Social relationships: the nature and function of relational schemas

This paper reviews developments in the field of close relationships from an interdependence theory perspective. It concludes that focusing on the rela tional, dyadic aspects of relationships has led to a much better understand ing of social cognition and of interpersonal processes. In this vein, the n ature and function of relational schemas seems a particularly promising new direction for research. It encompasses recent work on self-in-relation-to- other schema structure, the organization of schemas in cognitive networks, motivated construal in service of a need for felt security, and the dynamic s of attachment and dependency regulation. Despite some impressive advances in research on close relationships, however, a more social psychological e mphasis on the causal influence of features of social situations on cogniti on and behavior is important for the future health of the field. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.