Record keeping in two types of relationships

On the basis of a distinction between communal and exchange relationships (Clark & Mills, 1979; Mills & Clark, 1982), the following predictions were made: (a) Members of exchange relationships would keep track of individual inputs into joint tasks and (b) members of communal relationships would not. These hypotheses were tested in three studies. In each study, subjects worked on a task with a partner with whom they (a) desired or had a communal relationship or (b) desired or had an exchange relationship. The task involved locating and circling number sequences in a large matrix. Whether subjects used a pen of the same or of a different color from that used by their partner served as the dependent measure. If partners worked with pens of the same color individual inputs wee obscured. If they worked with different color pens, individual inputs were clear. Given this, if the proportion of subjects in a condition choosing different color pens was greater than 50% (chance), it was taken as evidence that subjects in that condition were trying to keep track of individual inputs. If this proportion was less than 50%, it was taken as evidence that subjects were trying to avoid keeping track of individual inputs. As predicted, in all three studies the proportion of subjects in the exchange conditions who chose a different color pen was significantly greater than 50% and was significantly greater than the proportion of subjects in the communal conditions who chose a different color pen. Also as expected, in no study was this percentage greater than 50% in he communal conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Providing help and desired relationship type as determinants of changes in moods and self-evaluations

Observed in 2 initial studies was converging evidence that helping improves the helpers' moods and self-evaluations. In these studies Ss induced to help showed improved moods and self-evaluations relative to Ss not given an opportunity to help. A 3rd study examined the moderating effects of desired relationship type on reactions to having helped. In this study Ss were led to desire either a communal or an exchange relationship with another. They then helped the other or were not allowed to help. Among Ss led to desire a communal relationship, but not among those led to desire an exchange relationship, helping was associated with greater improvements in moods than not helping. Helping tended to improve self-evaluations regardless of desired relationship type. However, this effect reached statistical significance only among subjects led to desire a communal relationship.     

Navigating the interdependence dilemma: Attachment goals and the use of communal norms with potential close others

Four studies investigated attachment in the context of new relationship development. Anxiously attached individuals overwhelmingly used communal norms and avoided using exchange norms when interacting with a potential close other; however, when a potential close other used communal norms, anxious individuals experienced increased interpersonal anxiety. Anxious individuals also used discrete communal behaviors to diagnose relationship potential. By contrast, secure individuals were more comfortable in potential communal situations. Moreover, implicit thoughts about closeness were associated with improved performance on a mental concentration task for secure individuals, whereas implicit closeness thoughts were associated with poorer performance for anxious individuals. Finally, avoidant individuals disliked the potential close other when the other used communal norms and downplayed relational motives for the other's communal behavior.     

Recipient's mood, relationship type, and helping

We conducted two studies to examine how a potential helper is affected by having a communal orientation toward a relationship with a potential recipient and by the potential recipient's sadness. We hypothesized that (a) having a communal orientation would increase helping and that (b) people high in communal orientation, but not others, would respond to a potential recipient's sadness by increasing helping. These hypotheses were tested in two studies. In Study 1, individual differences in communal orientation toward relationships were measured by using a new communal orientation scale reported for the first time in this article. In Study 2, manipulations were used to lead subjects to desire either a communal or an exchange relationship with another person. In both studies, subjects were exposed to a sad person or to a person in a neutral mood whom they were given a chance to help. As hypothesized, in both studies communally oriented subjects helped the other significantly more than did others. Also as hypothesized, in both studies communally oriented subjects but not others, increased helping in response to the other person's sadness although this effect reached statistical significance only in the second study.     

Relationship quality and potentially harmful behaviors by spousal caregivers: how we were then, how we are now. The Family Relationships in Late Life Project

Structured interview data from 142 caregivers (98 wives, 44 husbands) indicate that more depressed caregivers are more likely to treat their spouses in potentially harmful ways. However, consistent with hypotheses derived from communal relationships theory, when the preillness relationship between caregiver and care recipient was characterized by mutual responsiveness to each other's needs (i.e., was more communal), caregivers were less depressed and less frequently engaged in potentially harmful behaviors. These effects were not attributable to demographic factors, amount of care provided, care recipient dementia status, or length of time in the caregiving role. Rather, multivariate analyses suggest that the extent to which premorbid relationships were communal in nature determines whether caregivers perceive their current relationships as rewarding, which, in turn, predicts caregiver depression and potentially harmful behaviors.     

Magnitudes of score differences produced within sessions in a cooperative exchange procedure

Interest centered on maximal score differences produced within sessions during two-party exchange. Subjects chose between earning money independently or through potentially higher-paying exchange. In the exchange option, only one person could produce points for the other on a trial. Because each exchange response (“give”) required the giver to forego earning points independently, the larger the score difference produced (i.e., the further ahead in earnings the other person was put), the greater the reduction in the giver's earnings if the other person did not reciprocate. Results showed that scores were usually equal at the end of each session, and that subjects maintained close equality of scores throughout each session. When a response-cost contingency that punished the alternation of giving was introduced, however, large within-session score differences developed. These large differences continued to be produced after the response-cost contingency was removed. Finally, when subjects were told that the session could end at any moment, score differences were sharply reduced, indicating that production of score differences remained under the control of discriminative stimuli associated with the likelihood of reciprocation. The study suggests that with appropriate procedures, an experimental analysis of behavioral phenomena associated with the concept of “trust” may be possible.     

Caring for a Family Member With Cancer: Past Communal Behavior and Affective Reactions1

An important recent development in the caregiving literature is an increased focus on the role played by the interpersonal relationship between caregiver and care recipient. In this study, a prediction derived from communal relationship theory (Clark & Mills, 1979, 1993; Mills & Clark, 1982) was tested in a sample of patients with recurrent cancer and their family caregivers. Specifically, it was hypothesized that if a relationship had been communal in the past (i.e., characterized by mutual demonstrations of concern for and responsiveness to one another's needs), positive feelings about helping one's partner should continue even when one partner's needs far outweigh those of the other. Consistent with this hypothesis, results indicated that caregivers whose relationship with the patient before illness onset had been characterized by relatively infrequent communal behaviors evidenced more symptoms of depression that did those whose relationship had been characterized by more frequent communal behaviors. In addition, the effects of prior communal behavior on depressed affect were both mediated and moderated by feelings of burden. Caregivers who recalled relatively few communal behaviors in their past relationship felt more burdened by their caregiving role, and burden in turn predicted greater depressive symptomatology. Implications for early identification of caregivers at risk for becoming distressed are discussed.     

关系规范对消费者抱怨意愿及潜在动机的影响模型

现有的关于向企业进行抱怨的研究均建立在“理性人”的假设之上, 而忽视了消费者同时作为“社会人”需要遵循一定的规范。本文引入关系规范的概念(共有关系规范, 交换关系规范), 通过实验的方法探究其对消费者的抱怨意愿及潜在动机的影响。实验一的结果显示在服务失误水平低的情况下, 共有关系规范下的被试相对于交换关系规范下的被试更乐意向企业抱怨, 而在服务失误水平高的情况下, 这种差异不显著。实验二进一步验证了这种关系, 并发现共有关系规范下的被试向企业抱怨, 是为了帮助其发现和改进服务中存在的问题, 以提高服务质量, 具有利他动机。     

Cross-cultural differences in the refusal to accept a small gift: the differential influence of reciprocity norms on Asians and North Americans

Asians are more likely than North Americans to refuse a small gift that is offered to them by a casual acquaintance. Five experiments confirmed this difference and explored the reasons for its occurrence. Asians, who are inclined to think of themselves in relation to others, are more likely than North Americans to invoke a reciprocity norm in exchanging gifts with casual acquaintances, and they refuse a gift in order to avoid the feeling of indebtedness they would experience if they cannot reciprocate. North Americans, however, who are inclined to think of themselves independently of others, are more likely to base their acceptance of the gift on its attractiveness without considering their obligation to reciprocate. These cultural differences are not evident when the gift is offered by a close friend with whom individuals have a communal relationship. Implications of our findings for miscommunication between members of different cultures are discussed.     

Contextual influences on interpersonal complementarity

The influence of context on interpersonal complementarity was examined using an event-contingent recording procedure. Setting and role status moderated the relation between how a person behaved and how the other person behaved. Individuals were more likely to respond with agreeable behavior to agreeableness in others when not at work than when at work and when in a high status work role relative to a low status work role. Reciprocity between dominance and submissiveness was found in work settings but not in nonwork settings. Individuals were more likely to reciprocate more submissive behavior by the other person with more dominant behavior and more likely to reciprocate more dominant behavior by the other person with relatively more submissive behavior when in a higher status work role relative to lower status work roles. Results were interpreted in terms of the influence of decreased structure and shared goals on increasing interpersonal complementarity.     

Caregiving in the close relationships of cardiac patients: Exchange,power, and attributional perspectives on caregiver resentment

Individuals with a cardiac condition and their spousal caregivers were recruited from cardiac rehabilitation centers and interviewed separately. Based on exchange theory, it was expected that greater caregiver resentment would be associated with feeling underbenefited in the relationship and with an orientation to relationships that did not focus on the needs of the partner (communal), but did focus on “tit-for-tat” reciprocity (exchange). It was also expected that those caregivers who were more likely to get their needs satisfied in the relationship before the cardiac incident would be more resentful at giving care. Finally, based on attributional theory, it was predicted that caregivers who thought that their spouses were not taking responsibility for improving their health would be more resentful. As predicted, more resentful caregivers were those who felt underbenefited, were more exchange oriented, and judged that their partners were not working toward improving their health. In addition, only those with a low communal orientation toward their spouse showed a relationship between feeling underbenefited and resentment. The needs centrality prediction was not supported. The findings illustrate the utility of applying theories developed in the close relationship area to the understanding of caregiving with chronically ill populations.     

Dissociative Identity Disorder,Ambivalence, and Responsibility

If someone with dissociative identity disorder (DID) commits a wrongful act, is she responsible? If one adopts the Multiple Persons Thesis, it may seem that one alter cannot be responsible for the actions of another alter. Conversely, if one regards the subject as a single person, it may seem that she is responsible for any actions she performs. I will argue that this subject is a single person, but one who suffers from delusions of disownership and therefore does not fulfill ordinary requirements for responsible agency. This is because she suffers from extreme ambivalence: her deep‐seated needs and desires conflict, and she forms alter‐personalities as a way to cope with inner discord without abandoning any of these contradictory impulses. However, although the ability to exercise autonomous agency is eroded in such cases, the capacity for autonomous agency is preserved. The subject with DID is weakly responsible for her wrongful acts.     

What other's disappointment may do to selfish people: emotion and social value orientation in a negotiation context

The authors examined whether individual differences in social value orientation moderate responses to other's expressions of disappointment in negotiation. The literature suggested competing hypotheses: First, prosocials are more responsive to other's disappointment because they have a greater concern for other; second, proselfs are more responsive because they see other's disappointment as a threat to their own outcomes. Results of a computer-mediated negotiation in which a simulated opponent expressed disappointment, no emotion, or anger supported the second prediction: Proselfs conceded more to a disappointed opponent than to a neutral or angry one, whereas prosocials were unaffected by the other's emotion. This effect was mediated by participants' motivation to satisfy the other's needs, which disappointment triggered more strongly in proselfs than in prosocials. Implications for theorizing on emotion, social value orientation, and negotiation are discussed.     

Determinants of the perception of choice

Two experiments were conducted to investigate possible determinants of perceived choice. The first experiment employed an observer paradigm and the second employed an actor paradigm. The results of both studies provided evidence for the hypotheses that perceived choice will be greater when there is a small difference in attractiveness between outcome alternatives than when there is a large difference and under conditions of low certainty about the attractiveness of each outcome alternative than under conditions of high certainty. Also, the results of both studies provided some evidence for the hypothesis that the effect of the relative difference in attractiveness upon perceived choice will be greater under conditions of low certainty than under conditions of high certainty. The hypothesis that perceived choice will be less when there is no difference in attractiveness between outcome alternatives than when there is a small difference was not supported by the results of the first experiment but was supported by the results of the second experiment. The hypothesis that perceived choice will be greater the more time a person takes to select an action from possible actions was supported by results of the first experiment but not by those of the second experiment. The results for the relative difference and certainty variables were discussed in terms of a theoretical analysis of perceived choice.     

Costs and satisfaction in close relationships: The role of loss–gain framing

Two studies were conducted to clarify the pattern of mixed results found in past research regarding the association between costs and satisfaction in close relationships. Insights from Prospect Theory (D. Kahneman & A. Tversky, 1979, 2000) suggested the importance of gain–loss framing in understanding costs. When costs are attached to valued outcomes, they are perceived as gains or investments; otherwise they are perceived as losses. Appreciation by one's partner for communal behaviors and family chores provided the basis for exploring costs as gains versus losses. We hypothesized that when costs were appreciated, the greater the costs, the greater the relationship satisfaction; whereas when they were not appreciated, the greater the costs, the lower the relationship satisfaction. Further, we expected appreciation to be associated with perceived motives for incurring the costs: positively with “want” perceptions and negatively with “should” perceptions. These hypotheses were supported in research with both dating couples and women in long‐term marital or cohabiting relationships and using two types of communal behaviors: Partner Favors and more tedious Family Chores. In general, the greater the number of communal behaviors and family chores, the greater the relationship satisfaction when appreciated; the greater the number, the lower the satisfaction when relatively unappreciated.     

Assigning vicarious responsibility

An experiment tested three hypotheses about the conditions under which someone can be held vicariously responsible for the actions of another. Two of the hypotheses received empirical support: that the vicariously responsible person is in a superior relationship to the person who caused the damage and is able to control that person's causing of the damage. A third hypotheis, that a person is held vicariously responsible because of a relatively greater ability to pay compensation to the victim, was not supported.     

When does anger evoke self‐interest and fairness motives? The moderating effects of perceived responsibility for needs

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that anger evokes both self‐interest and fairness motives, but it is unclear what factors determine the evocation of these motives. We examined the idea that the type of relationship, indexed by the perceived responsibility for a partner's needs, moderates the effect of anger on self‐interest and fairness motives by constructing the following hypotheses: Participants will be motivated to protect their self‐interests when they feel anger toward an other who they perceive has the responsibility for needs, while this will not be the case when they feel anger toward an other who they do not perceive has a responsibility for needs (Hypothesis 1), and participants will be motivated to restore fairness regardless of whether the target of anger has a responsibility for needs or not (Hypothesis 2). The Japanese participants in this study rated their anger experiences in terms of the intensity of angry feelings, the perception of responsibility of the other for their own needs, the closeness of the relationship prior to the experience of anger, and the motives that were evoked. Regression analysis supported both hypotheses, implying that concerns related to self‐interest in close relationships reflect the desire for the maintenance of these relationships.     

Why it is Disrespectful to Violate Rights: Contractualism and the Kind-Desire Theory

The most prominent theories of rights, the Will Theory and the Interest Theory, notoriously fail to accommodate all and only rights-attributions that make sense to ordinary speakers. The Kind-Desire Theory, Leif Wenar’s recent contribution to the field, appears to fare better in this respect than any of its predecessors. The theory states that we attribute a right to an individual if she has a kind-based desire that a certain enforceable duty be fulfilled. A kind-based desire is a reason to want something which one has simply in virtue of being a member of a certain kind. Rowan Cruft objects that this theory creates a puzzle about the relation between rights and respect. In particular, if rights are not grounded in aspects of the particular individuals whose rights they are (e.g., their well-being), how can we sustain the intuitive notion that to violate a right is to disrespect the right-holder? I present a contractualist account of respect which reconciles the Kind-Desire Theory with the intuition that rights-violations are disrespectful. On this account, respect for a person is a matter of acknowledging her legitimate authority to make demands on the will and conduct of others. And I argue that kind-based desires authorize a person to make demands even if they do not correspond to that person’s well-being or other non-relational features.     

Status of the provoker,opportunity to retaliate,and interest in video violence

Two hypotheses derived from affect-dependent stimulus arrangement theory [Zillmann D, Bryant J (1985): In: “Selective Exposure to Communication.” Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.] were tested: (1) provoked persons will express less interest in seeing video violence than will those not provoked, unless they anticipate an opportunity to retaliate against their provocateur; and (2) when provoked persons anticipate an opportunity to retaliate against a provocateur who is not high status, they will express greater interest in seeing video violence than will those not provoked. After being provoked or not provoked by a high or low status experimenter, half the 160 male college student participants were led to believe that their evaluation of the experimenter would determine the experimenter's grade for conducting the research, and half were not given any reason to expect an opportunity to evaluate him. Then each man indicated his degree of interest in seeing each of twelve video selections that had been described in brief paragraphs, three each in four content categories: aggressive, humorous, mildly erotic, and neutral. In confirmation of the first hypothesis, provoked subjects who did not anticipate opportunity to retaliate expressed less interest in seeing aggressive material than did those not provoked. In relationship to the second hypothesis, provoked subjects showed the greatest interest in aggressive video material when they anticipated an opportunity to retaliate against a low status provocateur, but their interest was not greater than corresponding nonangered subjects. The effect of provocation upon interest in the other categories of video material was generally in line with what would be predicted from the theory. When there was no anticipated opportunity to retaliate, interest in humorous material was greater in provoked subjects than in those not provoked. In the case of the mildly erotic category of video selections, there was less interest expressed among provoked subjects when they anticipated having a chance to retaliate against a low status experimenter.     

Determinants of perceived choice,number of options,and perceived time in making a selection

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of number of choice options and perceived time taken to make a selection upon perceived choice. College students were asked to make a selection from a set of options which varied in numerosity; after making their selection, they were given information which varied their perception of time in making the selection. As predicted, perceived choice was found to be greater (1) the greater the number of options when a person perceived that he had taken a relatively short time; (2) if the selection involved a moderately large number of options than if it involved either a small or a very large number when a person perceived that he had taken a relatively long time; (3) the longer the time a person thought he had taken, except when the selection involved a very large number of options-in which case, perceived choice was greater the shorter the perceived time. The experiment also provided evidence about the relationship between perceived choice and perceived competence.