Unrequited Love

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Unrequited Love

The study takes into account the numerous negative effects both on the "Would be Lover," and the "Rejector"(p.377). The negative effects on the "Would be Lover" include, Heartbreak, Anger, and Humiliation, whereas the effects on the "Rejector" also include Anger but also Guilt and Scriptlessness. Unrequited love deals with a social relationship between two people many if not all of the eight overarching themes in social psychology are observable in the behavior of the couples.

Construction of Reality is the axiom that each person's view of reality is a construction, shaped both by cognitive processes and by social processes (Smith & Mackie 1995). What this says is that reality is basically in the eye of the beholder meaning what is seen and what is heard is very personal and varies greatly from person to person. One example of this is during the breakup of the couple, the "Would be Lover", may disagree about whether an explicit message of rejection was delivered and therefore persist in their advances towards the rejector who views these actions as inappropriate, irrational and/or obnoxious(p. 380). In this case the "Would be Lover" doesn't interpret the message given as rejection, possibly because from her point of view the relationship is strong and heading in a positive direction with the affections being mutual, therefore when the advances continue the "Rejector" sees them as inappropriate and irrational because he does not take into account the broad contrast in views. Another instance in the relationship involving the construction of reality is the issue of attraction. Initial romantic attraction seems to depend on the partner's desirability such that the most desirable partners elicit th...

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... had been paying a lot of attention to the "Rejector" but not letting his feelings known we could still say that he is processing his options in depth. When the time comes to let his feelings be known and the "Rejector" rejects him outright then she is being superficial she based her decision on a limited amount of information,(his attractiveness and possibly the sound of his voice). Although after making such a quick decision often the "Rejectors" will look back on the events with regret and may feel the reacted incorrectly. If we examine the breakup then the roles are somewhat reversed, the "Rejector" gives all of the possible choices fairly good thought in order to make the break up as least painful for her partner as possible. Whereas if the "Would be Lover" still believes that the relationship is still positive then he hasn't given it much thought at all.

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