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Perceiving greater commitment increases selfishness among disagreeable people.

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This summary is machine-generated.

Perceiving high partner commitment can backfire, increasing selfish behavior in disagreeable individuals. However, agreeable individuals show less selfish behavior when they perceive high commitment.

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Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Relationship Science
  • Personality Psychology

Background:

  • Perceived partner commitment generally benefits relationships.
  • High commitment may paradoxically encourage selfish behavior in certain individuals.
  • Agreeableness, a key personality trait, may moderate this effect.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if perceived partner commitment influences selfish behaviors.
  • To examine the moderating role of agreeableness in this relationship.
  • To understand the implications for romantic relationship dynamics.

Main Methods:

  • Correlational study with a diverse sample (N=307).
  • Observational study of newlywed couples (N=202).
  • Experiment with undergraduate couples (N=252).

Main Results:

  • High perceived commitment led to increased selfish behavior among disagreeable participants across all studies.
  • High perceived commitment led to decreased selfish behavior among agreeable participants in Studies 1 and 3.
  • The effect of perceived commitment on selfish behavior is contingent on agreeableness.

Conclusions:

  • Perceived partner commitment has differential effects on selfish behavior based on an individual's agreeableness.
  • Signaling commitment to disagreeable partners may negatively impact relationship quality.
  • Understanding personality moderators is crucial for relationship science.