Garth J O Fletcher

Biographic Data

ID649645
NAMEGarth J O Fletcher
GIVEN NAMESGarth J
FAMILY NAMEO Fletcher
SIGNATUREFLETCHER G J O
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Canterbury
ORCID0000-0002-7284-9498
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS47
TOTAL CITATIONS606
AUTHOR COUNT46
EDITOR COUNT1
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1981
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2021
H-INDEX14

  • Attachment anxiety and the curvilinear effects of expressive suppression on individuals’ and partners’ outcomes

    Yuthika U Girme, Brett J Peters et al.ARTICLEJournal of Personality and Social…2021Cited by: 3

    Suppressing the expression of negative emotions tends to undermine individuals' and their partners' wellbeing. However, sometimes expressive suppression may be relatively innocuous given that individuals commonly withhold negative emotions in order to maintain close relationships, and this may be especially the case when expressive suppression is enacted by people who exhibit amplified expressions of negative emotions, such as those high in attac…

  • Reconsidering “Best Practices” for Testing the Ideal Standards Model: A Response to Eastwick, Finkel, and Simpson (2018)

    Open AccessGarth J O Fletcher, Richard J Callaway et al.ARTICLEPersonality and Social Psychology…2020

    Eastwick, Finkel, and Simpson (2018) advanced recommendations for “best practices” in testing the predictive validity of individual differences in the extent to which perceptions of partners match ideal standards (ideal-partner matching). We respond to their article evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of different tests, presenting new analyses of existing data, and setting out conclusions that differ from Eastwick et al. We (a) argue that co…

  • Does expressing emotions enhance perceptual accuracy of negative emotions during relationship interactions

    Nickola C Overall, Margaret S Clark et al.ARTICLEEmotion2019

    Partners' negative emotions communicate social information necessary for individuals to respond appropriately to important relational events. Yet, there is inconsistent evidence regarding whether partners' emotional expression enhances accurate perceptions of partners' emotions. The current studies make methodological and theoretical extensions to the extant literature by directly assessing whether partners' emotional expression during relationsh…

  • Stress appraisal, information processing strategies, and somatic symptoms: A longitudinal study with immigrants

    Open AccessÁgnes Szabó, C Ward et al.ARTICLEJournal of Health Psychology2019References: 24

    The study investigated threat versus challenge appraisals of acculturative stressors and their impact on the changes in psychological symptoms. It also examined information processing styles (informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant) as moderators of these relationships. A 6-month longitudinal study with two measuring points was conducted with a sample of immigrants. Threat appraisal was associated with more psychological symptoms, and chal…

  • When Does Men’s Hostile Sexism Predict Relationship Aggression? The Moderating Role of Partner Commitment

    Open AccessEmily J Cro, Emily J Cross et al.ARTICLESocial Psychological and…2017

    Hostile sexism encompasses aggressive attitudes toward women who contest men’s power and suspicions that women will manipulate men by exploiting their relational dependence. Prior research has shown that these attitudes predict greater aggression toward female relationship partners, but has overlooked the contexts in which such aggression should occur. The present research identified an important contextual factor that determines when men’s hosti…

  • Identity Processing Styles During Cultural Transition: Construct and Measurement

    Open AccessÁgnes Szabó, C Ward et al.ARTICLEJournal of Cross-Cultural…2016Cited by: 4References: 39

    Drawing from previous work on identity styles by Berzonsky, the current article introduces a new version of the Identity Style Inventory assessing social-cognitive information processing strategies during cultural transition (ISI-CT). The ISI-CT incorporates five distinct identity styles (analytical informational, exploratory informational, normative to the country of origin, normative to the host society, and diffuse-avoidant) and a measure of i…

  • Attachment insecurity, biased perceptions of romantic partners’ negative emotions, and hostile relationship behavior

    Nickola C Overall, Garth J O Fletcher et al.ARTICLEJournal of Personality and Social…2015Cited by: 18

    In the current research, we tested the extent to which attachment insecurity produces inaccurate and biased perceptions of intimate partners' emotions and whether more negative perceptions of partners' emotions elicit the damaging behavior often associated with attachment insecurity. Perceptions of partners' emotions as well as partners' actual emotions were assessed multiple times in couples' conflict discussions (Study 1) and daily during a 3-w…

  • All or nothing: Attachment avoidance and the curvilinear effects of partner support

    Yuthika U Girme, Nickola C Overall et al.ARTICLEJournal of Personality and Social…2015Cited by: 26

    People high in attachment avoidance typically respond more negatively to partner support, but some research suggests they can be calmed by high levels of practical support. In the present research, we attempted to reconcile these inconsistencies by modeling curvilinear associations between romantic partners' support and support recipients' outcomes and testing whether these curvilinear associations were moderated by recipients' degree of attachme…

  • Pair-Bonding, Romantic Love, and Evolution: The Curious Case of Homo sapiens

    Open AccessGarth J O Fletcher, Jeffry A Simpson et al.ARTICLEPerspectives on Psychological…2015Cited by: 52References: 13

    This article evaluates a thesis containing three interconnected propositions. First, romantic love is a "commitment device" for motivating pair-bonding in humans. Second, pair-bonding facilitated the idiosyncratic life history of hominins, helping to provide the massive investment required to rear children. Third, managing long-term pair bonds (along with family relationships) facilitated the evolution of social intelligence and cooperative skill…

  • Mate preferences do predict attraction and choices in the early stages of mate selection

    Norman P Li, J C Yong et al.ARTICLEJournal of Personality and Social…2013Cited by: 22

    Although mate preference research has firmly established that men value physical attractiveness more than women do and women value social status more than men do, recent speed-dating studies have indicated mixed evidence (at best) for whether people's sex-differentiated mate preferences predict actual mate choices. According to an evolutionary, mate preference priority model (Li, Bailey, Kenrick, & Linsenmeier, 2002; Li & Kenrick, 2006; Li, Valen…

  • Helping Each Other Grow: Romantic Partner Support, Self-Improvement, and Relationship Quality

    Open AccessNickola C Overall, Garth J O Fletcher et al.ARTICLEPersonality and Social Psychology…2010

    This research tested whether and how partners’ support of self-improvement efforts influences recipients’ relationship evaluations and self-improvement success. Study 1 provided an initial test of predictions using self-reports ( N = 150). Study 2 assessed support behavior exhibited in couples’ ( N = 47) discussions of self-improvement desires, and tracked relationship quality and self-improvement every 3 months for 1 year. More nurturing and act…

  • The unique and combined benefits of accuracy and positive bias in relationships

    Open AccessSandra D Lackenbauer, L Campbell et al.ARTICLEPersonal Relationships2010

    An experiment investigated the independent and combined effects of receiving feedback from romantic partners that varied in both accuracy (i.e., profile agreement) and positive bias, as compared with one's self-perceptions. Both members of 55 romantically involved couples were randomly assigned to receive either high or low levels of accurate or positively biased feedback ostensibly created from a comparison between their self-ratings and their p…

  • Perceiving regulation from intimate partners: Reflected appraisal and self-regulation processes in close relationships

    Open AccessNickola C Overall, Garth J O FletcherARTICLEPersonal Relationships2010

    Cross-sectional (N = 202) and longitudinal analyses over a 6-month period (N = 155) assessed the consequences of perceiving regulation attempts from romantic partners. Greater perceived regulation from the partner was associated with more negative inferences regarding how closely individuals matched their partner's ideal standards in the targeted domain (inferred ideal consistency). Lower inferred ideal consistency, in turn, was associated with p…

  • Through the eyes of love: Reality and illusion in intimate relationships

    Garth J O Fletcher, Patrick S G Kerr et al.ARTICLEPsychological Bulletin2010Cited by: 52

    This article reviews the research literature and theory concerned with accuracy of judgments in romantic relationships. We initially propose a model of cognition in (romantic) relationships that distinguishes between 2 forms of accuracy: mean-level bias and tracking accuracy. We then report the results of meta-analyses of research on heterosexual, romantic relationships, which used external benchmarks and reported levels of tracking accuracy (98 …

  • Regulating partners in intimate relationships: The costs and benefits of different communication strategies

    Nickola C Overall, Garth J O Fletcher et al.ARTICLEJournal of Personality and Social…2009Cited by: 36

    This study tested the success of communication strategies used by relationship partners (N = 61 romantic couples) who were videotaped while trying to produce desired changes in each other. Strategies varying in valence (positive vs. negative) and directness (direct vs. indirect) were differentially associated with postdiscussion perceptions of success as well as ratings of demonstrated change in targeted features gathered at 3-month intervals dur…

  • Family rituals in married couples: Links with attachment, relationship quality, and closeness

    Open AccessCarla Crespo, Isabel N Davide et al.ARTICLEPersonal Relationships2008

    This study examined the association between self‐reports of family rituals and relationship attachment, relationship quality, and closeness in 150 married couples in Portugal. Using structural equation modeling to examine both within‐individual and across‐partner effects, the results were generally as predicted. First, lower levels of avoidant attachment were related to greater family investment in rituals. Second, greater family investment in ri…

  • Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Interpersonal Processes

    Garth J O Fletcher, Margaret S ClarkBOOKBlackwell Handbook of Social…2007

  • Exploring the lay representation of forgiveness: Convergent and discriminant validity

    Open AccessMyron D Friesen, Garth J O FletcherARTICLEPersonal Relationships2007

    Four studies employing a prototype approach tested the convergent and discriminant validity of a lay forgiveness representation. In Study 1, participants nominated a wide range of forgiveness features. In Study 2, participants rated the centrality of forgiveness features, which created a reliable graded structure from central to peripheral features. Study 3 tested the convergent validity of this lay forgiveness representation while controlling fo…

  • Metaperceptions of bias in intimate relationships

    Alice D Boyes, Garth J O FletcherARTICLEJournal of Personality and Social…2007Cited by: 10References: 38

    Meta-awareness of bias in intimate partner judgments was investigated in 3 studies. In Study 1, participants rated fictional partners in happier relationships as more positively biased in their partner perceptions. In Study 2, participants thought their judgments of their own current partners were positively biased and that they were judged by their partners in a positively biased fashion. Using a sample of couples, Study 3 showed that metapercep…

  • Regulation processes in intimate relationships: The role of ideal standards

    Nickola C Overall, Garth J O Fletcher et al.ARTICLEJournal of Personality and Social…2006Cited by: 28

    This research investigated the consistency between partner perceptions and ideal standards (ideal-perception consistency) and the partner regulation attempts of 200 individuals involved in relationships (Study 1) and 62 heterosexual couples (Study 2). As predicted, greater regulation attempts were associated with lower ideal-perception consistency, and these links operated within 3 pivotal mate-evaluation dimensions and were moderated by perceive…

  • A dyadic assessment of forgiveness in intimate relationships

    Open AccessMyron D Friesen, Garth J O Fletcher et al.ARTICLEPersonal Relationships2005

    This study investigated forgiveness by examining couples’ recollections and perceptions of specific incidents of transgressions in their relationships. The results replicated previous research but also produced some novel findings. Results showed that more positive attributions and relationship quality independently predicted higher internal forgiveness, whereas expressed forgiveness was related only to relationship quality. Overall, the sample w…

  • Warm and Homely or Cold and Beautiful? Sex Differences in Trading Off Traits in Mate Selection

    Open AccessGarth J O Fletcher, Andrea Augenti et al.ARTICLEPersonality and Social Psychology…2004

    Prior research and theory suggest that people use three main sets of criteria in mate selection: warmth/trustworthiness, attractiveness/vitality, and status/resources. In two studies, men and women made mating choices between pairs of hypothetical potential partners and were forced to make trade-offs among these three criteria (e.g., warm and homely vs. cold and attractive). As predicted, women (relative to men) placed greater importance on warmt…

  • Mapping the Intimate Relationship Mind: Comparisons between Three Models of Attachment Representations

    Open AccessNickola C Overall, Garth J O Fletcher et al.ARTICLEPersonality and Social Psychology…2003

    This study compared three models of how attachment working models might be cognitively represented. Model 1 posits that attachment representations consist of a single global working model summarizing attachment across specific relationships and domains. Model 2 proposes three independent working models for the relationship domains of family, platonic friendships, and romantic partners. Model 3 postulates that specific relationship models are nest…

  • Pathways to Sex‐based Differentiation in Criminal Court Sentencing

    Open AccessSamantha Jeffries, Garth J O Fletcher et al.ARTICLECriminology2003Cited by: 10References: 11

    Using a matched sampling method, this research examined the process of sex‐based differentiation in sentencing outcomes for 194 men and 194 women, sentenced over a seven‐year period in Christchurch, New Zealand. Consistent with past research, our results showed that judicial processing treated women more leniently than men. Path analyses revealed that judges were less likely to sentence women than men to imprisonment terms because of gendered inf…

  • Mind-Reading Accuracy in Intimate Relationships: Assessing the Roles of the Relationship, the Target, and the Judge

    Geoff Thomas, Garth J O FletcherARTICLEJournal of Personality and Social…2003Cited by: 20References: 44

    Using a video-review procedure, multiple perceivers carried out mind-reading tasks of multiple targets at different levels of acquaintanceship (50 dating couples, friends of the dating partners, and strangers). As predicted, the authors found that mind-reading accuracy was (a). higher as a function of increased acquaintanceship, (b). relatively unaffected by target effects, (c). influenced by individual differences in perceivers' ability, and (d)…