Looking a gift horse in the mouth as a defense against increasing intimacy

Author, Researcher, or Creator

Lindsey Beck, Emerson CollegeFollow

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

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