title: Ghosts from the past: an examination of romantic relationships and self-discrepancy.
abstract: Researchers have previously reported a negative association between romantic involvement and the discrepancy between the actual self and the ideal self. The authors present a schema-based model of romantic involvement and self-discrepancy to help explain this association, focusing on the impact of terminated relationships--"ghosts from the past." In Study 1, participants primed with a past relationship reported increased self-discrepancy relative to participants primed with a present relationship. Study 2 indicated that this increased self-discrepancy was the result of reexperiencing emotionally negative past romantic relationships. Study 3 revealed the role of depressive affect in negative past romantic relationships. Finally, Study 4 indicated that depressive affect mediated the relation between reexperiencing negative past romantic relationships and experiencing self-discrepancy.
authors: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23284, USA. jdgreen@vcu.edu
authors: Jeffrey D
authors: JD
authors: Green
authors: W Keith
authors: WK
authors: Campbell
authors: Jody L
authors: JL
authors: Davis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012649:Self Concept