Chinese implicit beliefts about relationships and their consequences

Abstract

<P>PAST RESEARCH HAS IDENTIFIED THAT THE IMPLICIT BELIEF OF THE MALLEABILITY OF HUMANA??S ATTRIBUTE COULD AFFECT PEOPLEA??S COGNITION AND BEHAVIOUR. THE PRESENT STUDY EXAMINED THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHINESEA?? PERCEPTIONS OF CHANGEABILITY TOWARDS RELATIONSHIPS, ON THE FIVE CARDINAL RELATIONSHIPS: PARENT-CHILD, ROMANTIC PARTNER, BROTHER-SISTER, SUPERIOR-SUBORDINATE, AND FRIENDS. ALL PAIRS OF RELATIONSHIP PERCEPTIONS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER EXCEPT THE PAIR BETWEEN THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP AND BROTHER-SISTER RELATIONSHIPS. RESULTS REVEALED THAT LOWER CHANGEABILITY IN CLOSE-OTHER PERCEPTIONS WAS FOUND TO PREDICT BETTER OVERALL ADJUSTMENTS. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE RELATIONSHIP PERCEPTIONS AND EACH OF THE ADJUSTMENT VARIABLES WERE FURTHER INVESTIGATED. AS A WHOLE, THE RESULTS SHOWED AN OVERRIDING IMPORTANCE OF THE CLOSE, SOCIAL OTHERS RELATIONSHIP PERCEPTIONS, RATHER THAN FAMILIAL OR SUPERIOR-SUBORDINATE RELATIONSHIPS PERCEPTIONS, TO THE PSYCHOLOGIC