Evolutionary psychologists explore the adaptive function of traits and behaviors that characterize modern Homo sapiens. However, evolutionary psychologists have yet to incorporate the phylogenetic relationship between modern Homo sapiens and humans' hominid and pongid relatives (both living and extinct) into their theorizing. By considering the…

Premarital dating couples (N=61) were asked to answer questions concerning their perceived commitment to their relationship, the amount of time they spend with their partner, the amount of time they spend arguing, their partner's attractiveness, the length of their relationship, and their desire to continue the relationship. Time spent together…

Explored elicited effects of changes in approval and disapproval behaviors on behaviors and perceived satisfaction of dating partners. Couples reported their perceptions of their behaviors. Disapproval elicited strong reciprocal behavior and dissatisfaction. Approval-eliciting effects occurred but were weaker. Male elicitors felt less satisfied…

Replicates the findings of earlier examinations of relationship disengagement. Extends the range of variables pertinent to strategy selection by evaluating the role of network overlap, partner desirability, trust, and dyadic adjustment. Finds that both relational variables and tactics were associated with consequences of disengagement. (JD)

This study assessed college men's (n=85) and women's (n=215) courtship persistence behaviors (approach, surveillance, intimidation, mild aggression), which have been linked to stalking, and examined their relations to initial courtship interest, relationship development, and future violence and persistence, while also exploring the role of gender…

Recent attempts to clear up the controversy over when and why receipt of an intimate self-disclosure leads to attraction in a first encounter have called attention to the possible role of the perceiver's own disclosure. To investigate the influence of the perceiver's own disclosure on attraction to a disclosing stimulus person, female subjects…

A study was designed to describe the nonverbal behaviors of two male/female couples as they initiated, maintained, and terminated their relationships. Over a five-month period, couple one met seven times and couple two met six times in a laboratory setting. During the meetings, observers coded the couples' nonverbal behaviors as eye gaze, smiles,…

Reports on research to determine relationships between self-disclosure and self-disclosure avoidance. Generally, males avoid self-disclosure in order to maintain control over their relationships; females avoid self-disclosure in order to avoid personal hurt and problems with their interpersonal relationships. (JMF)

Examines the hypothesis that biases in peer interpretations of social behavior may contribute to the stability of social acceptance and rejection in children. (HOD)

Based on the assumptions that relational messages are multidimensional and that they are largely communicated by nonverbal cues, this experiment manipulated five nonverbal cues--eye contact, proximity, body lean, smiling, and touch--to determine what meanings they convey along four relational message dimensions: emotionality/arousal/composure,…

The influence of aversive conditions on interpersonal attraction was investigated using 60 female undergraduates as subjects. Dyads were formed and equally divided into aversive (loud-noise) and neutral (low-noise) conditions. After completing an attitude survey questionnaire subjects completed a short filler task while the experimenter…

A discussion of immediacy, the degree of perceived physical or psychological closeness between people, looks at a variety of verbal and nonverbal factors and behaviors useful to gain immediacy among co-workers, including attractiveness, clothing, posture, facial/eye behavior, vocal cues, space, touch, time, and gestures. Cross-gender dimensions,…

Individual differences in the motivation and skill to manage impressions can be measured by the Self-Monitoring Scale. "Blind" dating encounters were established to investigate whether complementarity rather than similarity in partner's self-monitoring would lead to greater attraction and satisfaction with the relationship. College students (N=64…

Love and romance continue to be important issues within every age group, not merely among the usually studied college students. Two issues, the nature or intensity of the love experienced and the motives or purposes of love were examined for different age groups. The ways in which the pursuit of heterosexual love may change throughout adult life…