ABSTRACT
Studies of memory structures for escalating romances have unearthed an interesting array of behaviors that characterize their development. This chapter reports on the results of a series of studies that reveal the variety in the amount of repetitiveness found in generating lists of expectations for relational growth. First, that some individuals restate actions, whereas others mention only unique behaviors, is discussed. This redundancy may be associated with having simple expectations for evolving relationships. Individuals cite recurring behavior such as sharing time together and ignore a variety of other behaviors that may have been infrequently or only once, such as meeting parents for the first time. Second, the results of a study concerning the content of escalating metamemory structures as a function of the number of personal relationships an individual reports having had and his or her general beliefs that relationships follow a set pattern are reported. Third, the correspondence between the likelihood of a subject's mentioning certain behavioral expectations and the number of intimate relationships the person has been in is examined. Thus, serial lovers can be unmasked by knowing what expectations predict multiple relationships. Following this discussion, there is an examination of differences in the typicality and necessity of expected behaviors. Some behaviors may be more or less typical and necessary in order for a relationship to develop. For example, engaging in sexual intercourse before marriage may be typical but not necessary for intimacy to develop. Typicality and necessity ratings of relational behaviors are also examined for their ability to predict individual beliefs that relationships follow a 102 set pattern. Next, the temporal ordering of behaviors is analyzed to assess the degree of agreement about their sequencing and determine if the temporal order of the behaviors reflects the stages of relational growth discussed in chapter 6. The additional results of a story segmentation study are reported as an alternative method of discovering where individuals separate clusters of relational actions. Finally, gender differences in these studies are reported.
