Self-Evaluation Maintenance in Marriage: Toward a Performance Ecology of the Marital Relationship

The self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model was originally developed to integrate distinct literatures on the potential positive and negative consequences for the self of being outperformed by others. Because close others are of particular importance for both of the basic processes thought to underlie the SEM model, committed heterosexual relationships provide an area in which relatively robust SEM effects should occur. In keeping with the expectation that SEM effects would be present among committed, heterosexual, married couples, the current series of studies demonstrated (a) that experimental manipulations of SEM processes influenced the behavior of married couples, (b) that patterns of couple outcomes conformed to predictions derived from the SEM model, and (c) that SEM effects accounted for inaccurate perceptions of partner needs.