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Although there is a growing body of work concerning cross‐group friendship and intergroup attitudes, this work typically focuses on a limited number of interpersonal processes among established friendships. In addition, little is known about the role of group‐related processes within such friendships. Two studies were conducted to address this gap. Results from a retrospective online survey and a longitudinal study reveal that both interpersonal friendship processes (e.g., intimacy, affection, trust, self‐disclosure) and intergroup friendship processes (e.g., belief that outgroup friend respects one's own group, spending time with outgroup friend's family members and friends) are associated with positive intergroup attitudes. Specifically, the current findings suggest that interpersonal friendship processes are vital to fostering positive attitudes for the outgroup early in the relationship, but that intergroup friendship processes become more strongly linked to attitudes once the relationship progresses. Results may inform interventions designed to promote positive interactions across "real‐world" group boundaries.

AbstractRandomly paired same‐sex strangers (N = 96) participated in a series of structured interactions systematically manipulated to either create or not create a shared humorous experience. They then completed measures of feelings of closeness to their interaction partner. Consistent with hypotheses derived from personal relationships and humor theories, there was a significant effect of humor on closeness. This effect was significantly partially mediated by self‐expansion and distraction from the discomfort of the first encounter, but not by self‐disclosure/acceptance. The effect was significantly moderated by trait sense of humor and marginally moderated by anxious attachment style (such that the effect was greater for those high in trait sense of humor and high in anxious attachment). A predicted moderation by avoidant attachment was not significant.

AbstractThe self‐expansion model of love developed out of a confluence of research on attraction and arousal, Eastern psychology, motivation theory, and the social psychology of personal relationships. The model treats love (the desire for a relationship with a particular other) as arising from a desire to expand the self by including that other in the self, as well as by associating expansion with that particular other. First, the model is described, including its function as a source of heuristically important metaphors for common human experiences of love and its unique focus in relation to other approaches to love. The remainder of the article examines its application, including supporting research, to predictors of falling in love, motivations for unrequited love, consequences of falling in love, love as including each other in each other's self, and how love changes (and how it can be maintained) in long‐term relationships. The conclusion examines current trends in which the model serves as both a very general integration of useful perspectives and as a set of precise mini‐theories.

This study attempts to disentangle the influence of arousal from novelty and challenge in the context of interpersonal attraction. Further, this study attempts to demonstrate the robustness of the arousal/attraction effect. Cross-sex stranger pairs participated in one of four game-like
physical activities in a 2 (high vs. low novelty/challenge) X 2 (high vs. low arousal) between-pairs design, then completed a measure of romantic attraction. As predicted, those participating in highly arousing activities showed significantly greater romantic attraction to their partners
than did those participating in less arousing activities. There were no significant effects for novelty/challenge, contrary to expectations based on theory and previous parallel research showing such effects on love and satisfaction for couples in long-term relationships. Additionally,
this is the first study to show an arousal-attraction effect using real randomly paired partners (as opposed to confederates or photographs), in which their actual interaction was the source of arousal.

Displaying the order in a group of numbers using tables and graphs -- The mean, variance, standard deviation, and z scores -- Correlation and prediction -- Some key ingredients for inferential statistics: the normal curve, sample versus population, and probability -- Introduction to hypothesis testing -- Hypothesis tests with means of samples -- Making sense of statistical significance : effect size and statistical power -- Introduction to the t test : single sample and dependent means -- The t test for independent means -- Introduction to the analysis of variance -- Chi-square tests and strategies when population distributions are not normal -- Applying statistical methods in your own research project -- A closer look at the logic and language of behavioral and social sciences research -- A closer look at advanced statistical procedures in research articles -- Glossary -- Glossary of symbols -- References -- Index

AbstractThe present studies examined the often‐implicit notion that people think about couples as discrete entities, distinct from the individuals therein—a concept we refer to as couple‐level identities. Findings suggest that people perceive both their own and other couples as distinct units (Study 1) that can possess dyadic qualities unique from those of either couple member. Exploring the implications of these identities, Studies 2 and 3 examined how couple‐level identities (beyond the identities of the individuals) influence social judgment (e.g., cognitive biases). Finally, Study 4's findings suggest that perceptions of discrete couple‐level identities are natural parts of everyday social cognition. Together, results suggest the need to consider couple‐level identities in research on the self, social perception, and close relationships.

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is a temperament trait found in around 20% of humans, which has been found to enhance responsiveness to diverse stimuli. In this study, we investigated for the first time the extent to which SPS, and its interaction with quality of parenting, predicts
positive and negative experiences in response to emotional stimuli. Participants (N = 96) from the upper and lower quartiles on the standard SPS measure (the Highly Sensitive Person Scale) rated the valence and their arousal level when viewing emotionally evocative and neutral pictures
selected from the International Affective Picture System. High (vs. low) SPS individuals rated pictures eliciting emotion, and especially positive ones, as significantly more valenced, and tended to respond faster to the positive pictures; also, high, vs. low, SPS individuals who had reported
having high-quality parenting reported greater arousal in response to positive pictures. Overall, results suggest that high SPS individuals respond more strongly to emotional stimuli—especially positive—without being more aroused unless they had especially high-quality parenting.

Rather than seeing outgroup members as targets of fear, conflict, or even tolerance, the self-expansion model proposes that outgroup members might be seen as attractive opportunities for self-growth. The current study utilizes an experimental manipulation to raise (or lower) self-expansion motivation prior to a positive interaction with a stranger from a different ethnic group. The results show that priming high self-expansion motivation leads to higher quality interactions, greater interpersonal closeness, greater feelings of self-growth, and higher feelings of self-efficacy. In addition, these outcomes show patterns of mediation consistent with the predictions of self-expansion theory. These findings point to a potentially valuable tool for improving the quality of cross-group contact experiences. More broadly, they focus attention on the genuinely positive functions that relationships with outgroup members can have for the self.

AbstractThis study tested the influence of personality information on judgments of physical attractiveness. Employing a within‐subject design, 56 female and 22 male college students rated attractiveness of opposite‐sex photos; participated in a distraction task; viewed each photo again, along with personality information (desirable, undesirable, none); and then rated the photos for physical attractiveness, desirability as a friend, and desirability as a dating partner. Personality information produced significant changes in ratings of physical attractiveness for attractive, neutral, and unattractive targets. The pattern of results is consistent with a model in which desirability of the target's personality leads to greater desirability as a friend, leading to greater desirability as a dating partner, leading to the target being judged as more physically attractive.

ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) and parental subjective experience (PSE).BackgroundSPS is a temperament trait characterized by greater sensitivity to environmental and social stimuli; no previous research has examined the relation of SPS to PSE (e.g., how much parents feel parenting is difficult or feel connected to their child).MethodIn the first of two online studies, mothers were unaware of the study's relation to SPS (N = 92). In the second, mothers (n = 802) and fathers (n = 65) were recruited through an SPS‐related website. SPS was assessed by the short version of the Highly Sensitive Person Scale; PSE by 27 items with three components—Parenting Difficulties, Good Coparenting Relationship, and Attunement to Child.ResultsControlling or not for external stressors, negative affectivity, children's age, and socioeconomic status, high‐SPS mothers in both studies scored meaningfully higher on Parenting Difficulties and Attunement to Child; high‐SPS fathers scored higher on Attunement to Child. SPS had little association with Coparenting Relationship.ConclusionParents high in SPS report more attunement with child, although mothers found parenting more difficult.ImplicationsThis information could aid family researchers, particularly by considering the role of adult temperament. It also suggests that interventions focused on high‐SPS parents could improve their parenting experience and hence perhaps enhance child development. Thus, this research and what may follow from it could advance both theory and practice.

AbstractThis study tested the hypothesis from the self‐expansion model that the usual effect of greater attraction to a similar (vs. dissimilar) stranger will be reduced or reversed when a person is given information that a relationship would be likely to develop (i.e., that they would be very likely to get along) with the other person. The study employed the "bogus stranger" paradigm and focused on similarity/dissimilarity of interests in the context of attraction to a same‐gender other. The effect for similarity under conditions in which no information is given about relationship likelihood replicated the usual pattern of greater attraction to similars. However, as predicted, a significant similarity by information interaction demonstrated that this effect was significantly reduced (and slightly reversed) when participants had been given information that the partner will like self. In analyses for each gender separately, both of these effects were significant only for men, suggesting that the focus on interest similarity may have been less relevant for women.

AbstractPrevious research suggests that new relationships expand the self‐concept. The present research applies concepts from the self‐expansion model to examine the conditions under which relationship dissolution may influence the self‐concept. We hypothesized that the more expansion provided by a relationship predissolution, the greater the contraction of the working self‐concept postdissolution, and that this pattern would remain when controlling for predissolution closeness. These hypotheses were tested using recall of relationship qualities for recently dissolved relationships (Studies 1 and 2), as well as with a priming experiment (Study 3). The findings over the 3 studies supported both hypotheses. Those with higher levels of self‐expansion in predissolution relationships showed more detrimental impact on their working self‐concept postdissolution, even after controlling for predissolution closeness.