Interpersonal roles in transference: Transient mood effects under the condition of significant-other resemblance

Research has demonstrated that transference occurs in social perception-def ined in terms of the activation and application of a significant-other repr esentation to a new person-using memory confidence and evaluation as indice s (e.g., Andersen & Baum, 1994; Andersen, Reznik, & Mantella, 1996). The pr esent research examined interpersonal roles in transference, and the notion that transient mood in transference may be predicted by one's interpersona l role with the significant other and its congruence or incongruence with t he new person's role. In a combined idiographic-nomothetic design, particip ants learned about a new person characterized by features descriptive of th eir own positively toned significant other or that of a yoked participant's . Importantly, this new person was cast in an interpersonal role congruent or incongruent with the significant other's. Given the posit:ive significan t-other relationship, we predicted that role congruence would be associated with positive affect and role incongruence with negative affect, and hence that this pattern should emerge in transference. Results confirmed this pr ediction. Participants' transient mood was relatively more positive (nondep ressive) when the target had resembled their own significant other and occu pied a congruent versus incongruent role, and was clearly negative (depress ive) based on role incongruence. Memory confidence and evaluation effects v erified that transference was triggered in the significant-other resemblanc e condition, and thus that interpersonal roles predicted self-reported mood in transference. Implications for self-other relations and relational sche mas are discussed.