Too Much Growth: The Role of Self-Expansion Perceptions on Date Planning

The goal of this thesis is to examine whether perceptions of too much self-expansion affects shared leisure experiences. I hypothesize that too much relational self-expansion will be associated with a tendency to engage in less exciting and more familiar shared activities. In Study 1, relational self-expansion was manipulated (i.e., too much, just enough, not enough) in hypothetical couples and participants rated the types of dates (i.e., exciting or familiar) the couple should engage in. In Study 2, participants reported their own relational self-expansion and rated the excitement and familiarity of the date they planned. As predicted, when participants read about someone experiencing too much self-expansion in their relationship, they selected dates for the couple that were more exciting and less familiar (Study 1). However, these findings did not extend to people's own relationships (Study 2). The findings in this thesis provide insight on how self-expansion perceptions affect relationship maintenance behaviour.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Jones, Chloe S. H.

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2020 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, research, scholarship, and teaching. Theses may only be shared by linking to Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be used without proper attribution to the author. No part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2020-14142

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/42188