EMERGENCE OF CLOSE RELATIONSHIP CONSTRUALS: AN ACTION IDENTIFICATION APPROACH

The current study examined the emergent nature of close relationship construals from the perspective of Action Identification Theory. Specifically, participants were induced to think about the actions of a romantic partner or close friend at a high- (i.e., overall meaning) or low- (concrete details) level, and then instructed to rate the validity of false feedback regarding the nature of their relationship (i.e., spontaneous, or predictable). Marginal support was found for the main prediction that focusing on low level details rather than high-level meaning would lead individuals to rate false high-level relational construals as more valid, although this effect was found only for those reporting on a romantic relationship, but not a close friendship. Further, exploratory analyses examining potential interaction effects demonstrated the relative influence of partner concept-clarity and relationship satisfaction on patterns of psychological emergence.