Using technology to unobtrusively observe relationship development

2021 ◽  
pp. 026540752110286
Author(s):  
Miriam Brinberg ◽  
Rachel Reymann Vanderbilt ◽  
Denise Haunani Solomon ◽  
David Brinberg ◽  
Nilam Ram

Texting plays an increasingly important role in romantic relationships. Along with the increased use and impact of technology in and on relationships, technology provides new approaches to observe and study relationships. This study demonstrates the potential for using unobtrusive measures of texting obtained through mobile data donation for the study of communication behaviors during relationship development. In particular, we examine how texting behaviors change prior to relationship formation and during a relationship transition. Our analysis of 1+ million text messages that 41 college-age romantic couples sent to each other during their first year of dating demonstrates (a) the utility of digital trace data for studying romantic relationship development, (b) the importance of obtaining and analyzing actual texting behaviors when observing interpersonal communication that is frequent, fast, and variable, and (c) the need for more theoretical specificity in how and why different kinds of communication behaviors change as relationships develop.

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110152
Author(s):  
Ewa B. Stefanska ◽  
Nicholas Longpré ◽  
Rekayla S. Harriman

Stalking is a significant social issue. The inconsistency as to what defines stalking has resulted in the creation of different methods to measure the crime. However, there has been minimal work done that assesses the severity of individual stalking behaviors. The aim of the present study was to assess the level of stalking behavior in terms of severity within a randomly selected sample of 924 cases from the database of the National Stalking Helpline. Item response theory analyses were used to assist in developing a scale that displays the ranking order of each stalking behavior. These analyses were also used to examine whether the stalking behavioral items created a single continuum of severity of stalking. Results indicated that 16 stalking behavioral items of the 28 items present in the National Stalking Helpline, best represented the severity of stalking. Unwanted communication behaviors such as text messages and phone calls were located at the lower end of the severity scale, whereas criminal damage and death threats were mapped on the higher end of the continuum. The findings also revealed that the 16 items categorized under 6 factors. The findings of the present study provide many implications for stalking agency professionals and criminal justice responses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgeniya Vorontsova

Due to the growing interest in the phenomenon of self-efficacy, the psychological science examines the directions of studying self-efficacy in domestic and foreign exploratory development. The attention is focused on studies that reveal the interrelation of the self-efficacy phenomenon with other psychological phenomena, such as motivation to succeed and avoidance of failure, as well as studies devoted to the features of self-efficacy ideas in male and female students. There are publications on the data of the empiric investigation of interrelation of self-efficacy and success motivation in young people at various university training stages with presentations of analysis of differences in correlation features in male and female students. A conclusion is made that there are differences existing between the investigated indicators of self-efficacy in substantive work, self-efficacy in interpersonal communication and success motivation in the first-year and the second-year students, as well as the differences existing in the outlined indicators in the young people taking university psychological and legal courses.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika N. Carlson ◽  
Thomas F. Oltmanns

People with personality disorder (PD) symptoms tend to report and have partners who report lower quality relationships with them. Using a large community sample of romantic couples, the current research tested whether the established link between PD symptoms and partner-reported relationship quality was attenuated by meta-accuracy (insight into the impression one makes) as well as whether the link between PD symptoms and self-reported relationship quality was attenuated by positivity (assuming one makes a desirable impression). Results suggested that meta-accuracy for core personality traits moderated the link between PD symptoms and partner-reported relationship quality, such that high meta-accuracy attenuated whereas low meta-accuracy exacerbated the negative association between PD symptoms and quality. However, individuals with symptoms did not necessarily reap the same relational benefits of their meta-accuracy, and positivity did not moderate the link between their symptoms and relationship quality. Implications for assessment and whether meta-accuracy should be improved are discussed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 600-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Nelson ◽  
Avril Thorne

Competing theories have viewed relationship formation as a gradual process or as an instant development, with little attention to differences in individual perceptions of the same relationship. In the present study, conceptual metaphors concerning relationship formation were identified and coded from interviews with each friend in 59 same–sex, white, college–age, US dyads (57% female). Friends were extreme and either very similar or different from one other with regard to extraversion–introversion. An actor–partner analysis found that friends paired with an extravert used more Force–Impact metaphors that conveyed an explosive ‘friends–at–first–sight’ experience, whereas friends paired with an introvert used more Journey–Organism metaphors that reflected a gradual transition into friendship. Regardless of their partner's personality, extraverts and female friends used more Joint–Proximity metaphors that emphasised the development of intimacy. Results are interpreted using the Social Relations Model and the PERSOC approach to show how personality can serve both as an environment (partner) and as a cognitive schema (actor) to distinctly shape impressions of how a friendship develops. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katelyn Y. A. McKenna ◽  
John A. Bargh

Just as with most other communication breakthroughs before it, the initial media and popular reaction to the Internet has been largely negative, if not apocalyptic. For example, it has been described as “awash in pornography”, and more recently as making people “sad and lonely.” Yet, counter to the initial and widely publi cized claim that Internet use causes depression and social isolation, the body of ev idence (even in the initial study on which the claim was based) is mainly to the con trary. More than this, however, it is argued that like the telephone and television before it, the Internet by itself is not a main effect cause of anything, and that psy chology must move beyond this notion to an informed analysis of how social iden tity, social interaction, and relationship formation may be different on the Internet than in real life. Four major differences and their implications for self and identity, social interaction, and relationships are identified: one's greater anonymity, the greatly reduced importance of physical appearance and physical distance as “gating features” to relationship development, and one's greater control over the time and pace of interactions. Existing research is reviewed along these lines and some promising directions for future research are described.


2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 771-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Fox ◽  
Katie M. Warber ◽  
Dana C. Makstaller

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