"Should I expect the best or brace for the worst: the effects of newlyweds' expectations on their future relationship satisfaction PDF
Preview "Should I expect the best or brace for the worst: the effects of newlyweds' expectations on their future relationship satisfaction
THE"ESFHFOEUCLTDSIOEFXNPEECWTLYTHWEEDBSE'STEXOPREBCRTAATCIEOFNOSROTNHTEHWEOIRRSFTU?T'URE RELATIONSHIPSATISFACTION By JAMESK.MCNULTY ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOLOFTHE UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENTOFTHE REQUIREMENTSFORTHE DEGREEOFDOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA 2001 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstoff,Iwouldliketothankthemembersofmycommittee,BenjaminKarney (chair).JamsShepperd,BarrySchlenker,MarkFondacaro,andJamesAlgina,forthe timeandinsightstheyhaveprovidedtothisproject.Iwouldalsoliketothankmy parents,JamesandKathyMcNulty.Withouttheircontinuedsupportandencouragement, IwouldnotbewhereIamtoday.Finally,IwouldliketothankmyflitvirewifeMelissa fortheoverwhelmingloveandsupportshehasprovidedmethroughoutmygraduate career.Ilookforwardtothemanyyearsofhappinesswehaveaheadofus. ii TABLEOFCONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS " ABSTRACT v INTRODUCTION 1 REVIEWOFLITERATURE 4 ExpectancyConfirmation 4 PositiveExpectationsandDisappointment 8 ReconciliationandtheDistinctionbetween GlobalandSpecificExpectations 11 OverviewoftheCurrentStudy 16 Hypotheses 17 METHOD 23 Participants 23 Procedure 24 Materials 25 DataAnalysis 30 RESULTS 32 DescriptiveStatisticsandCorrelations 32 WereSpecificandGlobalExpectationsAssociatedwith AttributionsandNegativeBehavior? 35 WereSpecificandGlobalExpectationsAssociatedwith MaritalOutcomesOverTime? 37 DidPositiveExpectationsLeadtoPositiveChangesinMarital SatisfactionWhenTheyWereLikelytoGetConfirmed? 47 DISCUSSION 69 StudyRationaleandSummaryofResults 69 WhenArePositiveExpectationsLikelytoGetConfirmed? 74 AdditionalDirectionsforFutureResearch 76 StrengthsandLimitations 79 Conclusion 81 iii APPENDIXA SEMANTICDIFFERENTIALMEASUREOF MARITALSATISFACTION 82 APPENDIXB QUALITYMARRIAGEINDEX 83 APPENDIXC INVENTORYOFSPECIFICMARITALPROBLEMS 84 APPENDIXD EXPECTATIONSFORFURTURERELATIONSfflP SATISFACTION 85 APPENDIXE EXPECTEDTRAJECTORYOFMARITAL SATISFACTION 86 APPENDIXF EXPECTATIONSFORSTABILITY 87 APPENDIXG EXPECTATIONSFORSTEADINESS 88 APPENDIXH EXPECTATIONSFORPARTNER 89 APPENDIXI EXPECTATIONSFORSPECIFICRELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS 90 APPENDIXJ RELATIONSHIPATTRIBUTIONSMEASURE 91 REFERENCES 93 BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 101 iv AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchooloftheUniversityofFloridain PartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy THE"ESFHFOEUCLTDSIOEFXNPEEWCTLYTWHEEDBSE'STEXOPREBCRTAATCIEOFNOSROTNHTEHWEOIRRSFTU?T'URE RELATIONSHIPSATISFACTION By JAMESK.MCNULTY August,2001 Chairperson:BenjaminR.Karney MajorDepartment:Psychology Whataretheimplicationsofpositiveexpectationsaboutarelationship?The answertothisquestionmaydependonwhethertheexpectationsgetconfirmedor disconfirmed.Positiveexpectationsshouldleadtopositiveoutcomestotheextentthat theyareconfirmedthroughprocessesofexpectancyconfirmation,butmayleadto negativeoutcomesiftheyaredisconfirmed.Onefactorthatmaybeassociatedwith whetherexpectationsgetconfirmedordisconfirmedisthespecificityoftheoutcome. Expectationsaboutglobaloutcomes,becausetheyaremoreopentointerpretationand morelikelytoleadtoconfirmatorybehaviors,shouldbemorelikelytogetconfirmed, leadingtopositivefeelingsabouttherelationshipovertime.Incontrast,expectations aboutspecificoutcomes,becausetheyarelessopentointerpretationandlesslikelyto leadtoconfirmatorybehaviors,shouldbemorelikelytogetdisconfirmed,leadingtoless positivefeelmgsabouttherelationshipovertime.Thisdissertationaddressedthis possibilitybyexaminingtheimplicationsofpositiveexpectationsaboutrelationship V outcomesthatvaryinspecificity.Newlymarriedcouplesreportedtheirexpectationsfor globalandspecificrelationshipoutcomesandsubsequentlyreportedtheirsatisfaction withtherelationshipeverysixmonthsfortwoyears.Contrarytothepredictionthat globalandspecificexpectationswouldhavedifferenteffectsonthetrajectoryofmarital satisfaction,resultsindicatedthat,onaverage,positiveexpectationsaboutbothglobal andspecificoutcomesledtodeclinesinmaritalsatisfaction.However,consistentwiththe ideathattheassociationbetweenexpectationsandchangeovertimewoulddependonthe likelihoodthattheexpectationswouldgetconfirmed,objectiveandsubjectivemeasures ofrelationshipqualitymoderatedtheassociationbetweenexpectationsandchangein satisfactionovertime.Whenpositiveexpectationswereconfirmedbyatendencytomake positiveattributionsandengageinfewnegativebehaviors,positiveexpectationsledto stablemaritalsatisfaction.Incontrast,whenpositiveexpectationsweredisconfirmedbya tendencytomakenegativeattributionsandengageinfrequentnegativebehaviors, positiveexpectationsledtodeclinesinmaritalsatisfaction.Thecurrentfindingssuggest thataclearunderstandingoftheroleofexpectationsinrelationshipswillbelimited withouttakingintoaccountthebroaderfactorslikelytobeassociatedwiththe confirmationanddisconfirmationofpositiveexpectations. vi INTRODUCTION < Thingsbecomebetterwhenyouexpectthebestinsteadoftheworst. -NormanVincentPeale,Thepowerofpositivethinking(p.110) Blessedisthemanthatexpectsnothing,forheshallneverbedisappointed. -AlexanderPope Contemporarywisdomsuggeststhattheexpectationspartnershaveabouttheir closerelationshipsshouldplayaroleindeterminingwhethertheirrelationshipswill succeedorfail.Consistentwiththisidea,researchershavedemonstratedthatexpectations influenceawidevarietyofinterpersonalfactors,includingcognitions,behaviors,and emotions(Olson,Roese,&Zanna,1998).Accordingly,whatnewlywedsexpectfrom theirrelationshipsshouldaffecthowtheyultimatelyfeelaboutthem. Ahhoughboththeoryandresearchsuggestthatexpectationsshouldinfluence relationshipoutcomes,thereisnoconsensusaboutthedirectionoftheinfluence. Consistentwiththeideathatpeoplewhothinkabouttheirrelationshipinpositiveterms shouldobtampositiveoutcomes,researchonexpectancyconfirmationshowsthatpeople interpreteventsandbehaveinamannerconsistentwiththeirpriorexpectations(Darley &Fazio,1980;Miller&Tumbull,1986;Snyder,1984).Thus,comparedtothosewith morepessimisticexpectations,peoplewhoexpectpositivethingsfromtheirrelationships shouldbehavemoreconstructively,interpretspecificeventsmorecharitably,and 1 2 thereforebehappierovertime.Incontrast,consistentwiththeideathatpositive expectationsmaybedetrimentaltorelationships,researchoncounterfactualthinking demonstratesthatpeoplewithpositiveexpectationscanbedisappointedwhentheir outcomesdonotmeettheirexpectations(e.g.,Mellers,Schwartz,Ho,&Ritov,1997). Accordingly,partnerswithpositiveexpectationsabouttheirrelationshipsmayreactmore negativelytospecificrelationshipproblems,andconsequentlygrowlesshappyover time. Understandingthefactorsthatcontributetothefunctioningandstabilityofclose relationshipsisimportant.Althoughallrelationshipsbeginverysatisfying,mostbecome lesssatisfyingovertime.Moreover,maritaldistressisthenumberonereasonwhypeople seekcoxonseling(Veroff,Kulka,&Douvan,1981).Yet,itremainsunclearexactlywhat causesrelationshipstobecomeunhappyandwhatmaycausethemtobehappyagain. Giventhecloseconnectionbetweenexpectationsandinterpersonaloutcomes, expectationsfrequentlyhavebeenthetargetofinterventionstopromotehealthy relationships(e.g.,Baucom,Epstein,Rankin,&.Burnett,1996;Eidelson&Epstein,1982; Markman,Stanley,&.Blumberg,1994;Olson,Foumier,&Druckman,1986). Unfortunately,however,duetothelackunderstandingabouttheroleofexpectationsin relationships,recommendationsareofteninconsistentwithoneanother.Forexample,one approachtopreventingmaritaldistressarguesthat"couplesareatincreasedriskwhen expectationsareunreasonable"(Stanley,Blumberg,&Markman,1999,p.285).In contrast,otherworkonmaritaltherapytechniquessuggeststhat"holdingextreme standardsdoesnotseemtodoomcouplestodissatisfaction.Instead...holdingextreme 3 standardsthataskagreatdealofthemarriageispositivelyrelatedtomarital adjustment"(Baucometal,1996,p.83). Thegoalofthisdissertationistodeterminethelongitudinalimplicationsof positiveexpectationsaboutarelationshiponrelationshipoutcomes.Specifically,this researchaddressesthequestion:isitadaptivetohavepositiveexpectationsatthe beginningofarelationship,orv^illsuchoptimismleadtodisappointment?Tothisend, theremainderofthisintroductionisorganizedintofoursections.Thefirstsection reviewsresearchontheprocessofexpectancyconfirmation,wherebyexpectationslead toconsistentoutcomesandconsistentevaluations,suggestingthatpositiveexpectations willleadtopositiveoutcomes.Thesecondsectionreviewstheliteratureon counterfactualreasoningwherebypositiveexpectationscanleadtodisappointmentby providingacontrasttoactualoutcomes.Thethirdsectionwillattempttoreconcilethese contradictoryfmdingsbydistinguishingbetweenexpectationsaboutglobaloutcomesand expectationsaboutmorespecificoutcomes.Thefinalsectionwilldescribeastudy designedtoevaluatewhetherthedistinctionbetweenglobalandspecificexpectations mattersbyexaminingthelongitudinalimplicationsofpositiveexpectationsabout relationshipoutcomesthatvaryinspecificity. LITRERATUREREVIEW ExpectancyConfirmation Oneoftheoldestandmostwell-establishedprinciplesinsocialpsychologyisthe ideathatpeople'soutcomesandevaluationsareconsistentwiththeirpriorexpectations. Inaclassicstudyofthiseffect,HaroldKelley(1950)askedstudentstoevaluateaguest lecturerwhomtheyhadbeenledtoexpectwouldbeeither"warm"or"cold."After participatinginagroupdiscussion,thosestudentswhoexpectedawarmlecturer evaluatedhimmorepositivelythanstudentswhoexpectedacoldlecturer.Inotherwords, studentsevaluatedthelecturerinamannerconsistentwiththeirpriorexpectations. RosenthalandJacobson(1968)extendedthisfindingbydemonstratingthatexpectancy confirmationsaffectimportantsocialsituations.Theseauthorstoldelementaryschool teachersthatbasedonresultsfromanIQtestsomeoftheirstudentswould"bloom" intellectuallyoverthecourseoftheacademicyear.Inactuality,"bloomers"were randomlyselectedandthusnomorelikelytoshowincreasesinintelligencethantheother studentsintheclass.WhentestedwiththeIQtestagainattheendoftheschoolyear, however,thestudentslabeled"bloomers"demonstratedasignificantlygreaterincreasein IQthanstudentsnotlabeled"bloomers."SincetheearlyworkofKelley(1950)and RosenthalandJacobson(1968),researchershaveshownthatexpectancyconfirmations influencenumerousotherimportantsocialphenomenaincludingstereotypedperceptions (e.g.,Duncan,1976;Hasorf&Cantril,1954;Rosenhan,1973),discriminatorybehaviors 4
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