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The partners of people with low self-esteem (LSEs) are just as loving and generous as the partners of people with high self-esteem (HSEs; Campbell, Simpson, Boldry, & Kashy, 2005; Murray et al., 2000). Nonetheless, LSEs persist in underestimating their partners’ regard (e.g., Murray, Holmes, & Griffin, 2000). In this research, I propose a model of attribution inversion, which predicts that LSEs will invert the positive attributions for a partner’s sacrifice that would be predicted by classic theory (Kelley, 1967), because of the risk associated with interpreting a partner’s sacrifice too positively. In Study 1, LSEs worried more than HSEs about their partners’ sacrifices. In Studies 2 and 3, LSEs experienced more anxiety over a large (but not small) sacrifice relative to HSEs, and attributed less caring motives to their partners. Studies 4 and 5 demonstrated my proposed mechanisms: Offering one’s partner an exchange of favors (Study 5)—thereby reducing exchange concerns—or experimentally increasing LSEs’ caring attributions (Study 4) eliminated LSEs’ tendency to be more cautious than HSEs about their partners’ sacrifices, suggesting that exchange concerns and doubts about caring drive LSEs’ typical caution. Finally, Study 6 demonstrated that caution is not unique to LSEs. Under a cognitive load manipulation, HSEs were just as cautious, but were apparently able to override that automatic inclination when given sufficient time and resources. Overall, my research suggests that the discounting of a partner’s sacrifices is one route by which low self-esteem is self-perpetuating even with a loving partner.

Research has shown that forgiveness promotes individual psychological well-being as well as positive relationship functioning. Moreover, couples themselves report that forgiving is one of the most important reasons that their relationships stand the test of time (Fenell,1993). However, the partner behaviours that facilitate, or even thwart, forgiveness in romantic relationships have been the subject of limited empirical research. In the current study, I investigated the effects of two sets of partner behaviour—offers of amends and expressions of responsiveness (i.e. understanding, validation, care)—on forgiveness for real-life hurtful events in romantic relationships. Sixty-four couples participated in a lab-based, experimental study in which I manipulated whether the partner who disclosed feelings about an unresolved, hurtful event (“victim”) received a videotaped response from his/her partner in which this partner (“offender”) expressed: 1) responsiveness only, 2) amends only, 3) both responsiveness and amends, or 4) neither responsiveness nor amends (control group). Trained coders provided micro-ratings of offenders’ specific responsive (e.g., perspective-taking) and amends (e.g., apology) behaviour as well as macro-ratings of more global displays of these behaviours (e.g., overall understanding, overall remorse). Victims also completed measures of relationship satisfaction, event severity, perceptions of their partners’ amends, perceptions of their partners’ responsiveness, and forgiveness. The findings suggest that event severity moderates the effectiveness of the general act of offering amends and/or responsiveness in promoting forgiveness. When event severity was high, the experimental manipulation of the presence vs. absence of amends and of responsiveness did not affect forgiveness. However, it did affect forgiveness for less severe events. Specifically, expressions of amends, responsiveness and their combination yielded similarly more forgiveness than no response at all. These effects were iv mediated by the victim’s perceptions of the offender’s responsiveness to his/her experience of the hurtful event. Further, results indicated that the victims’ perceptions of the offenders’ responsiveness could be promoted, or thwarted, by the content of the offenders’ amends. Micro-ratings of offenders’ amends behaviour demonstrated that when event severity is low, more elaborate offers of amends, in particular remorse, increase the victims’ perceptions of partner responsiveness, which in turn, facilitate forgiveness. To the contrary, when event severity is high, offering more elaborate offers of amends has no effect at all in facilitating victims’ perceptions of responsiveness, and expressing more remorse in particular, may backfire. Finally, the associations between coders’ ratings of the offenders’ behaviour with the victims’ perceptions suggested that the victims’ perceptions, especially of responsive behaviour, are perhaps largely self-construed.

Doctor of Philosophy / The genus Poltys C.L. Koch is revised for Australia and partly examined for the wider Australasian region. Five of the ten species originally described from Australia are found to be synonymous with South East Asian species, a further three are synonymous with an Australian species and four which were previously overlooked are newly described, resulting in a total of eight current species recorded from Australia. Poltys coronatus Keyserling, P. keyserlingi Keyserling, P. multituberculatus Rainbow and P. penicillatus Rainbow are synonymised with P. illepidus C.L. Koch; P. microtuberculatus Rainbow is synonymised with P. stygius Thorell; P. bimaculatus Keyserling, P. mammeatus Keyserling and P. salebrosus Rainbow are synonymised with P. laciniosus Keyserling; P. sigillatus Chrysanthus from New Guinea is synonymised with P. frenchi Hogg. Five new species are described, four from Australia, P. grayi sp.nov., P. jujorum sp.nov., P. milledgei sp.nov. and P. noblei sp.nov., and P. timmeh sp.nov. from New Caledonia. A checklist of all Poltys types described from the region, including illustrations, is included. The delimitation of the Australian species is aided and confirmed by DNA sequencing. Sequences from two genes and morphological characters are used to reconstruct a phylogeny of the Australian species. The generic relationships of Poltys are examined in the context of the putative tribe Poltyini (Simon, 1895). No firm conclusions about the relationships of Poltys can be made, however the results indicate that the Poltyini is polyphyletic. The results of field studies are presented; these indicate that P. noblei is less likely to move between web sites than diurnal taxa referenced from other studies. Specimens were shown to sometimes occupy the same, or a closely adjacent web site, for over eight months. Spiders most often move during spring and summer but often remain in the same site throughout winter. Specimens of Poltys noblei are also shown to be unevenly distributed on trees and bushes in respect to aspect and position. It is suggested that these observations indicate the importance of camouflage to deter wasp and bird predators. Specimens of several Poltys species were reared from egg sacs, confirming male–female identification and showing the variation in abdominal shape between siblings. Growth data indicate that sibling males and females cannot normally interbreed; males mature after 2–4 moults, females after 8–11 moults. Field and cage observations of general aspects of Poltys biology are presented including preferred habitat, prey capture and handling, courtship and mating, competition and web construction.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1972. / Bibliography: leaves 70-74.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 1999. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Science. Bibliography: leaves 190-217.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Applied & Molecular Ecology, 2002. / Bibliography: leaves 113-144.

Thesis (BA(Hons) (Psychology)) - Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, 2006. / "October 2006". Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for post-graduate diploma of psychology, Swinburne University of Technology - 2006. Typescript.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Antioch University New England, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Feb. 19, 2009). "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England 2008"--The title page. Advisor: Beth A. Kaplin, Ph. D. Includes bibliographical references (p. 122-123).

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-45). Also available via the World Wide Web.