Self-enhancement in couple relationship: positive illusions, self-serving bais and the influence of intrusive parenting.

Self-enhancement is a self-motive which pushes individuals to increase positive self-views and to protect their self-concept from negative information. Two mechanisms associated with the self-enhancement motive, positive illusions and the self-serving bias, will be analyzed in the context of couple relationship. Positive illusions deal with the tendency to perceive one’s relationship favorably when compared to the couple relationship of the average other. The self-serving bias relates to the tendency to make internal responsibility attributions for positive events but to make external responsibility attributions for negative events; however, when individuals collaborate with a close partner on an interdependent-outcome task, they refrain from self-serving attributions or even manifest the other-serving bias. These mechanisms serve the purpose of maintaining and protecting a relationship that is central in one’s couple identity. The present work will also focus on the influence that an insidious parental behavior like intrusive parenting exerts on these two biases pro-relationship and, consequently, on couple identity. Study 1 and 2 are dedicated to the examination of couple positive illusions in couples in transition to marriage whereas study 3 investigates the self-serving bias in dating partners.

Il lavoro di tesi si focalizza su due meccanismi di self-enhancement, le positive illusions e il self-serving bias, e li analizza nel contesto della relazione di coppia, con particolare attenzione all’influenza che una strategia di parenting disfunzionale come l’intrusive parenting esercita su di essi. La tesi si articola in tre studi: il primo ed il secondo studio, adottando un approccio quantitativo, si focalizzano sul costrutto delle positive illusions, mentre il terzo, attraverso un disegno sperimentale, sul costrutto del self-serving bias.