Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Chapter 10: Staying Close: Maintaining Relationships
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following was discussed in the textbook as a way of defining
relational maintenance?
A. keeping a relationship in existence
B. keeping a relationship in disrepair
C. keeping a relationship in an agitated state or condition
D. keeping a relationship highly contentious
2. Talking about the future of the relationship falls under the maintenance
behavior called ______.
A. assurances
B. avoidance
C. openness and routine talk
D. social networking
3. Which of the following behaviors is the best example of the maintenance
behavior called positivity?
A. planning separate activities
B. acting cheerful and optimistic
C. giving your partner an especially nice gift
D. spending a holiday with your partner’s family
4. Which of the following behaviors is a prosocial maintenance behavior?
A. allowing control
B. avoidance
C. talking about others
D. task sharing
5. Adam and Zack are avoiding conversation topics and displaying jealous
behavior in public. They are using ______ maintenance behaviors.
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
A. prosocial
B. antisocial
C. modality
D. virtual
6. The textbook summarizes a study that compared maintenance behavior in
virtual, Pinocchio, cyber-emigrant, and real-world relationships. According to this
study, the amount of maintenance behavior people use is best predicted by
______.
A. modality
B. commitment level
C. satisfaction level
D. personality variables
7. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Routine behaviors are generally more important for maintaining relationships
than are strategic behaviors.
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
B. Married and engaged couples report using fewer assurances and task sharing
than dating couples.
C. Couples who are in serious dating relationships report using more openness
and positivity than couples who are married or casually dating.
D. After the honeymoon stage, married couples report a steady increase in their
use of maintenance behavior.
8. Although gay and lesbian couples report using many of the same maintenance
behaviors as straight couples, ______ is especially important for maintaining gay
and lesbian relationships.
A. self-disclosure
B. bonding communication
C. affection
D. communicating equality
9. Which of the following maintenance behaviors do male friends use more than
female friends?
A. openness
B. joint activities
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
C. affection
D. supportiveness
10. According to research discussed in the textbook, teenage boys felt more
connected to one another when they ______.
A. played computer games
B. texted their friends
C. talked on their cells
D. IM’d their friends
11. Maureen and Michael are platonic cross-sex friends. Maureen’s boyfriend
gets jealous when she spends a lot of time with Michael; and Michael constantly
has to explain to everyone that he is not interested in Maureen in a romantic way.
The challenge they are dealing with is ______.
A. the emotional bond challenge
B. the sexual challenge
C. the equity challenge
D. the public presentation challenge
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
12. Tyler and Brianna are best friends, but sometimes they can’t help thinking
about each other as potential romantic partners rather than friends. The
challenge they are dealing with is ______.
A. the emotional bond challenge
B. the sexual challenge
C. the equality challenge
D. the public presentation challenge
13. Which type of cross-sex friendship has been found to contain the most
maintenance behavior?
A. strictly platonic
B. mutual romance
C. desires romance
D. rejects romance
14. A “friends with benefits” relationship is different from a “romantic relationship”
because ______.
A. of the sexual nature of the romantic relationship
B. friends with benefits relationships often last longer than romantic relationships
C. jealousy is more acceptable in friends with benefits relationships than
romantic relationships
D. romantic relationships are usually defined by more commitment and
exclusivity
15. According to research reported in your textbook, the biggest disadvantage
that college students associate with friends with benefits relationships is that
______.
A. there are risks associated with having sex
B. there is a low level of commitment in the relationship
C. one partner might develop romantic feelings
D. their social network might disapprove of their relationship
16. Which of the following statements about friends with benefits relationships is
false according to the research reported in your textbook?
A. Women tend to emphasize the “friends” part of the relationship, whereas men
tend to emphasize the “benefits” part of the relationship.
B. Most partners negotiate ground rules in their friends-with-benefits
relationships.
C. The most common ground rule in friends with benefits relationships is to stay
emotionally detached.
D. About half of partners in these relationships report feeling uncertainty about
their friends with benefits relationship.
17. Research suggests that the most common reason cross-sex friends keep
their relationship platonic is ______.
A. to safeguard the relationship
B. to avoid network disapproval
C. because they are not physically attracted to each other
D. because they do not want a romantic relationship with anyone at the present
time
18. The concept of ______ has been used to explain why some couples become
disillusioned and less relationally satisfied when their formerly long-distance
relationships become proximal.
A. possessive jealousy
B. idealization
C. out of sight, out of mind
D. maintenance switching
19. In terms of sex differences in maintenance behaviors, the authors of your
textbook take the position that ______.
A. men and women are from different galaxies
B. men are from Mars; women are from Venus
C. men are from North Dakota; women are from South Dakota
D. men and women are from the same planet
20. Ron and Pam are great friends. They have no desire to ever get involved with
each other romantically; however, they do consider themselves intimate friends.
According to the research on coping with romantic intent, Ron and Pam are part
of the ______ group.
A. mutual romance
B. romantic intent
C. desires romance
D. strictly platonic
21. Tim receives 30 benefits for every 15 contributions he makes to his
relationship with Sarah. Sarah, on the other hand, receives 25 benefits for every
5 contributions she makes. According to equity theory, ______.
A. Tim is overbenefited and Sarah is underbenefited
B. Tim is underbenefited and Sarah is overbenefited
C. both Tim and Sarah are underbenefited
D. both Tim and Sarah are overbenefited
22. An underbenefited person is more likely than an overbenefited person to
______.
A. be angry and aggressive
B. feel superior
C. use prosocial maintenance behaviors
D. experience relief
23. An overbenefited person is more likely than an underbenefited person to
______.
A. be happy
B. use antisocial maintenance behaviors
C. feel distressed
D. experience frustration
24. Based on the basic principles of equity theory, which of the following men
would be satisfied with his relationship?
A. Terrell, whose partner lets him make all the decisions and does all the cooking
and cleaning for him
B. Will, who ends up doing most of the household tasks and is given little say in
major decisions that affect the family
C. Rick, who perceives that he puts in more resources into the marriage than his
wife and gets less resources from the marriage
D. Zeke, who does very little housework and contributes very few resources
25. Your textbook reports that rather than valuing equity, people in Asia and
Eastern Europe believe that ______.
A. resources should be distributed equally among people, regardless of their
contributions
B. resources should be distributed based on the contributions people make
C. over- and underbenefited individuals should have the same amount of
decision-making power when it comes to distributing resources
D. resources should be distributed based on social class rather than the number
of contributions people make
26. According to research discussed in the text, which of the following strategies
is an effective means of restoring equity?
A. An overbenefited person starts to put less into the relationship.
B. An underbenefited person starts to put more into the relationship.
C. A person reevaluates her or his degree of underbenefitedness after
considering all the contributions her or his partner makes to the relationship.
D. Both partners engage in specific equity dialog.
27. Which of the following is true of cohabiting couples?
A. Cohabitating couples are less likely to break up than married couples are to
divorce.
B. Married couples who cohabitate are more likely to stay married than those
who never cohabitated.
C. Satisfaction levels decrease over time in marriages regardless of whether
couples cohabited or not.
D. Cohabitating couples experience less conflict than other couple types.
True/False
1. Married people tend to report being happier and more satisfied with their lives
than single people do.
2. Marital satisfaction increases after parenthood.
3. In general, marital relationships are less stable than cohabitating relationships.
4. General equity (or inequity) represents an overall assessment of balance
between two people’s benefits and contributions.
5. A relationship can be unbalanced in terms of specific equity, but balanced
overall.
6. Individuals in inequitable relationships experience more satisfaction.
7. People can restore equity by changing their behavior.
Guerrero, Close Encounters, 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
8. Around half of spouses report that their marriages are equitable.
9. Openness and social networking are two prosocial maintenance behaviors.
10. Jealousy induction is an antisocial maintenance behavior.
11. Cyber-emigrant relationships are those in which partners first meet in person
but then start communicating primarily online.
12. Task sharing is an example of strategic maintenance behavior.
Essay
1. List and describe four definitions of relationship maintenance. Argue for the
definition you prefer.
2. Describe the research on cohabitation with regard to relational satisfaction and
relational longevity. Be sure to compare cohabitators to married people.
3. There are five principles of the equity theory. Select three of them and discuss
how they have been tested and supported for people in the United States and
other Western cultures.
4. Rabby looked at maintenance in real-world and online relationships and
identified four types of relationships. Discuss the different types of relationships
and how the online component affects relationships.
5. What are prosocial maintenance behaviors? List and discuss four of them.