Friends and Lovers

Bibliographic Data

ID2919087
AuthorsHelen A Berger (West Chester University), Leigh S Shaffer (West Chester University), Bonita Freeman-Witthoft (West Chester University), Hugo A Freund (West Chester University)
Year1998
Volume15
Issue5
Pages623-636
Publication date1998-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social and Personal Relationships (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0265-4075 • E-ISSN: 1460-3608
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0265407598155003
OpenAlexW2066499664
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited12

This article reports the results of two studies looking for evidence of social norms governing the behavior of college-age heterosexual men and women toward their friend's romantic partners. Respondents read scenarios describing a protagonist trying to start a relationship with a friend's romantic partner and were asked to rate their approval or disapproval of that behavior. The studies varied information about the sex of the protagonist, friend and romantic partner, and the relationship of the romantic partners. Controlling for respondents' race and social class, we found that for both men and women a social norm exists only when a third party was viewed as interfering with a couple's relationship, which was described as clearly known and shared by all parties. The lack of a norm when there was ambiguity about the level of commitment between romantic partners is interpreted as the result of conflict among three alternative ideologies of loving relationships

Ambiguity · Developmental psychology · Ideology · Norm (philosophy · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Race (biology · Romance · Sociology · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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