Agents of Reconciliation: Agency-Affirmation Promotes Constructive Tendencies Following Transgressions in Low-Commitment Relationships.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull
; 43(2): 218-232, 2017 02.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27932633
ABSTRACT
Conflicting parties experience threats to both their agency and morality, but the experience of agency-threat exerts more influence on their behavior, leading to relationship-destructive tendencies. Whereas high-commitment relationships facilitate constructive tendencies despite the conflict, we theorized that in low-commitment relationships, affirming the adversary's agency is a prerequisite for facilitating more constructive tendencies. Focusing on sibling conflicts, Study 1 found that when commitment was low (rather than high), agency-affirmation increased participants' constructive tendencies toward their brother/sister compared with a control/no-affirmation condition. A corresponding morality-affirmation did not affect participants' tendencies. Study 2 replicated these results in workplace conflicts and further found that the positive effect of agency-affirmation in low-commitment relationships was mediated by participants' wish to restore their morality. Study 3 induced a conflict between lab participants and manipulated their commitment. Again, in the low- (rather than high-) commitment condition, agency-affirmation increased participants' wish to restore their morality, leading to constructive behavior.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Autoimagem
/
Conflito Psicológico
/
Relações Interpessoais
/
Princípios Morais
Limite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article