"The purpose of this program of research was to explore commitment-motivated relationship maintenance processes and the motivational bases of commitment to romantic relationships. In regards to the former, I was primarily concerned with demonstrating that commitment impacts not only behavioural and cognitive relationship maintenance responses, but that it also affects basic perceptual processes in relationships. In regards to the latter, I was particularly interested in utilizing self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) to distinguish between intrinsic and identified relationship motives by demonstrating that identified motives form the basis of commitment to romantic relationships and therefore promote relationship maintenance responses. Study 1 examined benign appraisals of partner transgressions as a commitment motivated relationship maintenance response. It also examined whether these appraisals mediate the established relationship between commitment and the relationship maintenance response termed accommodation. Commitment was associated with the discrepancy between participant severity ratings and that of objective raters for a reported partner transgression. Commitment predicted these benign appraisals more for objectively less severe transgressions. Although the commitment-accommodation association was replicated, benign appraisals did not mediate this relationship. Study 2 examined the potential explanatory power of applying self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) to the context of romantic relationships. A large scale web survey and 6 month follow-up distinguished between intrinsic, identified, and introjected motives for being in a romantic relationship by determining their unique associations with relevant relationship characteristics, relationship maintenance responses (RMRs), and persistence. The results confirmed a crucial distinction between intrinsic and identified motives in that associations between intrinsic motives and RMRs were fully mediated by satisfaction but not commitment, whereas identified motives were not mediated by satisfaction and instead partially mediated by commitment. By contrast, introjected motives were negatively related to RMRs. However, both identified and introjected motives predicted persistence whereas intrinsic motives did not. Study 3 used an experience-sampling diary methodology to examine the impact of positive and negative relationship events on the well-being and relationship maintenance responses of individuals with intrinsic and identified motives. It was found that identified individuals exhibited positive relationship illusions and were buffered from the impact of negative events whereas intrinsically motivated individuals were not. Study 4 provided experimental evidence for the associations between the relationship motives and relationship maintaining cognitions and behaviours demonstrated in studies 2-3. This study showed that priming individuals with an identified motivation for being in their romantic relationship leads to greater self-partner integration (relative to individuals primed with intrinsic motives) and greater willingness to accommodate and sacrifice (as compared to those primed with introjected motives). In sum, the present studies have important implications for our ability to accurately predict relationship well-being, willingness to engage in relationship maintenance responses, and relationship persistence, as a function of both commitment and the relationship motives that form a basis for relationship commitment."--

How can newlyweds believe they will be together forever, while knowing that the majority of marriages end in divorce? Why do people who desperately want to be loved end up alienating those who love them? How can partners that seem like complete opposites end up blissfully happy? This volume explores such fascinating questions. Murray and Holmes outline how basic motivations to be safe from being hurt and find value and meaning control how people feel, think, and behave in close relationships. Additionally, the authors highlight how these motivations infuse romantic life through succinct and accessible descriptions of cutting-edge empirical research and vivid evolving stories of four couples confronting different challenges in their relationship. Integrating ideas from the interdependence, goals, and embodiment literatures, this book puts a provocative new spin on seminal findings from two decades of collaborative research. The book: provides a new, interdependence-based, perspective on motivated cognition in close relationships; advances a dyadic perspective that explores how motivation shapes perception and cognition in ways that result in motivation-consistent behavior; examines how "goal-driven" cognition translates a person’s wishes, desires, and preferences into judgement and behavior, and ultimately, his or her romantic partner’s relationship reality; offers a refreshing argument that the ultimate effects of motivated cognition on satisfaction and stability depend on whether the motivations which most frequently guide perception and cognition match the reality constraints imposed by the perceiver, the partner, and the characteristics of the relationship. This book is essential for social and personality psychologists and will also be valuable to clinical psychologists and clinicians who work directly with couples to effect more happy and stable relationships. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students will find it a highly engaging compendium for understanding how motivation shapes affect, cognition, and behavior in close relationships.

As I begin to write this Preface, I feel a rush of excitement. I have now finished the book; my gestalt is coming into completion. Throughout the months that I have been writing this, I have, indeed, been intrinsically motivated. Now that it is finished I feel quite competent and self-determining (see Chapter 2). Whether or not those who read the book will perceive me that way is also a concern of mine (an extrinsic one), but it is a wholly separate issue from the intrinsic rewards I have been experiencing. This book presents a theoretical perspective. It reviews an enormous amount of research which establishes unequivocally that intrinsic motivation exists. Also considered herein are various approaches to the conceptualizing of intrinsic motivation. The book concentrates on the approach which has developed out of the work of Robert White (1959), namely, that intrinsically motivated behaviors are ones which a person engages in so that he may feel competent and self-determining in relation to his environment. The book then considers the development of intrinsic motiva tion, how behaviors are motivated intrinsically, how they relate to and how intrinsic motivation is extrinsically motivated behaviors, affected by extrinsic rewards and controls. It also considers how changes in intrinsic motivation relate to changes in attitudes, how people attribute motivation to each other, how the attribution process is motivated, and how the process of perceiving motivation (and other internal states) in oneself relates to perceiving them in others.

This volume summarizes and organizes a growing body of research supporting the role of motivation in adaptive and rewarding interpersonal interactions with others. The field of human motivation is rapidly growing but most studies have focused on the effects of motivation on individuals' personal happiness and task engagement. Only recently have theorists and empiricists begun to recognize that dispositional and state motivations impact the ways individuals approach interpersonal interactions. In addition, researchers are now recognizing that the quality of interpersonal interactions influences consequent happiness and task engagement, thus helping to explain previous findings to this end. Similarly social psychology and relationships researchers have focused on the impact of cognitions, emotions, and behaviors on people's relationships. In their work, relationships researchers demonstrate that both contextual characteristics and individual differences influence the quality of interactions. Many of these studies seek to understand which characteristics strengthen the bonds between people, encourage empathy and trust and create a sense of well-being after a close interaction. This work seeks to integrate the field of human motivation and interpersonal relationships. Both fields have seen extensive growth in the past decade and each can contribute to the other. However, no single compiled work is available that targets both fields. This is the case, in part because only now is there enough work to make a strong and compelling case for their integration. In the previous years, research has been conducted to show that motivation is relevant and important for interactions among strangers and in close relationships. In addition developmental mechanisms for these relations are identified and mechanisms by which motivation strengthens people's relationships. Finally recent work has demonstrated the many implications for interpersonal relationships, showing that motivation impacts a range of interpersonal processes from prejudice regulation and objectification of others to empathy and care. This book seeks to summarize and organize all these findings and present them in a way that is relevant to both motivation researchers and social and relationship researchers.

Although love and relationships have been focal points for poets and philosophers for thousands of years, these topics had not traditionally been the focus of empirical research. As a result, very little was known about how couples maintained happiness and satisfaction in their relationships, or how relationships deteriorated, ultimately ending in separation or divorce. However, since the early 1980s, relationships research has blossomed as a field – and is now one of the most vibrant topics in social psychology and beyond. This volume brings together the latest research on couple functioning from the perspectives of social and personality psychology, neurobiology, health, and clinical psychology. Additionally, the research presented highlights the use of survey, experimental, implicit, and longitudinal methods, as well as specialized techniques employed in neuroscience, psychophysiology, and psychoneuroimmunology in the study of couple level processes. The underlying aim of this volume is to examine how these theories and methods converge to provide a deeper, holistic model of couples’ processes and functioning. With its state-of-the-art, integrative overview of this exciting discipline, The Science of the Couple is essential reading for social psychologists, clinicians, and anyone with an interest in the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.

How can we get the most out of our close relationships? Research in the area of personal relationships continues to grow, but most prior work has emphasized how to overcome negative aspects. This volume demonstrates that a good relationship is more than simply the absence of a bad relationship, and that establishing and maintaining optimal relationships entails enacting a set of processes that are distinct from merely avoiding negative or harmful behaviors. Drawing on recent relationship science to explore issues such as intimacy, attachment, passion, sacrifice, and compassionate goals, the essays in this volume emphasize the positive features that allow relationships to flourish. In doing so, they integrate several theoretical perspectives, concepts, and mechanisms that produce optimal relationships. The volume also includes a section on intensive and abbreviated interventions that have been empirically validated to be effective in promoting the positive features of close relationships.

Provides an interdisciplinary perspective on behaviors and strategies used to maintain intimate relationships.

Self-determination theory is a theory of human motivation that is being increasingly used by organizations to make strategic HR decisions and train managers. It argues for a focus on the quality of workers' motivation over quantity. Motivation that is based on meaning and interest is showed to be superior to motivation that is based on pressure and rewards. Work environments that make workers feel competent, autonomous, and related to others foster the right type of motivation, goals, and work values. The Oxford Handbook of Work Motivation, Engagement, and Self-Determination Theory aims to give current and future organizational researchers ideas for future research using self-determination theory as a framework, and to give practitioners ideas on how to adjust their programs and practices using self-determination theory principles. The book brings together self-determination theory experts and organizational psychology experts to talk about past and future applications of the theory to the field of organizational psychology. The book covers a wide range of topics, including: how to bring about commitment, engagement, and passion in the workplace; how to manage stress, health, emotions and violence at work; how to encourage safe and sustainable behavior in organizations; how factors like attachment styles, self-esteem, person-environment fit, job design, leadership, compensation, and training affect work motivation; and how work-related values and goals are forged by the work environment and affect work outcomes.

This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive summary of the psychology of close relationships, and showcases classic and contemporary theories, models, and empirical research that have been conducted in the field.

"Among the most influential models in contemporary behavioral science, self-determination theory (SDT) offers a broad framework for understanding the factors that promote human motivation and psychological flourishing. In this authoritative work, SDT cofounders Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci systematically review the theory's conceptual underpinnings, empirical evidence base, and practical applications across the lifespan. Ryan and Deci demonstrate that supporting people's basic needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy is critically important for virtually all aspects of individual and societal functioning."--Jacket.