Ted L. Huston

The Dyadic Trust Scale: Toward Understanding Interpersonal Trust in Close Relationships.

Interpersonal trust is an aspect of close relationships which has been virtually ignored in social scientific research despite its importance as perceived by intimate partners and several family theorists. This article describes the development, validation, and correlates of the Dyadic Trust Scale, a tool designed for such research. It is unidimensional, reliable, relatively free ifrom response biases, and purposely designed to be consistent with conceptualizations qf trust from various perspectives. Dyadic trust proved to be associated with love and with intimacy of self-disclosure, especiallyjfor longer married partners. It varied by level of commitment, being lowest jor ex-partners and highest for those engaged and living together, for newlyweds, and for those married over 20 years. Partners reciprocated trust more than either love or depth qfself-disclosure. Future research could fruitfully relate dyadic trust to such issues as personal growth in relationships, resolving interpersonal conflict, and developing close relationships subsequent to separation or divorce.

The tripartite nature of marital commitment: Personal, moral, and structural reasons to stay married

This study assesses the empirical viabilihy of Johnsons (1991) commitment framework. The core principle is that commitment, rather than a unitary phenomenon, involves three distinct experiences: wanting to stay married, feeling morally obligated to stay married, and feeling constrained to stay married. Using data from a sample of married couples, we show that direct measures of the three experiences are not highly correlated with each other, that a measure of so-called global commitment is a function primarily, if not exclusively; of personal commitment, that the three direct measures of the experiences of commitment are associated for the most part with the components of each type as hypothesized in the commitment framework, and that the three types of commitment and their components are not associated in the same way with other variables. Key Words: commitment, marriage, stability. What does it mean to be committed to a relationship? Johnson (1973, 1982, 1991, in press) has argued that the experience of commitment is not unitary, that there are three distinct types of commitment, each with a different set of causes, a different phenomenology, and different cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences. Personal commitment refers to the sense of wanting to stay in the relationship, moral commitment to feeling morally obligated to stay, and structural commitment to feeling constrained to stay regardless of the level of personal or moral commitment. We report an investigation of the experiential nature of commitment in the context of first marriages that have survived from 1981 to 1994. Data are presented on the relationships among the three types of commitment and on the relationship of each of the three types to so-called global commitment. We also show that the three types of commitment are functions of different components of commitment and are related differently to a number of other antecedents and consequences. TYPES OF COMMITMENT Johnsons (1991) commitment framework is organized around a discussion of the components of three major types of commitment and identifies the key sets of factors that contribute to the experiences of personal, moral, or structural commitment to a particular relationship. The first two types of commitment, personal and moral, are experienced as internal to the individual and are a function of the persons own attitudes and values. The third type of commitment, structural, is experienced as external to the individual and is a function of perceptions of constraints that make it costly for the individual to leave the relationship. Personal Commitment Personal commitment. the extent to which one wants to stay in a relationship, is affected by three components (Johnson, 1991). First, individuals may want to continue a relationship because they are attracted to their partner. Second, personal commitment is a function of attraction to the relationship. Although under many conditions these two components of personal commitment are correlated with each other, they clearly are not the same phenomenon. One can feel a strong attraction to an individual who, in the context of the relationship, behaves in ways that one finds quite unsatisfactory. Furthermore, the attractiveness of a relationship may be experienced as a joint function of the actions of both partners or may be attributed primarily to oneself. For example, one way a physically abusive husband controls his wife is by convincing her that the abuse is more her fault than his (Johnson, 1995; Kirkwood, 1993; Pence & Paymar, 1993). In such a case, a woman may have quite negative feelings about the violent relationship but still experience strong feelings of love for her partner, who has convinced her that he is not the problem. The third component of personal commitment is couple identity. Social relationships are a central part of identity (Kuhn & McPartland, 1954; McCall & Simmons, 1978). …

A contextual analysis of the association between demand/withdraw and marital satisfaction

In spite of research connecting the demand/withdraw pattern of marital interaction to marital dissatisfaction, questions remain about its association with marital satisfaction when it is considered in the context of other interpersonal behaviors. We explore the possibility that the correlation between demand/withdraw and dissatisfaction merely reflects the ubiquitous finding that expressions of negative affect are associated with dissatisfaction. We also examine whether the association between demand/withdraw and satisfaction is less strong when spouses have a highly affectionate marriage. Based on the current investigation, the demand/withdraw pattern of communication appears to be empirically distinguishable from the extent to which partners express negativity in their everyday lives, and it seems to account for variation in marital satisfaction over and above partners’ affectionate behaviors and negativity. Moreover, the inverse association between demand/withdraw and marital satisfaction may be less strong when one partner frequently expresses affection in daily life. Together, these results imply potential advantages to further exploring the interdependence among behaviors within marital interaction systems.

Bystander Intervention Into Crime: A Study Based on Naturally-Occurring Episodes

Thirty-two individuals who intervened in dangerous criminal episodes such as street muggings, armed robberies, and bank holdups, were interviewed at length and compared with a group of noninterveners matched for age, sex, education, and ethnic background. Interveners, in contrast to noninterveners, reported considerably more exposure to crime in terms of personal victimization and witnessing the victimizations of others. Crime interveners also were taller, heavier, and better trained to cope with crimes and emergencies, having had significantly more life-saving, medical, and police training; and were more likely to describe themselves as physically strong, aggressive, emotional, and principled. In spite of an intensive search for personality differences between the two groups, none were found. Results suggest that crime interveners are not prompted to action by notably strong humanitarian purpose or by antisocial aggressiveness, but rather act out of a sense of capability founded on training experiences and rooted in their personal strength.

Positive Illusions in Marital Relationships: A 13-Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined the long-term consequences of idealization in marriage, using both daily diary and questionnaire data collected from a sample of 168 newlywed couples who participated in a 4-wave, 13-year longitudinal study of marriage. Idealization was operationalized as the tendency for people to perceive their partner as more agreeable than would be expected based on their reports of their partners agreeable and disagreeable behaviors. Spouses who idealized one another were more in love with each other as newlyweds. Longitudinal analyses suggested that spouses were less likely to suffer declines in love when they idealized one another as newlyweds. Newlywed levels of idealization did not predict divorce.

Emergencies: what are they and do they influence bystanders to intervene?

Social psychological research on helping has, in part, been concerned with the intervention of bystanders into emergencies. Pertinent empirical literature does not seem to be available on what factors bystanders use to define an emergency nor the effect of such a decision on the rate of helping. A series of four studies was conducted to answer these questions. We found that (a) Emergencies are a subclass of problem situation that usually result from accidents; (b) there is a high degree of agreement concerning what problem situations are definitely an emergency; (c) emergency situations are differentiated from other problem situations by threat of harm or actual harm worsening with time, unavailability of an easy solution to the problem, and necessity of obtaining outside help to solve the problem; (d) disagreement on whether a problem situation is an emergency or not results from differing perceptions of the degree to which threat of harm or actual harm worsens with time; (e) bystanders are more likely to help in emergency than in nonemergency problem situations. The results were interpreted as indicating that the need of the victim is a salient feature used by bystanders in determining whether or not to help.

The Early Marital Roots of Conjugal Distress and Divorce

This article summarizes research that challenges conventional wisdom about the early roots of marital distress and divorce. We abstract results from a 13-year study that focused on the extent to which long-term marital satisfaction and stability could be forecast from newlywed and early marital data. We explore the usefulness of three models emergent distress, enduring dynamics, and disillusionment designed to explain why some marriages thrive and others fail. The dominant paradigm, the emergent-distress model, sees newlyweds as homogeneously blissful and posits that distress develops as disagreements and negativity escalate, ultimately leading some couples to divorce. The results we summarize run counter to this model and suggest instead that (a) newlyweds differ considerably in the intensity of both their romance and the negativity of their behavior toward one another and, for those who remain married, these early dynamics persist over time; and (b) for couples who divorce, romance seems to deteriorate differently depending on how long the marriage lasts. Soon after their wedding, “early exiters” seem to lose hope of improving an unpromising relationship; “delayed-action divorcers” begin marriage on a particularly high note, yet quickly show signs of disillusionment. These delayed-action divorcers reluctantly give up on the marriage long after the romance has faded.

Social Face and Resistance to Compromise in Bargaining

Summary Sixty-four male and female college students induced to be high-status bargainers negotiated with low-status bargainers. At the midpoint in the negotiating session, the low-status bargainers either validated or invalidated the high-status persons bargaining position and either affirmed or provided no feedback concerning the high-status bargainers personal effectiveness in putting forth his position. Ss whose position was validated rather than invalidated reached a compromise sooner. Moreover, they felt more accepted and less affronted by the low-status bargainer and perceived the low-status bargainer as less likely to frustrate their bargaining efforts. Ss whose position was invalidated and who received no information from the low-status bargainer concerning their personal effectiveness resisted longer in reaching a compromise agreement than those in the other three conditions. In addition, these Ss more than the others indicated that they felt affronted and unaccepted by the low-status bargainer...

Do Men and Women Show Love Differently in Marriage

In Western societies, women are considered more adept than men at expressing love in romantic relationships. Although scholars have argued that this view of love gives short shrift to men’s ways of showing love (e.g., Cancian, 1986; Noller, 1996), the widely embraced premise that men and women “love differently” has rarely been examined empirically. Using data collected at four time points over 13 years of marriage, the authors examined whether love is associated with different behaviors for husbands and wives. Multilevel analyses revealed that, counter to theoretical expectations, both genders were equally likely to show love through affection. But whereas wives expressed love by enacting fewer negative or antagonistic behaviors, husbands showed love by initiating sex, sharing leisure activities, and doing household work together with their wives. Overall, the findings indicate that men and women show their love in more nuanced ways than cultural stereotypes suggest.

Identity and dating commitment among women and men in college

Lower division and upper division college womens and mens commitment in a dating relationship was examined in connection with their (a) gender role attitudes, (b) educational aspirations, (c) certainty about their future vocation, and (d) the importance they attach to work vs. marriage as a source of life satisfaction. Dating commitment was also examined for women in relation to their dedication to work for pay after marriage, and for men in terms of their ideas about their future wife working. The more certain upper division college womens vocational identity, the more committed they were to their dating partner, but the more they planned to work after marriage the less involved they were in a relationship. Additionally, upper division women who placed more importance on a job than marriage and who had a clearer vocational identity were less involved in a relationship. The clearer upper division mens vocational identity, the more committed they were in a relationship. Lower division men who placed more importance on work compared to marriage were less involved in a dating relationship. The results are discussed in light of Eriksons stages of identity development and more recent research that suggests womens identity development follows a different course from mens.