Positive Illusions About Marriage Among Married and Single Individuals

The common tendency to describe one's marriage in unrealistic terms has been conceptualized as a positive illusion about marriage. Studies of positive illusions have relied on the logical argument that these perceptions are unreasonably positive. This reasoning is insufficient, because previous...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of family psychology 2001-03, Vol.15 (1), p.95-109
Main Authors: Fowers, Blaine J, Lyons, Eileen, Montel, Kelly H, Shaked, Netta
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Aged
Attitude
Awareness
Biological and medical sciences
Couple and family
Couples
Cultural aspects
Divorce - psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Illusions
Illusions (Perception)
Male
Marital Status
Marriage
Marriage - psychology
Marriage Attitudes
Middle Aged
Perceptions
Personal Satisfaction
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Single Person - psychology
Single persons
Social psychology
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Summary:The common tendency to describe one's marriage in unrealistic terms has been conceptualized as a positive illusion about marriage. Studies of positive illusions have relied on the logical argument that these perceptions are unreasonably positive. This reasoning is insufficient, because previous studies have relied on volunteer samples with high marital satisfaction and long marital duration, both of which could explain rosy evaluations of one's marriage. The current series of studies examined whether positive marital illusions are an artifact of marital satisfaction and duration. Married and single individuals' estimates of their divorce likelihood and other measures of positive marital illusions revealed that illusions about marriage are not dependent on a volunteer bias, marital satisfaction, or duration. The presence of illusions about a future marriage among single individuals suggests that positive marital illusions are a cultural phenomenon.
ISSN:0893-3200
1939-1293
DOI:10.1037/0893-3200.15.1.95