The Manhattan effect

When relationship commitment fails to promote support for partners’ interests

Bibliographic Data

ID6204094
AuthorsChin Ming Hui (0000-0002-8265-8353, Booth University College), E J Finkel (0000-0002-0213-5318, Northwestern University), Gráinne M Fitzsimons (Duke University), Madoka Kumashiro (Goldsmiths University of London), Wilhelm Hofmann (0000-0003-0295-4679, University of Cologne)
Year2014
Volume106
Issue4
Pages546-570
Publication date2014-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/a0035493
PMID24660991
OpenAlexW2049029465
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited83

Research on close relationships has frequently contrasted one's own interests with the interests of the partner or the relationship and has tended to view the partner's and the relationship's interests as inherently aligned. The present article demonstrated that relationship commitment typically causes people to support their partner's personal interests but that this effect gets weaker to the extent that those interests misalign or even threaten the relationship. Studies 1a and 1b showed that (a) despite their strong correlation, partner-oriented and relationship-oriented concerns in goal-directed behaviors are separable and (b) relationship commitment strengthens only the link between relationship-oriented motivation and the goal pursuit (not the link between partner-oriented motivation and the goal pursuit). The remaining 7 studies zero in on circumstances in which the partner's and the relationship's interests are in conflict, demonstrating that (c) relationship commitment reliably increases the tendency to support the partner's personal interests when those interests do not pose a strong threat to the relationship but that (d) this effect becomes weaker-and even reverses direction-as the relationship threat posed by the partner's interests becomes stronger. The reduction or reversal of the positive link between relationship commitment and propartner behaviors in such situations is termed the Manhattan effect. These findings suggest that the partner-versus-relationship conflicts provide fertile ground for novel theorizing and empirical investigations and that relationship commitment appears to be less of a partner-promoting construct than relationship science has suggested; instead, its role appears to be focused on promoting the interests of the relationship

Construct (python library) · Empirical research · Positive relationship · Relationship maintenance · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Personality Traits and Psychology · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub