The purpose of this study was to investigate positive illusions in close relationships involving romantic partners and friends among college students. Participants were 81 couples in romantic relationships (Study 1) and 67 couples in friendly relationships (Study 2). Results showed that both romantic partners and friends exhibited pronounced positive illusions of their relationships. As for their relationships, it was also shown that both groups evaluated their partners more positively than they evaluated themselves. The more this happened in romantic relationships, the higher were the positive illusions of those romantic relationships. In friendly relationships, people who viewed themselves positively tended to evaluate their relationship more positively.
Japanese Journal of Social Psychology 18 (1), 51-60, 2002
The Japanese Society of Social Psychology