In close relationships, individuals are motivated to have a reassuring vision of their partners¿ characteristics that are central to the relation (Kenny & Acitelli, 2001), such as passion (Ratelle, Carbonneau, Vallerand, & Mageau, 2013). This could be particularly true for individuals with high levels of Need for Closure (NFC, Kruglanski, 2004), motivated to greater assumed similarity and lesser accuracy in predicting partners¿ levels of passion in order to preserve a comforting and stable view of their relationship. However, as far as we know, no studies were conducted on the role of NFC in interpersonal perceptions and in particular in passion¿s perceptions in romantic couples. This project aims at investigating the moderating role of NFC in the accuracy and bias effects that intervene in predicting perceptions of partners¿ passion. In particular, it is hypothesized that high (vs. low) levels of NFC lead to greater bias and lesser accuracy in the perception of partner¿s levels of passion. The project will be articulated in three studies aimed at: (1) testing the model of interpersonal perception of passion, (2) demonstrating that high accuracy and low bias in the interpersonal perception of passion can lead to greater satisfaction with the relationship, and (3) testing the model adding the NFC as a moderator. Participants will be romantic couples and data will be collected through questionnaires with measures of NFC and self- and other-reported measures of passion. As recommended by West and Kenny (2011), the data will be analyzed through the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (Kenny, 2018). If the hypotheses will be confirmed by the results, the project will contribute to expanding the literature on interpersonal perceptions in romantic couples, NFC, and the Dualistic Model of Passion, offering also new directions for interventions aimed at sustaining the quality of romantic relationships.
As far as we know, only a few scholars have investigated the role of social-cognitive factors that play a role in the interpersonal perception in romantic couples (see Gagnè, Lydon, & Bartz, 2003). In this regard, this project will be the first to investigate the role of NFC in the interpersonal perception of romantic passion. If the hypotheses will be confirmed from the empirical data collected across the three different studies, the results will contribute to enlarge the literature on interpersonal perception, NFC and the Dualistic Model of Romantic Passion. First, in the literature on interpersonal perception, scholars repeatedly hypothesized the role of epistemic motivations (West & Kenny, 2011), and specifically NFC (Kruglanski, 1989), in the bias and accuracy effects. However, no studies were conducted to empirical validate these assumptions. Second, studies on NFC mostly addressed the individual and social consequences of cognitive closure, neglecting the field of interpersonal perception. Lastly, studies conducted using the Dualistic Model of Romantic Passion focused on the actual passion of the partner, but never considered the perceptions that individuals¿ hold about partners¿ levels of passion. The focus of this research project is interdisciplinary because it tries to integrate theories from both social psychology and positive psychology, in terms of positive aspects of close relationships that can be boosted. It also presents an intersectoral nature, as the agencies offering support therapies to couples will benefit from the results at first hand.