To please or to neglect your partner? Attachment avoidance and relationship‐driven self‐improvement

Self‐improvement is a potential resource in sustaining relationships. A series of 2 studies with Hong Kong Chinese college samples sought to examine whether attribute‐specific, reflected regard from the partner determines self‐improvement efforts on those attributes and whether attachment avoidance moderates the association. These studies measured self‐improvement effort by retrospective self‐report (Study 1) and evaluation of objects pertinent to attribute‐specific self‐improvement goals (i.e., related self‐help books; Study 2). In general, the results showed that individuals improved their personal qualities when they perceived these qualities as relatively less favorably regarded by their partner. Moreover, attachment avoidance weakened such an association. The role of attachment avoidance in relationship‐driven self‐improvement seems to reflect strategic preference rather than a downplaying of relationship importance.     

The unique and combined benefits of accuracy and positive bias in relationships

An experiment investigated the independent and combined effects of receiving feedback from romantic partners that varied in both accuracy (i.e., profile agreement) and positive bias, as compared with one's self‐perceptions. Both members of 55 romantically involved couples were randomly assigned to receive either high or low levels of accurate or positively biased feedback ostensibly created from a comparison between their self‐ratings and their partner's appraisals. After receiving this feedback, participants rated how positive and intimate they felt in their relationships. As expected, both accuracy and positive bias in partner feedback had independent positive effects. Importantly, positive bias and accuracy were found to operate additively; participants who received feedback that was simultaneously positively biased and accurate rated their relationships particularly positively.     

Colloquy on Generalization Meta-Analytic Techniques When Generalizing to Message Populations Is Not Possible

Jackson and Jacobs (1983) have argued that many of the findings in communication research could be specific to the particular messages used in a given study. As a solution, Jackson and Jacobs propose generalizing to message populations by treating messages as a random variable. This article argues that the Jackson and Jacobs solution is inappropriate for complex messages and that meta-analytic techniques represent an alternative that permits the detection of results that are specific to particular messages, researchers, or paradigms.