Interpersonal Relationship - Learning Objectives
January 2021
Lecture 1 - Relationship impact on well-being
1. Indicate how (e.g. the role of social support) the quantity and
quality of our relationships is associated with health
• Our relations are strongly connected with our well-being and health
• Less socially integrated people have a higher chance of dying earlier
• Relationships support the immune system
• Socially high integrated people get less sick
• The higher the level of social integration on average, the healthier
the people are and the lower the mortality rates
• Relationships have a large impact on mortality risk
– Direct effect-hypothesis (main effect hypothesis): Social
support makes people to take better care of themselves (less
smoking, exercise, healthier diet, etc)
– Stress-buffering hypothesis:
∗ Social support reduces stress under potentially stressful cir-
cumstances
∗ Stress directly related to health via cardio-vascular and im-
mune system
– Strength and strain model of marriage
∗ A marriage can have a stress-buffering and a stress-intensifying
effect
main effect
∗ Marital strength/strain −−−−−−−→ psychical mechanisms →
biological mechanisms → health outcomes
1
, 2. Identify two ways in which social support operates
• Emotional and instrumental support
– Emotional support: someone showing he is there for you
– Instrumental support: someone doing things for you when you
need them (e.g. shopping when you are ill)
• Visible and invisible support
– Invisible support: subtle support. Often works better than in-
visible support, is more calibrated to the needs of the person.
3. Effects of social exclusion
• Unhealthy and unhappy
• Lower sense of belonging
• Loss of control
• Lower sense of meaningfulness
• Lower self-esteem
• Same activity in brain as physical pain
– Pain overlap theory: similar neural system involved in both social
and physical pain
• Aggression
• Alienation
• Depression
• Helplessness
• Unworthiness
4. Explain the role of control in the effects of exclusion on aggres-
sion
• Social exclusion can cause a loss of control. This can lead to aggres-
sion to regain a sense of control
2
January 2021
Lecture 1 - Relationship impact on well-being
1. Indicate how (e.g. the role of social support) the quantity and
quality of our relationships is associated with health
• Our relations are strongly connected with our well-being and health
• Less socially integrated people have a higher chance of dying earlier
• Relationships support the immune system
• Socially high integrated people get less sick
• The higher the level of social integration on average, the healthier
the people are and the lower the mortality rates
• Relationships have a large impact on mortality risk
– Direct effect-hypothesis (main effect hypothesis): Social
support makes people to take better care of themselves (less
smoking, exercise, healthier diet, etc)
– Stress-buffering hypothesis:
∗ Social support reduces stress under potentially stressful cir-
cumstances
∗ Stress directly related to health via cardio-vascular and im-
mune system
– Strength and strain model of marriage
∗ A marriage can have a stress-buffering and a stress-intensifying
effect
main effect
∗ Marital strength/strain −−−−−−−→ psychical mechanisms →
biological mechanisms → health outcomes
1
, 2. Identify two ways in which social support operates
• Emotional and instrumental support
– Emotional support: someone showing he is there for you
– Instrumental support: someone doing things for you when you
need them (e.g. shopping when you are ill)
• Visible and invisible support
– Invisible support: subtle support. Often works better than in-
visible support, is more calibrated to the needs of the person.
3. Effects of social exclusion
• Unhealthy and unhappy
• Lower sense of belonging
• Loss of control
• Lower sense of meaningfulness
• Lower self-esteem
• Same activity in brain as physical pain
– Pain overlap theory: similar neural system involved in both social
and physical pain
• Aggression
• Alienation
• Depression
• Helplessness
• Unworthiness
4. Explain the role of control in the effects of exclusion on aggres-
sion
• Social exclusion can cause a loss of control. This can lead to aggres-
sion to regain a sense of control
2
