Self-schema priming and desire for test performance feedback: Further evaluation of a cognitive/interactionist model of interpersonal dependency

Abstract

The cognitive/interactionist (C/I) model of interpersonal dependency contends that two central elements of a dependent personality orientation are a schema of the self as powerless and ineffectual, and a resulting desire to obtain and maintain ties to potential caregivers and protectors. Two experiments tested this aspect of the C/I model. Experiment 1 found that dependency level and schema priming combined to predict the amount of time participants were willing to wait for test performance feedback from a professor. Experiment 2 found that varying the likelihood that the professor would be able to offer future help and support moderated the significant dependency and priming effects obtained in Experiment 1. These results support the C/I model; theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

Notes

1. Although studies indicate that high levels of interpersonal dependency are associated with low self-esteem, and with high levels of need for approval, rejection sensitivity, and narcissism, the magnitudes of these relationships are generally modest, and suggest that dependency does not overlap unduly with these theoretically related traits (see Bornstein, 1992 1993 2005; Overholser, 1996; and Pincus & Gurtman, 1995, for reviews of research in this area).

2. From here on, for ease of explanation, all participants are referred to as she in describing these anticipated results.

3. Although actual waiting behavior was not assessed in either experiment, it is important to note that the outcome measure used was not merely a self-report of past behavior or imagined responding. Presumably participants believed that they would in fact remain in the laboratory for the duration of their promised waiting time.

4. Although the methods used to assess stimulus awareness in Experiments 1 and 2 do not allow definitive conclusions to be drawn regarding subliminality of the priming stimuli, it is likely that these stimuli were—at most—marginally detected, and fell below the subjective (if not the objective) threshold for stimulus awareness (see Cheesman & Merikle, 1986; Merikle & Reingold, 1992).

5. Although the construct of interpersonal dependency overlaps to some degree with that of insecure attachment (Collins & Read, 1990), there are noteworthy differences between these constructs. Studies show that insecure attachment is associated with substantially greater behavioral consistency than dependency, which is expressed in very different (even diametrically opposing) ways in different relationships (Bornstein et al., 1996; Heiss, Berman, & Sperling, 1996). Beyond these behavioral differences studies confirm that self-report dependency scores are only modestly correlated with scores on indices of insecure attachment, with correlations (rs) typically in the .30 – .40 range (Bornstein et al., 2003; Pincus & Wilson, 2001).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert F. Bornstein

This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant MH63723 – 01A1. Portions of this paper were presented at the 2005 meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC; August 19. I would like to thank Heather Gallagher, Kimberly Geiselman, Erin Hughes, Deanna Kloss, H. Mei Ng, and Natalie Regier for help in collecting data for these experiments.