Relsci

The science of psychology

Social Psychology

"an attempt to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others"

History of Relationship Science--1900-1960

Not a chapter in the Handbook of Social Psychology until 3rd ed. (1985)

Kurt Lewin--father of social psychology

Festinger and Schachter

Thibaut and Kelley (1959)

The social psychology of groups

1960’s and 1970’s

60’s initial attraction research

Why slow to be studied?

Resistance toward relationship science

Focus on experimentation

70’s more multidisciplinary, cognitive revolution

1980’s and 1990’s

80’s became more theoretical, deeper relationships

1982 first conference of International Society for Study of Interpersonal Relationships

1984 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, International Society for the Study of Personal Relationships (ISSPR)

1980’s and 1990’s

1987 International Network for Personal Relationships (INPR)

1994 Personal Relationships journal

Recent trends

relationships over time

theory and integration of results

important relationships

individual interpretations

interactions of individuals

What is a relationship?

Awareness of other

Repeated interactions, not role based

Schema based

Two people must interact with each other and each’s behavior must be influenced by these interactions

What is a close relationship?
Kelley--partners are highly interdependent

Frequency

Diversity

Strength

Duration

Measures of closeness

Relationship Closeness Inventory (RCI)

Berscheid, Snyder, & Omoto, 1989

Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale (IOS)

Aron, Aron, & Smollan, 1992