The development of close relationships: A cognitive perspective.

Abstract

For years, research on close relationships was dominated by the behaviorist tradition and the belief that the meaning of behavior is transparent. A corollary of this belief is that observers of behavior should agree on its interpretation, outside observers should agree with partners, and coupled partners should agree with each other. Faced with a barrage of evidence to the contrary (see Surra & Ridley, 1991, for a review), some researchers have reevaluated these assumptions and have set out to understand how partners in close relationships interpret the meaning of each other's behaviors. The purpose of this chapter is to take this work a step further by analyzing cognitive processes in close relationships from a developmental perspective . We also examine how cognitive activity during interaction contributes over the long run to the subjective experience of being close.