title: Expectancy effects on marital interaction: rejection sensitivity as a critical moderator.
abstract: Positive expectancies might enhance partners' interaction quality, but these effects may not be equally accessible to all individuals and, if violated, might even increase negative affect. To address this possibility, diary data from 103 couples, collected at three time points per day over 10 workdays, were used to examine whether end-of-workday expectancies of the partner's mood upon reunion were related to interaction experience in the evening. Rejection sensitivity was tested as a moderator of expectancy effects. Positive expectancies about partner attitudes were found to covary with more positive evaluations of interactions on that evening, and these associations were weaker among individuals with increased rejection sensitivity. Violation of daily expectancies was not associated with more negative interactions, but with more positive interactions. Positive expectancies, therefore, appear to be beneficial for relationships, particularly on days of negative affect, although a healthy self-concept is necessary to benefit from such optimistic appraisals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Rue de Faucigny 2, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland. dominik.schoebi@unifr.ch
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schoebi
authors.forename: Meinrad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perrez
authors.forename: Thomas N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Bradbury
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*