Chapter 10
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Which of the following statements about friendships is FALSE?
a. Friendships are voluntary.
b. Friendships are governed by rules.
c. Friendships are the same in both sexes.
d. Friendships usually occur between peers.
2. Regarding sex differences in friendships, which of the following is FALSE?
a. Same-sex friendships are more important to women than they are to men.
b. Male-male friendships emphasize shared activities and common interests.
c. Female-female friendships emphasize conversational and emotional expressiveness.
d. Both women and men see their opposite-sex friends as more loyal and helpful than their
same-sex friends.
3. Which of the following statements about opposite-sex friendships is FALSE?
a. They provide men a chance to be emotionally expressive and women a chance to engage in
shared activities.
b. They often contain some degree of sexual or physical attraction.
c. According to one study, about half of college students engage in sexual behavior with their
opposite-sex friends.
d. They are almost always closer than same-sex friendships.
4. Which of the following reasons that people keep opposite-sex relationships nonromantic is
NOT shown by the research?
a. They aren’t ready to be in a romantic relationship.
b. They aren’t attracted to their friend.
c. They are romantically interested in a third person.
d. They are concerned about their sibling or friend who is romantically interested in the friend.
5. At which stage of friendship do people begin to think of themselves as friends and their
communication becomes more personal?
a. friendly relations
b. moves toward friendship
c. nascent friendship
d. stabilized friendship
6. In the ________ stage of friendship, people begin to drift apart and might lose contact with
one another.
a. nascent friendship
b. waning friendship
c. declining friendship
d. drifting friendship
7. Which of the following reasons is most commonly cited for ending a friendship due to
changes in life circumstances?
a. having a child
b. moving away
c. getting married
d. experiencing an illness in the family
8. Which of the following is NOT one of the health benefits of marriage identified in your
textbook?
a. Married people live longer.
b. Married people tend to be healthier.
c. Married people have better sexual health.
d. Married people are less likely to abuse alcohol and drugs.
9. The practice of polygamy is, by definition, an exception to which social expectation about
marriage?
a. It is voluntary.
b. It is based on love.
c. It is permanent.
d. It is exclusive.
10. When considering a potential spouse, someone from an individualistic culture such as the
United States would more likely ask which question?
a. “What’s in it for my family?”
b. “How does my heart feel?”
c. “What will others think?”
d. “Will this marriage last?
11. Which of the following statements about same-sex partners is true?
a. Some of them enter into formal relationships known as domestic partnerships.
b. Communication in sex-same partnerships resembles that in opposite-sex partnerships.
c. Satisfaction levels in same-sex partnerships are equal to those in opposite-sex partnerships.
d. All the answers are correct.
12. According to Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, cognitive models for what marriage is and should be
are called
a. marital hierarchies.
b. marital schemata.
c. sexual roles.
d. bonding patterns.
13. In which marriage type do spouses adopt conventional gender roles and tend to avoid
conflict?
a. traditional
b. separate
c. independent
d. mixed
14. According to Gottman’s couple typology, which type of couple handles disagreements in a
way that is open, but discussions tend to be competitive rather than cooperative?
a. validating
b. volatile
c. conflict-avoidant
d. hostile
15. Preliminary research has shown that, compared to heterosexual couples, homosexual couples
tend to
a. display more overt hostility during conflict.
b. terminate their relationships at the first sign of conflict.
c. take conflict less personally.
d. avoid conflict as much as possible.
16. Gottman has discovered that satisfied couples maintain what ratio of positive to negative
communication?
a. 5:1
b. 8:1
c. 14:1
d. 1:1
17. Why is the discussion of routine, mundane tasks important to consider in long-term romantic
relationships?
a. Most of the communication that takes place in these relationships falls in this category.
b. How to handle these issues can become a major issue of contention.
c. The way couples handle these tasks reflects the balance of power in their relationship.
d. All the answers are correct.
18. Your ________ is the family that includes your parents and your siblings.
a. family of procreation
b. family of origin
c. extended family
d. nuclear family
19. From a legal perspective, which is the most heavily regulated relationship type in the United
States?
a. parent-child relationships
b. parent-adoptive child relationships
c. sibling relationships
d. marital relationships
20. During conflict episodes, someone playing which family role tends to agree with whatever is
said in order to keep others from getting angry?
a. computer
b. distracter
c. placater
d. blamer
21. Family________ can serve as an important way of promoting communication in a blended
family, according to your text.
a. stories
b. secrets
c. rituals
d. vacations
22. Research shows that which of the following is positively related to your job satisfaction?
a. being friends with your co-workers and boss
b. being friends with your customers or clients
c. maintaining personal boundaries at work
d. All the answers are correct.
23. Let’s say you’re friends with your co–worker, Eric, who’s up for a promotion. Which of the
following reflects the task dimension of your relationship?
a. Based on his performance, you don’t feel Eric deserves the promotion.
b. As his friend, you want Eric to get the promotion.
c. If Eric doesn’t get the promotion, you will console him and help cheer him up.
d. All of these are examples of the task dimension of your relationship.
24. Which type of sexual harassment includes requesting romantic or sexual favors in exchange
for preferential treatment at work?
a. hostile work environment
b. sexual bargaining
c. quid pro quo
d. harassing requests
25. Which of the following statements about relationships with clients at work is correct?
a. A good relationship with clients is the single greatest predictor of job satisfaction.
b. Most companies encourage their employees to develop close, personal friendships with their
clients to help sales.
c. Having friendships with clients reduces some of the pressure or expectation related to job
performance.
d. Close friendships with clients can put workers in an uncomfortable or unethical position.
True/False Questions
26. Just because friendship is voluntary, that doesn’t mean we choose our friends arbitrarily.
27. Friendship rules are almost always explicit rather than implicit.
28. Work relationships usually involve both a task dimension and a social dimension.
29. Research indicates that becoming friends with your customers is almost always bad for
business.
30. Open relationships are observed between heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual individuals
alike.
31. People in arranged marriages are usually unhappy with their relationship.
32. Single-parent families can include biological children, step-children, and/or adopted children.
33. Research indicates that most American households are headed by a married couple.
34. Mother, son, grandfather, and aunt are all examples of family roles.
35. Siblings usually comprise a child’s first peer group.
Answer: True
Bloom’s: Understand
Short-Answer Questions
(Answers will vary.)
36. Explain what it means that friendships are typically between peers, and give examples of
friendships in which this is not true.
Bloom’s: Understand
37. Identify and explain the primary exceptions to the expectations that marriage is exclusive and
marriage is voluntary.
Bloom’s: Understand
38. Identify and explain the benefits that are often denied by federal law to couples who are not
legally married.
Bloom’s: Understand
39. Identify and explain two reasons why it matters how partners negotiate the division of
everyday tasks.
Bloom’s: Understand
40. Compare and contrast family roles and family rituals, giving concrete examples of each.
Bloom’s: Understand
41. Define the social and task dimensions of work relationships and indicate how they can make
social relationships among co-workers challenging.
Bloom’s: Understand
42. Differentiate upward, downward, and lateral communication in the workplace.
Bloom’s: Analyze
Essay Questions
(Answers will vary.)
43. English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, “Friendship is a sheltering tree.” Explain the
meaning behind this statement, making explicit reference to the emotional, material, and
health benefits of friendship. Use examples from your own friendships to illustrate
Coleridge’s point.
Bloom’s: Analyze
44. Using what you know about the significance of marital and romantic relationships, make a
case for or against the legalization of same-sex marriage. Base your argument not just on
your personal beliefs or individual morality, but also on what you have learned in this chapter
about the social expectations for marriage and their exceptions.
Bloom’s: Analyze
45. Think about your parents’ relationship for a moment. Following Fitzpatrick’s couple types,
identify which marital schemata represents your parents’ communication pattern. Give
specific examples that illustrate and justify your classification.
Bloom’s: Analyze
46. Your textbook identified two important patterns of emotional expression that distinguish
happy from unhappy couples. Describe the two patterns of emotional exchange in detail. Of
the two, which do you feel is more damaging to a couple? Justify your choice by drawing
from other information you have learned in the chapter about satisfying and dissatisfying
intimate relationships.
Bloom’s: Analyze
47. Explain the basic principles behind Petronio’s communication privacy management theory.
How do couples/families decide the process of sharing information? How are these rules
communicated to others? What advantages are there to sharing information freely with
outsiders? What are the advantages of keeping information private?
Bloom’s: Analyze
48. In no more than three sentences, write a definition of family. Be sure your definition is clear
about what counts and does not count as a family relationship. For the rest of your answer,
defend your definition, making reference to alternative ways of defining the family and
justifying why you defined it the way you did.
Bloom’s: Understand
49. Create a guide for managing successful relationships in the workplace. Generate at least two
reasoned and well-articulated pieces of advice that you think will help people maintain
successful relationships with co-workers, bosses, and customers (six ideas total). Write your
responses as if you’re actually going to present them to a company’s employees. Make sure
to include examples to illustrate your ideas.
Bloom’s: Apply