Showing papers on "Interpersonal relationship published in 1992"

The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love, and Eroticism in Modern Societies

Abstract: Preface. Introduction. 1. Everyday Experiments, Relationships, Sexuality. 2. Foucault on Sexuality. 3. Romantic Love and Other Attachments. 4. Love, Commitment and the Pure Relationship. 5. Love, Sex and Other Addictions. 6. The Sociological Meaning of Codependence. 7. Personal Turbulence, Sexual Troubles. 8. Contradictions of the Pure Relationship. 9. Sexuality, Repression, Civilisation. 10. Intimacy as Democracy. Index.

Relational schemas and the processing of social information.

Abstract: It has long been one of the grand ideas in psychology that people internalize their relationships with significant others, which influences their experience of subsequent relationships and their sense of self. Recent work in social cognition has largely neglected the impact of internally represented interpersonal information, however, with researchers choosing instead to focus on the perception of self and other persons in isolation. After a review of relevant theoretical models, it is proposed that research could profitably examine people's relational schemas, defined as cognitive structures representing regularities in patterns of interpersonal relatedness

Motivation for social contact across the life span: a theory of socioemotional selectivity.

Abstract: Older people engage in social interaction less frequently than their younger counterparts As I mentioned at the start, the change has been interpreted in largely negative terms Yet when asked about their social relationships, older people describe them as satisfying, supportive, and fulfilling Marriages are less negative and more positive Close relationships with siblings are renewed, and relationships with children are better than ever before Even though older people interact with others less frequently than younger people do, old age is not a time of misery, rigidity, or melancholy Rather than present a paradox, I argue here that decreasing rates of contact reflect a reorganization of the goal hierarchies that underlie motivation for social contact and lead to greater selectivity in social partners This reorganization does not occur haphazardly Self-definition, information seeking, and emotion regulation are ranked differently depending not only on past experiences, but on place in the life cycle and concomitant expectations about the future I contend that the emphasis on emotion in old age results from a recognition of the finality of life In most people's lives this does not appear suddenly in old age but occurs gradually across adulthood At times, however, life events conspire to bring about endings more quickly Whether as benign as a geographical relocation or as sinister as a fatal disease, endings heighten the salience of surrounding emotions When each interaction with a grandchild or good-bye kiss to a spouse may be the last, a sense of poignancy may permeate even the most casual everyday experiences When the regulation of emotion assumes greatest priority among social motives, social partners are carefully chosen The most likely choices will be long-term friends and loved ones, because they are most likely to provide positive emotional experiences and affirm the self Information seeking will motivate some social behavior, but for reasons discussed previously, this will also require judicious choices of social partners Narrowing the range of social partners allows people to conserve physical and cognitive resources, freeing time and energy for selected social relationships As such, SST is highly consistent with the selective optimization with compensation model of successful aging formulated by P Baltes and M Baltes (1990) described above SST is meant to describe and explain the underlying mechanisms for age-related changes in social behavior It is not intended to be prescriptive(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Social Comparison in Everyday Life

Abstract: Ninety-four college students recorded details of their social comparisons over 2 weeks using a new instrument, the Rochester Social Comparison Record. Major results were (a) comparison direction varied with relationship with the target; (b) precomparison negative mood led more often to upward comparison than to downward comparison, supporting a selective affect-cognition priming model in which dysphoria primes negative thoughts about the self (Bower, 1991; Forgas, Bower, & Moylan, 1990) rather than a motivational self-enhancement model (Wills, 1981,1991); (c) upward comparison decreased subjective well-being, whereas downward comparison increased it; and (d) high self-esteem individuals engaged in more self-enhancing comparison. Festinger's theory of social comparison processes (Festinger, 1954) continues to be an active arena for theory and research. A new edited book (Suls & Wills, 1991), a symposium at the 1990 meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), and frequent journal articles attest to this vigor. Yet underlying the vitality is a feeling of uneasiness, obvious in the comments occasioned by the SESP symposium, in which a group of extraordinari ly knowledgeable participants showed little agreement about such apparently basic questions as "Do people compare at all (or very much)? When do people compare? How do people balance upward and downward comparisons? How much does similarity count in comparison? Do people compare with actual targets, or are all comparisons constructed in people's heads? The problem is that there are many measures of social comparison, and they do not agree well with one another, leading to theoretical proliferation lacking a coherent empirical base. These measures may not agree with one another because of difficulties with the measures themselves (Wood, 1991), because they measure different motives for social comparison (cf. Wood & Taylor, 1991), or because they have been used in different contexts. The one thing on which there is general agreement is that social comparison is a wonderfully flexible process that can best be studied under naturalistic

Role of Individual Attachments in the Dissolution of Interorganizational Relationships

Abstract: In this study, we propose that changes affecting the resource fit between organizations exchanging resources provide an impetus for the dissolution of their relationships, whereas the individual an...

Young Children's Coping with Interpersonal Anger

Abstract: Although interest in children's stress and coping has increased, little attention has been paid to children's interpersonal coping. During free-play periods, we observed and recorded the causes of preschoolers' (M age = 55.43 months) anger and how they reacted to these provocations (n = 69). Measures of social competence and popularity also were obtained. Preschoolers' coping with interpersonal anger varied in meaningful ways in different contexts and varied for boys and girls. For example, boys tended to vent more than girls, whereas girls tended to actively assert themselves more than boys. Moreover, the findings supported the conclusion that socially competent and popular children coped with anger in ways that were relatively direct and active and in ways that minimized further conflict and damage to social relationships. Results were discussed in light of current research on children's abilities to regulate emotions and social interactions and how these may be related to children's anger-related coping responses.

An Attachment-Theory Approach Psychology of Religion

Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that attachment theory, as origi- nally proposed by John Bowlby and subsequently refined by a host of other researchers, provides a powerful framework for integrating research and theory concerning the psychology of religion The essay begins with a brief over- view of contemporary models of attachment, with particular emphasis on adult attachment relationships Selected literature is reviewed concerning a variety of topics in the psychology of religion, including research on images of God, conversion, and prayer, and attachment theory is shown to provide a useful conceptual framework for integrating these findings It is argued that extending attachment theory in this direction may benefit religion researchers as well as social and developmental psychologists interested in such topics as interpersonal relationships, stress and coping, and loneliness

Social anxiety and peer relationships in early adolescence: A prospective analysis.

Abstract: Examined relationships over time between social anxiety, friendship qualities, and rejection experiences for 68 early adolescents who had recently relocated. Prospective analyses provide evidence consistent with the view that social anxiety influences the emergence of companionship and intimacy in newly formed friendships but does not play a significant role in determining the frequency of rejection events. Social anxiety also appears to change over time in response to the degree of companionship and intimacy in friendships and to the frequency of rejection experiences.

Children's relationships with child care teachers: stability and concordance with parental attachments.

Abstract: In order to examine caregiving relationships of children enrolled in childcare, two longitudinal samples of children, n = 72 and n = 106, were followed from infancy through preschool. Maternal attachment as assessed by the Strange Situation, 4-year-old reunion behavior, and by the Attachment Q-Set tended to be stable across time. Children's teacher-child relationship quality, as measured by the Attachment Q-Set, was stable if the teacher remained the same. When the teacher changed, teacher-child relationship quality tended to be unstable until the children were 30 months old. After 30 months, relationship quality with teachers tended to be stable regardless of whether or not the teacher changed. Maternal and teacher relationships were nonconcordant. There were few interactions between adult caregiver relationship quality and age of entry into child care or intensity of child care.

Empathic accuracy in the interactions of male friends versus male strangers.

Abstract: In unstructured interactions, male friends were found to be more accurate than male strangers in inferring each other's thoughts and feelings. Plausible reasons for this difference were that friends (a) interacted more and exchanged more information, (b) had more similar personalities and therefore more rapport with each other, and (c) had more detailed knowledge of each other's lives. Data confirmed that the friends did indeed interact more and were more similar in their sociability than the strangers; however, these differences did not account for the friends' greater empathic accuracy. Instead, this was primarily attributable to a difference in knowledge structures, namely, the friends' ability to accurately read their partners' thoughts and feelings about imagined events in another place or time.

Social Competence Promotion with Inner-City and Suburban Young Adolescents: Effects on Social Adjustment and Alcohol Use.

Abstract: This study assessed the impact of school-based social competence training on skills, social adjustment, and self-reported substance use of 282 sixth and seventh graders. Training emphasized broad-based competence promotion in conjunction with domain-specific application to substance abuse prevention. The 20-session program comprised six units: stress management, self-esteem, problem solving, substances and health information, assertiveness, and social networks. Findings indicated positive training effects on Ss' skills in handling interpersonal problems and coping with anxiety. Teacher ratings revealed improvements in Ss' constructive conflict resolution with peers, impulse control, and popularity. Self-report ratings indicated gains in problem-solving efficacy. Results suggest some preventive impact on self-reported substance use intentions and excessive alcohol use. In general, the program was found to be beneficial for both inner-city and suburban students.

The dependent personality: developmental, social, and clinical perspectives.

Abstract: Developmental, social, and clinical studies of dependency have produced remarkably consistent results. A review and integration of these findings allow strong conclusions to be drawn regarding the etiology and dynamics of dependency. The etiology of dependency appears to lie in overprotective, authoritarian parenting. In social settings, dependency is associated with suggestibility, conformity, compliance, interpersonal yielding, affiliative behavior, and sensitivity to interpersonal cues. Dependency predicts the onset of certain psychological disorders and follows the onset of others. It seems that the fundamental motivation of the dependent person, from which the behaviors that are exhibited in different situations are derived, is a strong desire to obtain and maintain nurturant, supportive relationships. Implications of these findings for different theoretical models of dependency are discussed.

Trust, distrust, and interpersonal problems: a circumplex analysis.

Abstract: This study examined the self-reported interpersonal problems of individuals characteristically high or low in interpersonal trust. The interpersonal circumplex served as a guiding framework for assessing and interpreting these problems. As expected, extreme distrust was generally related to a symmetrical pattern of distress, with a peak at the hostile-dominant octant. Extreme high trust, on the other hand, was not associated with gullibility or with related interpersonal difficulties, supporting arguments that trust is essentially distinct from gullibility and exploitability. The Interpersonal Trust Scale and the Mach IV scale, the study's principal measures of trust, tap varieties of trust differing in their blends of dominance and hostility, leading to different problem patterns for extreme scorers

Culture and moral judgment: how are conflicts between justice and interpersonal responsibilities resolved?

Abstract: A 2-session study examined Indian and American adults' and children's (N = 140) reasoning about moral dilemmas involving conflicts between interpersonal and justice expectations. Most Indians gave priority to the interpersonal expectations, whereas most Americans gave priority to the justice expectations. Indians tended to categorize their conflict resolutions in moral terms. In contrast, when Americans gave priority to the interpersonal alternatives, they tended to categorize their resolutions in personal terms. Results imply that Indians possess a postconventional moral code in which interpersonal responsibilities are seen in as fully principled terms as justice obligations and may be accorded precedence over justice obligations. Findings also suggest that a personal morality of interpersonal responsiveness and caring is linked to highly rights-oriented cultural views, such as those emphasized in the United States.

Culture and somatic experience: The social course of illness in neurasthenia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Abstract: An anthropological view of culture and somatic experience is presented through elaboration of the notion that illness has a social course. Contemporary anthropology locates culture in local worlds of interpersonal experience. The flow of events and processes in these local worlds influences the waxing and waning of symptoms in a dialetic involving body and society over time. Conversely, symptoms serve as a medium for the negotiation of interpersonal experience, forming a series of illness-related changes in sufferers' local worlds. Thus, somatic experience is both created by and creates culture throughout the social course of illness. Findings from empirical research on neurasthenia in China, and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in the United States, corroborate this formulation. Attributions of illness onset to social sources, the symbolic linking of symptoms to life context, and the alleviation of distress with improvement in circumstances point to the sociosomatic mediation of sickness. Transformations occasioned by illness in the lives of neurasthenic and CFS patients confirm the significance of bodily distress as a vehicle for the negotiation of change in interpersonal worlds. An indication of some of the challenges anthropological thinking poses for psychosomatic medicine concludes the discussion.

Young, middle, and late adolescents' comparisons of the functional importance of five significant relationships

Abstract: The present study investigated how young (11–13-year-old), middle (14–16-year-old), and late (17–19-year-old) adolescents compared the relative functional importance of their relationships with their mother, their father, their most important sibling, their best same-sex friend, and their most important teacher. Mothers and fathers were perceived as highly important sources of affection, instrumental aid, and reliable alliance by all adolescents; however, the parent-adolescent child relationship was also ranked high on the conflict dimension. Best same-sex friends were ranked highest in all three adolescent groups for intimacy and companionship. Siblings, too, were perceived as important sources of intimacy and companionship; they were also ranked high for the nurturance and conflict dimensions. Relationships with teachers received very low ratings in general.

Working Models of Childhood Attachment and Couple Relationships

Abstract: Previous research has documented connections between adults' working models of childhood attachment relationships and the quality of parent-child relationships, but less attention has been devoted to examining such links for intimate adult relationships. Twenty-seven married couples were given George, Kaplan, and Main's Adult Attachment Interview and each person was rated as either secure or insecure with respect to attachment. Self-report measures of satisfaction with couple communication and marital relations and laboratory observations of couple interactions were collected. Results showed that self-reported marital satisfaction was not related to adult attachment classifications for either husbands or wives. However, observational ratings of couple interaction yielded differences for husbands. As compared to husbands classified as insecure, secure husbands were likely to be in better-functioning couples who engaged in more positive and fewer conflictual behaviors. In addition, couples' joint attachment...

A peer-mediated social network intervention to enhance the social integration of persons with moderate and severe disabilities.

Abstract: Increasingly, parents, teachers, and students with disabilities are advocating for interventions that go beyond skill training to provide support for participation in integrated environments and support for friendships. The present research demonstrated a social network intervention for youths with moderate and severe disabilities. Two groups of nondisabled peers were recruited to participate in weekly discussions with an adult integration facilitator to increase opportunities for social interaction for 2 students (1 with autism and 1 who was moderately mentally retarded). The groups met to discuss social interactions that had occurred with the students with disabilities and to talk about strategies to promote greater inclusion of the students into ongoing social interaction. The nondisabled students participated in the design and implementation of social skills interventions during transition times and lunch. The nondisabled students used self-monitoring data sheets to record the quantity and quality of interactions. The frequency of interaction, number of opportunities for interaction, and appropriateness of social interactions were analyzed with a multiple baseline design. Results indicated that the social network intervention was successful in increasing the quantity and quality of interactions and that the network strategy promoted the development of friendships. The results are discussed in terms of the need for additional research showing the relationships between increases in social competence, peer-mediated intervention, and the development and support of friendship.

Social conflict, social support, and psychological distress: evidence of cross-domain buffering effects.

Abstract: A longitudinal study examined the relative and joint effects of perceived social support and social conflict on psychological distress in 228 college students. Women had higher perceived social support from roommates and friends and less conflict with roommates than did men; there were no gender differences in level of conflict with friends or psychological distress. Roommate conflict predicted increases in psychological distress over time; this effect was attenuated by high levels of perceived social support from friends. Friend conflict also predicted increases in psychological distress over time; this effect was attenuated by high levels of perceived social support from roommates. These results show the importance of negative and positive aspects of social experiences to emotional functioning and the importance of compensatory social support for individuals facing social conflicts.

Motivational Foundations of Behavioral Confirmation

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the motivational foundations of behavioral confirmation. Functional analyses have the potential to advance theory and research on social perception and interpersonal behavior. They constitute an explicit recognition of the motivational and purposive agendas that guide and direct human thoughts, feelings, and actions, and they speak directly to the mediational mechanisms and guiding processes involved in the enactment of these motivational agendas. Functionalist perspective possesses considerable explanatory power in diverse domains of human functioning. The chapter emphasizes that functional analysis shares much in common with related treatments of the roles of needs, motives, plans, and goals in understanding cognitive and behavioral processes in the social realm. The diverse approaches to human motivation have their points of individuation. It is the commonalities of these approaches that may provide the most compelling testimony to the power of motivational approaches to understand individual and social function. An analysis of psychological functions in future may help to understand the motivational foundations of the chain of events in behavioral confirmation scenarios; it may also be possible for a functional analysis to provide a motivational perspective on the dynamic interplay of cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal processes in social interaction and interpersonal relationships.

Attachment style and romantic love: Relationship dissolution

Abstract: The present research was designed to assess attachment style differences in subjects' reports of the dissolution of romantic relationships. One hundred and ninety-three unmarried undergraduates completed questionnaire measures of relationship history, including relationship dissolution and attachment style (both the forced-choice measure used by Hazan & Shaver, 1987; and a Likert-type version derived from that measure). Subjects were also followed up 10 weeks later in order to assess the stability of attachment style and its relation to the formation and dissolution of relationships. As expected, the three attachment styles differed strongly in their affective responses to dissolution. Measures of attachment style and mental models were also related to the occurrence of relationship termination; in particular, subjects endorsing the avoidant attachment style were the most likely to experience relationship break-up. Change in self-reported attachment style was associated with the formation of a st...

The development of feeling norms underlying romantic love among adolescent females.

Abstract: This paper examines the development of feeling norms underlying romantic love among early adolescent females. On the basis of data from in-depth interviews, transcriptions of naturally occurring discourse, and field notes, we find that girls not only acquire cultural knowledge about romantic love, but also develop several feeling and expression norms to deal with their own concerns about romance. These norms involve the relative importance of romantic relationships and the appropriate object of romantic feelings. Girls also use a variety of discourse strategies to communicate normative information and to reinforce feeling norms to friends, ranging from playful language activities to more serious modes of discourse. Yet, even though girls obtain normative information about romantic love, they do not always abide by feeling and expression norms

Compensatory Patterns of Support Among Children's Peer Relationships: A Test Using School Friends, Nonschool Friends, and Siblings.

Abstract: We examined the extent to which isolated and aggressive 6th graders compensate for unsatisfying school friendships by deriving support from siblings and nonschool friends and whether this support protects such children from poor socioemotional outcomes. Results were as follows: (a) When compared with average and aggressive children, isolated children perceived their school friendships as least supportive and their favorite sibling relationships as most supportive; (b) isolated, aggressive, and average children did not differ in their perceptions of support from nonschool friends; and (c) high support from a favorite sibling was associated with better adjustment among isolated children on select outcomes. Despite the somewhat ameliorating role of siblings for isolated children, isolated children with high sibling support remained less well adjusted than did average children. Recent research suggests that our understanding of children's social support can be enriched by simultaneously analyzing the various functions provided by different types of relationships within children's social networks (Berndt, 1989; Buhrmester & Furman, 1986,1987; Cauce, Reid, Landesman, & Gonzales, 1990; Furman & Buhrmester, 1985a; Hirsch, 1985). Much of this work draws on Weiss's (1974,1986) typology of adult relational bonds in which he outlined the various functions of different types or classes of social relationships. Weiss hypothesized that different types of social relationships (e.g., kin, friendships, marital relationships) provide different kinds of social provisions or social support. In examining these specialized types of support within children's social relationships, investigators have found that a particular support characteristic can be obtained from more than one relationship type (Buhrmester & Furman, 1986; Furman & Buhrmester, 1985a). Given this, Furman and Buhrmester (1985a, p. 1022) have argued that it would be adaptive for an individual who lacks a specific relationship type (e.g., a friend or sibling) to be able to compensate for the missing support by turning to a functionally similar type of relationship. Indeed, it is interesting to consider (a) whether a relationship that is low in support could be compensated for by the provisions of a functionally analogous relationship, and (b) to the extent that it could, whether the individual would forego experiences of emotional distress associated with the absent support.

What Happens Next? Trends in Postschool Outcomes of Youth with Disabilities. The Second Comprehensive Report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study of Special Education Students.

Abstract: DOCUMENT RESUME

Inhibiting effects of reciprocation wariness on interpersonal relationships.

Abstract: Students with high reciprocation wariness, a general fear of exploitation in interpersonal relationships, showed (a) a markedly reduced positive response to cooperative communication in a Prisoner's Dilemma bargaining task, (b) a greater negative response to uncooperative communication, and (c) an increased positive response to the prospect of long-term interaction. Reciprocation wariness appears to inhibit the establishment and strengthening of interpersonal relationships.

The friendship network as a decision-making resource: Dispositional moderators of social influences on organizational choice.

Abstract: The patterns of interview choices of 170 Masters of Business Administration students were tracked unobtrusively over 5 months. Two personality variables, self-monitoring (SM) and social uniqueness, were used to partition the sample. The results confirmed that personality types hypothesized to differ in their preferences for social comparison information did differ significantly both with respect to how much their decision patterns resembled those of their friends and with respect to the criteria they used in the decision-making process. In contrast to recent critiques of the SM construct, the research provides evidence in support of an SM typology assessed by a unitary factor underlying responses to the Self-Monitoring Scale. In general, the results suggest that the social network, as a decision-making resource, may be as much an expression of personality as it is a constraint on individual choice. When individuals make decisions they are often influenced by what other people like themselves are saying and doing. This basic insight is crucial to the burgeoning literature on social networks that uses Festinger's (1954) social comparison theory as a starting point for sophisticated field studies of social influence processes (e.g., Burt, 1987; see Gartrell, 1987, for a review). The social network approach differs from traditional approaches in psychology in that it focuses on relations between people, rather than on attributes of people. For example, it measures the existence of friendship ties between individuals, rather than the friendliness of each individual (e.g., Krackhardt & Porter, 1985). The network approach can test whether the pattern of such ties in a particular social world is related to other important patterns, such as the pattern of similarity in cognitive perceptions (e.g., Krackhardt & Kilduff, 1990). Recently, network research has contributed many new insights concerning how structural relations affect important outcomes (e.g., Brass, 1981; Burt, 1987; Kilduff, 1990; Krackhardt & Porter, 1986; see Knoke & Kuklinski, 1982, for an excellent