Together in a Digital World: Motivational States, Affect, and Relationship Quality in Couples’ Messenger Communication
Our study investigates if couples with a high relationship quality judge their partner’s mental state more accurately. We examine associations between different aspects of empathic accuracy and relationship quality in the context of couples’ messenger communication. We propose a new procedure for as...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.14217 |
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| _version_ | 1849250738250711040 |
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| author | Philipp Steinebach Miriam Stein Lars Penke Knut Schnell |
| author_facet | Philipp Steinebach Miriam Stein Lars Penke Knut Schnell |
| author_sort | Philipp Steinebach |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Our study investigates if couples with a high relationship quality judge their partner’s mental state more accurately. We examine associations between different aspects of empathic accuracy and relationship quality in the context of couples’ messenger communication. We propose a new procedure for assessing the empathic accuracy of judgments of affect and interpersonal motivational states. Using the Truth and Bias Model and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, data from N = 102 participants (51 couples) was analyzed to examine how empathic accuracy of different variables (affective states, e.g. valence and arousal, and interpersonal motivational states, e.g. agency and communion) are related to quality of relationship. Contrary to our pre-registered hypotheses, results do not indicate a clear positive association with relationship quality across all facets of empathic accuracy. However, empathic accuracy of affective valence was significantly associated with relationship quality, and a similar trend emerged for empathic accuracy of agentic motivational states. These findings provide some evidence for the connection of relationship quality and empathic accuracy of affective states in the context of couples’ messenger communication. Our findings underline the relevance of differentially examining affective and motivational subdomains of empathic accuracy and their outcomes. In addition, our results call for further research on empathic accuracy of agentic motivational states in couples. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-181a2d760b454e318bb19ce18d5f30eb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1981-6472 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships |
| spelling | doaj-art-181a2d760b454e318bb19ce18d5f30eb2025-08-20T03:57:09ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyInterpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships1981-64722025-06-01191355310.5964/ijpr.14217ijpr.14217Together in a Digital World: Motivational States, Affect, and Relationship Quality in Couples’ Messenger CommunicationPhilipp Steinebach0https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7942-6713Miriam Stein1Lars Penke2Knut Schnell3Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Gottingen, Gottingen, GermanyInstitute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, GermanyInstitute of Psychology, University Gottingen, Gottingen, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Gottingen, Gottingen, GermanyOur study investigates if couples with a high relationship quality judge their partner’s mental state more accurately. We examine associations between different aspects of empathic accuracy and relationship quality in the context of couples’ messenger communication. We propose a new procedure for assessing the empathic accuracy of judgments of affect and interpersonal motivational states. Using the Truth and Bias Model and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, data from N = 102 participants (51 couples) was analyzed to examine how empathic accuracy of different variables (affective states, e.g. valence and arousal, and interpersonal motivational states, e.g. agency and communion) are related to quality of relationship. Contrary to our pre-registered hypotheses, results do not indicate a clear positive association with relationship quality across all facets of empathic accuracy. However, empathic accuracy of affective valence was significantly associated with relationship quality, and a similar trend emerged for empathic accuracy of agentic motivational states. These findings provide some evidence for the connection of relationship quality and empathic accuracy of affective states in the context of couples’ messenger communication. Our findings underline the relevance of differentially examining affective and motivational subdomains of empathic accuracy and their outcomes. In addition, our results call for further research on empathic accuracy of agentic motivational states in couples.https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.14217empathic accuracyaffectinterpersonal motivational statesmessengercouple relationships |
| spellingShingle | Philipp Steinebach Miriam Stein Lars Penke Knut Schnell Together in a Digital World: Motivational States, Affect, and Relationship Quality in Couples’ Messenger Communication Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships empathic accuracy affect interpersonal motivational states messenger couple relationships |
| title | Together in a Digital World: Motivational States, Affect, and Relationship Quality in Couples’ Messenger Communication |
| title_full | Together in a Digital World: Motivational States, Affect, and Relationship Quality in Couples’ Messenger Communication |
| title_fullStr | Together in a Digital World: Motivational States, Affect, and Relationship Quality in Couples’ Messenger Communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | Together in a Digital World: Motivational States, Affect, and Relationship Quality in Couples’ Messenger Communication |
| title_short | Together in a Digital World: Motivational States, Affect, and Relationship Quality in Couples’ Messenger Communication |
| title_sort | together in a digital world motivational states affect and relationship quality in couples messenger communication |
| topic | empathic accuracy affect interpersonal motivational states messenger couple relationships |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.14217 |
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