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13 - Accuracy and Bias in Relationship Maintenance

from Part III - Processes of Relationship Maintenance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2019

By
Edward P. Lemay  and
Nadya Teneva
Edited by
Brian G. Ogolsky  and
J. Kale Monk
Brian G. Ogolsky
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
J. Kale Monk
Affiliation:
University of Missouri
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Summary

The belief that a relationship partner values and promotes one’s welfare is central to many theories of interpersonal relationships. In this chapter, we review research on accuracy and bias in these perceptions of benevolence and their implications for relationship maintenance. A key conclusion emerging from this literature is that people’s perceptions of their relationship partners’ benevolence are both accurate and biased. Suggesting the operation of a confirmation bias, people’s chronic and generalized beliefs regarding other people’s benevolence appear to bias perceptions of partners’ benevolence within specific relationships. Suggesting the operation of a motivated wishful thinking bias, people’s desires to maintain close relationships with particular partners also bias perceptions of those partners’ benevolence. Despite these biases, there is also evidence for accuracy in perceptions of benevolence. Each of these processes, in turn, appears to shape people’s willingness to enact relationship maintenance behaviors. Suggested directions for future research are described.

Keywords

accuracybiastrustrelationship maintenanceinterpersonal relationships
Type
Chapter
Information
Relationship Maintenance
Theory, Process, and Context
 , pp. 240 - 262
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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