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Reflections on the Self-Fulfilling Effects of Positive Illusions
... In a study of romantic relationships, Murray, Holmes, & Griffin (2003) demonstrated that individuals tend to find redeeming features in a partner's weaknesses, constructing "yes, but…" refutations that minimize faults, and link virtues to faults within more integrated, general mental models. Such evaluative integration in cognition (i.e., finding good in the bad) predicted greater levels of satisfaction and stability in these relationships. ...
... Positive illusions in the context of relationships-even in the face of conflicts and doubts-may be lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy wherein relational participants are able to create the relationships they 'imagine' in real-life. For example, Murray, Holmes, & Griffin's (2003) found that positive illusions of relationships enabled individuals to be optimistic in their search for meaning, which shaped their beliefs about their circumstances in such a way that made them feel secure, safe, and confident, and which promoted relationship stability. ...
... In the event of the substantial uncertainty of forming a new relationship or in the face of a negative organizational shock, such as the news of impending layoffs, those holding the most idealized impressions of the employment relationship seem to be most at risk from disconfirmation of those beliefs. However, considerable research evidence has shown that positive illusions need not lead to disappointment because both the social world and cognitive-processing mechanisms impose constraints on the extent to which one formulates idealized beliefs (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin 2003;Taylor 1983;Taylor & Brown 1988). ...
Drawing from existing research and concepts in social psychology, we identify “positive illusions” as an important construct for understanding long-term, stable, and satisfying employment relationships. We argue that the cognitive processes that modify the way in which individuals view their world can aid in promoting and enhancing the quality of employment relationships. These largely non-conscious processes often aid in the construction of positively distorted beliefs, referred to as positive illusions, which act to diffuse feelings of uncertainty, and drive satisfaction and commitment in close relationships. Our theoretical analysis suggests the relevance of positive illusions in the context of employment relationships, and highlights its role specifically during negative organizational shocks. We explore theoretical connections and offer testable propositions on the role of positive illusions in understanding employment relationships. These propositions have important theoretical and practical implications for the (a) applicant stage of employment, (b) organizational entry and socialization, and (c) adapting to organizational change.
... By doing so, low self-monitors might subsequently choose to focus largely if not exclusively on their partner's favorable attributes and thereby make a partner's unfavorable attributes less accessible given their relatively infrequent activation. For some individuals, gratuitously favorable mental representations of romantic partners can be instrumental in enhancing relationship satisfaction and stability (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003;Murray et al., 2011). ...
... To the extent that mental representations of romantic partners that are largely, if not exclusively, favorable are associated with desirable relationship outcomes (cf. Fletcher & Boyes, 2008;Murray et al., 2003Murray et al., , 2011, we anticipated that most individuals in a current romantic relationship would have segregated and favorable partner knowledge structures. Given the reasoning outlined above, however, we predicted that low self-monitors would have partner knowledge structures that were more segregated and favorable (i.e., idealized) than those of high self-monitors. ...
... Compared to those high in self-monitoring, low self-monitors idealized their current romantic partners, and these idealized mental representations might be considered positive illusions. Such overly favorable views of romantic partners are particularly likely to occur given insecurity about a relationship's future (Murray et al., 2003(Murray et al., , 2011. Some individuals (i.e., persons with fearful or preoccupied attachment styles) are especially concerned with abandonment by their partners (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). ...
We investigated whether high and low self-monitors had (a) segregated/integrated and (b) uniformly favorable (angelic)/uniformly unfavorable (demonic) mental representations of actual romantic partners. Self-monitoring was assessed using the 25-item Self-Monitoring Scale and the structure of mental representations was calculated using a modified segregation/integration measure. In Study 1, low self-monitors were more likely than high self-monitors to have (a) segregated and (b) disproportionally favorable mental representations of their current romantic partners. In Study 2, low self-monitors were more likely than high self-monitors to have (a) segregated and (b) generally unfavorable mental representations of their former romantic partners. Self-monitoring differences were not moderated in either study by relationship longevity or conflict.
... This self-illusion carries over to more than just views about the overall relationship. Some individuals rate their partner the same or better than themselves and better than others with whom they are not in a relationship (Fowers et al., 2001;Kenny & Acitelli, 2001;Miller & Bailey, 2002;Murray & Holmes, 1999;Murray, Holmes, Bellavia, Griffin, & Dolderman, 2002;Murray et al., 2003). A number of scholars suggest that such positive illusions are important for relationships in that they help partners to feel understood, experience a sense of similarity, overlook one another's faults and maximize each other's strengths, and motivate them to improve their individual behaviors and attitudes in order to be perceived as more favorable by the partner (Murray & Holmes, 1999;Murray et al., 2002Murray et al., , 2003. ...
... Some individuals rate their partner the same or better than themselves and better than others with whom they are not in a relationship (Fowers et al., 2001;Kenny & Acitelli, 2001;Miller & Bailey, 2002;Murray & Holmes, 1999;Murray, Holmes, Bellavia, Griffin, & Dolderman, 2002;Murray et al., 2003). A number of scholars suggest that such positive illusions are important for relationships in that they help partners to feel understood, experience a sense of similarity, overlook one another's faults and maximize each other's strengths, and motivate them to improve their individual behaviors and attitudes in order to be perceived as more favorable by the partner (Murray & Holmes, 1999;Murray et al., 2002Murray et al., , 2003. ...
... There are a variety of ways to compare ratings when both members of a dyad are asked to rate self and other. The existing research, however, demonstrates that it is the comparison between how people rate themselves and how the same people rate their partners that appears to be the most influential in predicting couple outcomes (Busby & Gardner, 2008;Murray & Holmes, 1999;Murray et al., 2002Murray et al., , 2003. ...
The purpose of this research was to understand in greater detail, using 2 samples (Study 1 N = 4,881 heterosexual couples; Study 2 N = 335 heterosexual couples who completed the Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire), how partner or self-enhancement patterns differentially influence relationship outcomes. A multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted comparing 4 outcome measures for different couple types in which individuals rated the partner higher, the same, or lower than they rated themselves on affability. Couples in which both individuals perceived themselves as more affable than the partner experienced poorer results on the relationship outcome measures, whereas couples in which both individuals perceived the partner's personality as more affable than their own experienced more positive relationship outcomes. Additional analyses with structural equation models demonstrated the consistent influence of enhancement measures on relationship outcomes for cross-sectional and longitudinal samples.
... We referred to this as projection in the current study, but it is sometimes called " assumed similarity " or a form of " bias. " Assuming similarity is a common tactic and has been described as a good (or at least useful) strategy to understand human behavior quickly (Funder, Kolar, & Blackman, 1995; Murray et al., 2003; Watson et al., 2000). When in a close relationship, it is likely adaptive to assume similarity. ...
... It also seems important to consider whether accuracy matters as much as individual-perceptual and dyadic aspects of romantic relationships. It is possible that agreement versus disagreement, changes in agreement, and direction of differences between reporters (positive or negative) are more informative depending on the study purpose (e.g., Murray et al., 2000 Murray et al., , 2003 Taylor & Brown, 1988; Taylor, Kemeny, Reed, Bower, & Gruenewald, 2000). The agreement-projection model (Kenny & Acitelli, 2001 ) is a useful method for estimating self-other agreement, individual projection and similarity, as well as extending it to examine individual self-reported correlates of romance behaviors. ...
... Such longitudinal research can reveal how relationship longevity, increasing familiarity and other changes are associated with changes in self-other agreement and bias over time. Multiple authors have called for well-controlled longitudinal studies of self-other agreement and accuracy (Funder, 1995; Letzring et al., 2006; Watson et al., 2000 ) but we could locate only a few studies using longitudinal designs to address these or related questions (Murray et al., 2003; Park, Kraus, & Ryan, 1997; Paulhus & Reynolds, 1995). Taken together, this study identified challenges and future directions for designing methodology to capture the peer context at the same time as providing substantive contributions to knowledge about perceptions of close others and the self at different ages and in relationships at different phases of their development. ...
Capturing the multiple aspects of the romantic peer context is a significant challenge for research. One often recommended option is to use reports of multiple relationship features from both members of the romantic dyad. Using a new measure, we extended an existing model of dyadic perception (Kenny & Acitelli, 2001) to investigate associations between couples' (N = 148) reports about the positive and negative dimensions of their romantic relationships. Differences by participant age and relationship length were examined to test developmental hypotheses, and attachment and well-being were examined as correlates of participants' romantic perceptions. Agreement between partners was low, but associations of individuals' reports about themselves and their partners were high (projection). Agreement about negative romantic behaviors was higher in older compared to younger individuals and agreement about positive behaviors was higher in longer compared to shorter relationships. Partner similarity in negative behavior was higher than similarity in positive behavior. Individuals with better well-being reported more positive romantic behaviors, and attachment security was associated in some cases. Males were more negative about romantic behaviors than females, but there was no gender difference in agreement or projection.
... There are also self-fulfilling reasons. For example, partners in valued relationships are motivated to attribute positive qualities to transgressing partners (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003), make less negative attributions for the offender's role in a transgression (Arriaga & Rusbult, 1998), downplay or cognitively reframe negative partner actions (Holmes & Levinger, 1994), and possess stronger emotional connections, such that they are more likely to take the transgressing partner's perspective (e.g., McCullough et al., 1998). As such, valued relationships can mitigate the moral offensiveness of transgressions, thereby reducing victim impetus to see offenders suffer. ...
... Thus, on one hand, it is possible that if we had manipulated transgression severity (for example), we may have found that the just deserts motive was more likely to have been endorsed for more severe transgressions rather than the behavior control motive. On the other hand, valued relationships can encourage illusory perceptions of partners and their behaviors so as to reduce the perceived moral offensiveness of a transgression (e.g., Murray et al., 2003). Moreover, relations between harm severity and behavior control in these studies were mixed. ...
When individuals in valued relationships are transgressed against, how are they able to protect the relationship while at the same time restore justice for themselves? Study 1 (N = 137) employed a recall design to demonstrate that when victims restore justice, the well-established association between relationship value and forgiveness can be explained indirectly through a motivation to control future behavior. Studies 2 (N = 122) and 3 (N = 115) replicated this finding using experimental designs, manipulating two distinct facets of valued relationships: the fact that they are continuing and close. There were no indirect effects for two alternative justice motives, just deserts and revenge. We discuss implications for relations between justice and forgiveness in the context of interpersonal relationships.
... Both men and women with more positive sexual self-schemas were more likely to perceive their partners as sexually satisfied because they projected their own satisfaction on to their partners. These findings were consistent with past research on partner perceptions, which show that romantic partners create positive illusions of one another, such as increased perceived similarity or perceiving oneself to be more understood by one's partner than that partner's own reported levels of understanding (Kenny & Acitelli, 2001;Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003;Reis & Shaver, 1988). ...
... The current study demonstrated that sexual self-schemas introduce bias into estimates of partner sexual satisfaction but did not speak to whether this bias is dysfunctional or adaptive. The literature on positive illusions tends to show a range of positive individual and relational benefits of holding positive illusions about one's partner (Murray et al., 2003). While it may be that there are benefits to holding a positive illusion about a partner characteristic, there is a resulting tension between our desire for accuracy and illusory beliefs about one's partner. ...
A sexual self-schema is a cognitive generalization about sexual aspects of the self. In the current study, we examined how an individual's sexual self-schema influenced the processing of self and partner related sexual information. Specifically, we investigated how sexual self-schemas related to own and partner sexual satisfaction and how they influenced perceptions of partner sexual satisfaction. Participants were 117 heterosexual couples in committed, long-term relationships. Both partners completed measures assessing their sexual self-schemas, their own sexual satisfaction, and perceptions of partner sexual satisfaction. Consistent with our predictions, own sexual schema was associated with own sexual satisfaction. For men, more positive sexual self-schemas were associated with greater sexual satisfaction, and for women, more negative sexual self-schemas were associated with lower sexual satisfaction. For both men and women, there was no significant association between own sexual self-schema and partner sexual satisfaction. Sexual self-schemas directly and indirectly influenced an individual's perception of the partner's sexual satisfaction, such that men and women with more positive sexual self-schemas rated their partners as more sexually satisfied, after controlling for the partner's self-reported level of sexual satisfaction. Our findings demonstrated that sexual self-schemas are relevant to own sexual satisfaction as well as the processing of interpersonally relevant sexual information, specifically one's perceptions of partner sexual satisfaction.
... Research suggests that dissatisfaction can have negative consequences in the realm of relationships as it may lead individuals to focus more on the flaws of others. On the other hand, individuals who are highly content with their lives tend to have a more positive perspective of their partners (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). ...
The purpose of this study was to fill this research gap by investigating school engagement as a moderator between age and school satisfaction in children and adolescents. School satisfaction and engagement are key indicators of student well-being and academic outcomes. However, research has shown declining levels as students aged. This study tested the hypothesis that decreased school satisfaction with age was amplified by declining school engagement. Participants were 3,177 Romanian students aged 10–19 years. The results of the mediation analysis using Hayes' regression method indicated that, while school satisfaction and engagement were positively correlated, age had a strong negative association. The interaction effect between age and school engagement significantly decreased school satisfaction. The findings show that engagement levels and satisfaction start high for 10–12 year-olds then decline. High school engagement was associated with greater school satisfaction, suggesting that it may have a protective effect. This study highlights the importance of fostering school engagement and satisfaction for children's well-being. Promoting a stimulating and supportive school environment can enhance student interest, enjoyment, and outcomes.
... Furthermore, relational partners' satisfaction is more closely associated with idealistic than realistic perceptions of the partner, which creates feelings of hope and security, and may compensate for disappointments (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 1996b). The underlying assumption of this phenomenon is that people need a sense of conviction when they engage in relationships: They need to believe that they are in the right relationship with the right person (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). It will be crucial to investigate whether this type of idealization or positive illusion may be a critical feature of satisfying relationships in entrepreneurial teams. ...
Several contributions from organizational, strategy and entrepreneurship research emphasize the cofounder relationship as a promising concept to explain the success of growing companies and acknowledge its peculiarities in contrast to conventional group or team behavior. Despite the recognized relevance of the cofounder relationship for organizational success, there has not been any systematic attempt to examine how a cofounder relationship develops in the course of venture creation and growth, even though most start-up teams split up in their first years of founding. As a result, key questions about the origins, evolution and stabilization of the cofounder relationship remain unresolved and a profound understanding of what dynamics of a relationship affect relationship maintenance and business innovation is missing. Drawing on insights from two different research disciplines, couple research and management research, I place the cofounder relationship as a central theoretical concept in the foreground of my research, especially the development of the quality of interaction among the members of a team from the perspective of the founders' subjective expectations of the relationship itself as well as the joint start-up project in order to find out how the founder's relationship and capabilities develop and stabilize over time. To examine these questions, I focus on the most prominent form of cofounder teams, i.e. dyadic team constellations, and draw on the findings of six case studies from a qualitative-exploratory and procedural analysis design to shed light on the phenomenon under study. Based on the theoretical and empirical investigations, this work shows that (1) the cofounder relationship may be better understood by examining the founders’ individual expectations of autonomy and connection in their relationship (relationship expectation) as well as their expectations on the development and growth of their organizations (business expectation) over time, (2) relationship expectations in early stages of business creation are proximity-oriented, whereas cofounders place greater emphasis on autonomy in later stages of development and, ultimately, on achieving a balance of closeness and distance, (3) business expectations in early start-up phases are generally illusory and cofounders focus on converging and overly optimistic goals, whereas over time, individual business expectations are weighted more and the tolerance to accept expectations discrepancies decreases, (4) adapting and synchronizing diverging goal expectations and entrepreneurial actions becomes a critical skill for stable teams, (5) relationship expectations and growth expectations co-evolve in a dynamic way and cofounder relationships embrace contradictory needs that are constantly present and striving for balance, (6) relationship stability can only be achieved by maintaining relationships through an ongoing dialectical flux and by reaching a dynamic equilibrium in relationship definition and satisfaction levels of individuals. Overall, the findings of this dissertation offer contributions to better understanding the complex and multi-dimensional nature of the cofounder relationship as well as the development of internal relationship structures and provide a number of implications for further empirical research.
... These relationship outcomes are also related to self-other mental representations (Aron, Ketay, Riela, & Aron, 2008;Knee & Canevello, 2006) and relationship illusions (e.g. Flecther & Boyes, 2008;Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). Related to these processes, those lower (versus higher) in self-monitoring are more likely to engage in idealization of their current romantic partners but demonization of their former romantic partners (Leone et al., 2016). ...
The purpose of the investigation was to examine how different self-monitoring orientations
would manifest in interpersonal relationship functioning. Protective, but not acquisitive, selfmonitoring was expected to be associated with greater attachment anxiety and attachment
avoidance. Participants completed the Self-Monitoring Scale and the Adult Attachment
Questionnaire with respect to romantic partners (Studies 1a, 1b) and the Experiences in Close
Relationships - Relationship Structures Scale with respect to mothers, fathers, romantic partners
and best friends (Study 2). Across relationship type, those higher in protective self-monitoring
expressed more avoidance and anxiety than did those lower in protective self-monitoring.
Acquisitive self-monitoring was generally unrelated to attachment anxiety and avoidance. It
appears that a self-presentational orientation based on avoiding disapproval contributes to
general uneasiness with intimacy and fear of interpersonal rejection.
... A wealth of evidence concerns positive illusions in romantic relationships, and this has shown that people tend to have unrealistically positive views of their partner, an exaggerated sense of control over relationship outcomes, and unrealistic optimism about the fate of the relationship. Supportive of the idea that positive illusions are beneficial, people demonstrating relationship positive illusions reported more love and trust and less conflict in their relationships, and the stronger their illusions, the more likely they were to still be together one year later (see Murray et al. 2003, for a review). ...
... This motivation might lead to a realization that the current partner is less than ideal, and that a better partner is somewhere out there. Indeed, in a romantic relationship, idealization of the partner is known to be associated with higher relationship satisfaction and stable relationship (e.g., Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). In other words, positive illusion and selfenhancement motives serve well in romantic relationships, in which one might not want to pay too much attention to his/her partner's weaknesses. ...
... Close victims may reduce negative interpretations of a partner's integrity to be consistent with the investment they have made in the relationship and their expectation that the relationship is worth persisting with (Rempel, Ross, & Holmes, 2001). Accordingly, victims within such relationships are motivated to re-interpret bad partner behaviour by downplaying or cognitively re-framing it (Arriaga & Rusbult, 1998), and attribute qualities to transgressing partners that they may not necessarily possess (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). ...
Relationship closeness is one of the best predictors of forgiveness. But what is the process by which closeness encourages forgiveness? Across three studies, we employed a mix of experimental and correlational designs with prospective (N = 108), scenario (N = 71), and recall (N = 184) paradigms to test a multiple mediation model. We found consistent evidence that the positive association between relationship closeness and forgiveness may be explained by levels of post-transgression trust in the offender. Moreover, trust always played the main mediating role in the forgiveness process, even when taking into account several transgression-specific variables associated with both trust and forgiveness (e.g., apology). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of trust as a key indicator of forgiveness in close relationships.
... This fi nding suggests that emotionally intelligent women develop more generous and idealized images of their signifi cant others. Research on these types of positive illusions (Murray, Holmes, & Griffi n, 2003) shows that, over the longer term, it has positive consequences. Partners who sustain positive illusions report less confl ict and greater satisfaction in their relationship (Murray, Holmes, & Griffi n, 1996). ...
This study investigated the relationships between emotional intelligence (EI) and confl ict resolution strategies in romantic heterosexual couples. 164 couples solved the Test of Emotional Intelligence (TIE), a Polish measure based on the ability model of EI, and the Problem-Solving Strategies Inventory (PSSI) in two versions: self-report and a report of partner's behavior. We assumed that individuals high in EI should have superior confl ict resolution skills and engage in active and constructive strategies, avoiding those characterized as passive and destructive. These hypotheses were supported for women, but not for men. Females' EI was consistently positively related to self-report measures of Voice, and negatively related to self-reports of Neglect. Emotionally intelligent men did not declare use of more constructive or positive confl ict resolution styles; however, their female partners judged them as more prone to use of those strategies. The results also revealed a positive assortative mating effect with regard to EI. Additionally , the study demonstrated an interesting disparity between male and female's reports on relationship behaviors.
... Would the same effects be observed when transgressions are enacted in non-close relationships? Reduced closeness could dampen the motivating effects of post-transgression effort, insofar as a transgressor who is not close is less likely to be perceived in a positive light (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003) and therefore less likely to be perceived as deserving, regardless of his or her reparative efforts. ...
For all the well-established benefits of forgiveness for victims, when and how is forgiving more likely to be beneficial? Three experimental studies found that forgiving is more likely to be beneficial when victims perceived reparative effort by offenders such that offenders deserve forgiveness. Deservingness judgements were elicited by manipulating post-transgression offender effort (apology/amends). When offenders apologized (Study 1; recall paradigm) or made amends (Study 2; hypothetical paradigm) and were forgiven-relative to transgressors who did not apologize/make amends but were still forgiven-forgiving was beneficial. These findings-that deserved forgiveness is more beneficial for victims than undeserved forgiveness-were replicated when forgiving itself was also manipulated (Study 3). Moreover, Study 3 provided evidence to indicate that if a victim forgives when it is not deserved, victim well-being is equivalent to not forgiving at all. Of theoretical and practical importance is the mediating effect of deservingness on relations between post-transgression offender effort and a victim's personal consequences of forgiving.
... that allows researchers to formulate and test hypotheses. However, their model predated the research on social cognitions (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). More recent theoretical advances regarding premarital predictors of later marital success have improved on Larson and Holman's model by introducing the developmental processes that couples go through, including "those that reflect individuals' cognitions about and evaluations of their partner" (Niehuis, Huston, & Rosenband, 2006, p. 33). ...
Partner enhancement is an important relational process that has been linked to better relationship outcomes in existing research. However, little is known about variables that might be associated with the practice of partner enhancement. In this study, we utilized an ecosystemic model with a sample of 1,432 couples and an actor/partner interdependence model to explore whether the family of origin, attachment avoidance and anxiety, and social network approval predicted partner enhancement scores. The results indicated that the family of origin was only indirectly associated with partner enhancement through attachment and social network approval. The best predictors of partner enhancement were attachment avoidance and social network approval. Higher scores on actor attachment avoidance were related to higher scores on partner enhancement contrary to expectations. Curiously, partner effects for attachment avoidance were the opposite in that higher scores were associated with lower levels of partner enhancement. Attachment anxiety was associated with lower scores on partner enhancement for both actor and partner effects, and social network approval was associated with higher scores on partner enhancement.
... This mindset could lead to a realization that the current partner is less than ideal, and that a better partner is somewhere out there. Indeed, idealization of the partner is associated with higher relationship satisfaction and stable relationship (e.g., Murray, Holmes, & Griffi n, 2003 ). In other words, positive illusion serves well in romantic relationships, in which one might not want to pay too much attention to his or her partner's weaknesses. ...
This chapter offers a critique of positive emotion research with the goal of suggesting specific ways positive psychology could move forward. Although research on positive emotion has made tremendous inroads in the past decade, several areas need further addressing. First, positive psychology often appears "thin" at this point, partially because it is not founded in a historical perspective. Second, positive psychologists must make an explicit connection with other contemporary research on the topics relevant to positive psychology (e.g. empathy, willpower, cooperation) to broaden its intellectual base. Third, although most people in the US want to be happier and most positive psychologists want to make people happier as well, it is critical to test the tacit assumption of positive psychology that the happier, the better. Fourth, it is important for positive psychologists to acknowledge that negative emotions play a non-trivial role in a well-lived life, and to begin to fully examine how negative emotions fit into positive psychology. Fifth, although recent intervention studies were successful, it is important to examine the longer-term effects of these interventions in the future.
... Oishi et al. (2007) specifically suggested that a positive linear relation does not exist between all levels of LS and presumed adaptive outcomes across all life domains (e.g., social, work, school). Oishi et al. hypothesized that the optimal level of subjective wellbeing would be at the highest level for close social relationships because positive perceptions about significant others help maintain intimacy (Murray et al. 2003). But, Oishi et al. also hypothesized that a moderate level of subjective well-being would represent the optimal level for life outcomes that involve academic achievement and job performance because these involve self-improvement and motivation. ...
Research related to students’ global life satisfaction and their academic and behavioral functioning has yielded varying findings. Some researchers have suggested the possibility that very high levels of life satisfaction may yield decrements in productivity (Oishi et al. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 346-360 2007). Middle school students (N = 917) were surveyed regarding their global life satisfaction, school engagement, and academic performance. We evaluated whether the associations were best characterized linearly or non-linearly (i.e., quadratic) to clarify the associations between life satisfaction and the various academic performance variables. Differing from the findings of Oishi et al., our findings failed to reveal support for the hypothesis of a negative quadratic relation between life satisfaction and most of the academic or student engagement outcomes we examined. To the contrary, statistically significant, positive linear relations were observed between life satisfaction and GPA, math standardized test scores as well as cognitive, emotional and behavioral engagement. A linear relation was not observed between life satisfaction and English Language Arts standardized test scores. Consistent with previous research, these findings provide further support that higher levels of life satisfaction are related to higher levels of student engagement and academic performance in early adolescents. Furthermore, the results are consistent with efforts to expand education reforms to incorporate goals related to increasing students’ well-being as well as their academic success.
... A sexual and/or romantic partner has a potential role as a general support system for the enhancement of self-esteem and agency in the other (Zimmer-Gembeck, 2013). Dyadic research has been undertaken to examine both actor and partner effects in couples (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003;van Dulmen & Goncy, 2010;Welsh & Shulman, 2008). Research that involves couples would extend the current findings to the examination of how the particular beliefs or behaviors of a partner, both within sexual interactions and outside of them, might impact the other partners' sexual and romantic satisfaction and emotional reactions to sex. ...
In this study of 364 young women (18-25 years old), self-efficacy theory and social interactionist perspectives were drawn upon to identify personal and situational factors that could account for sexual and romantic satisfaction and positive and negative emotional reactions to sex. As expected, young women were more satisfied and reported more positive emotional reactions and fewer negative reactions to their most recent sexual encounters, when they had elevated psychological sexual health, such as feeling more entitled to desire and reporting greater sexual self-efficacy. Also supporting study hypotheses, multivariate modeling results showed that young women who reported current steady partners and fewer negative influences of alcohol/other drug use on their sexual behavior were more satisfied and had more positive emotional reactions to sex. Condom use and the number of sexual partners were not uniquely associated with satisfaction or emotional reactions to sex in these models.
... In contrast, once people have decided to pursue a particular relationship goal-for instance, to commit to marriage with their partner-and are committed to determining how, when, and where to implement that goal, they are motivated to enhance that partner to facilitate goal pursuit. This implemental mind-set elicits more positive illusions about the partner (Gagné & Lydon, 2001a, 2001b, which help promote a partner's positive growth in close, established relationships (Murray et al., 1996a(Murray et al., , 1996bMurray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). ...
The authors take a position that high-quality marriages are best defined in terms of theoretically grounded sets of intra- and interpersonal processes that promote both individuals' mental and physical health and the health of their relationship. On the basis of a long-standing research program on communal and exchange relationships, they set forth one set of marital processes, those surrounding the provision of mutual responsiveness, that contribute to marital quality. Then they add an important caveat: Relationship stage matters. They present a model of three additional relationship processes (strategic self-presentation, self-protection, partner evaluation), each of which is proposed to be healthy and normative during relationship initiation but harmful to individuals and relationship functioning if it does not diminish or disappear following marital commitment.
... For example, Diener and Seligman (2002) found that happy people consistently report highly positive social relationships. Extreme satisfaction with intimate relationships, even to the extent of idealization of partners and positive illusions about them, have been found optimal for happiness and well-being, since they promote stable, higher quality relationships (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003;Oishi, Diener, & Lucas, 2007). On the other hand, moderate or low relationship satisfaction can prompt the search for alternative partners (e.g., Rusbult, 1980), which may be detrimental for overall well-being. ...
Increasing recognition is being given to the role that employee overall well-being plays in desired outcomes of today’s organizations. To help organizational leaders searching for understanding and answers, we propose that the positive core construct of psychological capital (or simply PsyCap), consisting of the positive psychological resources of hope, efficacy, resiliency, and optimism can be extended into the well-being domain. Although PsyCap has been clearly demonstrated to be related to employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance, linking it with other life domains relevant to overall well-being has yet to be tested. After first building a comprehensive conceptual foundation for extending PsyCap into the well-being domain, we empirically found that a cross section of employees’ (N = 523) “Relationship PsyCap” and “Health PsyCap” were related to both their respective satisfaction appraisals and desired objective outcomes. In addition, these two extended life satisfactions, along with the already well-established work satisfaction, combined to relate to the appraisal of the study participants’ overall well-being. This well-being was in turn found to be related to their overall level of PsyCap. These findings have implications for helping leaders meet the challenges they face in both understanding and helping develop the overall well-being of their employees.
... This could lead the individual, who does not actually have illusions about the partner but merely sees him or her more positively than the partner sees himself or herself, to be more autonomy supportive of the partner, which would then facilitate the partner coming to see himself or herself in the more veridical, positive light that the partner had not initially seen. 1 As described earlier, self-determined functioning is associated with a more open, flexible, authentic perspective on events in which the person is open to what is occurring with less avoidance or distortion (Hodgins & Knee, 2002). One implication of this for intimate relationships is that autonomously oriented individuals have less need for the positive, idealized illusions that have been proposed to be important for well-being and adjustment in romantic relationships (see S. L. Murray et al., 2003, for review). Preserving illusions forfeits the opportunity to know and love another person in all of his or her glorious imperfection. ...
Self-determination theory can be viewed as a theory of optimal relationship development and functioning. We examine the concept of self that is employed in self-determination theory and explain how its unique definition allows an important and novel characterization of investing one's "self" in romantic relationships. A self-determined perspective on romantic relationships integrates several theories on romantic relationship development, but also goes beyond them by explicitly articulating the personality, developmental, and situational factors that facilitate optimal self-investment and relational functioning. Self-determination promotes openness rather than defensiveness and facilitates perspective-taking, authenticity, and support of close others. The dyadic context of romantic relationships affords great opportunity for theoretical development and integration of self-determination theory with current theories of interdependence and relational well-being.
... Individuals who are not completely satisfied with their current lives are more likely to actively change their life circumstances, such as by searching for alternative partners, than are those who are extremely satisfied with their lives (e.g., Rusbult, 1980). Indeed, positive illusions about one's partner are instrumental in establishing and maintaining intimacy and relationship stability (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). Thus, it might be that the highest levels of happiness lead to the best social relationships. ...
Psychologists, self-help gurus, and parents all work to make their clients, friends, and children happier. Recent research
indicates that happiness is functional and generally leads to success. However, most people are already above neutral in happiness,
which raises the question of whether higher levels of happiness facilitate more effective functioning than do lower levels.
Our analyses of large survey data and longitudinal data show that people who experience the highest levels of happiness are
the most successful in terms of close relationships and volunteer work, but that those who experience slightly lower levels
of happiness are the most successful in terms of income, education, and political participation. Once people are moderately
happy, the most effective level of happiness appears to depend on the specific outcomes used to define success, as well as
the resources that are available.
... Individuals who are not completely satisfied with their current lives are more likely to actively change their life circumstances, such as by searching for alternative partners, than are those who are extremely satisfied with their lives (e.g., Rusbult, 1980). Indeed, positive illusions about one's partner are instrumental in establishing and maintaining intimacy and relationship stability (Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2003). Thus, it might be that the highest levels of happiness lead to the best social relationships. ...
The present research examined whether people feel happier and healthier when they feel more understood in daily social interactions. A two-week diary study showed that people reported greater life satisfaction and fewer physical symptoms on days in which they felt more understood by others. Moreover, we found that individuals who tend to see themselves in relations to others (i.e., women or those scored high on interdependent self-construal measure) showed a stronger association between daily felt understanding and daily life satisfaction or physical symptoms. These findings demonstrate that daily social experiences, such as felt understanding, are associated with daily well-being, particularly for individuals with greater interdependent self-construal.
Perceiving a romantic partner as instrumental to one's goals predicts myriad desirable relationship outcomes. However, little is known about the origins of perceived partner instrumentality (PPI)—particularly about factors that may bias PPI. In two studies, we provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that relationship quality predicts biased PPI. In a dyadic correlational study (Study 1) and an imagined scenario study in which we experimentally manipulated partner instrumentality levels (Study 2), participants reporting higher relationship quality perceived their partners as more instrumental to their goals—even when controlling for depressive symptoms, and when controlling for partner‐reported (Study 1) or enacted partner (Study 2) instrumentality. Additionally, in Study 1 (but not Study 2), relationship quality attenuated a negative association between depressive symptoms and PPI. Study 2 also revealed that perceiving a partner as more instrumental predicted greater intentions to provide instrumental support to that partner in the future. These findings fill important gaps in the instrumentality and relationships literature, identifying antecedents of PPI and offering insights into how PPI may predict relationship functioning.
Romantic passion typically declines over time, but a downward trajectory is not inevitable. Across 3 studies (1 of which encompassed 2 substudies), we investigated whether creativity helps bolster romantic passion in established relationships. Studies 1A and 1B revealed that people with highly creative personalities report not only greater overall passion but also an attenuation in the tendency for passion to decline as relationship duration increases. Studies 2 and 3 explored positive illusions about the partner's physical attractiveness as a possible mediator of the effect of creativity on passion. Cross-lagged panel analyses in Study 2 indicated that being creative is linked to a tendency to view the partner as especially attractive, even relative to the partner's own self-assessment. Path analyses in Study 3 provided longitudinal evidence consistent with the hypothesis that positive illusions about the partner's attractiveness (participant's assessments, controlling for objective coding of the partner's attractiveness) mediate the link between creativity and changes in passion over time. Study 3 also provided longitudinal evidence of the buffering effect of creativity on passion trajectories over time, an effect that emerged not only for self-reported passion but also for objectively coded passion during a laboratory-based physical intimacy task 9 months later. A meta-analytic summary across studies revealed a significant overall main effect of creativity on passion, as well as a significant moderation effect of creativity on risks of passion decline (e.g., relationship length).
In psychological science, mindfulness and compassion are thought to promote physical health, mental well-being and even virtuous character. Yet in Buddhist philosophy, mindfulness and compassion can cause suffering when the two are not balanced. One key mechanism of mindfulness is ‘dereification,’ which amounts to experiencing one’s thoughts just as thoughts and not as real representations of the world. If one focuses solely on thoughts as unreal representations, one can simply dismiss all such activity, leading to apathy. Compassion can be problematic if one gets caught up in other-cherishing and if others’ aspirations and needs fail to align with those that one has imposed upon others. In this article, we review how the integration of mindfulness and compassion yields a novel framework to examine flourishing. As a case study, we apply these insights to the science of relationships, which leads to a re-conceptualization of ‘individual’ flourishing.
Cette recherche examine les effets de la satisfaction cumulée, de la confiance et de l'engagement vis-à-vis d'une marque sur la décision de participer à son boycott. L'étude montre que leurs influences diffèrent selon la nature du boycott (instrumental / expressif). Quatre résultats distinguent les deux boycotts expressifs envisagés: 1) la gravité perçue de l'acte de l'entreprise et/ou la crédibilité du message médiatisent totalement leurs effets sur la décision de boycott; 2) la satisfaction cumulée produit un effet de contraste alors que l'engagement génère un effet d'assimilation (minimisation de la faute); 3) la crédibilité du message favorise la participation au boycott; 4) le volume de consommation limite uniquement la participation au boycott social. Des implications stratégiques pour les organisations de consommateurs comme pour les entreprises sont ensuite précisées.
Recent scholars have dismissed the utility of self-esteem as
well as programs designed to improve it. The authors
challenge these contentions on conceptual, methodological, and empirical grounds. They begin by proposing that
the scope of recent analyses has been overly narrow and
should be broadened to include specific as well as global
self-views. Using this conceptualization, the authors place
recent critiques in historical context, recalling that similarly skeptical commentaries on global attitudes and traits
inspired theorizing and empirical research that subsequently restored faith in the value of both constructs.
Specifically, they point to 3 strategies for attaining more
optimistic assessments of the predictive validity of selfviews: recognizing the utility of incorporating additional
variables in predictive schemes, matching the specificity of
predictors and criteria, and using theoretically informed
standards for evaluating predictor– criterion relationships.
The authors conclude that self-views do matter and that it
is worthwhile and important to develop and implement
theoretically informed programs to improve them.
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between positive illusions, relationship commitment and attributions among married individuals. Demographic Information Form, Positive Illusion Scale, Relationship Attribution Measure and Relationship Stability Scale were administered to 347 married individuals. Results showed that relationship satisfaction was the best predictor variable of positive marital illusions. In contrast, number of children, quality of alternatives, motivation and blame variables were negative predictors of positive marital illusions. Males reported more idealistic distortion than females did. Participants with high education levels scored higher on marital satisfaction, idealistic distortion and marital ideals than did participants with low education levels. Females with low education levels had the lowest positive illusions. Finally, participants grouped according to their levels of positive illusions were compared in terms of relationship commitment variables and attribution styles. In comparison to individuals with low and middle positive illusions, high positive illusion group had significantly higher scores on relationship satisfaction, relationship investment and relationship commitment. In contrast, individuals with low positive illusion levels had higher scores on quality of alternatives, causality and responsibility attributes. As a result, marital positive illusions are strongly related to relationship commitment.
This chapter highlights the contributions that have been made by personality and social psychology, respectively and together, to the science of well-being. Since its humble beginning in the 1930s, the science of well-being has grown to become one of the most vibrant research topics in psychological science today. The personality tradition of well-being research has shown that it is possible to measure well-being reliably, that self-reported well-being predicts important life outcomes, and that well-being has nontrivial genetic origins. The social psychology tradition has illuminated that there are various cultural meanings of "well-being," that responses to well-being questions involve multiple cognitive processes, that happiness is experienced often in relationship contexts, and that it is possible to improve one's well-being. Finally, there are recent methodological integrations of the personality and social psychology perspectives that delineate person-situation interactions and gene-environment interactions.
Using longitudinal ethnographic data on low-income rural and urban mostly single mothers, I explore the romance-seeking behaviors of women whose intimate relationships are characterized by multiple-partner fertility (MPF). MPF involves mothers and/or their love interests having biological children with other partners, frequently in nonmarital, transient unions. Romance comprises mothers' feelings and social interactions related to being chosen, erotic love, and adulation of the other. Findings indicate most mothers selectively engaged in one of four types of romance-seeking behaviors: casual, illusionist, pragmatic, or strategic. Mothers' romantic actions are associated with their desires to have loving experiences outside the challenges of daily life in poverty and its corollary uncertainty. Moreover, mothers involved in the most complex forms of MPF openly compete with other women for "first wife" status in a stratified partnering system called rostering-a term coined by respondents in the ethnographies reported here. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed. © 2014 by The American Academy of Political and Social Science.
This research examines the effects of cumulative satisfaction, trust and brand commitment on consumers' decision to boycott. The study shows that their influence varies according to the type of boycott (instrumental versus expressive). Four results distinguish the two expressive boycotts considered: 1) the perceived egregiousness of the company's act and/or the message credibility totally mediate their effects on the boycott decision; 2) cumulative satisfaction enhances a contrast effect whereas brand commitment generates an assimilation effect (minimization of the fault); 3) the message credibility enhances boycott participation; 4) the volume of consumption decreases only social boycott participation. Strategic implications for consumer organizations and companies are then specified.
Research showing the distinct influence of positive attributes on relationships has been growing. This study examined the impact of husbands’ and wives’ dispositional optimism on their own and partner’s relationship satisfaction, consensus, and cohesion using data from the National Survey of Families and Households. Results indicate that wives’ optimism influences their own later marital satisfaction as well as their husbands’ later marital satisfaction. However, husbands’ optimism did not appear to influence their own nor their wives’ later satisfaction. Potential interventions for increasing optimism in the therapeutic setting are discussed.
Participants read a scenario describing the potentially embarrassing situation of a couple dancing in a club, surrounded by people, where one member of the couple is dancing awkwardly and attracting the attention of the others in the club. The scenario was written so that participants imagined that their partner was the one dancing awkwardly. Participants were then asked about their perceptions and emotional reactions. Results indicate that a cognitive measure of relationship closeness (Aron, Aron, Tudor, & Nelson, 1991) predicted participant’s reported embarrassment. These findings are discussed in light of past research (Thornton, 2003), which did not find a behavioral measure of relationship closeness (Berscheid, Snyder, & Omoto, 1989) to be predictive of embarrassment.
This book is an exploration into the dynamics of interpersonal relationships, and how the spiritual quest for union is tempered by the human desire for freedom. Since being in an intimate relationship is not the cause of happiness, a major focus of this book is to help the readers understand the need to take responsibility for their own happiness. Only when people learn to understand their own happiness, regardless of being in a relationship, will they be able to cultivate a successful relationship because they want a relationship, and not because they think they need a relationship to be happy.
Abstract The present investigation aims to identify individual strengths that may benefit efforts toward marital enhancement. Ninety-two married couples from the Southeastern United States completed questionnaires measuring positive affectivity, optimism, coping skills, personal expansion, and marital satisfaction. Results indicate that perceptions of a spouse's positive affectivity, as well as one's own positive affectivity, are related to relationship satisfaction. In addition, positive affectivity contributed to satisfaction above and beyond negative affectivity. Finally, optimism, coping skills, and personal expansion appear to be important resources for marriage via their association with each partner's affectivity. The discussion considers these results in the context of marital enhancement and relationship flourishing.
Research to date has assumed linearity in the relationships been school satisfaction (SS), with more positive presumed outcomes associated with increasing levels of school satisfaction (cf. Huebner & Gilman, 2006). Given recent concerns over possible negative consequences associated with the very highest levels of general subjective well-being (Oishi, Diener, & Lucas, 2007), this study investigated the relationships of very high levels of SS, in particular, to measures of academic achievement and interpersonal relationships among middle school students. Analyses based on those of Oishi et al. demonstrated that for both academic achievement and interpersonal relationship measures, the non-linear effect was not significant for this sample of US middle school students. Limitations of the study as well as implications for future research are discussed.
Recent decades have witnessed the development of competency-based, collaborative approaches to working with clients. This article reveals how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) becomes Positive CBT, with a shift in the focus of therapy from what is wrong with clients to what is right with them, and from what is not working to what is. The concept of Positive CBT, aimed at improving the well-being of clients and their therapists, draws on research and applications from Positive Psychology and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. A FBA of exceptions to the problem and the ‘upward arrow’ instead of the ‘downward arrow’ technique are two of the many practical applications of Positive CBT, described in this article. Further research is necessary due to its recent development.
Abstract This study examined accuracy and bias within people's perceptions of a spouse's emotionally supportive behavior in the United States. Hypotheses stated that people's self-reported supportiveness, their marital satisfaction, and outside observers' ratings of their partner's support predict people's perceptions of their partner's supportiveness. Married dyads (N = 100) completed measures of marital satisfaction, engaged in a discussion about personal stressors, and rated their own and their spouse's emotional support during the interaction. Third-party observers also provided a rating of each partner's emotionally supportive behavior. For husbands and wives, perceptions of partner support were positively associated with their own supportiveness and the partner's observable supportive communication. Marital satisfaction predicted greater perception of partner support for wives, but not for husbands.
The major goal of this chapter is to explain why people display self-verification strivings, with special emphasis on how these strivings are adaptive for people trying to maintain enduring relationships. We begin by discussing the nature and boundary conditions of self verification processes, with special attention to the relationship of self-verification strivings to positivity strivings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Despite the central importance of sexuality to human well-being, the study of sexuality remains
marginalized within health psychology, which hampers the ability of clinicians and policy-makers
to promote comprehensive health and well-being. In this review we discuss the evidence that sexual
functioning makes critical contributions to human health, focusing specifically on findings
linking sexual activity to morbidity and mortality, to the health-promoting effects of intimate relationships,
and to processes of emotion regulation. We argue that researchers studying the psychology
of health and well-being should more substantively integrate sexuality into their research
agendas. Health psychologists’ specific expertise in investigating and interpreting complex, reciprocal
associations between subjective emotional states, health-relevant cognitions, and health-relevant
behavior can make a notable contribution to elucidating some of the most intruiging correlations
between sexuality and health that have emerged from medical and epidemiological studies. If we
want to foster optimum physical and mental health among youths and adults, we must rigorously
investigate the multiple mechanisms through which positive sexual functioning plays a unique and
fundamental role in human well-being across the life course.
The present study examined the role of daily and retrospective judgments of well-being and relationship satisfaction in relationship longevity. Participating couples completed a 14-day diary report of well-being and relationship satisfaction. After the daily diary survey, they evaluated the 14-day period. Participants also rated their global relationship satisfaction at that time. Retrospective judgments of daily well-being predicted later relationship status better than daily ratings of well-being did, whereas daily ratings of relationship domain satisfaction predicted later status better than retrospective judgments of daily relationship domain satisfaction did. Furthermore, global relationship satisfaction predicted later relationship status better than daily ratings of relationship domain satisfaction did. In general, global, summary judgments had a greater predictive value of future relationship status than did specific, daily judgments. Finally, synchronicity of daily fluctuations of well-being between partners predicted later relationship status.
Recent research has underscored the importance of gratitude to psychological and physical well-being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), and has shown that gratitude can help facilitate the development of close relationships (Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008). To date, however, little is known about gratitude among long-term married couples. The present investigation aims to examine the association between gratitude and marital satisfaction at both the individual and dyadic level. Furthermore, this study was designed to clarify the unique contributions of both feeling and expressing gratitude in marriage. Fifty couples (both husbands and wives) with a mean relationship length of 20.7 years participated in this study. Daily diary methodology was used to collect each individual’s self-reported ratings of felt and expressed gratitude as well as relationship satisfaction for 2 weeks. Consistent with hypotheses, results indicate that one’s felt and expressed gratitude both significantly relate to one’s own marital satisfaction. Cross-partner analyses indicate that the individual’s felt gratitude also predicts the spouse’s satisfaction, whereas surprisingly his or her expressed gratitude does not. Results are discussed in the context of relationship enhancement both at the individual and dyadic level.
In this article we describe some of the benefits and challenges of using self ratings and ratings of the partner to measure empathy and similar terms in couple research. If both members of the dyad are assessed, there will be four measures of the same variable. How to use these 4 measures in research and clinical work is a central question in this paper. We demonstrate 3 different latent models that can be used to analyze these ratings based on different theoretical premises. Using empathy as the independent variable with a longitudinal sample of 275 couples, structural equation models are used to evaluate the strength of these models in predicting relationship satisfaction. The findings indicate that the model that is consistent with the social constructionist perspective that focuses on the perceptions within the same person is a good fit to the data. Other models that compare ratings between members of the dyad do not fit the data well. The results demonstrate that perceptions of empathy do have a significant influence on relationship satisfaction across time, especially for females. However, it is largely males' perceptions of empathy of the self and the partner that influence relationship satisfaction for females.
We propose that because self-concepts allow people to predict (and thus control) the responses of others, people want to find support for their self-concepts. They accordingly gravitate toward relationship partners who see them as they see themselves. For people with negative self-views, this means embracing relationship partners who derogate them. Our findings confirmed this reasoning. Just as persons with positive self-concepts were more committed to spouses who thought well of them than to spouses who thought poorly of them, persons with negative self-concepts were more committed to spouses who thought poorly of them than to spouses who thought well of them.
This research studies naturally occurring thoughts about relationships to test hypotheses regarding the tendency to perceive one 's own relationship as superior to others' relationships. Using a thought-listing technique, four experiments conducted in the United States and two experiments conducted in the Netherlands demonstrated that subjects hold more positive beliefs about their own relationships than other relationships (positive superiority) and hold fewer negative beliefs about their own relationships than other relationships (negative superiority). Also, subjects' beliefs about their own relationships are composed of far more positive than negative information (own relationship positivity), whereas perceptions of other relationships are dominated by negative information (other relationships negativity). These findings were obtained when subjects listed positive and negative thoughts regarding global features of relationships; parallel findings emerged for descriptions of constructive and destructive reactions to specific dissatisfying incidents.
It is proposed that the cognitive structures that help sustain relationships depend on individuals embellishing the significance of virtues and minimizing the significance of faults within hierarchical, integrated representations of their partners. As a means of measuring representation structure, dating individuals were asked to write narratives describing their relationships and their partners' greatest faults and to complete card-sort descriptions of their partners. The results revealed that satisfied individuals find redeeming features in their partners' faults, construct "yes, but" refutations that minimize specific faults, and link virtues to faults within integrated, more general mental models. Moreover, these structural effects emerged in analyses that controlled for representation content. Impressively, the very stability of relationships depended on individuals forming such integrative mental ties in their representations of their partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
in this chapter we will examine the development and impact of trust in the context of close relationships
we will begin with a definition of trust and a discussion of its roots in individuals' interpersonal histories
we will go on to explore the development of trust in intimate relationships, emphasizing how its foundations are colored by the seminal experiences that mark different stages of interdependence
we will then consider the various states of trust that can evolve and their consequences for people's emotions and perceptions in established relationships (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It is hypothesized that people possess implicit theories regarding the inherent consistency of their attributes, as well as a set of principles concerning the conditions that are likely to promote personal change or stability. The nature of these theories is discussed in the context of a study of beliefs about life-span development. It is then suggested that people use their implicit theories of self to construct their personal histories. This formulation is used to interpret the results of a wide-ranging set of studies of memory of personal attributes. It is concluded that implicit theories of stability and change can lead to biases in recall. The extent and practical implications of these biases are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It is proposed that individuals develop story-like representations of their romantic partners that quell feelings of doubt engendered by their partners' faults. In Study 1, dating individuals were induced to depict their partners as rarely initiating disagreements over joint interests. Such conflict avoidance was then turned into a fault. In scaled questionnaires and open-ended narratives, low-conflict individuals then constructed images of conflict-engaging partners. These results suggest that storytelling depends on considerable flexibility in construal as low-conflict Ss possessed little evidence of conflict in their relationships. Study 2 further examined the construal processes underlying people's ability to transform the meaning of negativity in their stories (e.g., seeing virtues in faults). Paradoxically, positive representations of a partner may exist, not in spite of a partner's faults, but because of these imperfections. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Commitment to a relationship is affected by the quality of one's alternatives to that partnership, but one must be aware of those alternatives in order for them to be influential. In a study of the links between attention to one's alternatives and relational outcomes, participants described their relationships, inspected slides of attractive opposite-sex targets, and, 2 months later, reported whether their relationships had ended. Satisfaction with, investment in, commitment to, and adjustment in a dating relationship were negatively correlated with reports of vigilance toward desirable alternatives to that relationship. In the lab, those who had earlier claimed to be attentive to alternatives really did spend more time inspecting pictures of attractive opposite-sex targets. Moreover, there was no better predictor of relationship failure than high attentiveness to alternatives. Inattentiveness may be a maintenance mechanism that helps to preserve and protect desirable relationships. Even if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, happy gardeners will be less likely to notice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Hypothesized that self-relevant values (C. Steele, 1988) may be an antecedent variable that predicts commitment (CM) in the face of adversity (AD). Study 1, a cross-sectional study of students' ongoing personal projects, revealed that the perceived value relevance (VR) of the projects interacted with the degree of experienced AD in predicting felt CM. Whereas VR was unrelated to CM under low AD, it was positively related to CM under high AD. This interaction accounted for significant variance independent of C. E. Rusbult's (e.g., see record
1981-10400-001) investment model of CM in the face of AD. Study 2 was a longitudinal investigation of students engaged in term-long volunteer projects. VR and initial reports (IR) of CM were measured at the beginning of the term, and AD and subsequent reports of CM were measured at the end of the term. VR at the outset subsequently predicted CM in the face of AD. Moreover, IRs of CM did not account for the variance explained by the interaction of IRs of VR and subsequent reports of AD. Thus, VR predicted, in a positive direction, latent differences in CM that were manifest in the face of AD. Those who saw their projects as value relevant at the outset were more likely to feel committed in the face of AD at the end of the term. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the self-fulfilling influences of social stereotypes on dyadic social interaction. Conceptual analysis suggests that a perceiver's actions based upon stereotype-generated attributions about a specific target individual may cause the behavior of that individual to confirm the perceiver's initially erroneous attributions. A paradigmatic investigation of the behavioral confirmation of stereotypes involving physical attractiveness (e.g., "beautiful people are good people") is presented. 51 male "perceivers" interacted with 51 female "targets" (all undergraduates) whom they believed to be physically attractive or physically unattractive. Tape recordings of each participant's conversational behavior were analyzed by naive observer judges for evidence of behavioral confirmation. Results reveal that targets who were perceived (unknown to them) to be physically attractive came to behave in a friendly, likeable, and sociable manner in comparison with targets whose perceivers regarded them as unattractive. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Proposes a theory of cognitive adaptation to threatening events. It is argued that the adjustment process centers around 3 themes: A search for meaning in the experience, an attempt to regain mastery over the event in particular and over life more generally, and an effort to restore self-esteem through self-enhancing evaluations. These themes are discussed with reference to cancer patients' coping efforts. It is maintained that successful adjustment depends, in a large part, on the ability to sustain and modify illusions that buffer not only against present threats but also against possible future setbacks. (84 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It is proposed that satisfaction is associated with idealistic, rather than realistic, perceptions of one's partner. To provide baselines for assessing relationship illusions, both members of married and dating heterosexual couples were asked to rate themselves and their partners on a variety of interpersonal attributes. Participants also rated the typical and ideal partner on these attributes. Path analyses revealed that individuals' impressions of their partners were more a mirror of their self-images and ideals than a reflection of their partners' self-reported attributes. Overall, intimates saw their partners in a more positive light than their partners saw themselves. Furthermore, these idealized constructions predicted greater satisfaction. Individuals were happier in their relationships when they idealized their partners and their partners idealized them. Taken together, these results suggest that a certain degree of idealization or illusion may be a critical feature of satisfying dating and even marital relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
propose a model of the intimacy process
the process begins when one person expresses personally revealing feelings of information to another
it continues when the listener responds supportively and empathically
for an interaction to become intimate the discloser must feel understood, validated, and cared for
psychodynamic building blocks / building blocks from communication and exchange research / lay and psychometric conceptions of intimacy (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It is proposed that motivation may affect reasoning through reliance on a biased set of cognitive processes--that is, strategies for accessing, constructing, and evaluating beliefs. The motivation to be accurate enhances use of those beliefs and strategies that are considered most appropriate, whereas the motivation to arrive at particular conclusions enhances use of those that are considered most likely to yield the desired conclusion. There is considerable evidence that people are more likely to arrive at conclusions that they want to arrive at, but their ability to do so is constrained by their ability to construct seemingly reasonable justifications for these conclusions. These ideas can account for a wide variety of research concerned with motivated reasoning.
Many prominent theorists have argued that accurate perceptions of the self, the world, and the future are essential for mental health. Yet considerable research evidence suggests that overly positive self-evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism are characteristic of normal human thought. Moreover, these illusions appear to promote other criteria of mental health, including the ability to care about others, the ability to be happy or contented, and the ability to engage in productive and creative work. These strategies may succeed, in large part, because both the social world and cognitive-processing mechanisms impose filters on incoming information that distort it in a positive direction; negative information may be isolated and represented in as unthreatening a manner as possible. These positive illusions may be especially useful when an individual receives negative feedback or is otherwise threatened and may be especially adaptive under these circumstances.
Tested the notion that dissonance has arousal properties in a 2 * 3 design with 77 male college freshmen. 3 groups of Ss were induced to write counterattitudinal essays under either high- or low-choice conditions. Group 1 was led to believe that a pill, which they had just taken in the context of a separate experiment, would lead them to feel tense. Group 2 was led to believe that the pill would cause them to feel relaxed. Group 3 expected the pill to have no side effects whatsoever. In this last condition, the results yielded the usual dissonance effect: high choice produced more attitude change in the direction of the essay than low choice. When Ss could attribute their arousal to the pill, this effect was virtually eliminated. When Ss felt they should have been relaxed by the pill, this effect was significantly enhanced. Implications of these results for L. Festinger's 1957 statement that dissonance is a drivelike state are discussed. (17 ref)
It is proposed that satisfying, stable relationships reflect intimates' ability to see imperfect partners in idealized ways. In this study of the long-term benefits (or possible costs) of positive illusions, both members of dating couples completed measures of idealization and well-being 3 times in a year. Path analyses revealed that idealization had a variety of self-fulfilling effects. Relationships were most likely to persist-even in the face of conflicts and doubts-when intimates idealized one another the most. Intimates who idealized one another more initially also reported relatively greater increases in satisfaction and decreases in conflicts and doubts over the year. Finally, individuals even came to share their partners' idealized images of them. In summary, intimates who idealized one another appeared more prescient than blind, actually creating the relationships they wished for as romances progressed.
The degree to which an individual perceives interpersonal acceptance as being contingent on successes and failures, versus relatively unconditional, is an important factor in the social construction of self-esteem. The authors used a lexical-decision task to examine people's "if. . . then" expectancies. On each trial, participants were shown a success or failure context word and then they made a word-nonword judgment on a second letter string, which sometimes was a target word relating to interpersonal outcomes. For low-self-esteem participants, success and failure contexts facilitated the processing of acceptance and rejection target words, respectively, revealing associations between performance and social outcomes. Study 2 ruled out a simple valence-congruency explanation. Study 3 demonstrated that the reaction-time pattern was stronger for people who had recently been primed with a highly contingent relationship, as opposed to one based more on unconditional acceptance. These results contribute to a social-cognitive formulation of the role of relational schemas in the social construction of self-esteem.
Two studies used a thought-listing technique to examine perceived superiority, or the inclination to regard one's own relationship as better than (and not as bad as) others' relationships. Consistent with the claim that this is a motivated phenomenon-and motivated in part by strong commitment-Study 1 revealed that (a) tendencies toward perceived superiority and (b) the commitment-superiority link are both strongest given psychologically threatening instructions and weakest given accuracy instructions (control instructions are intermediate). Consistent with the claim that this phenomenon serves a functional purpose, Study 2 revealed that earlier perceived superiority predicts later relationship status (persisted vs. ended) and increases over time in dyadic adjustment. Also, commitment accounts for unique variance in perceived superiority beyond self-esteem.
This research examined partner and relationship perceptions and ideal standards in 100 individuals over time, from the 1st to the 12th month of their dating relationships. As expected, the results revealed that (a) individuals evaluated their relationships on both distinct evaluative components and global evaluative dimensions, (b) higher ideal-perception consistency was associated with higher perceived quality of relationships and partners, (c) more positive perceptions of partners and relationships at earlier points in time were associated with more importance being placed on relevant ideals over time but not vice versa, and (d) higher levels of ideal-perception consistency predicted lower rates of relationship dissolution but were mediated through perceptions of relationship quality. These results support the ideal standards model (Fletcher & Simpson, in press).
The authors argue that people are happiest in their relationships when they believe they have found a kindred spirit, someone who understands them and shares their experiences. As reality may not always be that accommodating, however, intimates may find this sense of confidence by egocentrically assuming that their partners are mirrors of themselves. Both members of dating and married couples completed measures of satisfaction and felt understanding. They also described their own and their partners' traits, values, and day-to-day feelings. The results revealed that people in satisfying and stable relationships assimilated their partners to themselves, perceiving similarities that were not evident in reality. Such egocentrism predicted greater feelings of being understood, and feeling understood mediated the link between egocentrism and satisfaction in marriage.
A daily diary study examined how chronic perceptions of a partner's regard affect how intimates interpret and respond to daily relationship stresses. Spouses each completed a diary for 21 days. Multilevel analyses revealed that people who felt less positively regarded read more into stressful events than did people who felt highly regarded, feeling more hurt on days after acute threats, such as those posed by a moody or ill-behaved partner. Intimates who felt less valued responded to feeling hurt by behaving badly toward their partner on subsequent days. In contrast, intimates who felt more valued responded to feeling hurt by drawing closer to their partner. Ironically, chronically activated needs for belongingness might lead people who are trying to find acceptance to undermine their marriage.
A longitudinal daily diary study examined how chronic perceptions of a partner's regard for oneself might affect the day-to-day relational contingencies of self-esteem. Married partners each completed a diary for 21 days, and completed measures of satisfaction twice over the year. Multilevel analyses revealed that people who chronically felt more positively regarded compensated for one day's acute self-doubts by perceiving greater acceptance and love from their partner on subsequent days. In contrast, people who chronically felt less positively regarded by their partner internalized acute experiences of rejection, feeling worse about themselves on days after they feared their partner's disaffection. Over the year, such self-esteem sensitivity to rejection predicted declines in the partner's satisfaction.
Hypothesized that self-relevant values (C. Steele, 1988) may be an antecedent variable that predicts commitment (CM) in the face of adversity (AD). Study 1, a cross-sectional study of students' ongoing personal projects, revealed that the perceived value relevance (VR) of the projects interacted with the degree of experienced AD in predicting felt CM. Whereas VR was unrelated to CM under low AD, it was positively related to CM under high AD. This interaction accounted for significant variance independent of C. E. Rusbult's (e.g., see record 1981-10400-001) investment model of CM in the face of AD. Study 2 was a longitudinal investigation of students engaged in term-long volunteer projects. VR and initial reports (IR) of CM were measured at the beginning of the term, and AD and subsequent reports of CM were measured at the end of the term. VR at the outset subsequently predicted CM in the face of AD. Moreover, IRs of CM did not account for the variance explained by the interaction of IRs of VR and subsequent reports of AD. Thus, VR predicted, in a positive direction, latent differences in CM that were manifest in the face of AD. Those who saw their projects as value relevant at the outset were more likely to feel committed in the face of AD at the end of the term.
This chapter examines social psychological implications of human subjectivity—implications of the fact, and perhaps more importantly the insight, that people are governed not by the passive reception and recognition of some invariant objective reality, but by their own subjective representations and constructions of the events that unfold around them. The history of the subjective-objective distinction, first in some traditional theoretical and methodological concerns of social psychology, and then human motivation are discussed in this chapter. Social cognition, a research area that has held center stage in the field for most of the past two decades is expalined. The particular focus will be the problem of situational construal and its contribution to the difficulties of predicting social actions and making inferences or attributions about social actors. Construal processes are variable and uncertain, and they contribute heavily to the variability and unpredictability of a wide range of social responses. The second and less familiar thesis, social perceivers, fail to recognize, or at least fail to make adequate inferential allowance for, these “vagaries” of construal. People characteristically make attributions and other social judgments, and decisions predicated on a kind of naive realism. The process of subjective construal is fundamental to psychological inquiry at all levels of analysis.
In a paper presented at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research Founder's Day Symposium in honor of Dorian Cartwright, the author discusses issues related to the theoretical analysis of structures in social psychology. The possibility of tracing the origins of many human tendencies to situational structures for which those tendencies provide good adaptations is considered, in view of what is seen as a need to interrelate and organize the varied social-psychological research findings of the past decades. To bring order to these phenomena, it is hypothesized that motives, needs, and the like have their origins in the structures of situations that people commonly confront. To develop this hypothesis, an analysis conducted by the author and J. W. Thibaut (1978) concerning tendencies that are important to dyadic interpersonal relations (e.g., to cooperate, compete, and to follow the lead of another) is summarized. Attention is paid to Cartwright's area of interest—structural balance—and its implications for the situational structure hypothesis. Comments on the paper by A. Zander and J. R. French, Jr. are included. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
[provide an] analysis of working models with regard to adult attachment / [consider] the structure and content of these models, including how they may differ for adults with different attachment styles / use [developmental literature] as a point of departure for suggesting how models of self and others are likely to be characterized in adulthood / consider how these models function and the processes through which they shape cognitive, emotional, and behavioral response patterns / incorporate attachment theory with a broader literature in cognitive social psychology on the role of mental representations in social functioning / [consider] the processes through which working models are likely to undergo adaptation and change (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article argues that satisfaction in marriage is associated with motivated and benevolent biases in perception. Married couples individually completed measures of relationship satisfaction and described themselves and their partners on a series of virtues and faults. They also nominated friends who described each spouse on the identical qualities. The results revealed that intimates in satisfying marriages perceive more virtue in their partners than their friends or their partners themselves perceive. They also possess partners who see them in this benevolently distorted light. In contrast, intimates in less satisfying marriages perceive less virtue in their partners than their friends or their partners themselves perceive. The findings are discussed in terms of the role motivated cognition plays in sustaining satisfying relationships.
Two experiments were designed to demonstrate the existence of a self-fulfilling prophecy mediated by nonverbal behavior in an interracial interaction. The results of Experiment 1, which employed naive, white job interviewers and trained white and black job applicants, demonstrated that black applicants received (a) less immediacy, (b) higher rates of speech errors, and (c) shorter amounts of interview time. Experiment 2 employed naive, white applicants and trained white interviewers. In this experiment subject-applicants received behaviors that approximated those given either the black or white applicants in Experiment 1. The main results indicated that subjects treated like the blacks of Experiment 1 were judged to perform less adequately and to be more nervous in the interview situation than subjects treated like the whites. The former subjects also reciprocated with less proximate positions and rated the interviewers as being less adequate and friendly. The implications of these findings for black unemployment were discussed.
Attachment and loss Attachment Passionate love The psychology of love
- Englewood Cliffs
- Nj: Prentice Hall
- J Bowlby
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. London: Hogarth Press. Brehm, S. S. (1988). Passionate love. In R. J. Sternberg & M. L. Barnes (Eds.), The psychology of love (pp. 232–263). New Ha-ven, CT: Yale University Press.
Romantic love and sexual jealousy
- E Berscheid
- J Fei
Berscheid, E., & Fei, J. (1977). Romantic love and sexual jealousy. In G. Clanton & L. G. Smith (Eds.), Jealousy (pp. 101–109).