Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This research applied three different models of complementarity to romantic ideals, romantic obtainment, and the quality of romantic relationships: (i) Carson's (1969) model of interpersonal complementarity (i.e., individuals similar to each other on warmth, but opposite on dominance, are most compatible); (ii) Wiggins's (1979) model of complementarity (i.e., individuals whose personalities occur in a manner predicted by social exchange theory are most compatible); and (iii) the model of similarity (i.e., individuals with similar personalities are most compatible). Study 1 examined the personality traits of 169 single male and female participants and the personality traits they found most desirable in romantic partners. Using randomization tests of hypothesized order relations and Pearson correlations, results suggested that only the model of similarity accurately described the personalities participants tended to find romantically desirable. Study 2 examined the personality traits of 212 participants (106 couples) who had been romantically involved for at least 1 year. Results suggested that the model of similarity somewhat described the personalities participants tended to actually obtain as romantic partners, but neither Carson's nor Wiggins's models reached significance. However, further analyses found that only Carson's model of complementarity predicted relationship quality; romantic couples who reported the highest levels of relationship quality were more similar in terms of warmth but were more dissimilar in terms of dominance than romantic couples who reported the lowest levels of relationship quality.

Keywords

circumplex complementarity interpersonal relationship romantic

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Botwin, M.D. , Buss, D.M. , & Shackelford, T.K. (1997). Personality and mate preferences: Five factors in mate selection and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 65(1), 107—136.

Braiker, H. , & Kelley, H.H. (1979). Conflict in the development of close relationships . In R. L. Burgess & T. L. Huston (Eds.), Social exchange in developing relationships (pp. 127—154). New York: Academic Press.

Buss, D.M. (1985). Human mate selection. American Scientist, 73(1), 47—51.

Buss, D.M. , & Barnes, M. (1986). Preferences in human mate selection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(3), 559—570.

Byrne, D. (1971). The attraction paradigm. New York: Academic Press.

Carson, R. (1969). Interaction concepts of personality. Chicago: Aldine.

Caspi, A. , Herbener, E.S. , & Ozer, D.J. (1992). Shared experiences and the similarity of personalities: A longitudinal study of married couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 281—291.

Dryer, D.C. , & Horowitz, L.M. (1997). When do opposites attract? Interpersonal complementarity versus similarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(3), 592—603.

Estroff, S.D. , & Nowicki, S. (1992). Interpersonal complementarity, gender of interactants, and performance on puzzle and word tasks. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18(3), 351—356.

10.

Foa, U.G. , & Foa, E.B. (1974). Societal structures of the mind. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

11.

Freedman, M.B. , Leary, T.F. , Ossorio, A.G. , & Coffey, H.S. (1951). The interpersonal dimension of personality. Journal of Personality, 20, 143—161.

12.

Funder, D.C. , & Sneed, C.D. (1993). Behavioral manifestations of personality: An ecological approach to judgmental accuracy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(3), 479—490.

13.

Gaunt, R. (2006). Couple similarity and martial satisfaction: Are similar spouses happier? Journal of Personality, 74, 1401—1420.

14.

Horowitz, L.M. , Wilson, K.R. , Turan, B. , Zolotsev, P. , Constantino, M.J. , & Henderson, L. (2006). How interpersonal motives clarify the meaning for interpersonal behavior: A revised circumplex model. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 67—86.

15.

Hubert, L. , & Arabie, P. (1987). Evaluating order hypotheses within proximity matrices . Psychological Bulletin, 102(1), 172—178.

16.

Kiesler, D.J. (1983). The 1982 interpersonal circle: A taxonomy for complementarity in human transactions. Psychological Review, 90(3), 185—214.

17.

Leary, T. (1957). The interpersonal diagnosis of personality. New York: Roland.

18.

Luteijn, F. (1994). Personality and the quality of an intimate relationship . European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 10(3), 220—223.

19.

Markey, P.M. , Funder, D.C. , & Ozer, D.J. (2003). Complementarity of interpersonal behaviors in dyadic interactions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 29(9), 1082—1090.

20.

Markey, P.M. , & Kurtz, J.E. (2006). Increasing acquaintanceship and complementarity of behavioral styles and personality traits among college roommates. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 907—916.

21.

Markey, P.M. , & Markey, C.N. (2006). A spherical conceptualization of personality traits . European Journal of Personality, 20, 169—193.

22.

Markey, P.M. , Markey, C.N. , & Tinsley, B.J. (2004). Children's behavioral manifestations of the Five-Factor model of personality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 30(4), 423—432.

23.

Nowicki, S. , & Manheim, S. (1991). Interpersonal complementarity and time of interaction in female relationships. Journal of Research in Personality , 25(3), 323—333.

24.

Pincus, A.L. (1994). The interpersonal circumplex and interpersonal theory: Perspectives on personality and its pathology. In S. Strack & L. Maurice (Eds.), Differentiating normal and abnormal personality (pp. 114—136). New York: Springer .

25.

Robins, R.W. , Caspi, A. , & Moffitt, T.E. (2000). Two personalities, one relationship: Both partners' personality traits shape the quality of their relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 251—259.

26.

Rounds, J. , Tracey, T.J. , & Hubert, L. (1992). Methods for evaluating vocational interest structural hypotheses. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 40(2), 239—259.

27.

Somers, R.H. (1962). A new asymmetric measure of association for ordinal variables. American Sociological Review, 27, 799—811.

28.

Sullivan, H.S. (1953). The interpersonal theory of psychiatry. New York: Norton.

29.

Tracey, T.J. (1994). An examination of complementarity of interpersonal behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(5), 864—878.

30.

Tracey, T.J. (1997). RANDALL: A Microsoft FORTRAN program for the randomization test of hypothesized order relations. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 57, 164—168.

31.

Tracey, T.J. (2004). Levels of interpersonal complementarity: A simplex representation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 30(9), 1211—1225.

32.

Tracey, T.J. , Ryan, J.M. , & Jaschik-Herman, B. (2001). Complementarity of interpersonal circumplex traits. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 27(7), 786—797.

33.

Vandenberg, S.G. (1972). Assortative mating, or who marries whom? Behavior Genetics, 2, 127—158.

34.

Wiggins, J.S. (1979). A psychological taxonomy of trait-descriptive terms: The interpersonal domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(3), 395—412.

35.

Wiggins, J.S. (1982). Circumplex models of interpersonal behavior in clinical psychology. In P. C. Kendall & J. N. Butcher (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (pp. 183—221). New York : John Wiley.

36.

Wiggins, J.S. (1995). Interpersonal Adjective Scales professional manual . Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

37.

Wiggins, J.S. , Trapnell, P. , & Phillips, N. (1988). Psychometric and geometric characteristics of the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS—R). Multivariate Behavioral Research, 23, 517—530.

38.

Yaughn, E. , & Nowicki, S. (1999). Close relationships and complementary interpersonal styles among men and women. Journal of Social Psychology, 139(4), 473—478.

Romantic ideals,romantic obtainment,and relationship experiences

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References