The impact of past relationships on interpersonal behavior: Behavioral confirmation in the social-cognitive process of transference

This study extended research on transference in social perception (e.g., S. M. Andersen, I. Reznik, & L. M. Manzella, 1996) into the realm of social b ehavior by examining behavioral confirmation (e.g., M. Snyder, 1992) in tra nsference. Each perceiver participated in a brief conversation with a naive target participant, who either did or did not appear to resemble the perce iver's own positively or negatively regarded significant other. Trained jud ges rated positive affect expressed in targets' behavior. As predicted, tar gets expressed more positive affect in their behavior when they allegedly r esembled the perceiver's own positively versus negatively toned significant other, an effect not found in the control condition. This evidence demonst rates behavioral confirmation in transference, suggesting a means by which present relationships may resemble past ones.