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Abstract
Past behavioral research has examined relationship infidelity as a potential outcome of focusing on attractive alternative partners when already in a relationship. The extent to which individuals find such alternatives attractive has been shown to be associated with various factors in the relationship, including self-expansion. However, no previous research has tested the role of self-expansion experimentally. This paper presents two experiments that directly manipulate self-expansion to determine the effect of self-expansion on responses to attractive alternative partners. Participants primed to experience a higher need for self-expansion had better memory for attractive alternatives with self-expanding traits dissimilar to their partner’s versus attractive alternatives with self-expanding traits similar to their partner’s. Additionally, participants primed with self-expansion (via a video of their partner discussing ways in which life with one another is exciting, novel, and challenging), had less fMRI BOLD response to attractive alternatives of the opposite sex in regions associated with perception of attractive faces (anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex) relative to when they were primed with love (via a video of their partner discussing times they felt strong feelings of love for one another), or neutral content (via a video of their partner discussing some times in which they engage in mundane, routine activities together). The magnitude of this effect in the ACC correlated with relationship closeness as measured by the inclusion of the other in the self scale.
Highlights
Self-Expansion ModelAron and Aron’s (1986) self-expansion model of close relationships posits that people are motivated to enter relationships in order to enhance the self and increase selfefficacy
Supposedly unrelated, laboratory session, participants were primed with either high or low need for self-expansion, participated in a task designed to assess memory for and attention to several potential attractive relationship alternatives, some of whom had desirable traits possessed by their current partner, and some with desirable traits not possessed by their partner
Given that self-expansion and romantic love are theoretically linked to processes mediated by the mesocorticolimbic system we should see changes in blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response to attractive alternatives in this system when self-expansion and romantic love with the partner are manipulated, the goal of this study is to determine whether self-expansion and romantic love manipulations modify reward related responses in the mesocorticolimbic system to attractive alternatives
Summary
Self-Expansion ModelAron and Aron’s (1986) self-expansion model of close relationships posits that people are motivated to enter relationships in order to enhance the self and increase selfefficacy. The other’s resources, perspectives, and identities are integrated into one’s own self-concept These principles have received considerable research support and have been applied to the study of various relationship issues, including romantic love, intergroup relations, breaking up, and relationship boredom (for a review, see Aron et al, 2013). The self-expansion model suggests that in the beginning phase of a relationship when forming a pair bond (especially rapidly coming to include the partner in the self) is highly self-expanding. This rapid self-expansion is associated with feelings of great pleasure, arousal, and excitement. Because alternative partners’ offer novelty, new opportunities for self-expansion, and excitement, declines in self-expansion may be an important contributor to relationship infidelity
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