Commitment insurance: compensating for the autonomy costs of interdependence in close relationships

Gratitude Increases Recipients’ Commitment Through Automatic Partner Evaluations, Yet Unreciprocated Gratitude Decreases Commitment Through Deliberative Evaluations

Feelings of gratitude motivate intimates to maintain valuable relationships. However, it is unknown whether expressions of gratitude similarly increase recipients’ relationship commitment. Two experiments tested the idea that expressions of gratitude simultaneously increase and decrease recipients’ commitment via different interpersonal evaluations, and reciprocity of gratitude determines the implications of such expressions. In Study 1, couples exchanged letters that did or did not express gratitude. Study 2 was a high-powered, preregistered experiment that led participants to believe they were or were not grateful for their partners, and their partners were or were not grateful for them. Both studies subsequently assessed automatic partner evaluations, deliberative partner and self-evaluations, and relationship commitment. Results demonstrated that intimates automatically evaluated partners who expressed gratitude more favorably and thus became more committed; however, if intimates did not reciprocate such gratitude, their deliberate self-evaluations became more favorable than their partner evaluations, and thus they became less committed.

The social-safety system: Fortifying relationships in the face of the unforeseeable

A model of the social-safety system is proposed to explain how people sustain a sense of safety in the relational world when they are not able to foresee the behavior of others. In this model, people can escape the acute anxiety posed by agents in their personal relational world behaving unexpectedly (e.g., spouse, child) by defensively imposing well-intentioned motivations on the agents controlling their sociopolitical relational world (e.g., President, Congress). Conversely, people can escape the acute anxiety posed by sociopolitical agents behaving unexpectedly by defensively imposing well-intentioned motivations on the agents controlling their personal relational world. Two daily diary studies, a longitudinal study of the 2018 midterm election, and a 3-year longitudinal study of newlyweds supported the hypotheses. On a daily basis, people who were less certain they could trust their romantic partner defended against acutely unforeseeable behavior in one relational world by affirming faith in the well-intentioned motivations of agents in the alternate world. Moreover, when people were more in the personal daily habit of finding safety in the alternate relational world in the face of the unexpected, those who were initially uncertain they could trust their romantic partner later evidenced greater comfort depending on their personal relationship partners. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Relationship Problem Solving (RePS) Model: How Partners Influence One Another to Resolve Relationship Problems

In this article, we synthesize existing literatures across numerous domains to introduce a novel model-the Relationship Problem Solving (RePS) model-for understanding the process through which romantic partners influence one another to resolve relationship problems. The first section briefly describes the key constructs and stages of the model. The second section details the interpersonal behaviors that influence various intrapersonal factors (e.g., affect, self-efficacy) that ultimately influence partners' motivation and ability to progress through the stages of the model. The third section uses the model to generate novel predictions that suggest that the effectiveness of these interpersonal behaviors often depends on contextual factors. Finally, the fourth section discusses the implications of this model for understanding relationship problem solving, highlights the need to consider the role of context in the problem-solving process, and offers numerous specific predictions to be addressed by future research.

Does Drinking Together Promote Relationship Intimacy? Temporal Effects of Daily Drinking Events

OBJECTIVE

Although research has documented harms associated with drinking within intimate relationships, there is evidence that some drinking patterns-characterized by congruent or shared partner drinking-may be associated with positive relationship functioning. The present dyadic daily diary study allowed us to consider whether congruent drinking events and drinking with partner increase the likelihood of experiencing intimacy with one's partner within the next few hours.

METHOD

Within a sample of 119 community couples in which both partners drank regularly, we studied the temporal relationship between drinking events and intimacy experiences using 56 days of daily reports. To ensure that the pattern of results was robust, we tested the effects of congruent versus noncongruent drinking events using different characterizations.

RESULTS

Drinking episodes involving simultaneous drinking by both partners (but not solo drinking) increased the likelihood of intimacy in the next few hours. Similarly, drinking episodes in which partner was present (but not episodes when partner was absent) and drinking episodes that took place at home (but not away from home) increased the likelihood of intimacy.

CONCLUSIONS

Results provide the first evidence that some types of drinking events contribute to the occurrence of couple intimacy experiences within the next few hours and help to explain previously observed long-term effects of congruent drinking patterns on couple functioning.

System justification: Experimental evidence, its contextual nature, and implications for social change

We review conceptual and empirical contributions to system justification theory over the last fifteen years, emphasizing the importance of an experimental approach and consideration of context. First, we review the indirect evidence of the system justification motive via complimentary stereotyping. Second, we describe injunctification as direct evidence of a tendency to view the extant status quo (the way things are) as the way things should be. Third, we elaborate on system justification's contextual nature and the circumstances, such as threat, dependence, inescapability, and system confidence, which are likely to elicit defensive bolstering of the status quo and motivated ignorance of critical social issues. Fourth, we describe how system justification theory can increase our understanding of both resistance to and acceptance of social change, as a change moves from proposed, to imminent, to established. Finally, we discuss how threatened systems shore up their authority by co-opting legitimacy from other sources, such as governments that draw on religious concepts, and the role of institutional-level factors in perpetuating the status quo.

Does Marijuana Contribute to Intimate Partner Aggression? Temporal Effects in a Community Sample of Marijuana-Using Couples

OBJECTIVE

Although patterns of marijuana use are positively associated with intimate partner aggression, there is little evidence that episodes of marijuana use contribute to the occurrence of episodes of relationship conflict and aggression. The present ecological momentary assessment study considered the temporal relationship between marijuana use episodes and the occurrence of conflict, verbal aggression, and physical aggression between intimate partners in the next 2 hours.

METHOD

A sample of 183 cohabiting marijuana-using couples (ages 18-30) were recruited from the community. For 30 consecutive days, each partner independently reported episodes of marijuana use and partner conflict, including verbal and physical aggression perpetration and victimization within conflicts. Temporal associations between each partner's marijuana use and subsequent conflict and aggression were examined using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Analyses accounted for between-person effects of marijuana use frequency and total conflicts.

RESULTS

We observed temporal effects of actor (but not partner) marijuana use on men's and women's reports of conflict and verbal aggression perpetration and victimization within 2 hours of use. Marijuana use episodes did not alter the likelihood of physical aggression in the next 2 hours. Partner concordance in marijuana use had no effect on verbal or physical aggression or victimization. The positive temporal effects of marijuana on conflict and verbal aggression remained significant after accounting for the effect of drinking episodes.

CONCLUSIONS

Within generally concordant, marijuana-using young couples, marijuana use episodes contribute to the occurrence of relationship conflict and verbal aggression.

On the Nature of Objectification: Implications of Considering People as Means to Goals

People are objectified when they are treated as a means to a goal. The most common example is when women are sexually objectified and reduced to their physical appearance, sexuality, or individual body parts. In such instances, people are used in the same way as objects and are evaluated according to their instrumentality to the others' goals. The aim of this paper is to gain a better understanding of objectification. We will (a) outline basic principles of means-goal relations during goal pursuit, (b) review research in which people are means to goals, (c) explain objectification according to a means-goal psychology in which people serve as means to goals, and (d) explain the implications of our account for the consequences of objectification. Specifically, we argue objectification is inevitable and that the consequences of objectification, including its morality, depend on the goal to which a person serves and whether the objectified person wants to serve that goal.

Automatic affective-motivational regulation processes underlying supportive dyadic coping: the role of increased implicit positive attitudes toward communal goals in response to a stressed relationship partner

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

We examined the implicit affective mechanisms underlying provision of support in intimate dyads. Specifically, we hypothesized that in individuals with high relationship satisfaction, the perception that one's partner is stressed leads to increased implicit positive attitudes toward communal goals. In turn, this change in implicit attitudes facilitates supportive behavior.

DESIGN AND METHODS

In two studies, we induced partner stress by instructing participants to either recall a situation where their partner was highly stressed (Study 1; N = 47 university students) or imagine a specific stressful event (excessive workload; Study 2; N = 85 university students). Subsequently, implicit attitudes toward communal goals were assessed with an Implicit Association Test.

RESULTS

In both studies, we found that among participants with high relationship satisfaction partner stress increases preferences for communal goals. In addition, implicit preferences for communal goals predicted stronger inclinations to engage in supportive dyadic coping (Study 2).

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings provide important insights into the implicit cognitive-affective mechanics of dyadic coping. Moreover, they can explain how people manage to avoid experiencing motivational conflicts between partner-oriented and self-oriented goals in situations characterized by high partner stress.

(Dis)similarity in Impulsivity and Marital Satisfaction: A Comparison of Volatility, Compatibility, and Incompatibility Hypotheses

Impulsivity is negatively associated with relationship satisfaction, but whether relationship functioning is harmed or helped when both partners are high in impulsivity is unclear. The influence of impulsivity might be exacerbated (the Volatility Hypothesis) or reversed (the Compatibility Hypothesis). Alternatively, discrepancies in impulsivity might be particularly problematic (the Incompatibility Hypothesis). Behavioral and self-report measures of impulsivity were collected from a community sample of couples. Mixed effect polynomial regressions with response surface analysis provide evidence in favor of both the Compatibility Hypothesis and the Incompatibility Hypothesis, but not the Volatility Hypothesis. Mediation analyses suggest results for satisfaction are driven by perceptions of the partner's negative behavior and responsiveness. Implications for the study of both impulsivity and relationship functioning are discussed.

Does Marijuana Use Contribute to Intimate Partner Aggression? A Brief Review and Directions for Future Research

Marijuana users are more likely to perpetrate intimate partner aggression (IPA) than non-users, yet the mechanism responsible for this association is unknown. Recent studies considering the association between episodes of marijuana use and episodes of IPA have failed to find evidence consistent with an acute effect of marijuana. Research gaps are highlighted and a heuristic model of marijuana's potential effects on IPA is presented. Research priorities include consideration of mediating mechanisms, moderating variables at the individual and couple level, and examination of acute effects of marijuana using daily report and EMA designs.

Handing Over the Reins

Initiating and maintaining an intimate relationship means to live an interdependent life in which conflicts of interest are unavoidable. The occurrence and the impact of those conflicts are minimized to the degree to which individuals are motivated and able to put their own goals aside and accommodate to their partner’s needs. In the present research, we examined the underlying processes that allow individuals to tolerate partner dependence when initiating a relationship. Specifically, we hypothesized that under conditions of high motivation to increase closeness to a potential partner, individuals neutralize negative attitudes toward dependence. We induced motivation to increase closeness by instructing participants to image a situation where an attractive mate reciprocates romantic interests. Subsequently, implicit attitudes toward dependence were assessed with an Implicit Association Test. Results were in line with the hypothesis and are discussed in the framework of accommodative self-regulation.

Turbulent Times, Rocky Relationships: Relational Consequences of Experiencing Physical Instability

What influences how people feel about and behave toward their romantic partners? Extending beyond features of the partners, relationship experiences, and social context, the current research examines whether benign, relationship-irrelevant factors-such as one's somatic experiences-can influence relationship perceptions and interpersonal behavior. Drawing on the embodiment literature, we propose that experiencing physical instability can undermine perceptions of relationship stability. Participants who experienced physical instability by sitting at a wobbly workstation rather than a stable workstation (Study 1), standing on one foot rather than two (Study 2), or sitting on an inflatable seat cushion rather than a rigid one (Study 3) perceived their romantic relationships to be less likely to last. Results were consistent with risk-regulation theory: Perceptions of relational instability were associated with reporting lower relationship quality (Studies 1-3) and expressing less affection toward the partner (Studies 2 and 3). These findings indicate that benign physical experiences can influence perceptions of relationship stability, exerting downstream effects on consequential relationship processes.

Sexual Kindred Spirits

We examined whether sexual similarity, complementarity, and perceptual accuracy exist within a large sample of heterosexual couples. Partners exhibited similarity and complementarity of sexual preferences, and they perceived each other’s preferences with a considerable degree of accuracy; these effects were greater than found in randomly assigned pseudocouples. In addition, people overperceived sexual similarity and complementarity, and they overperceived the accuracy with which their partner knew their preferences. We suggest these three forms of overperception are the result of motivated cognitive processes in service of sexual relationship maintenance. Using actor–partner interdependence modeling (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006), overperception predicted sexual satisfaction, as did complementarity, but similarity and accuracy did not. These findings indicate that motivated cognition may foster sexual satisfaction, as theories of motivated relationship cognitions suggest.

Cautious to a Fault: Self-Protection and the Trajectory of Marital Satisfaction

A contextual model of self-protection is proposed to explain when adhering to cautious "if-then" rules in daily interaction erodes marital satisfaction. People can self-protect against partner non-responsiveness by distancing when a partner seems rejecting, promoting a partner's dependence when feeling unworthy, or by devaluing a partner in the face of costs. The model implies that being less trusting elicits self-protection, and that mismatches between self-protective practices and encountered risk accelerate declines in satisfaction. A longitudinal study of newlyweds revealed that the fit between self-protection practices and risk predicted declines in satisfaction over three years. When people self-protected more initially, satisfaction declined more in low-risk (i.e., low conflict, resilient partner) than high-risk relationships (i.e., high conflict, vulnerable partner). However, when people self-protected less initially, satisfaction declined more in high-risk than low-risk relationships. Process evidence was consistent with moderated mediation: In low-risk relationships only, being less trusting predicted higher levels of self-protective caution that forecast later declines in satisfaction.

The Interactive Role of Implicit and Explicit Partner Evaluations on Ongoing Affective and Behavioral Romantic Realities

Past research on close relationships has increasingly focused on the assessment of implicit constructs to shed new light on relationship processes. However, virtually nothing is known about the role of such constructs in understanding ongoing affective and behavioral romantic realities and how implicit and explicit relationship constructs interact in the context of daily relationship outcomes. Using a 21-day diary approach, the present research examined the unique and interactive role of implicit partner evaluations and explicit partner perceptions on relationship outcomes (daily relationship quality and positive relationship behaviors enacted toward partner). Results showed that more positive implicit partner evaluations uniquely predicted more positive relationship outcomes during the 21-day diary period, but that this was especially pronounced in individuals who did not explicitly perceive their partner’s attributes in an overly positive manner. Implications for the close relationship literature are discussed.

Signaling when (and when not) to be cautious and self-protective: impulsive and reflective trust in close relationships

A dual process model is proposed to explain how automatic evaluative associations to the partner (i.e., impulsive trust) and deliberative expectations of partner caring (i.e., reflective trust) interact to govern self-protection in romantic relationships. Experimental and correlational studies of dating and marital relationships supported the model. Subliminally conditioning more positive evaluative associations to the partner increased confidence in the partner's caring, suggesting that trust has an impulsive basis. Being high on impulsive trust (i.e., more positive evaluative associations to the partner on the Implicit Association Test; Zayas & Shoda, 2005) also reduced the automatic inclination to distance in response to doubts about the partner's trustworthiness. It similarly reduced self-protective behavioral reactions to these reflective trust concerns. The studies further revealed that the effects of impulsive trust depend on working memory capacity: Being high on impulsive trust inoculated against reflective trust concerns for people low on working memory capacity.

Tempting fate or inviting happiness?: unrealistic idealization prevents the decline of marital satisfaction

This article examines whether unrealistically viewing a romantic partner as resembling one's ideal partner accelerates or slows declines in marital satisfaction among newlyweds. A longitudinal study linked unrealistic idealization at the time of marriage to changes in satisfaction over the first 3 years of marriage. Overall, satisfaction declined markedly, a finding that is consistent with past research. However, seeing a less-than-ideal partner as a reflection of one's ideals predicted a certain level of protection against the corrosive effects of time: People who initially idealized their partner the most experienced no decline in satisfaction. The benefits of idealization remained in analyses that controlled separately for the positivity of partner perceptions and the possibility that better adjusted people might be in better relationships.

Idealizing parenthood to rationalize parental investments

Although raising children has largely negative effects on parents' emotional well-being, parenthood is often idealized as a uniquely emotionally rewarding role. We tested the hypothesis that belief in myths idealizing parenthood helps parents cope with the dissonance aroused by the high financial cost of raising children. In Study 1, parents endorsed the idealization of parenthood more when only the costs of parenting were made salient than when both the costs of parenting and the long-term benefits of having children were made salient. When dissonant feelings were measured before idealization of parenthood, these feelings mediated the influence of the salient information on idealization of parenthood. In Study 2, participants reported greater enjoyment of the time they spent with their children and intended to spend more leisure time with their children when only parenting costs were made salient than when the long-term benefits of having children were also made salient (or when no costs or benefits of having children were made salient). We discuss the implications of our results for parental-investment theory and for the propagation of myths idealizing parenthood.

A Smart Unconscious? Procedural Origins of Automatic Partner Attitudes in Marriage

The paper examines potential origins of automatic (i.e., unconscious) attitudes toward one's marital partner. It tests the hypothesis that early experiences in conflict-of-interest situations predict one's later automatic inclination to approach (or avoid) the partner. A longitudinal study linked daily experiences in conflict-of-interest situations in the initial months of new marriages to automatic evaluations of the partner assessed four years later using the Implicit Associations Test. The results revealed that partners who were initially (1) treated less responsively and (2) evidenced more self-protective and less connectedness-promoting "if-then" contingencies in their thoughts and behavior later evidenced less positive automatic partner attitudes. However, these factors did not predict changes in love, satisfaction, or explicit beliefs about the partner. The findings hint at the existence of a "smart" relationship unconscious that captures behavioral realities conscious reflection can miss.

Becoming Irreplaceable: How Comparisons to the Partner's Alternatives Differentially Affect Low and High Self-Esteem People

It is proposed that people are motivated to feel hard to replace in romantic relationships because feeling irreplaceable fosters trust in a partner's continued responsiveness. By contrast, feeling replaceable motivates compensatory behavior aimed at strengthening the partner's commitment to the relationship. A correlational study of dating couples and 2 experiments examined how satiating/thwarting the goal of feeling irreplaceable differentially affects relationship perception and behavior for low and high self-esteem people. The results revealed that satiating the goal of feeling irreplaceable increases trust for people low in self-esteem. In contrast, thwarting the goal of feeling irreplaceable increases compensatory behaviors meant to prove one's indispensability for people high in self-esteem.