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Friendships, Romantic Relationships, And The Importance Of Self-Expansion, Mami Kashiwabara

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Self-expansion theory (Aron & Aron, 1986) posits that individuals enter and maintain relationships in order to expand their sense of self and suggests that expanding the sense of self is a basic human motivation. In this study, I examined whether the perceived opportunities for self-expansion within a relationship predicted feelings of closeness and passion for a partner, and unlike many previous studies, I explored the importance of self-expansion in friendships as well as romantic relationships. I also explored individual differences in the importance of self-expansion opportunities in predicting closeness and passion. The results suggest that opportunities for self-expansion may motivate …