Browsing by Subject "Romantic relationships"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Open Access
I have, therefore i love: status quo preference in mate choice
(Sage Publications, Inc., 2018) Günaydın, Gül; Selcuk, E.; Yilmaz, C.; Hazan, C.
Decades of research indicate that individuals adhere to existing states (“status quo bias”) and value them more (“endowment effect”). The present work is the first to investigate status quo preference within the context of trade-offs in mate choice. Across seven studies (total N = 1,567), participants indicated whether they would prefer remaining with a current partner possessing a particular set of traits (e.g., high trustworthiness, low attractiveness) or switching to an alternative partner possessing opposite traits. Preference for a given trait was highest when the individual representing the status quo (one’s romantic partner or an interaction partner) possessed that trait. Concerns about hurting the partner, ambiguity avoidance, and biased construal of the partner and the alternative predicted status quo preference and disapproval of the current partner by network members eliminated this effect. These findings indicate that when it comes to matters of the heart, we tend to love what we currently have.
Open Access
Negative speaks louder than positive: negative implicit partner evaluations forecast destructive daily interactions and relationship decline
(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2023-12-30) Sakman, Ezgi; Zayas, V.
Romantic relationships are affectively complex. Any given interaction consists of both rewarding and aversive features. Recent work has shown that implicit partner evaluations (IPEs)—evaluations spontaneously triggered when one thinks about one’s partner—are also affectively complex. Does such complexity in IPEs help individuals navigate rewarding and aversive aspects inherent in interactions? The present work examined the proposition that negative IPEs uniquely forecast aversive daily relationship behaviors, whereas positive IPEs uniquely forecast rewarding daily relationship behaviors. Individuals self-identified as in a heterosexual romantic relationship completed measures to assess their implicit and explicit partner evaluations at two time points, spanning a three-month period, as well as a daily diary component. Time-1 negative IPEs forecasted perceiving and enacting negative behaviors during a 14-day daily diary, which, in turn, predicted deterioration in explicit partner and relationship evaluations 3-months later. The predictive ability of negative IPEs remained even after statistically controlling for positive IPEs and explicit evaluations. Positive IPEs were weak and inconsistent predictors of outcomes. The findings shine a spotlight on the differential functions of positive and negative IPEs, the importance of assessing negative IPEs independently from positive IPEs, and the role of negative IPEs in predicting destructive relationship experiences.
Open Access
Responsiveness as a key predictor of happiness: mechanisms and unanswered questions
(Springer, 2018) Günaydın, Gül; Selçuk, E.; Karagöbek, A. B.; Demir, M.; Sümer, N.
The importance of close relationships for happiness has long been recognized. This long-held interest has produced an increase in relevant empirical work investigating the links between relationships and personal well-being in the last three decades. Recent attempts at integrating this vast body of literature suggest that responsiveness—i.e., the belief that close relationship partners understand, validate, and care for us—is a core process linking close relationships to health and happiness. In the present chapter, we review the links between responsiveness and happiness, with an emphasis on studies of marital and long-term romantic relationships. The available evidence indicates that partner responsiveness improves happiness in both negative contexts (by preserving happiness in the face of stress and adversity) and positive contexts (by augmenting and prolonging happiness induced by pleasant events and supporting the pursuit of personally meaningful goals and self-actualization). We believe that future work should build on this literature by investigating intergenerational effects of partner responsiveness on offspring happiness, comparing the roles of different social network members in happiness, examining how cultural grounding of relationships modulate the responsiveness-happiness link, and identifying the different components of responsiveness critical for happiness across cultures and developmental stages.
Open Access
Your cheating heart is just afraid of ending up alone: Fear of being single mediates the relationship between attachment anxiety and infidelity
(Elsevier, 2020-09-08) Sakman, Ezgi; Urganci, B.; Sevi, B.
Despite their detrimental effects, acts of infidelity are common. Several individual differences, including attachment orientations, have been linked to infidelity behaviors. Yet, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between attachment anxiety and infidelity are not well understood. This deserves attention, as the positive association between chronic worry about being abandoned and engaging in infidelity, which inherently increases the risk of being left by the partner, poses a paradox. Studying an online community sample (N = 233, 52.8% female, Mage = 36.73, Rangeage = 20–70) using self-report measures, we aim to offer an explanation to this conundrum by hypothesizing that the relationship between attachment anxiety and infidelity behaviors is mediated by fear of being single (i.e., the concern about being left without a partner). We found that those who have greater attachment anxiety showed increased fear of being single, which in turn predicted greater infidelity behaviors. The associations held after controlling for sex, age, and relationship length. Results suggest that people high on attachment anxiety are more likely to be involved in extradyadic relationships due to their high fear of being single, possibly as a bet-hedging strategy to minimize future risk of being single. Findings are discussed vis-à-vis implications for couples counseling.