Some variants of psychological distance within intimate relationships

Abstract

The prime objective of this investigation was the generation of both descriptive and experimental data on the constitution and manipulation of psychological distance. The descriptive data collection concentrated generally on how psychological distance is related to parents, gender, personality, interpersonal behavior, and marital satisfaction. The experimental manipulation of the phenomenon was through the medium of a Couple Communication and Awareness Workshop developed by the conductor of the study. The assumption was that the improvement of communication skills, in conjunction with increased knowledge of self and spouse, would facilitate enrichment of emotional intimacy. The subjects (N=62) were married couples who expressed interest in learning more about themselves, their relationship, and marital communication. Thirty-two subjects participated in the couple's communication program while the other 30 subjects served as the no-treatment control group. Both treatment and control subjects were administered three pre- and post-treatments instruments. The instruments consisted of the Interpersonal Multidimensional Scaling Technique (IMST) devised by the investigator, Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation - Behavior (FIRO-B), and modified version of Kuethe's social schemata (MSS). The IMST assessed actual psychological distances between the subjects and eight significant others across with traits while the MSS measure the desired psychological distance. Additionally the Sixteen Personality Factor Test (16PF) and Roach's Marital Satisfaction Inventory were administered to all subjects during the process of the six two-hour sessions of the workshop. Analysis of the pre- and post-treatment data for the Couples Communication and Awareness Workshop indicated that no significant change was effected on any of the dependent variables...