The Quest for Conviction: Motivated Cognition in Romantic Relationships

1999/01/01 by Susan Murray · 1 citation
Psychology · Neuroscience · #Cultural Differences and Values #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Conviction #Psychology #Negativity effect #Cognition #Focus (optics) #Romance #Construal level theory #Illusion #Social psychology #Cognitive psychology #Psychoanalysis #Neuroscience

paper · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli1001_3

openalex publication_date 1999/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

In this article I explore the motivated construal processes that allow individuals to dispel doubt and sustain conviction in the face of less-than-perfect partners and relationships. The surface features of conviction are discussed first with a focus on the positive illusions that predict relationship well-being and stability. The structural underpinnings of conviction are then discussed with a focus on the cognitive mechanisms that contain the implications of negativity within positive relationship representations. I conclude by discussing possible self-evaluation motives that may interfere with intimates dispelling doubt and finding the sense of conviction needed to sustain satisfying, stable romantic relationships.

Citations

• Global self-evaluation as determined by the desirability and controllability of trait adjectives.
• Seeing virtues in faults: Negativity and the transformation of interpersonal narratives in close relationships.
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• A new look at motivated inference: Are self-serving theories of success a product of motivational forces?
• Compensatory self-inflation: A response to the threat to self-regard of public failure.
• Self-esteem as an interpersonal monitor: The sociometer hypothesis.
• The case for motivated reasoning.
• Evaluations of Self and Others: Self-Enhancement Biases in Social Judgments
• Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health.

Cited by

• Self-enhancement [wikipedia]