Julia Peetz
Biographic Data
| ID | 420353 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Julia Peetz |
| GIVEN NAMES | Julia |
| FAMILY NAME | Peetz |
| SIGNATURE | PEETZ J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Carleton University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5547-0315 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 48 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 115 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Making (Enough for) Love: The Association of Income and Relationship Readiness
Objective To examine the relation of unpartnered individuals' financial situation to satisfaction with singlehood, desire for a relationship, and likelihood of partnering. Is higher income related to happier singlehood and/or a stronger draw towards romantic relationships? Background The link between income and romantic relationships has so far been examined mainly in the context of existing relationships, with higher income related to lower conf…
Hide and Seek with Finances: Financial Infidelity and Financial Snooping in Relationships
A Bidirectional Link between Financial Communication in Romantic Relationships and Financial Stress
Goals Out Loud: Telling Others About a Goal Increases Support Received and Facilitates Goal Pursuit
Four longitudinal studies ( N = 1,035) examined whether telling others about personal goals enhances goal support received, goal pursuit effort, and goal progress. In Study 1, participants nominated a personal goal and 1 week later reported whether they had shared this goal during the week. Goal disclosure predicted more support received from others and greater goal pursuit effort. In Studies 2 and 3, participants assigned to share a goal in the …
When Love and Money Collide: The Role of Financially Focused Self‐Concept in Relationships
This research examined whether people's own and their partner's financially focused self‐concept are associated with relationship satisfaction in a sample of UK couples ( N = 388 participants). Results showed that financial harmony in a romantic relationship is influenced not only by an individual's own financial focus but also by their partner's financial focus. Contrary to expectations, however, the degree to which financial resources were inte…
Sounds of the future and past
We report evidence of sound symbolism for the abstract concept of time across seven experiments (total N = 825). Participants associated the future and past with distinct phonemes (Experiment 1). In particular, using nearly 8000 pseudowords, we found associations between the future and high front vowels and voiced fricatives/affricatives, and between the past and /θ/ and voiced stops (Experiment 2). This association was present not only among Eng…
Talk about shared money: Account pooling is associated with financial communication
Couples who pool their financial resources tend to report more positive relationship outcomes. The present research examines whether more financial interdependence is linked to better and more frequent communication about financial decisions. Individuals who fully pool finances with their partner reported better financial communication quality and more frequent discussions about finances than individuals who partially pool finances or keep financ…
The Wise Mind Balances the Abstract and the Concrete
We explored how individuals’ mental representations of complex and uncertain situations impact their ability to reason wisely. To this end, we introduce situated methods to capture abstract and concrete mental representations and the switching between them when reflecting on social challenges. Using these methods, we evaluated the alignment of abstractness and concreteness with four integral facets of wisdom: intellectual humility, open-mindednes…
Financial Stress as an Antecedent of Financial Snooping Attitudes
Does Timing of Self-Control Strategies Matter? How Focusing on Proactive versus Reactive Strategies Affects Monthly Spending
Overspending and succumbing to spending temptations is a pervasive problem. Self-control strategies can help people resist temptations and make goal-consistent decisions. In an online longitudinal study (N = 363), participants set a monthly spending goal and were randomly assigned to use self-control strategies ahead of tempting situations (proactive condition), during tempting situations (reactive condition), or did not receive strategy instruct…
How individuals perceive their partner's relationship behaviors when worrying about finances
What role do financial worries play in close relationship functioning? In this research, we examine how financial worry - negative thoughts and feelings about finances - is associated with perceived relationship behaviors. Participants recalled how their partner acted during a recent disagreement (Study 1, N = 97 couples) or recalled the frequency of positive and negative behaviors enacted by their partner during the previous week (Study 2, N = 9…
How couples think about money: Types of money motives and relationship satisfaction
Two studies examined how financial values held by romantic partners were linked with relationship satisfaction. Across a sample of married individuals (N = 628), and a dyadic sample (N = 236), results suggest that holding or perceiving a romantic partner to hold integrated money motives-wanting to earn money to feel pride, establish one's worth, facilitate freedom, and enrich leisure activities-was linked with better relationship satisfaction. Ho…
When more is less: Self-control strategies are seen as less indicative of self-control than just willpower
Expect and you shall perceive: People who expect better in turn perceive better behaviors from their romantic partners
People who are happy with their romantic relationships report that their partners are particularly effective at meeting their everyday relational needs. However, the literature invites competing predictions about how people arrive at those evaluations. In pilot research, we validated a scale of concrete, specific relationship behaviors that can be performed by a romantic partner day-to-day. In Study 1, cross-lagged panel models examined how expec…
When couples fight about money, what do they fight about
Conflicts about money and finances can be destructive for both the quality and longevity of relationships. This paper reports on a descriptive analysis of the contents of financial conflicts in two samples. Study 1 examined severe financial conflicts in social media posts ( N = 1014) from reddit ( r/relationships). Eight themes were identified via thematic analysis: "unfair relative contributions" "who pays for joint expenses", "job and income", …
On Protest
Projecting current feelings into the past and future: Better current relationship quality reduces negative retrospective bias and increases positive forecasting bias
We examine bias in how people perceive their romantic relationship over time. Participants appraised their relationship 6 months and 1 year ago on average more negatively than they had done at the time (retrospective bias) but showed no significant mean-level forecasting bias. Higher relationship quality at the time of appraisal was linked to less negative retrospective bias but to more positive forecasting bias (Study 1). Similarly, participants…
Balancing Prosocial Effort Across Social Categories: Mental Accounting Heuristics in Helping Decisions
Three studies examine whether individuals might use mental accounting heuristics in helping decisions, budgeting their prosocial effort in similar ways to how money is budgeted. In a hypothetical scenario study ( N = 283), participants who imagined that they previously helped someone of a specific social category (e.g., “family,” “colleagues”) were less willing to help someone of that category again. Similarly, when reporting actual instances of …
Wise Reasoning About the Future Is Associated With Adaptive Interpersonal Feelings After Relational Challenges
Two prospective studies examine how wise reasoning about an anticipated conflict interaction—intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty and change, consideration and integration of different perspectives—is associated with interpersonal feelings and closeness to the interaction partner after the challenging interaction. In Study 1 ( N = 243) and preregistered replication Study 2 ( N = 234), participants who reasoned more wisely before an a…
Worn out relationship? The role of expectations in judgments of relational boredom
This study examined the role of growth and security expectations in shaping people's judgments of relational boredom and conflict (for discriminant validity). In Studies 1 and 2, the type of expectation gaps (growth vs. security) in hypothetical relationships (as well as the occurrence of a gap in Study 2) was manipulated, and people's judgments of relational boredom and conflict were assessed; Study 3 assessed these associations in people's own …
A chip off the (im)moral block? Lay beliefs about genetic heritability predicts whether family members’ actions affect self‐judgments
The idea of heritability may have consequences for individuals’ sense of self by connecting identity to the actions of others who happen to share genetic ties. Across seven experimental studies (total N = 2,628), recalling morally bad or good actions by family members influenced individuals’ moral self among those who endorse a lay belief that moral character is genetically heritable, but not among those who did not endorse this belief (Study 1–5…
Financial self-control strategy use: Generating personal strategies reduces spending more than learning expert strategies
We examined the spontaneous use and effectiveness of financial self-control strategies in individuals' everyday spending. In Study 1 (N = 377), participants who listed the strategies they personally already use at intake and several times throughout a month spent an average $228 less that month than participants in a control group. In contrast, participants who were provided with strategies that have been empirically tested and published or parti…
The counter-theatricality of right-wing populist performance
This article examines the counter-theatricality of right-wing populist performance, arguing that it deploys theatrical and performative techniques to create an illusion of authenticity and anti-establishment sentiment. It analyzes how right-wing populist leaders and movements utilize strategies such as breaking the fourth wall, claiming to speak directly for the people, and presenting themselves as outsiders challenging the political elite. The a…
How partner‐satisfying decisions benefit relationships: An experience sampling study
Sometimes, individuals must choose between acting in a way that satisfies their own desire or acting in a way that satisfies their partner's desire. What are the consequences of choosing one over the other for individuals' well‐being and relationship? Using experience sampling data (934 reports by 106 participants) that assessed daily decision conflicts in relationships, we examined consequences of partner‐satisfying decisions. A higher proportio…
Legitimacy as a zero-sum game: Presidential populism and the performative success of the unauthorized outsider
Only because I love you: Why people make and why they break promises in romantic relationships
People make and break promises frequently in interpersonal relationships. In this article, we investigate the processes leading up to making promises and the processes involved in keeping them. Across 4 studies, we demonstrate that people who had the most positive relationship feelings and who were most motivated to be responsive to the partner's needs made bigger promises than did other people but were not any better at keeping them. Instead, pr…
The post-birthday world: Consequences of temporal landmarks for temporal self-appraisal and motivation
Much as physical landmarks help structure our representation of space, temporal landmarks such as birthdays and significant calendar dates structure our perception of time, such that people may organize or categorize their lives into "chunks" separated by these markers. Categories on the temporal landscape may vary depending on what landmarks are salient at a given time. We suggest these landmarks have implications for identity and motivation. Th…
Spicing up the relationship? The effects of relational boredom on shared activities
The goal of this study was to examine how people respond to relational boredom in the context of growth-enhancing (i.e., novel) and security-restorative (i.e., familiar) shared activities. In Study 1, people's prescriptive and descriptive beliefs for responding to relational boredom were assessed. Next, we developed a prime of relational boredom (Study 2a) and examined its effects on behavioral intentions for shared activities (Studies 2b and 3) …
You promised you'd change: How incremental and entity theorists react to a romantic partner's promised change attempts
The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style, and Representation
Relationships' Best Friend: Links between Pet Ownership, Empathy, and Romantic Relationship Outcomes
The benefits of pets on individual wellbeing is well established. But can pets also have benefits for romantic relationships? Using mixed methods, three studies explored the link between pet ownership and romantic relationship quality. First, using a grounded theory approach, we qualitatively investigated participants' personal beliefs of how their pets influence their romantic relationships by coding open-ended responses. Results suggested that …
Planning for the near and distant future: How does temporal distance affect task completion predictions
People, they are a changin: The links between anticipating change and romantic relationship quality
People's attitudes, social circumstances, and personalities can change over time. What might anticipating change in oneself and in one's partner mean for romantic relationships? Two studies showed that expecting congruency in change for the self and the partner was linked to better relationship quality. While anticipating change in either partner by itself was associated with perceiving personal growth, individual-level change was only positively…
The future weighs heavier than the past: Collective guilt, perceived control and the influence of time
The present research examines whether people can experience collective guilt for harmful events that have yet to be committed. In two experiments, we show that people not only experience collective guilt for future harm but feel it to a greater extent than for an identical event that occurred in the past. In Experiment 1, Canadians felt more collective guilt for flooding Aboriginal lands in 1 month's time than 1 month ago. This time effect was me…
When couples fight about money, what do they fight about
Conflicts about money and finances can be destructive for both the quality and longevity of relationships. This paper reports on a descriptive analysis of the contents of financial conflicts in two samples. Study 1 examined severe financial conflicts in social media posts ( N = 1014) from reddit ( r/relationships). Eight themes were identified via thematic analysis: "unfair relative contributions" "who pays for joint expenses", "job and income", …
Legitimacy as a zero-sum game: Presidential populism and the performative success of the unauthorized outsider
Self-regulating the effortful “social dos
In the current research, we explored differences in the self-regulation of the personal dos (i.e., engaging in active and effortful behaviors that benefit the self) and in the self-regulation of the social dos (engaging in those same effortful behaviors to benefit someone else). In 6 studies, we examined whether the same trait self-control abilities that predict task persistence on personal dos would also predict task persistence on social dos. T…
How couples think about money: Types of money motives and relationship satisfaction
Two studies examined how financial values held by romantic partners were linked with relationship satisfaction. Across a sample of married individuals (N = 628), and a dyadic sample (N = 236), results suggest that holding or perceiving a romantic partner to hold integrated money motives-wanting to earn money to feel pride, establish one's worth, facilitate freedom, and enrich leisure activities-was linked with better relationship satisfaction. Ho…
Expect and you shall perceive: People who expect better in turn perceive better behaviors from their romantic partners
People who are happy with their romantic relationships report that their partners are particularly effective at meeting their everyday relational needs. However, the literature invites competing predictions about how people arrive at those evaluations. In pilot research, we validated a scale of concrete, specific relationship behaviors that can be performed by a romantic partner day-to-day. In Study 1, cross-lagged panel models examined how expec…
Financial self-control strategy use: Generating personal strategies reduces spending more than learning expert strategies
We examined the spontaneous use and effectiveness of financial self-control strategies in individuals' everyday spending. In Study 1 (N = 377), participants who listed the strategies they personally already use at intake and several times throughout a month spent an average $228 less that month than participants in a control group. In contrast, participants who were provided with strategies that have been empirically tested and published or parti…
It’s a matter of time: The effect of depletion on communal action in romantic relationships is moderated by relationship length
Researchers have only begun to turn their attention to the role of self-control in communal action (rather than communal restraint) in relationships. Conflicting results from early studies indicate that the association between self-control and communal action may be quite complex, and potentially moderated by many variables. Here we investigate how relationship length may moderate the extent to which communal actions require self-control resource…
The limits of love: Predicting immediate versus sustained caring behaviors in close relationships
How individuals perceive their partner's relationship behaviors when worrying about finances
What role do financial worries play in close relationship functioning? In this research, we examine how financial worry - negative thoughts and feelings about finances - is associated with perceived relationship behaviors. Participants recalled how their partner acted during a recent disagreement (Study 1, N = 97 couples) or recalled the frequency of positive and negative behaviors enacted by their partner during the previous week (Study 2, N = 9…
Projecting current feelings into the past and future: Better current relationship quality reduces negative retrospective bias and increases positive forecasting bias
We examine bias in how people perceive their romantic relationship over time. Participants appraised their relationship 6 months and 1 year ago on average more negatively than they had done at the time (retrospective bias) but showed no significant mean-level forecasting bias. Higher relationship quality at the time of appraisal was linked to less negative retrospective bias but to more positive forecasting bias (Study 1). Similarly, participants…
Ex-appraisal bias: Negative illusions in appraising relationship quality retrospectively
Cognitive biases are prevalent within the context of romantic relationships. The present research investigated biases about relationships after they have ended. In a longitudinal design ( N = 184), individuals reported relationship quality at two time points, as well as rated relationship quality retrospectively. Results supported an ex-appraisal bias: individuals rated their past relationship quality more negatively in retrospect than they had a…
Folk understandings of self regulation in relationships: Recognizing the importance of self-regulatory ability for others, but not the self
Talk about shared money: Account pooling is associated with financial communication
Couples who pool their financial resources tend to report more positive relationship outcomes. The present research examines whether more financial interdependence is linked to better and more frequent communication about financial decisions. Individuals who fully pool finances with their partner reported better financial communication quality and more frequent discussions about finances than individuals who partially pool finances or keep financ…
When more is less: Self-control strategies are seen as less indicative of self-control than just willpower
A chip off the (im)moral block? Lay beliefs about genetic heritability predicts whether family members’ actions affect self‐judgments
The idea of heritability may have consequences for individuals’ sense of self by connecting identity to the actions of others who happen to share genetic ties. Across seven experimental studies (total N = 2,628), recalling morally bad or good actions by family members influenced individuals’ moral self among those who endorse a lay belief that moral character is genetically heritable, but not among those who did not endorse this belief (Study 1–5…
How partner‐satisfying decisions benefit relationships: An experience sampling study
Sometimes, individuals must choose between acting in a way that satisfies their own desire or acting in a way that satisfies their partner's desire. What are the consequences of choosing one over the other for individuals' well‐being and relationship? Using experience sampling data (934 reports by 106 participants) that assessed daily decision conflicts in relationships, we examined consequences of partner‐satisfying decisions. A higher proportio…
Crimes of the Past: Defensive Temporal Distancing in the Face of Past In-Group Wrongdoing
Relegating past in-group transgressions to ancient history might deflect threat to collective identity. Germans (but not Canadians) judged the Holocaust to be more subjectively remote in time when they read only about German-perpetrated atrocities than when this threat was mitigated. Greater subjective distance predicted lower collective guilt, which, in turn, predicted less willingness to make amends (Study 1). Distancing under threat was more p…
Planning for the near and distant future: How does temporal distance affect task completion predictions
The limits of love: Predicting immediate versus sustained caring behaviors in close relationships
You promised you'd change: How incremental and entity theorists react to a romantic partner's promised change attempts
When distance pays off: The role of construal level in spending predictions
Only because I love you: Why people make and why they break promises in romantic relationships
People make and break promises frequently in interpersonal relationships. In this article, we investigate the processes leading up to making promises and the processes involved in keeping them. Across 4 studies, we demonstrate that people who had the most positive relationship feelings and who were most motivated to be responsive to the partner's needs made bigger promises than did other people but were not any better at keeping them. Instead, pr…
When Does Feeling Moral Actually Make You a Better Person? Conceptual Abstraction Moderates Whether Past Moral Deeds Motivate Consistency or Compensatory Behavior
According to the moral licensing literature, moral self-perceptions induce compensatory behavior: People who feel moral act less prosocially than those who feel immoral. Conversely, work on moral identity indicates that moral self-perceptions motivate behavioral consistency: People who feel moral act more prosocially than those who feel less so. In three studies, the authors reconcile these propositions by demonstrating the moderating role of con…
Waving the Flag (or Not): Consequences and Antecedents of Social Norms About In-group Identification
Past research suggests that people identify with positively evaluated groups. However, some in-groups may be evaluated highly yet identification may be hampered by social norms prohibiting in-group pride. Social norms may stem in part from in-group history. In Study 1, Germans rated their nation more highly on quality-of-life dimensions, yet identified with their country less than Americans. Social norms about the perceived appropriateness of in-…
The future weighs heavier than the past: Collective guilt, perceived control and the influence of time
The present research examines whether people can experience collective guilt for harmful events that have yet to be committed. In two experiments, we show that people not only experience collective guilt for future harm but feel it to a greater extent than for an identical event that occurred in the past. In Experiment 1, Canadians felt more collective guilt for flooding Aboriginal lands in 1 month's time than 1 month ago. This time effect was me…
Mental time travel: A conceptual overview of social psychological perspectives on a fundamental human capacity
Humans have the unique capacity to mentally travel through time, that is, to reflect on the past, anticipate the future, and construct alternate realities in their minds. The ability to mentally travel through time affects a variety of social psychological topics. Representations of events can differ considerably, depending on the event's temporal location and distance from the present. Current emotions may be influenced by thoughts of future and…
Looking Towards the Past or the Future Self: How Regulatory Focus Affects Temporal Comparisons and Subsequent Motivation
Temporal selves are a rich source of potential comparison standards, yet little is known about the preference for specific temporal selves. We examine whether regulatory focus influences to what extent people compare themselves to future or past selves. Promotion-focused individuals, who focus on positive outcomes, were more likely to compare themselves to their future selves (Study 1), specifically while appraising themselves in a domain in whic…
Implicit Attitudes Toward the Self Over Time
Three studies examined whether people hold meaningful implicit attitudes toward future selves. Two approaches to measuring implicit future self-esteem were developed (individualized and generic Implicit Association Tests) and attitudes toward the self in ten (Studies 1 and 2) or one years' time (Study 3) were assessed. We predicted that implicit future self-esteem would be less strongly influenced by self-enhancement and wishful thinking than exp…
Folk understandings of self regulation in relationships: Recognizing the importance of self-regulatory ability for others, but not the self
The post-birthday world: Consequences of temporal landmarks for temporal self-appraisal and motivation
Much as physical landmarks help structure our representation of space, temporal landmarks such as birthdays and significant calendar dates structure our perception of time, such that people may organize or categorize their lives into "chunks" separated by these markers. Categories on the temporal landscape may vary depending on what landmarks are salient at a given time. We suggest these landmarks have implications for identity and motivation. Th…
Self-regulating the effortful “social dos
In the current research, we explored differences in the self-regulation of the personal dos (i.e., engaging in active and effortful behaviors that benefit the self) and in the self-regulation of the social dos (engaging in those same effortful behaviors to benefit someone else). In 6 studies, we examined whether the same trait self-control abilities that predict task persistence on personal dos would also predict task persistence on social dos. T…
It’s a matter of time: The effect of depletion on communal action in romantic relationships is moderated by relationship length
Researchers have only begun to turn their attention to the role of self-control in communal action (rather than communal restraint) in relationships. Conflicting results from early studies indicate that the association between self-control and communal action may be quite complex, and potentially moderated by many variables. Here we investigate how relationship length may moderate the extent to which communal actions require self-control resource…
Relationships' Best Friend: Links between Pet Ownership, Empathy, and Romantic Relationship Outcomes
The benefits of pets on individual wellbeing is well established. But can pets also have benefits for romantic relationships? Using mixed methods, three studies explored the link between pet ownership and romantic relationship quality. First, using a grounded theory approach, we qualitatively investigated participants' personal beliefs of how their pets influence their romantic relationships by coding open-ended responses. Results suggested that …
The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style, and Representation
People, they are a changin: The links between anticipating change and romantic relationship quality
People's attitudes, social circumstances, and personalities can change over time. What might anticipating change in oneself and in one's partner mean for romantic relationships? Two studies showed that expecting congruency in change for the self and the partner was linked to better relationship quality. While anticipating change in either partner by itself was associated with perceiving personal growth, individual-level change was only positively…
Spicing up the relationship? The effects of relational boredom on shared activities
The goal of this study was to examine how people respond to relational boredom in the context of growth-enhancing (i.e., novel) and security-restorative (i.e., familiar) shared activities. In Study 1, people's prescriptive and descriptive beliefs for responding to relational boredom were assessed. Next, we developed a prime of relational boredom (Study 2a) and examined its effects on behavioral intentions for shared activities (Studies 2b and 3) …
Does it matter if a week starts on Monday or Sunday? How calendar format can boost goal motivation
Through your partner's eyes: Perspective taking tempers optimism in behavior predictions
People tend to be overly optimistic when predicting their future behaviors. This research examines how taking someone else's perspective affects predictions of relationship behaviors. Study 1 ( N = 82) showed that taking the partner's perspective when predicting how many relationship-enhancing behaviors one might perform over the next week reduced the number of predicted behaviors and consequently reduced optimistic bias. Study 2 ( N = 244) repli…
How partner‐satisfying decisions benefit relationships: An experience sampling study
Sometimes, individuals must choose between acting in a way that satisfies their own desire or acting in a way that satisfies their partner's desire. What are the consequences of choosing one over the other for individuals' well‐being and relationship? Using experience sampling data (934 reports by 106 participants) that assessed daily decision conflicts in relationships, we examined consequences of partner‐satisfying decisions. A higher proportio…
Legitimacy as a zero-sum game: Presidential populism and the performative success of the unauthorized outsider
Ex-appraisal bias: Negative illusions in appraising relationship quality retrospectively
Cognitive biases are prevalent within the context of romantic relationships. The present research investigated biases about relationships after they have ended. In a longitudinal design ( N = 184), individuals reported relationship quality at two time points, as well as rated relationship quality retrospectively. Results supported an ex-appraisal bias: individuals rated their past relationship quality more negatively in retrospect than they had a…
Psychology (40 works) · Social Psychology (37 works) · Social Psychology (23 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (19 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (18 works) · Developmental psychology (15 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (14 works) · Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research (11 works) · Cognitive psychology (9 works) · Political science (9 works)