Individuals have different beliefs about what makes for a good relationship. These beliefs, or """"""""implicit theories"""""""" have been shown, to determine in part relationship goals, motivations, and behaviors. Belief in destiny holds that potential romantic partners are either meant for each other or they are not. An independent belief in growth holds that successful relationships are cultivated by conquering obstacles and growing closer. The purpose of the proposed research is threefold: (1) To examine the role of individuals' implicit theories of relationships in the link between experienced conflict and relational quality; (2) To further examine the aforementioned association using a naturalistic diary-recording procedure; and (3) To explore the extent to which implicit theories of relationships manifest different relations between conflict and quality, as a function of sex and ethnicity. To realize these objectives, two studies will be conducted. The first study involves 75 heterosexual couples from the multi- ethnic Houston metropolitan area who will be videotaped while discussing areas of improvement in the relationship. The second study involves having 100 people, currently in a heterosexual romantic relationship, record relationship disagreements as they occur naturally over a 10-day period. This will afford an opportunity to examine how implicit theories operate over time within relationships on a daily basis. Generally, the proposed research moves toward the integration of social cognition and motivation in close relationships. The significance of this research is to develop a better understanding of how implicit theories of relationships function in the presence of relational adversity and to study how people think about, perceive, evaluate, and react to conflict in marriages and other romantic relationships. Finally, this research will afford insight into how implicit theories of relationships operate in daily relational behavior.
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| Knee, C Raymond; Patrick, Heather; Lonsbary, Cynthia (2003) Implicit theories of relationships: orientations toward evaluation and cultivation. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 7:41-55 |
