Attribution, Communication Behavior, and Close Relationships

by Edited by Valerie Manusov , John H. Harvey

• ISBN13: 9780521177276
• ISBN10: 0521177278
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The field of close relationships is one of the most fertile areas of work in the social and behavioural sciences. Central to theoretical developments in the study of close relationships is a focus on people's interpretive activities and communication behavior. Theories of attribution and of communication styles are prominent in explanations of why and how people begin close relationships, maintain and enhance closeness, and sometimes terminate close relationships. Originally published in 2001, Attribution, Communication Behavior, and Close Relationships brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines whose work focuses on the interplay of attribution processes and communication behavior in close relationships. The book shows ways in which diverse scholarly perspectives can blend to provide insight into areas of common interest. In this case, it is the ways that people in relationships think about communication, make attributions through communication, and communicate about the attributions they make.

Table of Contents

List of contributors

Introduction

Attribution, Affect, and Well-Being in Relationships

Affective influences on communication and attributions in relationships

Communication and attribution: an exploration of the effect of music and mood on intimate couples' verbal and nonverbal conflict resolution behaviors

Making sense of hurtful interactions in close relationships: when hurt feelings create distance

The association between accounts of relationship development events and relational and personal well-being

Commentary: affect, attribution, and communication: uniting interaction episodes and global relationship judgments

Attributions and Communication in Dating and Marital Relationships

Attributions, communication, and the development of a marital identity

Causal attributions of relationship quality

The content of attributions in couples' communication

Handling pressures for change in marriage: making attributions for relational dialectics

The role of marital behavior in the longitudinal association between attribution and marital quality

Stepping into the stream of thought: cognition during marital conflict

Commentary: thanks for the curry: advancing boldly into a new millennium of relationship attribution research

New Directions and Contexts for Attributions and Communication

Attributions and regulative communications by parents participating in a community-based child physical; abuse prevention program

'True lies': children's abuse history and power attributions as influences on deception detection

HIV-infected persons' attributions for the disclosure of the seropositive diagnosis to significant others

Attributions about communications styles and strategies: prediciting dating couples' safe-sex discussions and relationship satisfaction

Why do people have affairs? Recent research and future directions about attributions for extramarital involvement

Attribution in social and parasocial relationships

Commentary: extending attribution theory: contributions and cautions

A Discussion of Attribution Theory for Close Relationships

The status of attribution theory qua theory in personal relationships

Are there superior options? Commentary on Spizberg's 'the status of attribution theory qua theory in personal relationships'

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.