Application of Social Judgment Theory to Understanding and Treating Marital Conflict

Abstract

The present paper introduces social judgment theory to marital and family researchers as a potentially useful theoretical and methodological tool for understanding marital conflict. A review of the literature on marital conflict concludes that theoretical advances in understanding the cognitive basis of marital conflict have surpassed the research methods needed to test these conceptions. Current conceptions of conflict and research findings have converged on the importance of discrepancies between partners' cognitive sets or judgment patterns as possible determinants of marital conflict. It is proposed that social judgment theory offers both a theoretical framework and research paradigm that will be useful to marital researchers and therapists in understanding and treating marital conflict. A computerized procedure is described for identification, measurement, and reporting of judgmental sources of marital conflict and for differentiation of apparent and actual conflict. A case study is provided as an example of how the judgment paradigm can be usedfor both research and clinical purposes. The results of the case study suggests that social judgment theory and interactive computer graphics offer tools toward improved understanding of one's own judgment process and that of one's marriage partner as well.