Motivational interdependence in couple relationships

This article presents an integrative conceptual model of motivational interdependence in couples, the MIC model. Based on theoretical tenets in motivation psychology, personality psychology, and research on interpersonal perception, the MIC model postulates that two partners' motive dispositions fundamentally interact in shaping their individual motivation and behavior. On a functional level, a partner's motivated behavior is conceptualized as an environmental cue that can contribute to an actor's motive expression and satisfaction. However, the partner's motivated behavior is considered to gain this motivational relevance only via the actor's subjective perception. Multilevel analyses of an extensive experience sampling study on partner-related communal motivation ( N = up to 60,803 surveys from 508 individuals nested in 258 couples) supported the MIC model. Participants, particularly those with strong communal motive dispositions, behaved more communally at moments when they perceived their partners to behave more communally. In addition, participants experienced momentary boosts in satisfaction when they behaved more communally and, at the same time, perceived their partners' behavior as similarly communal. Broader implications of the MIC model for research on romantic relationships are discussed

Eliciting Short-Term Closeness in Couple Relationships With Ecological Momentary Interventions

Relationship closeness is considered an important psychological variable for studying couple relationships, and is often postulated as cause for important relationship outcomes. The current study evaluates four micro-interventions for their suitability to experimentally elicit feelings of closeness towards one’s partner. Using participants’ smartphones, and a combination of experience sampling, event sampling, and ecological momentary interventions, individuals reported for a week on their experiences of closeness before and after completing daily either a neutral task or a task meant to enhance relationship closeness. The closeness tasks included showing physical affection, sharing a childhood memory, looking each other in the eyes for five minutes, and discussing shared life achievements. Results of intention-to-treat analyses on a within-person level showed that closeness increased from pre- to post-measurement on average more strongly on days of any of the four examined closeness conditions than on days of the neutral control conditions. Interindividual variability of this effect was observed, emphasizing the relevance of using within-person designs to evaluate such interventions. Exploratory analyses showed that effect sizes declined across time within the day. This study provides instruments for research on causal effects of closeness in everyday relationship life, and an evidence basis for smartphone-delivered interventions in practitioner settings

Truth and Wishful Thinking: How Interindividual Differences in Communal Motives Manifest in Momentary Partner Perceptions

Although rooted in reality, partner perceptions often reflect wishful thinking due to perceivers' needs. Dispositional needs, or motives, can differ between persons; however, little is known about their differential associations with everyday partner perception. The present study used data from a 4‐week experience sampling study ( N = up to 60942 surveys from 510 individuals nested in 259 couples) to examine the effects of perceivers' partner‐related implicit and explicit communal motives on the perception of (i) global communal partner behaviour and (ii) specific communal and uncommunal partner behaviours. The results of truth and bias models of judgement and quasi‐signal detection analyses indicate that strong implicit communal approach motives and strong explicit communal motives are associated with the tendency to overestimate the partner's communal behaviour. Additionally, strong implicit communal approach motives were associated with the tendency to avoid perceptions of uncommunal partner behaviour. Neither implicit nor explicit communal motives had an effect on accuracy in the perception of particularly communal partner behaviour. The results highlight the relevance of both implicit and explicit communal motives for momentary partner perceptions and emphasise the benefits of dyadic microlongitudinal designs for a better understanding of the mechanisms through which individual differences manifest in couples' everyday lives. © 2019 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psycholog

Measuring motivational relationship processes in experience sampling: A reliability model for moments, days, and persons nested in couples

The investigation of within-person process models, often done in experience sampling designs, requires a reliable assessment of within-person change. In this paper, we focus on dyadic intensive longitudinal designs where both partners of a couple are assessed multiple times each day across several days. We introduce a statistical model for variance decomposition based on generalizability theory (extending P. E. Shrout & S. P. Lane, 2012), which can estimate the relative proportion of variability on four hierarchical levels: moments within a day, days, persons, and couples. Based on these variance estimates, four reliability coefficients are derived: between-couples, between-persons, within-persons/between-days, and within-persons/between-moments. We apply the model to two dyadic intensive experience sampling studies (n1 = 130 persons, 5 surveys each day for 14 days, ≥ 7508 unique surveys; n2 = 508 persons, 5 surveys each day for 28 days, ≥ 47764 unique surveys). Five different scales in the domain of motivational processes and relationship quality were assessed with 2 to 5 items: State relationship satisfaction, communal motivation, and agentic motivation; the latter consists of two subscales, namely power and independence motivation. Largest variance components were on the level of persons, moments, couples, and days, where within-day variance was generally larger than between-day variance. Reliabilities ranged from .32 to .76 (couple level), .93 to .98 (person level), .61 to .88 (day level), and .28 to .72 (moment level). Scale intercorrelations reveal differential structures between and within persons, which has consequences for theory building and statistical modeling

Does the female cycle matter?

Paper on social exclusion and the menstrual cycl

Der Einfluss emotionaler Intelligenz auf die Befriedigung impliziter Motive

In dieser Studie wurde untersucht, ob emotionale Intelligenz (EI) als Ability zur Befriedigung impliziter Motive beitragen kann. Ein solcher Einfluss wurde für implizit hoch macht- und anschlussmotivierten Personen vermutet, jedoch nicht für implizit niedrig Macht- und Anschlussmotivierte, sowie auch nicht für implizit leistungsmotivierte Menschen unabhängig von der Ausprägung des Leistungsmotivs. Die impliziten Motive wurden über die Picture Story Exercise (vgl. Pang, 2010) gemessen und die EI mit Hilfe der Kurzform des Situational Test of Emotional Understanding und der des Situational Test of Emotion Management erhoben (vgl. MacCann & Roberts, 2008a). Für die Motivbefriedigung wurde ein Fragebogen entwickelt, der das Auftreten motivbefriedigender Situationen in der letzten Gruppenarbeit abfragt. Die vermuteten Zusammenhänge konnten nicht gefunden werden: für implizit machtmotivierte Personen fand sich überhaupt keine Interaktion mit EI; für implizit anschlussmotivierte Personen fand sich eine Interaktion mit EI, jedoch in anderer Richtung als vermutet. Sie gestaltete sich so, dass hoch emotional intelligente,implizit aber niedrig anschlussmotivierte Personeneine größere Motivbefriedigung berichteten, als entsprechend implizit niedrig anschlussmotivierte Personen mit niedriger EI. Dieser Effekt von EI wurde ursprünglich für implizit stark anschlussmotivierte Personen vermutet. Für implizit Leistungsmotivierte fand sich wie bei implizit Machtmotivierten kein signifikanter Prädiktor. Dies wurde so vermutet, es kann jedoch nicht mit Sicherheit gesagt werden, dass dies die Hypothesen bestätigt, da das 95%-Konfidenzintervall der Regressionsgewichte zu breit ausfällt. Mögliche Erklärungen für die resultierten Ergebnisse werden dargestellt und Anregungen für zukünftige Studien diskutiert