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1 - Thought and Action: Connecting Attributions to Behaviors in Married Couples' Interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2009

By
Valerie Manusov
Edited by
Patricia Noller  and
Judith A. Feeney
Valerie Manusov
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Patricia Noller
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Judith A. Feeney
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
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Summary

Causal and responsibility attributions made by married partners are a frequent subject of study by relationship researchers (Fletcher & Fincham, 1991; Holtzworth-Munroe & Jacobson, 1988; Manusov, 1990; Miller & Bradbury, 1995). Few studies have connected couples' attributions to the behaviors they use in response to those thoughts however (see Fincham, 1994). Because overt behaviors are likely to shape the climate for a relationship (Noller, 1992), investigating how thoughts may connect with action is important for understanding the role causal attributions play within marriage.

This paper focuses particularly on nonverbal cues exhibited by married partners. Goffman (1979) refers to nonspoken cues as part of a “glimpsed” world, often unarticulated but rich in social information (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1992). According to Noller (1992), “many messages having neutral words … [are] changed into positive or negative messages by … the nonverbal channels” (p. 50). The valence of messages has been found to differentiate satisfied from unsatisfied couples consistently, and much of the affective tone of messages is relayed via nonverbal means (Gottman & Levenson, 1992; Huston & Vangelisti, 1991). Because more highly valenced (very positive or very negative) behaviors are likely to instigate greater attribution making (Wong & Weiner, 1981), they should also result in behaviors that reflect the attributions given for a spouse's actions.

In the following pages, I discuss the importance of investigating nonverbal behaviors as both triggers of, and reactions to, attributions by married couples.

Type
Chapter
Information
Understanding Marriage
Developments in the Study of Couple Interaction
 , pp. 14 - 31
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

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