How are we doing? The impact of motives and information use on the evaluation of romantic relationships

A multidimensional model of self-evaluation was modified to examine individuals' perceptions of how they evaluate their romantic relationships. Participants provided estimates of the frequency and usefulness of 10 types of information (objective information, feedback from others, personal standards, feared future relationships, future ideals, positive and negative past relationship information, upward, lateral, and downward social comparison) for meeting four motives (enhancement, improvement, verification, and accuracy) in the context of a romantic relationship. Results from three studies indicate that, overall, personal standards, objective information, and future ideals information were perceived as being used most often to evaluate one's romantic relationship. These types of information were reported as being most useful for meeting all four motives. Social comparison information was reported as least useful and used least often for relationship evaluation. The discussion focuses on the usefulness of considering multiple motives and information types in order to understand how individuals may be evaluating their romantic relationships.