Sunday, May 24, 2020

Rolf Degen summarizing... Love is half blind: Long term romantic relationships are cemented by willful ignorance of the the better half's unflattering sides

Murray, Samuel, Ph.D., and Peter Finocchiaro. 2020. “These Confabulations Are Guaranteed to Save Your Marriage! Toward a Teleological Theory of Confabulation.” PsyArXiv. May 25. doi:10.31234/osf.io/huywk

Abstract: Confabulation is typically understood to be dysfunctional. But this understanding neglects the phenomenon's potential benefits. In fact, we think that the benefits of non-clinical confabulation provide a better foundation for a general account of confabulation. In this paper, we start from these benefits to develop a social teleological account of confabulation. Central to our account is the idea that confabulation manifests a kind of willful ignorance. By understanding confabulation in this way, we can provide principled explanations for the difference between clinical and non-clinical cases of confabulation and the extent to which confabulation is rational.


Sanctification and Cheating Among Emerging Adults

Sanctification and Cheating Among Emerging Adults. Paige McAllister, Elena Henderson, Meghan Maddock, Krista Dowdle, Frank D. Fincham & Scott R. Braithwaite. Archives of Sexual Behavior volume 49, pages1177–1188, Mar 16 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-020-01657-3

Abstract: Cheating—a general term for extradyadic romantic or sexual behavior that violates expectations in a committed romantic relationship—is common and leads to a number of poor outcomes. Religion has historically influenced conceptions of romantic relationships, but societal attitudes about religion are in flux as many seek to retain spirituality even as affiliations with formal religion decrease. The present study evaluated a potential predictor of cheating that is more spiritual than formally religious, the “psychospiritual” concept of relationship sanctification (i.e., the idea that one’s relationship itself is sacred). In a sample of college students in committed relationships (N = 716), we found that higher levels of self-reported relationship sanctification were associated with a lower likelihood of both physical and emotional cheating even when accounting for plausible alternate explanations (general religiosity, problematic alcohol use, and trait self-control). This association was mediated via permissive sexual attitudes; specifically, higher levels of sanctification were associated with less permissive sexual attitudes which, in turn, predicted a lower likelihood of emotional and physical cheating.