Looking a gift horse in the mouth as a defense against increasing intimacy
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
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Publication Date
2010
Brief Description
The authors hypothesize that people who fear dependence evidence a particular defensive bias by perceiving benefits received to have been less voluntarily given, which justifies not depending upon their partner. In Study 1, both members of married couples completed daily diaries regarding benefits they gave and received and the extent to which each was given involuntarily versus voluntarily. Avoidant attachment measured before marriage predicted perceiving one’s spouse to have given benefits less voluntarily, controlling for that spouse’s reports of how voluntarily benefits had been given. In Study 2, participants identified three specific benefits received from a friend. Days later, participants were primed with avoidant feelings or not before reporting the extent to which the benefits identified earlier had been given voluntarily. Participants primed to feel avoidant perceived their friend to have given them benefits less voluntarily than did the remaining participants.
Keywords
close relationships, adult attachment
Recommended Citation
Beck, L. A., & Clark, M. S. (2010). Looking a gift horse in the mouth as a defense against increasing intimacy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(4), 676-679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.02.006
Preferred Citation Style
APA
Peer Reviewed
1
License Agreement
1