Humiliation and Power in the Dissolution of Close Relationships: Narratives of Poor Treatment in Romantic Relationships and Friendships
The dissolution of close, interpersonal relationships is an unexplored social context in the current body of humiliation literature. Antecedents of ending a romantic relationship or a friendship may include poor treatment by a close relationship partner. In the present study, we collected narratives of poor treatment by former close relationship partners from 18 participants that ended a romantic relationship and 23 participants that ended a friendship within the last year from the Wesleyan University undergraduate population. In addition, we measured participants? self-rated appraisals (cognitive evaluations), emotional experience, perceptions of power and sociability, as well as their perceived power and sociability in their former close partner. Results indicated that poor treatment by a significant other led to appraisals and feelings of humiliation and negative effects on self-esteem when participants perceived themselves as more powerful (i.e. more dominant in the relationship).