Friend support of dating relationships: Comparing relationship type,friend and partner perspectives

This study assessed the role of friends in dating relationships, comparing on–off and noncyclical relationships. Participants (N = 460) reported on the friend most familiar with their current or recent dating relationship. We examined friend support of and influence on the dating relationship and the influence of the dating relationship on the friendship. Participants' friends (N = 98) completed a similar survey to compare participants' and friends' perceptions. On–off partners reported less support for the dating relationship than did noncyclical partners. On–off partners also reported greater openness, whereas friends reported greater frequency, of communicating about the dating relationship. Friends also felt the relationship changed the friendship more; friends of on–off partners in particular reported more positive change to their friendship.     

Transference and attachment: how do attachment patterns get carried forward from one relationship to the next?

This research investigated how working models of attachment are carried forward from one relationship to the next. A two-part study was conducted in which participants learned about two potential dating partners: one that was constructed to resemble a romantic partner from their past and one that resembled a partner from another participant's past. Results showed that people applied their attachment representations of past partners to both targets but did so to a greater degree when the target resembled a past partner. People also tended to feel more anxious and less avoidant toward the target that resembled their past partner. Overall, the findings were consistent with the hypothesis that working models of attachment are transferred in both general and selective ways in new relationships.     

Physical Attractiveness,Mood, and the Decision to Card for the Purchase of Alcohol: Evidence for a Mood-Management Hypothesis1

Research has shown that physical attractiveness is associated with a decrease in being carded for the purchase of alcohol. Two studies examine whether this relationship might be moderated by the mood of the decision maker. Participants were randomly assigned to a 2 × 2 (Mood: Positive or Neutral × Attraction: High or Low) factorial design in which they first described a series of positive (or negative) life events, and then viewed a video of a female college student. Males were less likely to card an attractive target than an unattractive target; negative mood increased the tendency for an unattractive target to be carded, and decreased the tendency for an attractive target to be carded. Study 2 considered whether this influence may have been a result of the participant's interest in dating the target. Female subjects rated a female target in terms of their willingness to have the target date their brother or a close friend. Data revealed an interesting mood by attractiveness interaction, indicating that an attractive target was less likely to be carded, and a positive mood state appeared to enhance this general tendency. Results from both studies are interpreted within a mood-management conceptual framework.     

诚实-谦逊性和人际亲密性对公平规范执行的影响

采用2（诚实-谦逊性：高分组、低分组）×3（人际亲密性：家人、朋友、路人）×2（提议不公性：高不公提议、低不公提议）的混合实验设计,考察人际冲突情境下诚实-谦逊性与公平规范执行中人情效应的关系。研究结果发现,随着人际亲密性的增强,人们对互动同伴的互惠预期越高,更倾向于接受不公提议;高、低诚实-谦逊者付诸公平规范执行时均会考量双方彼此的人际亲密性,但高诚实-谦逊者存在更强的人情效应。结果表明,高诚实-谦逊者更在意维持有价值的人际关系,愿意宽容重要他人的违规行为。     

Behavior expectations in cross‐sex friendships,same‐sex friendships,and romantic relationships

Abstract In 2 studies, university students from the United States rated the importance of 43 behavior expectations about their cross‐sex friends, same‐sex friends and romantic partners. In Study 1, all 399 participants had a current romantic partner, whereas in Study 2, romantic partner status varied across the 165 participants. Participants always rated their expectations for romantic partners higher than for either type of friend, and expectations for behaviors promoting emotional closeness were always rated higher than expectations about behaviors promoting social companionship or relationship positivity. In Study 2, expectations for cross‐sex friends were rated lower and more similar to same‐sex friends when participants had a current romantic partner than when they did not.     

Sex differences in mate preferences revisited: do people know what they initially desire in a romantic partner?

In paradigms in which participants state their ideal romantic-partner preferences or examine vignettes and photographs, men value physical attractiveness more than women do, and women value earning prospects more than men do. Yet it remains unclear if these preferences remain sex differentiated in predicting desire for real-life potential partners (i.e., individuals whom one has actually met). In the present study, the authors explored this possibility using speed dating and longitudinal follow-up procedures. Replicating previous research, participants exhibited traditional sex differences when stating the importance of physical attractiveness and earning prospects in an ideal partner and ideal speed date. However, data revealed no sex differences in the associations between participants' romantic interest in real-life potential partners (met during and outside of speed dating) and the attractiveness and earning prospects of those partners. Furthermore, participants' ideal preferences, assessed before the speed-dating event, failed to predict what inspired their actual desire at the event. Results are discussed within the context of R. E. Nisbett and T. D. Wilson's (1977) seminal article: Even regarding such a consequential aspect of mental life as romantic-partner preferences, people may lack introspective awareness of what influences their judgments and behavior.     

Good Enough for an Affair. Self‐Enhancement of Attractiveness,Interest in Potential Mates and Popularity as a Mate

Using data from the Berlin Speed Dating Study, we tested rival hypotheses concerning the effects of self‐enhancement of attractiveness on dating outcomes. Three hundred eighty‐two participants took part in one of the 17 speed‐dating sessions. After each speed‐dating interaction, participants indicated how interesting they found the respective person as a long‐term and short‐term partner. Using social relations analyses, we computed perceiver effects (being more or less choosy) and target effects (being rated as more or less interesting) of long‐term and short‐term partner ratings. Self‐enhancement was operationalized as the discrepancy between self‐rated attractiveness and four components of actual attractiveness (observer‐rated facial and vocal attractiveness, height and body mass index). Results indicated that self‐enhancers were less choosy with respect to their interest for short‐term partners, which was especially true for men, but more choosy with respect to long‐term partners. With regard to popularity as a mate, potential partners indicated that they found self‐enhancers more interesting as short‐term partners but not as long‐term partners. As self‐enhancement is a key component of narcissism, these results are consistent with findings that narcissists perceive many sexual affairs as an achievement, while preferring selected ‘trophy’ long‐term partners, and narcissists have a charming appeal for short‐term, but not lasting, social relationships. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

社会距离和性别对公平关注的影响

本研究使用单次匿名最后通牒博弈任务,采用2（性别: 男性, 女性）×3（社会距离: 自我决策, 替朋友决策, 替他人决策）×5（提议类型: 1/9, 2/8, 3/7, 4/6, 5/5）的混合实验设计,通过操作反应者的不同社会距离,考察资产分配情境下自我-他人决策的性别差异。研究结果发现：（1）相比于自我决策和替朋友决策,女性被试替他人决策时更愿意接受提议1/9,2/8和3/7,而提议4/6和5/5的接受率不受社会距离的影响;男性被试中社会距离和提议类型的交互作用不显著;（2）不平等提议的反应时随社会距离增加而逐渐降低,而平等提议的反应时不受社会距离的调节;（3）替他人决策时女性的接受阈限显著低于男性,而自我决策及替朋友决策时接受阈限不存在性别差异。     

Sociomoral reasoning in children and adolescents from two collectivistic cultures

This study compared the sociomoral reasoning of 7-, 9-, 12-, and 15-year-old children and adolescents of two collectivistic cultures in the 1990s: Spain (horizontal collectivism; N = 208) and Russia (vertical collectivism; N = 247). Participants reasoned about choices and moral justifications of a protagonist in a sociomoral dilemma where participants can focus on different moral and non-moral concerns (e.g., going with their best friend, going with a new classmate or trying to do something with both). Results support previous research in western societies: participants tend to choose the option “visiting the best friend”, and self-interest tends to decrease with age whereas altruism tends to increase. Moreover, Spanish participants tended to consider all parties involved in the dilemma (i.e., old friend and new classmate), whereas Russian participants did not. These results are discussed in light of their differences as horizontal and vertical collectivistic societies. Overall, the results open an avenue for new studies when comparing the effects of culture on children's and adolescents' development.     

价值取向与社会距离影响经济决策的合作与冲突行为：Chicken Game的证据

采用Chicken Game博弈任务,考察了不同社会价值取向个体（亲社会者与亲自我者）在面对不同社会距离的博弈对手（朋友和陌生人）时表现出的合作与冲突行为。研究结果发现：（1）社会价值取向与社会距离交互影响个体的合作与冲突行为;（2）社会价值取向影响选择策略的反应时,亲社会者选择合作的反应时长于选择冲突的反应时,亲自我者选择合作与选择冲突的反应时没有显著差异;（3）无论对亲社会者还是亲自我者,反馈类型都显著影响个体的合作与冲突行为的选择率以及随后决策的反应时。上述结果表明,个体的合作或冲突行为,并非单一地受到社会价值取向的影响,更可能是受到个人因素（社会价值取向）与其他社会因素（比如,社会距离）的共同调节,并且在这一过程中个体会根据决策后反馈信息不断的调整自己的行为策略。     

Self-awareness,Perspective-taking,and Egocentrism

The present experiment examined the effect of self-awareness on adult perspective-taking and egocentrism. After having indicated their own opinion on an ecology-related topic, university students estimated a fellow student’s opinion on the same matter. Participants did so either in front of a mirror or not, and either after having received a cue for the fellow student’s most probable opinion—his perspective—or not, resulting in a 2 (self-awareness: Low vs. high) × 2 (cue: Yes vs. no) between persons design. As expected, self-aware participants were more likely to correctly estimate the fellow student’s most probable opinion, reflecting perspective-taking, if a cue for his/her perspective was provided. Moreover, self-awareness also reduced participants’ false consensus beliefs (i.e., egocentrism)—when they had a cue for the fellow student’s perspective. The results conceptually replicate and extend previous findings on self-awareness, perspective-taking, and egocentrism.     

The Receiver's Dilemma: Impressions Formed in Response to Impression Management

Two studies examined the extent to which individuals' racial attitudes are influenced more by interdependent others' attitudes than people with whom they do not mutually depend. Study 1 demonstrated that participants significantly changed their racial attitudes when they received disagreement feedback from an ingroup friend, whereas there was no change in attitudes when participants received disagreement feedback from an ingroup stranger, agreement feedback, or no feedback. Furthermore, feelings of interdependence mediated the relationship between feedback from a friend versus stranger and changes in racial attitudes. In Study 2, we manipulated interdependence and found that interdependent partners altered their racial attitudes after receiving disagreement information, whereas independent partners did not. The importance of interdependent others' attitudes in reducing prejudice is discussed.     

Social benefits of humility: Initiating and maintaining romantic relationships

Previous research has highlighted the social nature of humility. In three studies, we provide evidence that humility facilitates the initiation and maintenance of romantic relationships. In Study 1, very humble potential dating partners, relative to less humble partners, were rated more favorably and were more likely to elicit intentions to initiate a romantic relationship. Study 2 was a conceptual replication of Study 1 that provided evidence that participants find humble potential dating partners more attractive than arrogant dating partners. In Study 3, we examined perceptions of humility in participants in proximal or long-distance relationships. We found that humility buffers against unforgiveness in long-distant relationships. Although long-distance relationships were associated with greater unforgiveness, this effect was only present when partners were viewed as having low humility. Together, these findings highlight the social benefits of humility in initiating and maintaining romantic relationships.     

Experimental Tests of Normative Group Influence and Representation Effects in Computer‐Mediated Communication

Two experiments addressed the questions of if and how normative social influence operates in anonymous computer‐mediated communication (CMC) and human‐computer interaction (HCI). In Experiment 1, a 2 (public response vs. private response) × 2 (one interactant vs. four interactants) × 3 (textbox vs. stick figure vs. animated character) mixed‐design experiment (N = 72), we investigated how conformity pressure operates in a simulated CMC setting. Each participant was asked to make a decision in hypothetical social dilemmas after being presented with a unanimous opinion by other (ostensible) participants. The experiment examined how the visual representation of interaction partners on the screen moderates this social influence process. Group conformity effects were shown to be more salient when the participant's responses were allegedly seen by others, compared to when the responses were given in private. In addition, participants attributed greater competence, social attractiveness, and trustworthiness to partners represented by anthropomorphic characters than those represented by textboxes or stick figures. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1, replacing interaction with a computer(s) rather than (ostensible) people, to create an interaction setting in which no normative pressure was expected to occur. The perception of interaction partner (human vs. computer) moderated the group conformity effect such that people expressed greater public agreement with human partners than with computers. No such difference was found for the private expression of opinion. As expected, the number of computer agents did not affect participants' opinions whether the responses were given in private or in public, while visual representation had a significant impact on both conformity measures and source perception variables.     

How do I love thee? Let me count the words: the social effects of expressive writing

Writing about emotional experiences is associated with a host of positive outcomes. This study extended the expressive-writing paradigm to the realm of romantic relationships to examine the social effects of writing. For 3 consecutive days, one person from each of 86 dating couples either wrote about his or her deepest thoughts and feelings about the relationship or wrote about his or her daily activities. In the days before and after writing, instant messages were collected from the couples. Participants who wrote about their relationship were significantly more likely to still be dating their romantic partners 3 months later. Linguistic analyses of the instant messages revealed that participants and their partners used significantly more positive and negative emotion words in the days following the expressive-writing manipulation if the participants had written about their relationship than if they had written about their daily activities. Increases in positive emotion words partially mediated the relation between expressive writing and relationship stability.     

Adolescents' conceptions of the influence of romantic relationships on friendships

Although researchers have investigated how adolescents' friendships affect their romantic relationships, the influence of romantic relationships on friendships is unexamined. As a first step, 9th- (n = 198) and 11th grade students (n = 152) reported on their conceptions of friendship when one friend had a romantic relationship and when neither friend had a romantic relationship. As predicted, adolescents believed friendships in which a friend was dating would be characterized by less positive features and more negative features than friendships in which neither friend was dating. Additionally, older adolescents thought romantic relationships were more damaging to companionship and corumination than did younger adolescents. The closer nature of older adolescents' romantic relationships may result in lower quality friendships or older adolescents may be more aware of the potential negative consequences of romantic relationships for friendships. Girls viewed friendships as higher in conflict-rivalry and lower in corumination when one friend was dating while boys did not. And although girls and boys viewed friendships as lower in intimacy and companionship when a friend has a romantic partner, the difference was greater for girls than boys. Girls may be more sensitive to the effects of a friend's romantic relationship on their friendship than are boys. Findings necessitate theories of close relationships that incorporate age and gender as important variables.     

Adolescents’ Conceptions of the Influence of Romantic Relationships on Friendships

Although researchers have investigated how adolescents’ friendships affect their romantic relationships, the influence of romantic relationships on friendships is unexamined. As a first step, 9th- (n = 198) and 11th grade students (n = 152) reported on their conceptions of friendship when one friend had a romantic relationship and when neither friend had a romantic relationship. As predicted, adolescents believed friendships in which a friend was dating would be characterized by less positive features and more negative features than friendships in which neither friend was dating. Additionally, older adolescents thought romantic relationships were more damaging to companionship and corumination than did younger adolescents. The closer nature of older adolescents’ romantic relationships may result in lower quality friendships or older adolescents may be more aware of the potential negative consequences of romantic relationships for friendships. Girls viewed friendships as higher in conflict-rivalry and lower in corumination when one friend was dating while boys did not. And although girls and boys viewed friendships as lower in intimacy and companionship when a friend has a romantic partner, the difference was greater for girls than boys. Girls may be more sensitive to the effects of a friend's romantic relationship on their friendship than are boys. Findings necessitate theories of close relationships that incorporate age and gender as important variables.     

When and why do ideal partner preferences affect the process of initiating and maintaining romantic relationships?

Three studies explored how the traits that people ideally desire in a romantic partner, or ideal partner preferences, intersect with the process of romantic relationship initiation and maintenance. Two attraction experiments in the laboratory found that, when participants evaluated a potential romantic partner's written profile, they expressed more romantic interest in a partner whose traits were manipulated to match (vs. mismatch) their idiosyncratic ideals. However, after a live interaction with the partner, the match vs. mismatch manipulation was no longer associated with romantic interest. This pattern appeared to have emerged because participants reinterpreted the meaning of the traits as they applied to the partner, a context effect predicted by classic models of person perception (S. E. Asch, 1946). Finally, a longitudinal study of middle-aged adults demonstrated that participants evaluated a current romantic partner (but not a partner who was merely desired) more positively to the extent that the partner matched their overall pattern of ideals across several traits; the match in level of ideals (i.e., high vs. low ratings) was not relevant to participants' evaluations. In general, the match between ideals and a partner's traits may predict relational outcomes when participants are learning about a partner in the abstract and when they are actually in a relationship with the partner, but not when considering potential dating partners they have met in person.     

Cognitive load,trigger salience,and the facilitation of triggered displaced aggression

Researchers hypothesize that a state of limited cognitive processing capacity increases aggression. In the context of the triggered displaced aggression (TDA) paradigm, a 2 (Salience of triggering event: high/low) × 2 (Cognitive load at trigger: yes/no) × 2 (Cognitive load at aggression: yes/no) between participants experiment tested this hypothesis. Results showed that inducing cognitive load in previously provoked participants while they received a triggering provocation augmented aggression toward the target when the latter was highly salient. Affective reactions to the trigger partially mediated this effect. In contrast to expectation, however, inducing cognitive load while participants aggressed against their target did not affect aggression levels. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceived Physical Attractiveness, Sexual History, and Sexual Intentions: An Internet Study

This study was designed to examine the influence a potential date’s physical attractiveness and sexual history has on an individual’s intentions to engage in safer sex. Over 1,200 participants completed an Internet survey. The questionnaire presented a randomized biography and photograph and asked participants to rate their interest in dating and having a sexual relationship with the target. Participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions based on the target’s physical attractiveness (low vs. high) and sexual experience (low, medium, or high). Results indicated that men reported greater intentions to have sex than women did, and all participants reported greater likelihood of having sex when the potential partner was highly attractive. Participants rated men and more experienced targets as more risky sexual partners, and the level of a target’s sexual experience was directly related to participants’ willingness to discuss sexual risks. Results indicate a continuing need to include discussion of cognitive factors in all HIV prevention efforts.