Question

Murray and his colleagues (2003) found that, among married couples, the self-fulfilling prophecy occurred when one person interpreted slight hurts as rejections. the person who felt rejected was then motivated to

Answer 1

The person who felt rejected was then motivated to have minimal contact with their partner. The person who was rejected felt slighted and wanted to make their partner feel that way as well. The relationship will continue to deteriorate due to both sides not communicating with each other and the rejected partner not appreciating their partner as much anymore.

Answer 2

The person who felt rejected was then motivated to devalue their partner and become distant from him/her.
Self-fulfilling prophecy is a psychological term describing a dynamic process in which an incorrect estimation of a situation makes a person behave in a particular way. In turn, this behaviour makes the original false estimation of the situation to come true. In this example, people that were falsely expecting to be rejected by their partners created an environment to trigger the rejection from their partners. In conclusion, the most immediate response to rejection and the feeling of hurt is to reject the partner in turn.