Simulated Relationships Offer Insight Into Real Ones (Science Daily)
Comments(0) Vicary and Fraley modeled their study on a 1979 Random House interactive fiction series, “Choose Your Own Adventure,” which allowed the reader to select from multiple options at critical points in the story. Each choice directed the reader to a new scenario.
This approach appealed to the researchers because earlier studies of individual behavior in relationships asked participants to make choices based solely on descriptions of isolated events. The sequential nature of the new study was more like an actual relationship, Vicary said, in that it involved ongoing interactions with the same partner.
[From Jerz’s Literacy Weblog. I found this finding particularly fascinating: “It is interesting that even when highly insecure individuals experience responses as a direct function of their actions, they are still relatively slow to adopt beneficial relationship choices,” the authors wrote. “It is possible that insecure individuals simply do not realize the detrimental impact that their actions have on their relationships.”
The reason is because after reading the first statement, it may be possible to understand its message as saying one cannot teach an old dog new tricks. However, taken together with the next statement the message changes into one that emphasizes how important communication is in a relationship. BK]
category: Health, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics