Graduate student Nick Chen has a new first-authored publication in press at the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. In this article we, along with collaborator Dr. Phakkanun Chittham of the Faculty of Psychology at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, examined whether there are cross-cultural differences in the process of transformation of motivation in close relationships. Transformation of motivation occurs when one must suppress their instinct to behave in a self-focused manner in order to engage in behavior that is beneficial for their relationship. Across two studies, we found no overall differences in the extent to which U.S. and Thai individuals engage in the process of transformation of motivation, but there were cross-cultural differences in the types of pro-relationship behaviors that people from these two countries chose to engage in.
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