Love and the Commitment Problem in Romantic Relations and Friendship
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Short Title:
J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.
Format:
Journal Article
Publication Date:
Nov 30, 2000
Pages:
247 - 262
Sources ID:
114571
Collection:
Social Connection and Well-being
Visibility:
Public (group default)
Abstract:
(Show)
On the basis of the proposition that love promotes commitment, the authors predicted that love would motivate approach, have a distinct signal, and correlate with commitment-enhancing pro- cesses when relationships are threatened. The authors studied romantic partners and adolescent opposite-sex friends during interactions that elicited love and threatened the bond. As expected, the experience of love correlated with approach-related states (desire, sympathy). Providing evidence for a nonverbal display of love, four affiliation cues (head nods, Duchenne smiles, gesticulation, forward leans) correlated with self-reports and partner estimates of love. Finally, the experience and display of love correlated with commitment-enhancing processes (e.g., constructive conflict reso- lution, perceived trust) when the relationship was threatened. Discussion focused on love, positive emotion, and relationships.