Matt Hammond Readings Key Points

Question 1

Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone & Bator (1997) Goals

Answer 1

The pattern for developing closeness is sustained, escalating, reciprocal, personalistic, self-disclosure.

The first study to conduct an experiment on developing closeness in romantic relationships.

We,
(A) Matched people so they  
      did not disagree about 
      attitudinal issues of 
      importance to them (male- 
      female and female-female)
(B) Created the expectation 
      that the subjects partner 
      would like them.
(C) Made becoming close an 
     explicit task.

To systematically test if we could develop temporary closeness between two participants.

Question 2

Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone & Bator (1997) define closeness as…

Answer 2

Including others in the self i.e. an interconectedness of the self and other.

*similar to what others call intimacy which has an underlying theme of “sharing what is innermost with others”

Closeness has two dimensions:

(A) Behaving:
     - mesaured using Berschield 
       (1989) measure
(B) Feeling Close:
     - measured using 
       Sternberg's (1988) intimacy 
       scale.

Aron et al.’s (1997) study focused on the feeling close aspect of closeness because it can be induced via manipulation temporarily.

Question 3

Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone & Bator (1997) study 1:

Answer 3

RQ: looked at ways to 
       generate closeness
     - participants completed an 
       attatchment style 
       questionaire and were 
       matched into pairs using 
       their scores before 
       completing the three sets 
       of questions.

Results: 
    - means scores on 
      closeness ratings were 
      higher in the self-disclosure 
      condition relative to the 
      small talk condition.
    - indicating that the task 
      type matters (reciporical 
      self-disclosure) in building 
      closeness between two 
      people i.e. it is more than 
      just putting two people in a 
      small room.

Question 4

Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone & Bator (1997) study 2:

Answer 4

RQ: Matching pairs on 
       attachment style, levels of 
       non-disagreement 
       attitudes and leading 
       subjects to expect there to 
       be a mutal liking between 
       self and partner.

Results: 
      - Mean scores for 
        closeness were higher in 
        the self-disclosure 
        condition relative to the 
        small talk condition and 
        similar to previous study.
      - indicates that ensuring 
        participants match interms 
        of attitudes and expecting 
        that their partner will like 
        them has little impact on 
        closeness ratings.

*contrast to previous literature
which argues that similarity
and mutal lliking is crucial to
developing closeness.

   - avoidant attachment 
     styles: reported less 
     closeness than other 
     pairs which is consistent 
     with previous literature 
     indicating they 
     experience poorer quality 
     relationships.
   - preoccupied partners had 
     a larger discrepancy 
     between their desired 
     and actual closeness 
     ratings which is 
     consistent with previous 
     literature which indicates 
     preoccupied partners are 
     less satisfied with their 
     closeness levels and wish 
     for more than they're able 
     to find.
   - models of self did not 
     change pre to post but 
     models of other became 
     more postive.

Question 5

Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone & Bator (1997) Study 3:

Answer 5

RQ: Making closeness an 
       explicit task, matching 
       introversion (potentialy 
       better at one on one 
       intimacy) and extraversion 
       (more comfortable with 
       closeness).

 Results:
      - no difference between 
        instruction and non- 
        instruction groups 
        indcating that making 
        closeness an explicit task 
        does not influcence the 
        level of closeness 
        attained.
     - marginal effect of 
       extraverts attaining higher 
       levels of closeness than 
       introverts.
     - However, when the task of 
       closeness was made 
       explicit the differnce 
       between introvert and 
       extrovert was non- 
       signifcant.

Question 6

Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone & Bator (1997) caveat

Answer 6

This experimental procedure produces temporary closeness between two people but it lacks key aspects of long term relationships such as loyalty, dependence, commitment etc. which develop over time.