Laypeople's conceptions of commitment.
The author conducted 8 studies to elucidate the content and structure of lay conceptions of commitment. Studies 1 to 5 revealed that laypeople regard commitment to close relationships (e.g., friends, family, spouse) as central to the concept, whereas they consider nonclose (e.g., commitment to a neighbor) and noninterpersonal varieties (e.g., one's occupation) peripheral. This prototype structure influenced information processing in predictable ways. Studies 6 to 8 focused on the vertical structure of commitment categories. Results suggest that types of commitment are organized as fuzzy rather than true class-inclusion hierarchies. Study 8 also examined relationship implications of conceptions of commitment. People who held a relational conception of commitment had more positive perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about their dating relationship than did those who held a nonrelational conception.
Fehr
B
B
Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. bfehr@uwinnipeg.ca
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D001290:Attitude; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D011930:Reaction Time; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology