An Interdependence Theoretic Analysis of Behavioral Affirmation and the Michelangelo Phenomenon

人们追求各种各样的生活目标，通过事业上的成功、获得物质财富、发展理想的性格和能力、提高他们的身体和精神自我，来寻求更接近他们的“理想自我”。这样的目标追求不会在真空中发生。人的性格、动机和行为倾向至少在一定程度上是由人际经验塑造的。在塑造自我的众多力量中，很少有“雕刻家”能像我们亲密的伴侣那样发挥强大的作用。这种影响可能是非常积极的，也可能是非常消极的：一些亲密的伴侣帮助激发彼此最好的一面，支持和促进彼此的目标追求，而另一些伴侣要么做不到，要么激发出彼此最坏的一面。这个项目确定了一个被称为“米开朗基罗现象”的过程，这是一种相互依赖的相得益彰的模式，亲密的伴侣以这种方式相互塑造，使每个人都更接近他或她的理想自我。这个过程中的一个关键变量是“伴侣肯定”，或者伴侣对自我的看法和行为与自我理想一致的程度。伴侣的肯定已被证明不仅与更大的个人成长（走向理想的自我）和增强的个人幸福感有关，而且还与持续关系中的调整和活力有关。本项目通过对正在进行的婚姻关系进行纵向研究，探索了这一现象的几个先前未被研究的组成部分。

People pursue a variety of life goals, seeking to move closer to their "ideal selves" by succeeding professionally, acquiring material possessions, developing desirable dispositions and abilities, and improving their physical and spiritual selves. Such goal pursuits do not transpire in a vacuum. Human dispositions, motives, and behavioral tendencies are fashioned at least in part by interpersonal experience. Among the many forces that shape the self, few if any "sculptors" exert effects as powerful as those of our close partners. Such effects can vary from exceedingly positive to exceedingly negative: Some close partners help bring out the best in each other, supporting and promoting one another's goal pursuits, whereas others either fail to do so or bring out the worst in each other.This project identifies a process termed the "Michelangelo phenomenon," a congenial pattern of interdependence whereby close partners sculpt one another in such a manner as to bring each person closer to his or her ideal self. A key variable in this process is "partner affirmation," or the degree to which a partner's perceptions of and behavior toward the self are congruent with the self's ideal. Partner affirmation has been shown to be associated not only with greater personal growth (movement toward the ideal self) and enhanced personal well-being, but also with adjustment and vitality in ongoing relationships. This project explores several previously unexamined components of this phenomenon by continuing a longitudinal study of ongoing marital relationships.