The Role of Situational Restrictiveness on Self-fulfilling Prophecies: A Theoretical and Empirical Extension of Kelley and Stahelski's Triangle Hypothesis

To assess the generalizability of the perceptual “triangle hypothesis” proposed by H. H. Kelley and A. J. Stahelski (see record 1971-02325-001), the expectations, perceptions, and behaviors of 70 female undergraduates were measured in 2 conflict situations. Support for the triangle hypothesis came from data gathered in a situation similar to that employed by Kelley and Stahelski. In this situation, Ss who adopted a competitive orientation tended to (a) expect more homogeneity in the orientations of their opponents than did Ss with a cooperative orientation and (b) dominate behaviorally Ss with a cooperative orientation. Neither of these effects were found in a situation which provided Ss with a more flexible behavioral repertoire. The importance of the impact of structural factors on conflict processes was further shown by an examination of the self-fulfilling prophecy effects found in the 2 situations. Preinteraction expectations had a pronounced effect on both the course of the interaction and opponent evaluations in the 1st situation, while only weak effects of preinteraction expectations were found in the 2nd, less restrictive, situation.