week 9 commitment Flashcards
Commitment:
defined as the intention to persist with
a relationship
Could be positive or negative, depending on the
contex
Best psychological predictor of whether a relationship
will ultimately las
commitment
Why do we have commitment? (Evolution)
Back (2010) argues that we have an
evolutionarily-based cognitive bias toward
maintaining existing partnerships
o Even in the face of attractive alternatives
o “Art auction” study
Theory: The Investment Model
Commitment has three key components:
- Satisfaction: Are you happy?
-investment: Resources placed into the
relationship?
-Quality of alternatives: Other options?
Satisfaction & Social Media
Posting dyadic profile pictures on Facebook associated
with:
Feeling more satisfied with their relationships and closer
to their partners
Daily-diary study:
On days when people felt more satisfied in their
relationship, they were more likely to share relationship
relevant information on Facebook
Other’s perception (Emery et al., 2014)
Can ascertain satisfaction (and commitment) from
photos.
Investment & Intimate
Partner Violence
Why do people stay in abusive relationships?
Women who returned to their partners reported more
commitment, more investment, and lower quality
alternatives (Rusbult & Martz, 1995)
Young adults who intended to stay with violent partners
had higher investments (Choice & Lamke, 1999)
Sexually coerced women reported more investments
than noncoerced women (Katz et al., 2006)
Marginalized Relationships
May be less invested but more committed
Attachment and Commitment
Avoidance:
More attentive & attracted to alternatives -> less committed
Less invested
Anxiety:
Strongly value commitment but are less committed
Security:
Have partners who are more committed
Maintain commitment over 4-month period (insecures
decline)
Quicker to recall episodes of partner commitment
Theory: 3 Types of Commitment
Personal Commitment = want to continue**
Constraint Commitment =have to continue
Moral Commitment = ought to continue
Cohabitation before Marriage
Relationship inertia
Constraint commitment
Commitment, motivated reasoning, and attractive
alternatives
§ Commitment leads to
underestimating number of
alternatives (Jemmot et al., 1989)
§ Less attention to alternatives
§ People higher in cognitive
control flirted less with a
confederate (Pronk et al., 2011)
* Depletion of cognitive
resources related to more
liking of pictures of attractive,
available others (Ritter et al.,
2010)
Commitment Calibration
) Derogation of potentially threatening alternatives
More derogation of attractive and available others
(Johnson & Rusbult, 1989)
Highly committed people derogate strong threats but
not moderate threats (Lydon et al., 1999)
2) Augmenting partner’s attractiveness
After a relationship threat, more commitment led to
rating partner as more physically attractive, intelligent,
warm, and funny (Gagné & Lydon, 2001)
Check
Who says “I love you” first?
men
Women: Cold Feet are a Bad Sign
Results:
Common to have premarital doubts.
wmn more likely to have
wmn with more doubts were 2.5 times more
likely to be divorced 4 years later
No effect for men
is commiyment a cogntiivr choice
yes
