Please be genuine, don’t friendzone me: Effects of Target and Source Emotional Expression

Abstract

Much of the work on emotional expression has focused on it as a general construct as a whole. However, emotion expression has been found to differ across targets, and emotions. In addition this paper proposes that emotional expression can be decomposed into target, emotion and source of emotion. Questionnaire tapping on these dimensions were distributed and results showed that these factors interact. Focusing on expression to best friends and romantics, the latter tend to be more expressive about negative source-target congruent emotions.

Full text

Running head: TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 1
Please be genuine, don’t friendzone me:
Effects of Target and Source Emotional Expression
Koh Hao Kiat Kevin
Department of Psychology
National University of Singapore
Author Note
In partial fulfillment of the course requirement of PL3261.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 2
Abstract
Much of the work on emotional expression has focused on it as a general construct as a whole.
However, emotion expression has been found to differ across targets, and emotions. In addition
this paper proposes that emotional expression can be decomposed into target, emotion and source
of emotion. Questionnaire tapping on these dimensions were distributed and results showed that
these factors interact. Focusing on expression to best friends and romantics, the latter tend to be
more expressive about negative source-target congruent emotions.
Keywords: target, source, emotional expression

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 3
Please be genuine, don’t friendzone me:
Effects of Target and Source Emotional Expression
During daily social interaction, people inevitably express various emotions. Emotional
expression has been a topic of interest in social psychology over the past decade. It has
previously been linked to child adjustment (Chaplin, Cole, & Zahn-Waxler, 2005), health (Berry
& Pennebaker, 1993) and even social status conferral (Brescoll & Uhlmann, 2008). Classic
research has found that females are generally more expressive than males (Brody & Hall, 2008),
especially when expressing positive emotions (Kring & Gordon, 1998). Much of the work has
focused on emotional expression as a general construct as a whole, occasionally investigating the
effect of the valence of the emotion expressed (Borod, Koff, Yecker, Santschi, & Schmidt, 1998).
Little has been done to uncover the effects of the target of expression and source that induced the
emotion on expressiveness.
Expression can be further decomposed into the target of expression, the emotion involved
in the expression and also the source that induced the emotion in the first place. Such expression
of emotion can be rather informative of the quality of the relationship. In fact, emotion
experience has been found to differ across expression targets (Strzyzewskiaune & Comstock,
1991), where the authors found that the expression of jealousy was greater in romantic
relationships than in friendships. As such, these findings could be extended to include other
emotions, such as those with negative valence, would be expected to differ across expression
targets.
No research has been found thus far that looked into the effects of the source that induced
the emotion to be expressed. It is believed that the source would affect expressivity as there may
be inhibition to express certain emotions that are caused by the target of expression. This may be

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 4
especially true for emotions with negative valence as social motives to preserve the relationship
with the target would motivate the individual to inhibit expressing negative emotions caused by
the target of expression. This effect may be moderated by the type or status of the relationship,
specifically, when relationship reaches the romantic stage, authenticity may become a more
important consideration than inhibition of negative emotion expression (Wickham, 2013). This
would be in line with the finding that more genuine expression of emotions are found in romantic
partners than friends, as there would be less emotional regulation.
Thus it may be possible to tell if a person has been ‘friendzoned’: the partner would still
have reservations in expressing negative emotions originating from themselves. For example,
one would expect yourself to be friendzoned if the partner does not readily express
disappointment when their birthday is forgotten.
As such, I hypothesize that expression to differing targets would have a differential effect
on emotion and source’s relation with expressiveness itself. Expression towards romantic
partners should differ from expression to best friends depending on the valence of the emotion
expressed and the source that induced the emotion. Explicitly, people tend to express more
negative emotions induced by the target of expression as compared to negative emotions induced
by a third party when expressing emotions to romantic partners than best friends.
Methodology
108 undergraduate students (16 males, 92 females) participated in a study of “Emotions
in Relationships” in exchange for experimental credit. They completed two questionnaires, one
of which contains items that tap on their emotional expressiveness towards different targets and
the other taps on their personality variables. The data set was previously obtained from the

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 5
participants prior to the formulation of this study, thus not all of the data from the questionnaires
described have been utilized in the study.
Emotional Expressiveness Questionnaire
The first questionnaire (Annex A) contained single items that assessed relationship
specific parameters, specifically, intimacy, communality, avoidance and anxiety orientation. In
addition, there are items that measured the likeliness of the respondent to express various
emotions (happiness/joy, anger, contentment and hurt/disappointment) induced by either the
target of expression or by a third party. These questions were repeated for six targets of
expression (mother, father, sister or brother, same-sex casual friend, same-sex best friend and
romantic partner).
The single item that accessed relationship intimacy was adapted from Laurenceau,
Barrett, & Pietromonaco (1998), rated on a 7-point scale (1 = not intimate at all, 5 = extremely
intimate). The single item that measured relationship communality was adapted from Clark,
Oullette, Powell, & Milberg (1987), rated on a 7-point scale (1 = not communal at all, 7 = very
strongly communal). The single items that evaluated relationship anxiety and avoidance were
adapted from the Self-Report Measures of Adult Attachment (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998),
rated on a 7-point scale (1 = not at all like this, 7 = completely like this). The items that measured
emotion expressiveness across targets of expression, emotion and source of emotion inducement
were rated on a 7-point scale (1 = Very likely to Suppress, 4 = Neither actively suppress nor
actively express, 7 = Very likely to Express)
Personality Variables Questionnaire
The second questionnaire (Annex A) contained items that measured adult attachment
from the Self-Report Measures of Adult Attachment (Brennan et al., 1998), the Behavioral

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 6
Avoidance/Inhibition (BIS/BAS) scales (Carver & White, 1994) and the Positive Affect and
Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). It also contained a
question to record to gender of the respondents.
The Self-Report Measures of Adult Attachment is a 36-item measure that measures
assessing the attachment orientation, which consists of two subscales, avoidance, α = .96 and
anxiety, α = .92, each comprises of 18 items. Responses were made on a Likert scale ranging
from 1 (Disagree strongly) to 7 (Agree strongly).
The Behavioral Avoidance/Inhibition is a 20-item measure1 that assesses the sensitivity of
the behavioral approach system that regulates appetitive motives and the behavioral avoidance
system that regulates aversive motives. It consists of four subscales, BAS drive, α = .79, BAS
fun seeking, α = .77, BAS reward responsiveness, α = .69 and BIS, α = .72. Responses were
made on a Likert Scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree).
The PANAS is a 20-item scale that measures the mood of the individual. It comprises of
two subscales, positive affect and negative affect, α = .43 for both subscales. Respondents rated
their mood on a Likert scale from 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5 (extremely).
Results
In order to test the hypothesis that different targets, source inducing the emotion and the
emotion of expression interact to have an effect on expressiveness above and beyond the effects
of gender, a three-way within subject analysis of covariance was conducted using a pair-wise
treatment for missing data (e.g. respondents did not have romantic partners before) with gender
as the covariate. To simply the analysis, the levels of emotion were collapsed, specifically,
happiness and contentment were combined to form positive emotional expression, anger and
disappointment were combined to form negative emotional expression. Although the levels of

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 7
interest of the targets consists of best friends and romantic partners, all six levels of the targets
were included to obtain a more representative error term.
Three-way Interaction of Target by Source by Emotion
The omnibus analysis revealed a significant three-way interaction between target, source
and emotion, F(5, 405) = 8.98, MSE = .447, p < .001, η2 = .100, with Huynh-Feldt adjusted dfs
= 4.91, 397.86, p < .001. This implies that different targets may differentially affect the
interacting relationship of source and emotion on expressivity.
Since the three-way interaction is significant, interpreting the two-way interactions and
main effects would not be meaningful. Thus follow-up test of the simple interactions of source
by emotion on expressiveness was conducted using contrasts comparisons. The simple
interaction of source by emotion on expressiveness at the target level of best friend was found to
be significant, F(1, 81) = 36.20, p < .001 (Figure 1). The simple interaction of source by emotion
on expressiveness at the target level of romantic partner was also found to be significant, F(1,
81) = 12,82, p = .001 (Figure 2). The results suggests that the emotion differentially affects the
effects of source on expressiveness.
The simple simple main effects of source at each level of emotion and target are
presented in Table 1. All the simple simple main effects of source were found to be significant,
implying that across all level of emotion and target (best friend and romantic partner), source had
an effect on expressiveness. Specifically, expression of a positive emotion induced by the target
would be higher than a positive emotion induced by a third party, while expression of a negative
emotion induced by the target would be lower than a similar emotion induced by a third party at
both levels of target. The estimated marginal means of expressiveness at each level of target,
source and emotion are presented in Table 2.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 8
Contrasting Interactions of Source by Emotion
In order to test the second hypothesis that expression towards romantic partners should
differ from expression to best friends depending on the valence of the emotion expressed and the
source that induced the emotion, the contrast of the complex interaction of source by emotion,
comparing best friends against romantic partners was found to be significant, F(1, 81) = 6.91, p
= .010 (comparing Figure 1 & 2). This implied that the interaction of source by emotion on
expressiveness differed when expressing to best friends as compared to romantic partners.
Comparing Main Effects of Source at Levels of Emotion
To confirm the last hypothesis that people tend to express more negative emotions
induced by the target of expression as compared to negative emotions induced by a third party
when expressing emotions to romantic partners than best friends, a contrast analysis of the
complex simple main effect of source at the negative emotion level, comparing best friends
against romantic partners was performed. The contrast was found to be significant, F(1, 81) =
7.76, p = .007 (Figure 3). The same contrast was repeated for the positive emotion level and was
not found to be significant, F(1, 81) = 0.27, p = .603 (Figure 4). Thus it can be inferred that
people do express more negative emotions induced by the target than a third party (estimated
marginal means available at Table 2), more so to a romantic partner than to a best friend (Figure
3). However, people do not differ in the magnitude in which they express more positive emotions
induced by the target of expression, comparing romantic partners to best friends (Figure 4).
Discussion
The current study demonstrated that expressiveness could be broken down into 3
domains, namely target of expression, emotion of the expression and also the source that induced
the emotion for expression. Each factor had interacted with each other to affect expressiveness.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 9
This study focused on contrasting these effects at the best friend vs romantic partner levels of
target to tease out the individual effects of source of emotion as it is a relatively unexplored
factor. Source was found to interact with emotion a when expressing emotion to both a best
friend or a romantic partner. In addition, when expression negative emotions, people express
more of such emotions that are induced by target than third party, even more to a romantic
partner than to a best friend. This may be driven by the need of authenticity in romantic
relationship, thus leading to a reduction of emotional regulation (Wickham, 2013).
Implications
The current work may provide hints to which, if the prospective romantic partner of an
individual expresses to the individual much more negative emotions such as anger, hurt and
disappointment that was caused by the individual, it may be an indication that the prospective
romantic partner does indeed treat the individual romantically rather than being ‘friendzoned’.
In addition, this study illuminates the domains of expressiveness that can be explored in
that, it is contributed to by solely the emotion to be expressed, the target of expression and even
the source of the emotion plays a role too and is worthy of investigation.
Limitations
The current study has a highly skewed gender composition in its sample (14.8% males),
which may cause the gender covariate to weigh highly on the females. Perhaps a spilt data
approach may be considered for re-analysis the of data. However, it may result in a poor estimate
of the error term in the male sample due to its small sample size.
The items for best friend were actually restricted to same-sex best friends, which may
differ fundamentally from opposite-sex best friends, which is more descriptive of the
‘friendzone’ situation. As such, this may limit the generalizability of the study.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 10
The study actually contained 125 items, which is pretty long for a single sitting. This may
implicate fatigue and cause acquiescence bias. This is especially aggravated by the fact that items
in the emotional expression questionnaire was repeated several times. If the items were
randomized, such biases may be reduced.
The current work focused only on best friends and romantic individuals and ignored the
rest of the levels of the targets. Future work may look into finding trends in other levels of the
data beyond what was demonstrated in this study. For example, the family (father, mother and
siblings) environment and climate may cause effects on expression (Simpson, Andrew, Tran, &
Haydon, 2007).
Conclusion
Expressiveness can be broken down into 3 domains, namely target of expression, emotion
of the expression and also the source that induced the emotion for expression. Since romantic
partners express more negative ‘feedback’ that originates from their partner, a lack of such a sign
may indicate that one has been ‘friendzoned’

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 11
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during emotional expression: Gender, valence, and measurement technique.
Neuropsychologia, 36(11), 1209–1215. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(97)00166-8
Brennan, K. A., Clark, C. L., & Shaver, P. R. (1998). Self-report measurement of adult
attachment: An integrative overview. In J. A. Simpson & W. S. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment
theory and close relationships (pp. 46–76). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.
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Expression: Gender Differences and Relations to Child Adjustment. Emotion, 5(1), 80–
88. http://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.5.1.80
Clark, M. S., Oullette, R., Powell, M. C., & Milberg, S. (1987). Recipient’s mood, relationship
type, and helping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(1), 94.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 12
Kring, A. M., & Gordon, A. H. (1998). Sex differences in emotion: Expression, experience, and
physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(3), 686–703.
http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.3.686
Laurenceau, J.-P., Barrett, L. F., & Pietromonaco, P. R. (1998). Intimacy as an interpersonal
process: the importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner
responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 74(5), 1238.
Simpson, J. A., Andrew, W., Tran, S., & Haydon, K. C. (2007). Attachment and the experience
and expression of emotions in romantic relationships: A developmental perspective.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(2), 355–367.
http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.2.355
Strzyzewskiaune, K., & Comstock, J. (1991). Experience and expression of jealousy: comparison
between friends and romantics. Psychological Reports, 69(1), 315–319.
http://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1991.69.1.315
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TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 13
Footnotes
1The original BIS/BAS scale consists of 24 items, four of which are filler items. In this
study, the scale was adapted with the four filler items removed. The rest of the items were not
modified.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 14
Tables
Table 1
Simple Simple Main Effect of Source on Expressiveness at each level of Target and Source
Target
Emotion
F value
(df, dferror)
p value
Best Friend
Positive
6.20
(1, 81)
.015
Negative
20.84
(1, 81)
<.001
Romantic Partner
Positive
5.01
(1, 81)
.028
Negative
4.59
(1, 81)
.035

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 15
Table 2
Estimated Marginal Means
Target
Emotion
Source
Mean Expressiveness
(Standard Error)
Best Friend
Positive
Target
6.51 (0.07)
Third Party
6.16 (0.11)
Negative
Target
4.87 (0.17)
Third Party
5.74 (0.14)
Romantic Partner
Positive
Target
6.59 (0.07)
Third Party
6.39 (0.09)
Negative
Target
5.70 (0.14)
Third Party
6.02 (0.13)

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 16
Figures
Figure 1. Graph of the estimated marginal means of expressiveness at the target level of best
friend.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 17
Figure 2. Graph of the estimated marginal means of expressiveness at the target level of romantic
partner.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 18
Figure 3. Graph of the estimated marginal means of expressiveness at the negative emotion level.
*

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 19
Figure 4. Graph of the estimated marginal means of expressiveness at the positive emotion level.
n.s
.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 20
Annex A
Subj. # _________
Please think of one person who fits each category. If more than one person is possible, choose
whoever you prefer, but use this person throughout the questionnaire. Note his/her initials or a
nickname to help you remember which person you are describing later on.
1. your mother ....................................................................................................
2. your father .....................................................................................................
3. a sister or brother .................................................................... (or N/A) if you don’t have one
4. one of your casual same-sex friends .............................................................
5. your same-sex best friend .............................................................................
6. your romantic partner, i.e. boyfriend or girlfriend ......................................... (or N/A)
If you are not currently involved in a romantic relationship, please think of one from the recent
past.
In the following parts of this study, when a specific relationship is mentioned, please answer the
question by thinking about your relationship with the target you chose above.
Intimacy
By intimacy, we are talking about a relationship in which you and the other feel close to each
other, and in which you feel that the other really knows you and what is important to you. In an
intimate relationship, you are willing to disclose and to try to understand each other’s thoughts
and feelings, you are willing to discuss personal experiences, beliefs, hopes and fears and,
moreover, you enjoy the pleasant companionship of being with each other. However, the quality

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 21
might not at all be relevant to some relationships listed below. In this case, circle “1” as your
response. Now, please indicate how intimate your relationship with each of the following
persons is:
not intimate at all extremely intimate
my mother and I -------------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my father and I ---------------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my brother/sister and I ------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my casual friend and I ------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my best friend and I ---------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my romantic partner and I -------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
NOTE. this is relationship intimacy. adapted from
http://www.affective-science.org/pubs/1998/LaurenFBPl1998.pdf
Communal Relationship
Here we are talking about a relationship in which the other responds to your needs without
requiring or expecting a comparable benefit in return. Also, people in a communal relationship
do not keep track of who has provided what to whom, but they do keep track of who needs what.
If this quality is not at all relevant to some of the relationships, circle “1”. Now, please indicate
how communal your relationship with each of the following persons is:
not communal at all very strongly communal
my mother and I -------------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my father and I ---------------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 22
my brother/sister and I ------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my casual friend and I ------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my best friend and I ---------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my romantic partner and I -------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
NOTE. this is relationship communality. Adapted from
http://www.fetzer.org/sites/default/files/images/stories/pdf/selfmeasures/CollectiveOrientation-
CommunalOrientationScale.pdf
Relationship Style (1)
The following statement describes how a person may feel or act in a relationship. Read it
carefully, and indicate how well it applies to the targets you listed before.
“I try to avoid getting too close to him/her. I find it difficult to allow myself to depend on
him/her. I prefer not tell him/her about everything, not to discuss my problems and
concerns. When he/she gets too close to me, I feel nervous or uncomfortable, and I find
myself pulling back. In times of need, I prefer not to turn to him/her for comfort, advice,
help or reassurance.”
If this description is not at all relevant to some of the relationships, circle “1”.
not at all like this completely like this
my mother and I -------------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my father and I ---------------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my brother/sister and I ------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my casual friend and I ------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 23
my best friend and I ---------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my romantic partner and I -------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
NOTE. this is relationship anxiety. adapted from
http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/measures/brennan.html
Relationship Style (2)
The following statement describes how a person may feel or act in a relationship. Read it
carefully, and indicate how well it applies to the targets you listed before.
“I worry a lot about my relationship with him/her, and if he/she cares about me as much
as I care about him/her. I often wish that his/her feelings for me were as strong as my
feelings for him/her. I need a lot of reassurance that I am loved by him/her. I get
frustrated when he/she doesn’t show interest in me, and if he/she is not available when I
need him/her. When he/she disapproves of me, I feel really bad about myself.”
If this description is not at all relevant to some of the relationships, circle “1”.
not at all like this completely like this
my mother and I -------------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my father and I ---------------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my brother/sister and I ------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my casual friend and I ------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my best friend and I ---------------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7
my romantic partner and I -------- 1 ------ 2 ------ 3 ------ 4 ------ 5 ------ 6 ------ 7

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 24
NOTE. this is relationship anxiety. adapted from
http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/measures/brennan.html
Emotions in Relationship
This section concerns your willingness to express certain feelings and emotions to specific target
persons.
The following questions ask what you would do if the target person did something to make you
strongly feel a certain way.
“Suppress” means that you would try not to show the target person how you were feeling.
“Express” means that you would try to show the target person how you were feeling.
My Mother
Very likely to Neither actively Very likely to
Suppress suppress nor Express
actively express
When my happiness/joy was caused by my mother ------------------------- 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 ----- 7
When my anger was caused by my mother ---------------------------------- 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 ----- 7
When my contentment was caused by my mother -------------------------- 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 ----- 7
When my hurt/disappointment was caused by my mother ----------------- 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 ----- 7
The second part questions ask what you would be willing to do with the target person if
something or someone other than this person made you strongly feel a certain way.
Very likely to Neither actively Very likely to
Suppress suppress nor Express
actively express
Something other than my mother made me feel happy/joyful ------------- 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 ----- 7

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 25
Something other than my mother made me feel angry --------------------- 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 ----- 7
Something other than my mother made me feel contented ----------------- 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 ----- 7
Something other than my mother made me feel hurt/disappointed ------- 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 ----- 7
Note. Participants answered the same set of 8 questions with the target person being the other
five others (father, sibling, casual friend, best friend, and romantic partner).
Personal Information
Gender: Female / Male
Experiences in Close Relationships
Instructions: The following statements concern how you feel in romantic relationships. We are
interested in how you generally experience relationships, not just in what is happening in a
current relationship. Respond to each statement by indicating how much you agree or disagree
with it. Write the number in the space provided, using the following rating scale:
1 ................. 2 ................. 3 ................. 4 ................. 5 ................. 6 ................. 7
Disagree strongly Neutral/ mixed Agree strongly
_____ 1. I prefer not to show a partner how I feel deep down.
_____ 2. I worry about being abandoned.
_____ 3. I am very comfortable being close to romantic partners.
_____ 4. I worry a lot about my relationships.
_____ 5. Just when my partner starts to get close to me I find myself pulling away.
_____ 6. I worry that romantic partners won’t care about me as much as I care about them.
_____ 7. I get uncomfortable when a romantic partner wants to be very close.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 26
_____ 8. I worry a fair amount about losing my partner.
_____ 9. I don’t feel comfortable opening up to romantic partners.
_____10. I often wish that my partner’s feelings for me were as strong as my feelings for him/her.
_____11. I want to get close to my partner, but I keep pulling back.
_____12. I often want to merge completely with romantic partners, and this sometimes scares them away.
_____13. I am nervous when partners get too close to me.
_____14. I worry about being alone.
_____15. I feel comfortable sharing my private thoughts and feelings with my partner.
_____16. My desire to be very close sometimes scares people away.
_____17. I try to avoid getting too close to my partner.
_____18. I need a lot of reassurance that I am loved by my partner.
_____19. I find it relatively easy to get close to my partner.
_____20. Sometimes I feel that I force my partners to show more feelings, more commitment.
_____21. I find it difficult to allow myself to depend on romantic partners.
_____22. I do not often worry about being abandoned.
_____23. I prefer not to be too close to romantic partners.
_____24. If I can’t get my partner to show interest in me, I get upset or angry.
_____25. I tell my partner just about everything.
_____26. I find that my partner(s) don’t want to get as close as I would like.
_____27. I usually discuss my problems and concerns with my partner.
_____28. When I’m not involved in a relationship, I feel somewhat anxious and insecure.
_____29. I feel comfortable depending on romantic partners.
_____30. I get frustrated when my partner is not around as much as would like.
_____31. I don’t mind asking romantic partners for comfort, advice, or help.
_____32. I get frustrated if romantic partners are not available when I need them.
_____33. It helps to turn to my romantic partner in times of need.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 27
_____34. When romantic partners disapprove of me, I feel really bad about myself.
_____35. I turn to my partner for many things, including comfort and reassurance.
_____36. I resent it when my partner spends time away from me.
REF: http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/measures/brennan.html
BIS/BAS scale
Listed below are a number of statements concerning personal attitudes and characteristics. Please
read each statement and consider the extent to which you TYPICALLY OR GENERALLY agree
or disagree with it using the scale below.
1 ..................... 2 ..................... 3 ..................... 4 ..................... 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
_____ 1. When I see an opportunity for something I like, I get excited right away.
_____ 2. I worry about making mistakes.
_____ 3. I'm always willing to try something new if I think it will be fun.
_____ 4. I go out of my way to get things I want.
_____ 5. Even if something bad is about to happen to me, I rarely experience fear or nervousness.
_____ 6. When good things happen to me, it affects me strongly.
_____ 7. I have very few fears compared to my friends.
_____ 8. When I get something I want, I feel excited and energized.
_____ 9. Criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit.
_____10. I crave excitement and new sensations.
_____11. When I go after something I use a "no holds barred" approach.
_____12. If I think something unpleasant is going to happen I usually get pretty "worked up".

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 28
_____13. When I want something, I usually go all-out to get it.
_____14. I feel pretty worried or upset when I think or know somebody is angry at me.
_____15. If I see a chance to get something I want, I move on it right away.
_____16. It would excite me to win a contest.
_____17. I will often do things for no other reason than that they might be fun.
_____18. I feel worried when I think I have done poorly at something.
_____19. When I'm doing well at something, I love to keep at it.
_____20. I often act on the spur of the moment.
REF: http://www.midss.org/sites/default/files/bis.pdf
Note. the four filter questions are not included here; moreover, the order of the items is different.
and a different scale is used here.
PANAS Scale
The scale consists of a number of words that describe different feelings and emotions. Read each
item and then mark the appropriate answer in the space next to that word. Indicate to what extent
you have felt each of these emotions during the past week. Use the following scale to record your
answer.
1 ..................... 2 ..................... 3 ..................... 4 ..................... 5
very slightly or not at all a little moderately quite a bit extremely
______ interested _______ irritable
______ distressed _______ alert

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 29
______ excited _______ ashamed
______ upset _______ inspired
______ strong _______ nervous
______ guilty _______ determined
______ scared _______ attentive
______ hostile _______ jittery
______ enthusiastic _______ active
______ proud _______ afraid
REF: www.brianrlance.com/s/Clark-Tellegen-Watson-1988-PANAS.pdf
http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780123745170/Chapter%203/Chapter_3_Worksheet_3.1.pdf

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 30
Appendix B
* Encoding: UTF-8.
/*Merging of data*/
GET
FILE='D:\OneDrive\PL3261\Term Paper\term paper data emot.sav'.
MATCH FILES /FILE=*
/FILE='D:\OneDrive\PL3261\Term Paper\term paper data personal.sav'
/BY id.
EXECUTE.
SAVE OUTFILE='D:\OneDrive\PL3261\Term Paper\term paper data merged.sav'
/*Recode Items & Calculate scale scores*/
RECODE att03 att15 att19 att22 att25 att27 att29 att31 att33 att35 (1=7) (2=6) (3=5) (4=4) (5=3)
(6=2) (7=1).
RECODE bisbas05 bisbas07 (1=5) (2=4) (3=3) (4=2) (5=1).
*Scale reliability analysis.
RELIABILITY
/VARIABLES=att01, att03, att05, att07, att09, att11, att13, att15, att17, att19, att21,

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 31
att23, att25, att27, att29, att31, att33, att35
/SCALE('Avoidance') all
/MODEL=ALPHA.
RELIABILITY
/VARIABLES=att02, att04, att06, att08, att10, att12, att14, att16, att18,att20, att22,
att24, att26, att28, att30, att32, att34, att36
/SCALE('Anxiety') all
/MODEL=ALPHA.
RELIABILITY
/VARIABLES=bisbas04, bisbas13, bisbas15, bisbas11
/SCALE('BAS-drive') all
/MODEL=ALPHA.
RELIABILITY
/VARIABLES=bisbas03, bisbas17, bisbas20, bisbas10
/SCALE('BAS-fun seeking') all
/MODEL=ALPHA.
RELIABILITY
/VARIABLES=bisbas19, bisbas08, bisbas01, bisbas06, bisbas16
/SCALE('BAS-reward responsiveness') all

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 32
/MODEL=ALPHA.
RELIABILITY
/VARIABLES=bisbas05, bisbas09, bisbas12, bisbas18, bisbas07, bisbas02
/SCALE('BIS') all
/MODEL=ALPHA.
RELIABILITY
/VARIABLES=panas01, panas03, panas05, panas07, panas09, panas11, panas13, panas15,
panas17, panas19
/SCALE('pa') all
/MODEL=ALPHA.
RELIABILITY
/VARIABLES=panas02, panas04, panas06, panas08, panas10, panas12, panas14, panas16,
panas18, panas20
/SCALE('na') all
/MODEL=ALPHA.
COMPUTE avd = MEAN(att01, att03, att05, att07, att09, att11, att13, att15, att17, att19, att21,
att23, att25, att27, att29, att31, att33, att35).
COMPUTE anx = MEAN(att02, att04, att06, att08, att10, att12, att14, att16, att18,att20, att22,
att24, att26, att28, att30, att32, att34, att36).

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 33
COMPUTE basd = MEAN(bisbas04, bisbas13, bisbas15, bisbas11).
COMPUTE basfs = MEAN(bisbas03, bisbas17, bisbas20, bisbas10).
COMPUTE basrr = MEAN(bisbas19, bisbas08, bisbas01, bisbas06, bisbas16).
COMPUTE bis = MEAN(bisbas05, bisbas09, bisbas12, bisbas18, bisbas07, bisbas02).
COMPUTE pa = MEAN(panas01, panas03, panas05, panas07, panas09, panas11, panas13,
panas15, panas17, panas19).
COMPUTE na = MEAN(panas02, panas04, panas06, panas08, panas10, panas12, panas14,
panas16, panas18, panas20).
VARIABLE LABELS
avd 'adult_avoidance_orientation'
anx 'adult_anxiety_oritentation'
basd 'behavioural_approach_system-drive'
basfs 'behavioural_approach_system-fun seeking'
basrr 'behavioural_approach_system-reward_responsiveness'
bis 'behavioural_inhibition_system'
pa 'positive_affect'
na 'negative_affect'.
EXECUTE.
*Clean item scores to leave scale scores.
DELETE VARIABLES avoid anxiety att01 to panas20.

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 34
DATASET NAME DataSet1.
SAVE OUTFILE='D:\OneDrive\PL3261\Term Paper\term paper data merged & recoded.sav'
/*Exploratory Data Analysis*/
FREQUENCIES VARIABLES = id to na
/FORMAT=NOTABLE
/ORDER=ANALYSIS.
DESCRIPTIVES VARIABLES = id to na
/STATISTICS=MEAN STDDEV MIN MAX.
EXAMINE VARIABLES= id to na
/PLOT BOXPLOT NPPLOT
/COMPARE VARIABLES
/STATISTICS DESCRIPTIVES
/CINTERVAL 95
/MISSING REPORT
/NOTOTAL.
*Merge same valence emotions expressiveness.
COMPUTE mompe1 = MEAN(momhap1,momcot1).

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 35
COMPUTE momne1= MEAN(momang1, momdis1).
COMPUTE mompe2 = MEAN(momhap2,momcot2).
COMPUTE momne2= MEAN(momang2, momdis2).
COMPUTE fatpe1 = MEAN(fathap1,fatcot1).
COMPUTE fatne1= MEAN(fatang1, fatdis1).
COMPUTE fatpe2 = MEAN(fathap2,fatcot2).
COMPUTE fatne2= MEAN(fatang2, fatdis2).
COMPUTE sibpe1 = MEAN(sibhap1,sibcot1).
COMPUTE sibne1= MEAN(sibang1, sibdis1).
COMPUTE sibpe2 = MEAN(sibhap2,sibcot2).
COMPUTE sibne2= MEAN(sibang2, sibdis2).
COMPUTE cafpe1 = MEAN(cafhap1,cafcot1).
COMPUTE cafne1= MEAN(cafang1, cafdis1).
COMPUTE cafpe2 = MEAN(cafhap2,cafcot2).
COMPUTE cafne2= MEAN(cafang2, cafdis2).
COMPUTE bsfpe1 = MEAN(bsfhap1,bsfcot1).
COMPUTE bsfne1= MEAN(bsfang1, bsfdis1).
COMPUTE bsfpe2 = MEAN(bsfhap2,bsfcot2).
COMPUTE bsfne2= MEAN(bsfang2, bsfdis2).

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 36
COMPUTE rompe1 = MEAN(romhap1,romcot1).
COMPUTE romne1= MEAN(romang1, romdis1).
COMPUTE rompe2 = MEAN(romhap2,romcot2).
COMPUTE romne2= MEAN(romang2, romdis2).
EXECUTE.
COMPUTE ee=MEAN(momhap1 to romdis2).
EXECUTE.
/*Data Analysis*/
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/EMMEANS=TABLES(Target*Source*Emotion) WITH (gender=MEAN)
/PRINT= ETASQ
/PLOT=PROFILE(Source*Emotion*Target)
/PLOT=PROFILE(Source*Target*Emotion)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 37
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender
/MMATRIX 'simple interaction of Souce x Emotion at Best Friend'
all 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 -1 -1 1
0 0 0 0.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 38
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender
/MMATRIX 'simple interaction of Souce x Emotion at Romantic Partner'
all 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 -1 -1 1.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender
/MMATRIX 'complex interaction of Souce x Emotion'
all 0 0 0 0

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 39
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 -1 -1 1
-1 1 1 -1.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender
/MMATRIX 'complex simple main effect of Source at Positive Emotion'
all 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 0 -1 0
-1 0 1 0.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 40
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender
/MMATRIX 'complex simple main effect of Source at Negative Emotion'
all 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 -1 0 1
0 1 0 -1.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 41
/MMATRIX 'simple simple effect of source of emotion on expressiveness at positive emotion
and best friend'
all 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 0 -1 0
0 0 0 0.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender
/MMATRIX 'simple simple effect of source of emotion on expressiveness at negative
emotion and best friend'
all 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 42
0 1 0 -1
0 0 0 0.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender
/MMATRIX 'simple simple effect of source of emotion on expressiveness at positive emotion
and romantic partner'
all 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 0 -1 0.
GLM mompe1 to romne2 WITH gender
/WSFACTOR=Target 6 Source 2 Emotion 2
/MEASURE=Expressiveness

TARGET, SOURCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION 43
/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/WSDESIGN=Target Source Emotion Target*Source Target*Emotion Source*Emotion
Target*Source*Emotion
/DESIGN=gender
/MMATRIX 'simple simple effect of source of emotion on expressiveness at negative
emotion and romantic partner'
all 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 1 0 -1.