Perceiving Change in Responsiveness From the Relationship Partner’s Behaviors

Abstract

This study examined whether, and how, romantic partners can accurately judge each other’s state level of responsiveness during a conflict discussion. Dating couples (N = 84 pairs) engaged in a 10-min videotaped discussion about an unresolved conflict and then reviewed the recorded discussion. For each 30-s segment of interaction, participants reported their own responsiveness and judged their partner’s responsiveness. Trained coders also coded each participant’s displayed interpersonal behaviors (e.g., smile) and displayed responsiveness within each segment. The results showed that (a) the perceiving partner could somewhat accurately judge the target’s change in responsiveness (as indexed by the target’s self-report and observers’ ratings) during the discussion and (b) some behaviors (e.g., rejection of suggestions) seemed to be linked to agreements between the perceiver and the target in their assessments of responsiveness. The nature of accurate judgment of responsiveness (or the perceiver-target agreement in their assessments) will be discussed.