Bradbury & Fincham (1992) PDF

Bradbury and Fincham (1992) EVALUATION: STUDY (RESEARCHER & YEAR): - researcher triangulation increases reliability of data AIMS: Researchers looked at both causal...

Bradbury and Fincham (1992) EVALUATION: STUDY (RESEARCHER & YEAR): - researcher triangulation increases reliability of data AIMS: Researchers looked at both causal TYPE OF RESEARCH: observational study - results have been applied to couple therapy attributions (why is there a problem) and with questionnaires responsibility attributions (whose fault is it?) - bidirectional ambiguity (direction of correlation is Co-V: level of marital satisfaction and unknown) communication pattern - other variables (mental illness) may influence communication style and results PROCEDURE: - different levels of seriousness (distressed couples had - participants individually completed a more difficult issues) survey on marital satisfaction and a SAMPLE: 47 couples with average length of - sampling bias (Western culture) questionnaire about problems in the marriage 8.5 years were recruited through - not generalizable to unmarried or homosexual couples advertisements in local media marriage RESULTS: - discussion of a problem a couple had - couples that reported low levels of marital was videotaped in a laboratory setting for satisfaction had more frequent distress 15 minutes maintaining patterns of communication (more likely to attribute marital problems to the partner and tended to see partner as - two researchers identified relationship intentionally selfish) enhancing and distress maintaining patterns of communication in the videos - interaction between these couples was Any other points you want to include… rated more hostile and rejecting of positive approaches of the partner CONCLUSION: - dispositional attributions for negative behaviour are linked to negative behaviour toward the spouse - negative attributions affect marital satisfaction