Research Articles Base: Experimental Social Psychology Research

Experimental Social Psychology Research: Distress in Response to Relationship Infidelity: The Roles of Gender and Attitudes about Relationships (2001) by Cann, A, Mangum, JL and Wells, M

Type of Social Psychological Research Psychology is the study of how our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions are affected by the real or imagined presence of other people.  This broad definition encompasses a wide range of phenomena, including how people form attitudes, how people attempt to persuade and are persuaded by others, how people from close relationships, why people help or harm others, and how people understand each other and themselves. A sub-category of the field of Psychology is Social Psychology. Social Psychology is the scientific study of how our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions are affected by the real or imagined presence of other people. This broad definition encompasses a wide range of phenomena, including how people form attitudes, how people attempt to persuade and are persuaded by others, how people from close relationships, why people help or harm others, and how people understand each other and themselves.    In the journal article by Cann, Mangum and Wells (2001) entitled Distress in Response to Infidelity: The Roles of Gender and Attitudes about Relationships., the researchers focused their experimental study on the level of distress in relation to infidelity among individuals involve in romantic relationships as influenced by gender and attitudes about relationships of the respondents. This particular study can be classified as a social psychology research experiment in which the variables of the study encompass the cognitive and behavioral states of the participants regarding a particular social relationship context that placed them in a controlled social condition. The interrelationship aspect of psychology can be considered as the umbrella field to which this study can be categorized. Particularly, the study fall under the social judgment and attitudes research interest as it explored the cognitive processes and beliefs f the participants as well as the relationship of their attitudes with their behaviors.     Types of Social Psychology             There are two broad categories of social psychology according to House (1977) which include the (a) sociological social psychology ad the (b) psychological social psychology which are differentiated according to the extent of their relative connection with sociology and psychology as independent and separate academic disciplines. As such, sociological social psychology is relatively more concerned on the social aspect of the study part6icularly associations and relationships thus leaning towards sociology while psychological social psychology is relatively more interested in the psychological aspect of the study or the mental states of the individuals and their immediate social situations thus leaning towards psychology. In this respect, the article at hand can be classified under the psychological social \psychology research categorization. Among the general research interests in social psychology include the focus on (a) how the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others, (b) the influence that individual perceptions and behaviors have upon the behavior of groups, and (c) the understanding of groups themselves as behavioral entities (Allport, 1954; Michener et al, 2004).     Key Social Psychological Concepts In the article being reviewed, apparent social psychological concepts can be identified as variables of the study. This includes the concepts, beliefs and attitudes of the participants in the word infidelity. Infidelity operates under the social context of relationships among romantic couples in which a participation of a third-party is evident. In the study, different contexts and situational conditions of infidelity were explored by the researchers in order to come up with logical interpretation of the collected data and information from the participants.   The independent variable of the study is the gender of the respondents which highly influence and dictate the type of attitude they displayed and claimed given the situations presented in the experiment. The effects of respondent gender and target gender is central to this experiment, however gender based differences occur for the psychological experiences indicated by constructs in the study.    Lastly, distress served as the dependent variable which is the measure of attitude of the respondents in relation to infidelity of their romantic partners operating under their respective gender orientation as well as their social and psychological constructs on romantic relationship issues.   In the study, the participants were asked to answer one of the two forms of infidelity questions as originally constructed by Buss et al (1999). The other infidelity question form was designed by the researchers to distinguish the involvement of emotional infidelity as well as sexual infidelity. The participants’ sexual attitudes as well as romantic belief were also measured through the use of Sexual Attitudes Scale (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1987) and The Romantic Beliefs Scale (Sprecher & Metts, 1989).     Social Psychology Theory and Research in the Study According to Bandura (1991) our cognitive processes are formed through the social relationships we have. His Social Cognitive Theory enumerates three sources of influence, namely: (a) behavior, (b) cognition, and (c) environment. In this regard, the concept of behavior constitutes the self-evaluative reactions and social effects which may be complementary or opposing in the actions we perform wherein people generally select associates with similar standards of conduct they have to enhance the compatibility between personal and social influences as people who are not much committed to personal standards adopt a pragmatic orientation.   As such, people have the tendency to tailor their behavior with and depending on the situation at hand while selective association and the pragmatic orientation of moral behavior require certain abilities. Selective association and the pragmatic orientation of moral behavior require an individual to be capable of self-regulating behavior which could be considered purposeful access to the autonomous self by acquiring the ability to selectively activate or disengage moral control (Bandura, 1991).   Meanwhile, previous research has shown that females report more intense emotional experiences than males, including distress, fear, sympathy, embarrassment, sadness, shame, and guilt (Brody, 1993). Although females are more intense in the verbal and facial expression of emotions than males, males are more intensely emotionally expressive through actions and behaviors than females (Brody, 1993). These are the most evident theories and research that the researchers were able to tackle although not intensively since they focused on the construct a framework from the results of the research activity claiming a grounded theory research approach and design.       Processes and Findings of the Study             There were 90 females and 66 males who participated in the study who at the time of the research were enrolled in their undergraduate classes in psychology. All the participants were never been married so as not to influence their answers on infidelity questions as most of them have been on serious relationships and majority are engaging in sexual activities with their partners. Most of them are 19-20 years old who have been in a two-year romantic relationship. They were instructed to give their opinions to infidelity relationships as well as the sexual attitudes and romantic beliefs scales finally providing their demographic characteristics that are relevant in the study. They were debriefed after completing their participation in the activity.                         Results of the study indicated that women were more likely to choose emotional infidelity as most distressing, while men were more likely to choose sexual infidelity. The ratings of distress were skewed toward high scores and the effect appears to be strongest in the ratings of distress caused by emotional infidelity. No gender differences emerged, indicating that while gender may influence which type of infidelity is seen as more distressing, once the choice is made those males and females who make each choice rate the distress as comparable. Stronger endorsement of romantic beliefs also was associated with higher distress ratings. Stronger endorsement of sex as an important interpersonal activity, a form of close and meaningful communication, was associated with greater distress due to sexual infidelity.   Issues Arising from the Research             It was evident from the results of the research study that clearer the distinctions on the type of infidelity, differences on the attitudes of the respondents as indicated by their gender became more apparent. As such socialization processes of the respondents as well as their biologically based evolutionary models between males and females present interesting implications. The women’s choice of emotional infidelity as more distressful can be analyzed and supported by researches that have validated the likelihood among women to be romantic and emotional while the sexual infidelity choice among male respondents can be attributed to their self-esteem and ego personality management. But despite their different choices of worse infidelity scenarios, similar distress levels were indicated by the participants.   Thus, it appears that both males and females undergo the same level of distress caused by infidelity in romantic relationships despite their difference in identifying the worse type of infidelity situations due to the evolutionary changes in the distinct roles of men and women in romantic relationships. Their respective masculine and feminine role differences and orientation in committing themselves romantically could be the distinguishing aspect of their different choices regarding worse infidelity form. Moreover, social pressures as well as cultural background and beliefs on gender formation among the respondents could also indicate the differences in the answers they indicated. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Experimental Social Psychology Research: Distress in Response to Relationship Infidelity: The Roles of Gender and Attitudes about Relationships (2001) by Cann, A, Mangum, JL and Wells, M

Type of Social Psychological Research Psychology is the study of how our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions are affected by the real o...

Experimental Social Psychology Research: Distress in Response to Relationship Infidelity: The Roles of Gender and Attitudes about Relationships (2001) by Cann, A, Mangum, JL and Wells, M

Experimental Social Psychology Research: Distress in Response to Relationship Infidelity: The Roles of Gender and Attitudes about Relationships (2001) by Cann, A, Mangum, JL and Wells, M

Type of Social Psychological Research Psychology is the study of how our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions are affected by the real o...

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