Perhaps this is bc of attributions made for neg

­ Perhaps this is bc of attributions made for neg. behavior
­ Review of 23 studies published in this area of research
Distressed spouses:
­ think of their partner’s neg. behaviors as global & positive behaviors as specific
­ if do something good, as externally motivated
­ if do something wrong, as internally motivated
Non­distressed couples:
­ do opposite!
­ give them same benefit of the doubt that we give ourselves
American culture: very likely to blame our own faults on external factors and blame others for
internal factors
Does appear to be a stronger causal link from attributions to marital satisfaction
­ cycle/loop
­ as relationships progress/worsen, less likely to give your partner the benefit of the doubt
Three Components of Social Perception
1. Characteristics of the stimulus: “objective” features of the target & behavior
2. Characteristics of the perceiver: Chronic/stable (personality); temporary (mood state)
3. Characteristics of the context: cues help us interpret ambiguous events
Two Routes to Social Perception
­ Bottom­up Processing
­ perceptions guided by stimulus
­ input comes from outside
­ Top­down Processing
­ perceptions guided by perceiver
­ existing mental representations shape how we view the world
­ input comes from the inside perceiver
Relationship Examples of Top­down
­ date arrives 30 min. late:
­ good mood: nbd, traffic, etc
­ bad mood: doesn’t care, inconsiderate
­ partner forgets your anniversary:
­ high self­esteem: nbd, just busy/stressed
­ low self­esteem: they don’t love me, romance is gone
Goals: our perception of people, places, and things are colored by their ability (or inability) to
help us achieve our goals

­ uniform importance of achieving goals
­ there is a meaningful positive association between an ind. goal progress and their
well­being
­ given this, it is not hard to imagine that there is an assoc. b/w our relationships and our
goals
Relationships and Goal Pursuits
­ Fitzsimons and Bargh found that priming individuals with a specific relationship caused
them to pursue goals related to that relationship
­ when ppl primed w/ their parents, ppl more likely to focus on achievement goals,
especially mother
­ friends who study vs. friends who party when you have different goals
­ Rate instrumental others more positively than non­instrumental others “evaluative
preference”
­ so long as goal is active (finals week example)
­ having similar goals is associated with decreased rates of conflict
­ Relationships are more successful when you are with someone who has similar goals to
you
10/6/15
BEING SINGLE
More likely to spend more time single than parents, but also more likely to be married long
­ bc longer lifespans
Four reasons:
­ Demographics
­ Economics
­ Technological
­ Cultural
Demographics:
­ 97 men for every 100 women in US
­ imbalance = 100% of men could marry but only 97% of women could
­ young black men are more likely to die younger and/or be incarcerated
­ therefore even fewer black men for black women
Economics:
­