Choosing to enter or avoid diagnostic social situations
Affiliation of Author, Researcher, or Creator
Marlboro Institute of Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies
Department
Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies
Author(s)
Beck, L. A., & Clark, M. S.
Resource Type
Article
Publication, Publisher or Distributor
Psychological Science
Publication Date
2009
Brief Description
Three studies suggest that people control the nature of their relationships, in part, by choosing to enter (or avoid) situations providing feedback about other people's social interest. In Study 1, chronically avoidant individuals (but not others) preferred social options that would provide no information about other people's evaluations of them over social options that would, but did not prefer nondiagnostic situations more generally. In Study 2, chronically avoidant students (but not others) in a methods class preferred to have their teacher assign them to working groups (a nondiagnostic situation) over forming their own groups (a diagnostic situation). In Study 3, individuals experimentally primed to feel avoidant were less likely than those primed to feel secure to choose to receive feedback about how another person felt about them. Overall, the research suggests that choices of socially diagnostic versus socially nondiagnostic situations play an important role in guiding people's social relationships.
Keywords
close relationships, adult attachment, social situations
Recommended Citation
Beck, L. A., & Clark, M. S. (2009). Choosing to enter or avoid diagnostic social situations. Psychological Science, 20(9), 1175-1181. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02420.x
Preferred Citation Style
APA
Peer Reviewed
1
License Agreement
1