Specificity of Social-Cognitive Schemas in Interpersonal Relationships

Abstract

This paper address social-cognitive processes that distinguish different types of interpersonal relationships. The argument is advanced and tested that different relationships engage different construct subsystems or schemas and that these schemas are related to the effective organization and regulation of interpersonal behavior in a specific relational context. As predicted, results of repertory grid testing from a mixed-sex sample of 40 individuals indicated that different types of relationships (acquaintances, family members, professors) were understood most meaningfully along their own subsystem of constructs. They were also least differentiated within their own subsystems, perhaps reflecting the function of the schema to channelize behavior appropriate to a particular relational context. Lastly, general support was found for the prediction that perceptions of various relationships would be best organized along their own subsystem of constructs, although exceptions to this are noted and discussed.