Registered Replication Report: Study 1 From Finkel, Rusbult, Kumashiro, & Hannon (2002).
Finkel, Rusbult, Kumashiro, and Hannon (2002, Study 1) demonstrated a causal link between subjective commitment to a relationship and how people responded to hypothetical betrayals of that relationship. Participants primed to think about their commitment to their partner (high commitment) reacted to the betrayals with reduced exit and neglect responses relative to those primed to think about their independence from their partner (low commitment). The priming manipulation did not affect constructive voice and loyalty responses. Although other studies have demonstrated a correlation between subjective commitment and responses to betrayal, this study provides the only experimental evidence that inducing changes to subjective commitment can causally affect forgiveness responses. This Registered Replication Report (RRR) meta-analytically combines the results of 16 new direct replications of the original study, all of which followed a standardized, vetted, and preregistered protocol. The results showed little effect of the priming manipulation on the forgiveness outcome measures, but it also did not observe an effect of priming on subjective commitment, so the manipulation did not work as it had in the original study. We discuss possible explanations for the discrepancy between the findings from this RRR and the original study.
Department of Psychology, Huron University College at The University of Western Ontario icheung5@uwo.ca.
Irene
I
Cheung
Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario.
Lorne
L
Campbell
Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences, University of California, Berkeley.
Etienne P
EP
LeBel
The University of Texas at Dallas
Robert A
RA
Ackerman
Middle East Technical University
Bülent
B
Aykutog˘lu
University of Würzburg
Šteˇpán
Š
Bahník
University of California, Santa Barbara
Jeffrey D
JD
Bowen
Hope College
Carrie A
CA
Bredow
University of California, Santa Barbara
Christopher
C
Bromberg
Stony Brook University
Peter A
PA
Caprariello
University of Salamanca
Rodrigo J
RJ
Carcedo
The University of Texas at Dallas
Kevin J
KJ
Carson
Simon Fraser University
Rebecca J
RJ
Cobb
University of California, Santa Barbara
Nancy L
NL
Collins
The University of Texas at Dallas
Conrad A
CA
Corretti
Loyola University Maryland
Theresa E
TE
DiDonato
Mississippi State University
Chelsea
C
Ellithorpe
University of Cantabria
Noelia
N
Fernández-Rouco
University of North Florida
Paul T
PT
Fuglestad
Mississippi State University
Rebecca M
RM
Goldberg
Loyola University Maryland
Frank D
FD
Golom
Middle East Technical University
Elçin
E
Gündog˘du-Aktürk
University of Victoria
Lisa B
LB
Hoplock
University of Economics, Prague
Petr
P
Houdek
The University of Texas at Dallas
Heidi S
HS
Kane
Lesley University
John S
JS
Kim
Fort Lewis College
Sue
S
Kraus
University of North Florida
Christopher T
CT
Leone
Singapore Management University
Norman P
NP
Li
Simon Fraser University
Jill M
JM
Logan
Simon Fraser University
Roanne D
RD
Millman
University of Manitoba
Marian M
MM
Morry
Simon Fraser University
Jennifer C
JC
Pink
Mississippi State University
Taylor
T
Ritchey
Hope College
Lindsey M
LM
Root Luna
Mississippi State University
H Colleen
HC
Sinclair
University of Victoria
Danu Anthony
DA
Stinson
University of Manitoba
Tamara A
TA
Sucharyna
Fort Lewis College
Natasha D
ND
Tidwell
Middle East Technical University
Ahmet
A
Uysal
Charles University in Prague
Marek
M
Vranka
University of California, Santa Barbara
Lauren A
LA
Winczewski
Singapore Management University
Jose C
JC
Yong
D061347:Forgiveness; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D060865:Repetition Priming; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013850:Thinking; D035502:Trust
commitment; preregistration; rejection; relationships; replication