ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces four hypothetical heterosexual couples, each of whom will help bring the theory and research we detail to life: Katy and Todd, Sylvia and Brian, Arya and Aaron, and Skyler and Walt. Each phase of a relationship's life cycle poses similar adaptive dilemmas even if the details differ from one couple to the next. The chapter reviews the classic perspectives on motivated cognition that served as a starting point in developing an interactionist or situated perspective on motivated cognition in relationships. In a relationship, situations and partners play a major role in constraining what is reasonable to believe, essentially tying the perceiver's hands. Understanding how motivation infuses romantic life might seem like an unsolvable problem. The situations couples encounter in relationships vary along three dimensions: content, interdependence, and compatibility. The chapter concludes by introducing the four major themes: safety and value, automaticity and control, motivational tension and reality constraints.
