Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Sinclair, Colleen

Committee Member

Eakin, Deborah

Committee Member

Giesen, Marty

Date of Degree

8-11-2012

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

The present study examined whether someone’s implicit theories of relationships (ITORs) has an effect on whose opinion and what type of opinion has more influence on their romantic relationship dynamics. Individuals high in destiny beliefs view relationships as either meant to be or not meant to be. Individuals high in growth beliefs think relationships take work to maintain and that problems can be overcome. Combined these form orientations- cultivation orientation where the individual is high growth/low destiny and evaluation orientation which is high destiny/low growth. I analyzed an archived dataset where participants completed Sinclair’s (2008) Social Network Opinion Scale, Lund’s (1985) commitment scale, and Knee’s (1998) Implicit Theories of Relationship scale. We found evaluation orientation individuals are significantly more committed as parent approval rises, and significantly less committed as parent approval declines. Those exhibiting the cultivation orientation managed to maintain commitment regardless of parent opinion, consistent with hypothesis two.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/21098

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