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Phenomenological Bases for the Attribution of Balance to Social Structure

Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

John E. Hunter

Michigan State University

The general objective of this study was to explore the utility of understanding the individual's phenomenology of the experimental situation. The particular context was the balance theoretic paradigm of supplying a missing affective relation in a social triad. Subjects attributed few of their responses directly to affective consistency as stipulated by traditional balance theories. Instead, almost half of the predictions were based on inferences about common interests. It was concluded that (a) the stability of affective structures can be explained in terms of information inferred from affective relations, and (b) phenomenological reports should be gathered more frequently.

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