dr. R.M.P. Faure (Ruddy)

Broadly speaking, my research focuses on examining the more or less automatic processes that determine why people think, feel, and behave the way they do toward others, and how such responses promote (or hinder) the maintenance of social relationships with those others.

I study this issue specifically in the context of close relationships and examine how people's automatic partner attitudes (measured indirectly, such as in performance-based tasks) differ from more controlled relationship judgments (measured directly, like in self-reported questionnaires), how they update and fluctuate in response to relationship experiences, and the conditions under which they affect relationships over time. To do so, I integrate theories and methods from relationship science and implicit social cognition research, including but not limited to theoretical models of interdependence, attitude formation and change, motivation and self-regulation of behaviour, as well as longitudinal diary studies, experimental designs, and videotaped interactions of couples.

Currently I am visiting Florida State University to work on a three-year collaborative project aiming to understand the role of automatic partner attitudes in close relationships as part of a Marie Curie grant funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program.