Sandra Murray
Department of Psychology
University at Buffalo, Park Hall
Buffalo, New York 14260-4110
U.S.A.
Home Page
Phone: (716) 645-3650
Fax: (716) 645-3801
The research being conducted in my laboratory examines motivated cognition in the context of close relationships. Specifically, my research examines how individuals in romantic relationships interpret and construct reality in ways that protect them from potential threats to commitment, such as the perception of a partner's faults, the risks inherent in depending on another, and the potential of rejection. My research focuses on four specific issues: (1) the existence and consequences of positive illusions in romantic relationships, (2) the structure of thoughts and mental representations that dispel doubt and foster relationship resilience, (3) how personal feelings of self-esteem influence the capacity to sustain satisfying close relationships, and (4) how the activation of belongingness needs, and consequent sensitivities to rejection, influence how people interpret and then respond to threatening events in their relationships.
 Journal Articles:
- Murray, S. L. (1999). The quest for conviction: Motivated cognition in romantic relationships. Psychological Inquiry, 10, 23-34.
- Murray, S. L., Bellavia, G., Rose, P., & Griffin, D. (2003). Once hurt, twice hurtful: How perceived regard regulates daily marital interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 126-147.
- Murray, S.L., Griffin, D. W., Rose, P., & Bellavia, G. (2003). Calibrating the sociometer: The relational contingencies of self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 63-84.
- Murray, S. L., & Holmes, J. G. (1993). Seeing virtues in faults: Negativity and the transformation of interpersonal narratives in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 707-722.
- Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., Dolderman, D., & Griffin, D. W. (2000). What the motivated mind sees: Comparing friends' perspectives to married partners' views of each other. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 600-620.
- Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., & Griffin, D. W. (2000). Self-esteem and the quest for felt security: How perceived regard regulates attachment processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 478-498.
- Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., & Griffin, D. W. (1996). The benefits of positive illusions: Idealization and the construction of satisfaction in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 70, 79-98.
- Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., & Griffin, D. W. (1996). The self-fulfilling nature of positive illusions in romantic relationships: Love is not blind, but prescient. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 1155-1180.
- Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., Griffin, D. W., Bellavia, G., & Rose, P. (2001). The mismeasure of love: How self-doubt contaminates relationship beliefs. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 423-436.
- Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., MacDonald, G., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1998). Through the looking glass darkly? When self-doubt turns into relationship insecurities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1459-1480.
- Murray, S. L., Rose, P., Bellavia, G., Holmes, J. G., & Kusche, A. (2002). When rejection stings: How self-esteem constrains relationship-enhancement processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 556-573.
- Murray, S. L., Rose, P., Holmes, J. G., Podchaski, E., Derrick, J., Bellavia, G., & Griffin, D. (2005). Putting the partner within reach: A dyadic perspective on felt security in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 327-347.
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