The study, " Perceptions of a romantic partner’s approach and avoidance motives: Accuracy, bias, and emotional cues ” by Jessica, Judith, & Emily (2019), was carried out to determine the accuracy and bias on how romantic partner’s emotions affect their motives. From the research, it was found out that the emotions of partners determine their approach and avoidance motives. That is, people tend to behave in a manner that makes their relationship stronger (approach) and avoid doing things that may negatively affect the emotions of their partner, which would result in rejection and hurt (avoidance motives). The research was carried out in two studies. Study 1 tried to investigate how partners approach their relationship daily, while Study 2 investigated how people discern their partner's avoidance and approach in shared activities.
In Study 1, participants were recruited through an online advertisement. Interested partners sent their acceptance to the study through email, and an eligibility screening was done. To qualify for the study, the partners needed to be cohabitating or married, more than 18 years, have fluency in the English language, living in the US, and have reliable internet access. The partners were supposed to fill in a daily diary about their emotions and daily motives for fourteen days. They rated their daily relationship motives on a seven-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The participants also recorded their views on their partner's daily motives using the same scale. Individual and partner's emotions were also rated on a similar scale that identified their negative and positive emotion score. In Study 2, individual and partner's motives and emotions were rated on the same seven-point scale to evaluate whether an individual participated in an activity to feel happy or make their partner happy to avoid rejection. The emotions during the activities were recorded to determine whether an individual had positive or negative emotions towards the activity.
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From the study, it is clear that people or groups behave in a certain way to match the behavior of their friends, partners, family, among others. Various social factors are responsible for conformity. One is conformity. People who have a close relationship tends to conform to increase the bond between them and also avoid rejection and hurt, which may be associated with having different behaviors. Another factor is identification. Often, people change their behavior to match and please those of people that seem superior or admired. Third is psychological manipulation. This involves the use of deceptive techniques to influence and individual to behave in a certain manner. Fourth is compliance and obedience. Individuals respond favorably to requests without reasoning but following social pressures imposed by others. Most of the time, these social factors are motivated by a certain reward or consequence.
Similarly, the motivation and behavior of an individual are greatly influenced by the people surrounding them. First of all, motivation is crucial to achieving goals. The goals do not necessarily have to positive. Having positive people who are focused, well-behaved, and have clear life goals makes individuals emulate the same motivation and positive behavior (Murayama, 2018) . On the other hand, being surrounded by negative, less motivated, and poorly behaved people increases the chances of having similar behavior (Ariani, 2017) . Unless a person is very assertive, their motivation and behavior are directly affected by people close to them. For example, from the above study, an individual’s behavior and emotions are directly influenced by the perception of their partner’s emotions and motives. Having a well behaved and highly motivated partner increases the chance of adopting the same qualities to increase uniformity, which is believed to strengthen the relationship.
The article has shed more light on what influences the behavior and motives of individuals in a relationship. This information can also be applied in other non-romantic relationships. It shows that people behave in a manner to strengthen the bond between them and avoid negative consequences that may be experienced as a result of a difference in opinion.
References
Ariani, W. D. (2017). Do Social Relationship Affects Motivation? Advances in Management and Applied Economics, 7 (3), 63-91. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318946151_Do_Social_Relationship_Affects_Motivation
Jessica, E. L., Judith, G., & Emily, I. (2019). Perceptions of a romantic partner’s approach and avoidance motives: Accuracy, bias, and emotional cues. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology .
Murayama, K. (2018, June). American Psychology Association . Retrieved from American Psychology Association Website: https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2018/06/motivation
