Exploring Interdependent Processes in Close Relationships

How are people affected by their close relationships? Interdependence theory suggests that they are dependent on each other to attain desired outcomes and to fulfill their needs, not only in the present but also over an extended period of time. Accordingly, individuals want to secure ties that are personally adaptive and maximize having fulfilling over aversive experiences. As such, commitment to any given relationship becomes important in understanding and predicting success and stability in close relationships over the long-term. The present talk explores interdependence processes from two angles – a psychological account of how commitment can be changed in close relationships as well as a statistical account in the analyses of dyadic data in close relationships. First, we examine how perceptions of future plans affect commitment, and find that ease of retrieval of future plans can indeed increase commitment, but this is moderated by need for cognition. Next, we examine how impulsivity affects relationship satisfaction through communication for both members of the couple in a sample of newlyweds. Together, these findings suggest how interdependence is crucial in understanding close relationships, and will outline avenues for future research that has implications in understanding how close relationships function.