Automatic Associations Between One’s Partner and One’s Affect as the Proximal Mechanism of Change in Relationship Satisfaction: Evidence From Evaluative Conditioning

Abstract

The current study examined whether directly altering affective associations involving a relationship partner through evaluative conditioning can lead to changes in relationship satisfaction. Married couples ( N = 144) were asked to view a brief stream of images once every 3 days for 6 weeks. Embedded in this stream were pictures of the partner, which, according to random assignment of couples to experimental group, were paired with either positive or neutral stimuli. Couples also completed measures of automatic partner attitudes and explicit marital satisfaction at baseline and once every 2 weeks for 8 weeks. Spouses who viewed their partners paired with positive stimuli demonstrated more-positive automatic partner attitudes than did control spouses, and these attitudes predicted increased self-reported marital satisfaction over time. These results provide novel evidence for a mechanism of change in relationship satisfaction, represent a step toward documenting how strong attitudes can evolve through passive exposure to information, and suggest novel avenues for relationship interventions.

Speech Is Silver, Nonverbal Behavior Is Gold: How Implicit Partner Evaluations Affect Dyadic Interactions in Close Relationships

“…To our knowledge, however, nothing is known about the effect of the actor’s implicit partner evaluations on the partner’s outcomes. One reason why may be that individuals’ own implicit self-evaluations ( McNulty, Baker, & Olson, 2014 ) and own emotional experiences that become associated with their partner ( Hicks et al, 2016 ; McNulty, Olson, Jones, & Acosta, 2017 ) shape their own implicit partner evaluations, which therefore strongly influence their own outcomes over time ( McNulty & Olson, 2015 ) but not necessarily those of their partner, which are more likely to be determined by their own implicit evaluations. Yet, following the idea that more positive implicit partner evaluations promote constructive nonverbal behaviors in dyadic interactions, one may expect that partners could also be positively affected by these behaviors.…”

Children's implicit attitude acquisition: Evaluative statements succeed, repeated pairings fail

“…Furthermore, the pairings' base‐rate may moderate learning, with slightly variable base‐rates (e.g., 75% Squarefaces = bad/Longfaces = good) resulting in greater learning (Brauer, Er‐rafiy, Kawakami, & Phills, ). Finally, learning may be facilitated when pairings are repeated across multiple occasions, shown to more effectively alter implicit evaluations in both adults (McNulty, Olson, Jones, & Acosta, ) and children (Qian et al, ).…”

Evidence Regarding Automatic Processing Computerized Tasks Designed For Health Interventions in Real-World Settings Among Adults: Systematic Scoping Review

“…Two studies targeted automatic processes toward anxiety [ 21 , 39 ], and one study targeted automatic processing toward both anxiety and depression [ 20 ]. In addition, one study was found for insomnia [ 34 ], self-injurious thoughts and behaviors [ 41 ], attitudes toward homosexuality and self-esteem in gay men [ 42 ], and relationship satisfaction in marriages [ 43 ]. Follow-up periods also varied and ranged from no follow-up (n=4 studies [ 39 , 42 , 44 , 45 ]) to the longest follow-up period of 6 months [ 35 ].…”