ABSTRACT
F ew subjects rival close relationships in the sheer amount and intensity of analysis they prompt. Indeed, individuals’ ongoing preoccupation and fas-cination with the nature and progress of their personal relationships are reected in the themes of popular music and movies, as well as in the proliferation of relationship-focused advice columns and self-help books. In many-if not most-cases, the reection and rumination center on trying to understand the thoughts and feelings of a current or potential relationship partner. This makes sense from an information search perspective because, although individuals are highly invested in knowing what a partner is thinking and feeling by virtue of being outcome dependent on him or her, they are also necessarily uncertain by virtue of limited access to the inner workings of their partner’s mind (see, for example, Vorauer, 2006).
