Fletcher et al.
Fletcher et al. (1987)
Attributions in dating couples
Aim:
To study whether patterns of attributions were related to relationship satisfaction factors (happiness, commitment, and love).
Procedure:
Participants were100 female and 31 male undergraduate students in a heterosexual dating relationship not living together. The study was conducted in the USA.
First participants completed various questionnaires. After two months 95 participants were still in their relationship. They were asked to write a free-response description of the relationship in their own words and fill out a questionnaire.
Results:
Individuals with the highest relationship satisfaction after two months attributed positive behavior to themselves and their partner (dispositional) attributions) and attributed negative behaviors to situational factors.
Participants in happy relationships tended to describe the relationship in more interpersonal terms (“we”) in the free-response description. Participants who made more situational attributions for relationship maintenance reported significantly less happiness, less commitment, and lower levels of love.
Evaluation:
The study suffers from sampling bias (more females than males and all students) and there is a cultural bias as the study was conducted in the USA. This may limit generalizations.