in conversation with another person. ● Women provide more social support than do men; same-gender friendships can be particularly important for women. Enemies and Frenemies ● Boys and men tend to engage in physical aggression, while girls and women are more likely to engage in indirect forms of aggression ● Relational aggression: Involves damaging others’ existing or potential relationships and/or social status. ○ Verbal or non-verbal and can be done behind the individual's back or directly aimed ■ Friends can turn into enemies ● Identity-based bullying: Directed towards people who are actual or perceived members of devalued social groups because of that group membership. ○ Individuals with sexual minority identities, disabilities, and transgender individuals. ● The sexual double standard can result in women being labeled as sluts for engaging in sexual activity ○ Slut shaming Romance ● Idealized and unrealistic beliefs about love and romance are common and are perpetuated through the media. Belief Example Partner is predestined Your ideal partner is out there. Right away, you know Love happens at first sight Expression not necessary Your ideal partner will just know what you’re thinking/feeling Sexual perfection Sex with your soul mate is always easy and satisfying Centerfolds preferred Women should look like models to attract their (male) partners Role of gender Men should always be taller, more powerful, richer, and older than their (female) partners Into a prince Love can change a man into an ideal partner Pugilism/passion Fighting is a sign of love and passion Totally opposite values Love will overcome differences in values Incomplete without mate Your ideal partner completes you and fulfills your needs Often, actors - roles Actors are just like the characters they portray Not real/no effect You’re not affected by media portrayals of romance because you know they’re not “real” ● Dating scripts continue to reflect traditional, gendered, heterosexual standards. The scripts don’t follow/reflect the experiences of women who date other women. ● Men are attracted to young, physically attractive partners because these partners had the best chance of producing healthy offspring (carrying on the man’s genetics). ● Women, on the other hand, are attracted to slightly older partners who have status and access to resources because these partners were more likely to help both the woman and her offspring to survive (carrying on the woman’s genetics). ● Both women and men desire attractive and successful partners. The traits desired in shortterm partners can differ from long-term partners. ● Online dating is becoming popular ● Dating hasn’t been replaced by hooking up, and studies show that women, young adults, and Latinx students prefer that more. ● While some people have success connecting with long-term partners through online dating websites and apps, some don’t. Division of Labor ● Women do more household labor than men in heterosexual relationships and are more likely to manage what needs to be done around the house and to engage in emotion work. ○ Women are likely to have been socialized into doing household labor and are viewed negatively if not done. ● Relative resources theory states that the person who brings more resources to the relationship gets to use those resources in order to avoid doing chores. ● People viewed relationships as a social exchange between partners--one provided the bulk of the financial resources while the other does the bulk of the domestic labor. ● Time availability: this theory holds that the person with the most available time should do the larger proportion of housework. ● Inequality in the division of labor has negative consequences for relationships. Women with more liberal gender attitudes, greater income, and higher levels of education perceived an unequal division of labor as unfair. ○ Marital satisfaction and sexual satisfaction are lower when women perceive the division of labor as unfair. ○ Open communication between partners can make achieving equity more likely.