Exploring the dynamic nature of “us”: An integrative approach to relationship cognition

Abstract

Most psychiatric disorders are associated with problems in interpersonal relationships. This is not surprising because people's relationships with others are an influential and integral component of their lives. The cognitive representations of these relationships can be important in understanding these relationships, and both the attachment and relational schema approaches have helped to better understand the nature of these cognitions. The attachment approach is widely researched and established, but it struggles to fully assess the content of relationship knowledge. The relational schema approach provides a strong framework for assessing the content of relationship knowledge, but it does not currently have established measures for this content. In this article, the authors suggest that these two approaches may be particularly suited for integration, and they propose a comprehensive model of relationship cognition. Issues involving the measurement of relational knowledge and future research directions are discussed. Finally, the clinical utility of the proposed model is discussed.

When we say “perceived support,” what do we mean? Contexts and components of support among people with serious medical conditions

“…One key line of research has focused on the component of perceived support availability, which has strong associations with health outcomes (Cohen et al, 2001;Uchino, 2009aUchino, , 2009b. This component involves a person's script for typical supportive interactions (Brunson et al, 2015;Lakey & Cohen, 2000;Pierce et al, 1997) and is typically conceptualized as a unidimensional construct with support availability versus unavailability as opposite poles of a single dimension (Goodenow et al, 1990;Williamson & O'Hara, 2017).…”

Interpersonal Resilience Inventory: Assessing positive and negative interactions during hardships and COVID‐19

“…Perceived interactions should be empirically distinct from both structural support and perceived support schema. Whereas perceived interactions pertain to memories of specific events, structural support pertains to the size and structure of one's social network, and support schema pertains to general expectations of available social resources and judgments about what is typically expected in one's life (Brunson, Acitelli, & Sharp, 2015; Cohen, Gottlieb, & Underwood, 2001). Notably, because support availability and unavailability are logically presumed to be mutually exclusive, conceptualizations of perceived support schema do not typically include a specific, separate dimension pertaining to negative perceptions (Williamson & O'Hara, 2017).…”

Include me in your Facebook : relationship awareness on Facebook influences romantic partners’ relationship satisfaction and perceived partner commitment

“…Indeed, past studies have revealed that the usage of "we" words is linked with a couple's shared identity and cognitive interdependence (Slatcher, 2009). Hence, "we" words mark a person's relational perspective and serve as a proxy for relationship awareness (Bazarova, Taft, Choi, & Cosley, 2012;Brunson, Acitelli, & Sharp, 2015); the higher the frequency of use of "we" words, the greater one's relationship awareness.…”