UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Effect of Rejection on Previously Established Relationships: Similarity Plays a Role
    (2010) Curtis, Ryan Dean; Sigall, Harold; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Previous research has found that people who are rejected will sometimes seek to affiliate with strangers after a rejection episode (Maner et al. 2007; Williams & Sommer, 1997). This effect is theorized to reflect seeking for belonging (Smart Richman & Leary, 2009). Research testing how rejection affects relationships with previously established relationship partners, (who were not a party to the rejection) is lacking. Three hypotheses were tested. Hypothesis 1 was that people seek to bolster belonging with established relationship partners following a rejection episode. Study 1 found that female participants indicated bolstering of belonging with a trustworthy friend after recalling a rejection experience. Hypothesis 2 was that people would bolster belonging first with relationship others who share relationship criteria with the rejecter. Study 2a found that the betrayal experienced by heterosexual participants during their most recent breakup predicted their bolstering toward an opposite-sex, but not a same-sex, friend. Study 2b used a measure of rejection instead of betrayal but did not replicate the results of Study 2a. Study 3 manipulated rejection and found that heterosexual participants rejected by a physically attractive other indicated bolstering of belonging toward an opposite-sex, but not a same-sex, friend. Hypothesis 3 was that people would bolster belonging with relationship others who shared idiosyncratic similarities with the rejecter. Rejection and idiosyncratic similarity of a friend to the rejecter were manipulated in Study 4. The results did not support the hypothesis. Potential explanations for these results as well as possible future research are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Effects on Communal Relationships of the Presence of Need, Responsibility for the Need, and the Ability to Satisfy the Need.
    (2008-12-08) Buzinski, Steven G.; Sigall, Harold; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The relationship between a communal other's needs and one's communal strength toward that other, and general communal orientation were examined. Three variables were examined in a 2 x 2 x 2 experimental design: a communal other's need (need-unmet vs. need-met), the other's responsibility for creating the need (yes vs. no), and the other's ability to satisfy the need (yes vs. no). Participants (N = 48) completed pre- and post-test measures of communal strength toward the other and communal orientation. Results showed that the presence of need and the other's responsibility affected communal orientation. An interaction between these variables was observed as well: communal orientation was lower when the need was met and the other was not responsible for creating it than in the other conditions. There were no effects on communal strength. The relationship between the needs of a communal other and both communal strength and communal orientation are discussed.