Ghosts from the past: an examination of romantic relationships and self-discrepancy.
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.
Green
Jeffrey D
JD
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23284, USA. jdgreen@vcu.edu
Campbell
W Keith
WK
Davis
Jody L
JL
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