Can romantic partners accurately perceive each other’s communal motives, or are these perceptions biased by their own motivational hopes and fears? This study used data from N = 1,905 partnered participants to examine the extent to which partner perceptions of communal motives correspond to targets’ (accuracy) and perceivers’ (motivational bias) explicit and implicit communal motives. Our results indicate that explicit communal motives and implicit communal approach motives can be (a) accurately inferred and (b) positively bias communal motive perception. Furthermore, there was no evidence for moderation of either accuracy or motivational bias by relationship length. These findings point to the early visibility of both implicit and explicit motives in couples, as well as their persistent biasing effects on partner perception.

浪漫伴侣可以准确地感知彼此的共同动机，还是这些看法会因自己的动机希望和恐惧而产生偏差？这项研究使用了来自N的数据= 1,905名伙伴参加者，研究伙伴对共同动机的理解在多大程度上对应于目标（准确度）和感知者（动机偏见）的显性和内隐共同动机。我们的研究结果表明，明确的公共动机动机和隐性的公共方针动机可以（a）准确地推断出，（b）可以积极地偏向公共动机知觉。此外，没有证据表明关系长度会影响准确性或动机偏见。这些发现指出了夫妻内隐和外在动机的早期可见性，以及他们对伴侣感知的持续偏见。