INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND GROUP PROCESSES The Role of Attributions in the Development of Dating Relationships

In this study, we examine the role of attributions in the context of dating relationships. A large sample completed a questionnaire comprising structured ratings and a free-response relationship description. As expected, cognitive or attributional activity was more frequent within relationships when they were in the early stages, when important choice points or changes were occurring, and when the relationships were perceived as unstable. Also as predicted, subjects who reported higher relationship happiness, commitment, and love for their partners tended to describe the relationship in more interpersonal terms, to rate the causal inputs of the partners as equal, and to attribute lower external attributions for relationship maintenance. Finally, some evidence was obtained that attributions for relationship maintenance are causally related to relationship happiness over a 2-month period. The results are discussed in terms of the relationship between cognitive processing and the development of dating relationships.

[1]  Z. Rubin.  Liking and Loving: An Invitation to Social Psychology , 1973 .

[2]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences , 1979 .

[3]  F. Fincham.  Attribution processes in distressed and nondistressed couples: 2. Responsibility for marital problems. , 1985, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[4]  Harold H. Kelley,et al.  Judgments of responsibility for activities in close relationships. , 1981 .

[5]  G. Fletcher,et al.  Attributional complexity: An individual differences measure. , 1986 .

[6]  S. Lloyd,et al.  Attributions Associated with Significant Turning Points in Premarital Relationship Development and Dissolution , 1985 .

[7]  G. Fletcher.  The Analysis of Verbal Explanations for Marital Separation: Implications for Attribution Theory1 , 1983 .

[8]  B. Weiner.  "Spontaneous" causal thinking. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[9]  Tom Pyszczynski,et al.  Role of disconfirmed expectancies in the instigation of attributional processing. , 1981 .

[10]  R. Sternberg.  A triangular theory of love. , 1986 .

[11]  J. G. Holmes,et al.  Trust in close relationships. , 1985 .

[12]  M. Zanna,et al.  Effects of salience of extrinsic rewards on liking and loving. , 1980 .

[13]  J. Traupmann,et al.  Equity and Intimate Relations: Recent Research , 1985 .

[14]  M. Snyder.  Self-monitoring of expressive behavior. , 1974 .

[15]  N. Jacobson,et al.  Causal Attributions in Intimate Relationships: Toward a Model of Cognitive—Behavioral Marital Therapy , 1984 .

[16]  N. Jacobson,et al.  Causal attributions of married couples: when do they search for causes? What do they conclude when they do? , 1985, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[17]  Paul T. P. Wong,et al.  When people ask "why" questions, and the heuristics of attributional search. , 1981 .

[18]  Helen M. Newman,et al.  Communication within Ongoing Intimate Relationships , 1981 .