Interpersonal Problems and Interpersonal Expectations in Everyday Life

Are interpersonal problems related to interpersonal expectations? To answer this question, 150 undergraduates reported problems with being too agentic, unagentic, communal, or uncommunal. Then, over one week, each time they imagined how someone might react to them, they recorded who the other person was, how the person reacted, their feelings, and any imagined counter–reactions. Whereas uncommunal people imagined others not caring and themselves not disclosing, agentic people imagined others criticizing and themselves arguing. Agentic and uncommunal people also expected unresponsive and unsupportive reactions. Unagentic people did not expect more negative reactions, but did expect being unable to listen or speak openly when negative reactions or feelings did occur. Imagined reactions generally tended to evoke feelings of anger in agentic people, insecurity in unagentic people, shame in communal people, and disconnection in uncommunal people. Thus, changing everyday interpersonal expectations may help reduce chronic interpersonal problems.