ABSTRACT

ROMANTIC INFATUATION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH

THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY

This study aims to measure the relationship between a person’s level of

romantic infatuation (RI) and his or her personality characteristics. Romantic
infatuation encompasses the initial feelings and behaviors brought on by a
romantic interest in another individual. The five-factor model of personality is
widely accepted in psychology as a general measure of personality characteristics.
The five dimensions (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness, and emotional stability) assess aspects of personality that all people
share, but vary in the extent of their expression of each trait. Three inter-related
studies were designed to assess the construct of RI. Study 1 used the Act
Frequency Approach to create an original measure of RI, consisting of 78 highly
prototypical acts of infatuation (Buss & Craik, 1983). Study 2 employed a mood
induction procedure to elicit a state of infatuation before the individuals’ RI Act
Report ratings were correlated with measures of personality and social desirability
(Goldberg, 1992; Paulhus, 1984). Study 3 employed a modified audio mood
induction procedure. The RI Act Report items were factor analyzed resulting in
five distinct factors of RI. Significant correlations were found between the total RI
score, the Big Five personality dimensions, and the five factors of RI. These
findings support the idea that there may be a relationship between the way a
person experiences romantic attraction to another individual and his or her own
personality characteristics.

Hope Anne Castro

August 2017
ROMANTIC INFATUATION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH
THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY

by
Hope Anne Castro

A thesis
submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts in Psychology
in the College of Science and Mathematics
California State University, Fresno
August 2017
 APPROVED
For the Department of Psychology:

We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student
meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the
university and the student's graduate degree program for the
awarding of the master's degree.

Hope Anne Castro

Thesis Author

Michael Botwin (Chair) Psychology

Ronald Yockey Psychology

Jennifer Isom-Schmidtke Psychology

For the University Graduate Committee:

Dean, Division of Graduate Studies

 AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION
OF MASTER’S THESIS

X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in

its entirety without further authorization from me, on the
condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction
absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of
authorship.

Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must

be obtained from me.

Signature of thesis author:

 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my mentor, Dr. Michael Botwin, for his
encouragement, support, and friendship on this journey. His guidance has been
pivotal to my success and I will be forever grateful.
I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Jennifer Isom-
Schmidke and Dr. Ronald Yockey, for their additional advice and assistance. Their
knowledge was incredibly helpful during critical phases of this process.
A special thank you to James Verros for his work on the audio recording of
the mood induction instructions, as well as the members of the Personality,
Evolution, and Attraction Research Lab (PEARL) for their assistance with data
collection. Their willingness to devote their own time to helping make this
research happen was greatly appreciated.
Lastly, I would like to thank my family for their support and love, and to
my cohort, namely Judith and Keith, for commiserating with me and encouraging
me throughout this program.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 3
Romantic Infatuation Defined ........................................................................... 3
The Five-Factor Model of Personality .............................................................. 7
The Act Frequency Approach ........................................................................... 9
Mood Induction ............................................................................................... 12
CHAPTER 3: STUDY 1: DEVELOPMENT OF THE ACT REPORT ................ 14
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 14
Method ............................................................................................................ 14
Results ............................................................................................................. 17
Discussion ....................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 4: STUDY 2 ........................................................................................ 22
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 22
Method ............................................................................................................ 22
Results ............................................................................................................. 24
Discussion ....................................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER 5: STUDY 3 ........................................................................................ 28
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 28
Method ............................................................................................................ 28
Results ............................................................................................................. 33
Discussion ....................................................................................................... 38
CHAPTER 6: GENERAL DISCUSSION ............................................................. 40
 vi
Page

The Structure of RI and its Personality Correlates ......................................... 40

Limitations and Future Directions .................................................................. 43
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 48
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 52
APPENDIX A: CONSENT FORM ....................................................................... 53
APPENDIX B: DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................ 55
APPENDIX C: ACT NOMINATION SURVEY .................................................. 57
APPENDIX D: ROMANTIC INFATUATION ACT REPORT ........................... 59
APPENDIX E: BIG FIVE PERSONALITY INVENTORY ................................. 63
APPENDIX F: BALANCED INVENTORY OF DESIRABLE RESPONDING . 66
APPENDIX G: INFATUATION AND ATTACHMENT SCALES ..................... 69
APPENDIX H: STUDY 2 CORRELATIONS ...................................................... 71
APPENDIX I: STUDY 3 PARTIAL CORRELATIONS ...................................... 73
 LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1 Top 10 Rated Acts of Romantic Infatuation from Study 1 ........................ 16

Table 2 Correlations for Males, Females, and Total RI Scores with the Big
Five Personality Dimensions and Social Desirability ............................. 18
Table 3 Number of Items and Alpha Reliabilities for the Eight Factors of RI...... 24
Table 4 Varimax Rotated Principal Components Analysis, Displaying the 3
Highest Loading Items of the 78 Acts of RI for Each Factor .................. 25
Table 5 Sample Transformations and Correlation Comparisons ......................... 34
Table 6 Varimax Rotated Principal Components Analysis, Displaying
Eigenvalues for Items of the 78 Acts of RI for Each Factor. ................... 35
Table 7 Number of Items, Means, Standard Deviations, and Alpha
Reliabilities for the Five Factors of RI .................................................... 37
Table 8 Inter-correlations of the Five Factors of RI ............................................. 37
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The study of romantic infatuation (RI) grew initially out of a body of

research on the subjective experience of love (Reynolds, 1983; Tennov, 1998).
Feelings and behaviors associated with RI trigger intense physiological and
psychological arousal (Berscheid & Walster, 1974). People experiencing these
uncontrollable, and often unbearable, emotions and behaviors can become
irrational, passionate, obsessive, and consumed. Past research on RI either focused
on defining the construct, or on creating various psychometric instruments to
measure individuals’ experiences of infatuation.
Pioneering researchers in the study of RI were interested in the feelings that
preceded love and attachment to a person of interest (Tennov, 1998). The vast
majority of research on this topic has focused on defining and measuring the
construct. There have not been any studies that have thoroughly examined the
relationship between RI and the Big Five personality traits. The present study
examines the relationship between an individual’s personality traits and his or her
experience of RI. The present series of studies were designed to gain a better
understanding of what it is like to be romantically infatuated with another person.
A better understanding includes examining the feelings and behaviors associated
with being infatuated, and examining whether people’s experiences of these
feelings and behaviors are related to their personality makeup.
This thesis is designed to seek a deeper understanding of RI by examining
the relationships between infatuation and other important human characteristics.
Different ideas about how RI should be defined are discussed. It also discusses the
development of a taxonomy of behaviors that more completely circumscribe the
domain of RI, using the Act Frequency Approach (Buss & Craik, 1983).
 2

Participants also completed a measure of the Big Five personality traits and a
measure of social desirability assessing self-deceptive enhancement and
impression management (Goldberg, 1992; Goldberg et al., 2006). Further
discussion focuses on an interpretation of the RI factors that have been found, and
on the relationship of infatuation to models of love and their related personality
traits.
 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Romantic Infatuation Defined

Love and attachment have been popular topics for research in both
psychology and sociology. Love involves a social connection with another person,
and indicates a form of strong attachment to a person of interest (Lasswell &
Lasswell, 1976). Infatuation is contrasted against love, because it does not involve
this element of attachment. Infatuation is defined within the present study as the
initial feelings brought on by a romantic interest in another individual. RI is the
state that precedes a romantic connection, and is characterized by an intense
longing to be in a romantic union with another person. Infatuation is characterized
by persistent, intrusive, and ruminative thoughts in the form of fantasies or
anxieties (Willmott & Bentley, 2015). People who are romantically infatuated tend
to be obsessed with the thought of entering into a relationship with the individual
their obsessions are focused toward. While infatuated, people tend to overlook the
negative aspects of the individual and exaggerate the positive aspects.
Prior research has suggested that infatuation is a universal human
experience, and transcends both time and culture (Buss, 1994). However, a clear,
concise, and agreed upon definition of RI is still missing in the research literature.
Romantic infatuation is referred to by many different names in the existing
literature: passionate love, puppy love, limerence, and obsessive love (Fehr &
Broughton, 2001; Hatfield, Bensman, & Rapson, 2012; Tennov, 1998).
Definitions vary across researchers, because the experience of RI can
change from one moment to the next (Fehr & Russell, 1991). Feelings of elation
can quickly turn into feelings of despair. Passionate love is defined as the set of
emotions and behaviors associated with wanting to be with someone romantically
 4

(Hatfield, Rapson, & Martel, 2007). The feelings are two-dimensional, in that
people are either elated due to reciprocated interest, or are filled with anxiety and
despair due to unreciprocated interest. The idea of reciprocated interest implies
that RI can involve a level of physical contact between an infatuated person and
the person of interest. Alternatively, companionate or compassionate styles of love
involve feelings of attachment and security, while infatuation lacks both (Hatfield
et al., 2007).
The course and duration of RI differs across individuals (Hatfield et al.,
2007; Obi-Nwosu, 2012; Tennov, 1998). Some individuals experience RI for long
periods of time, even well into an actual romantic relationship. For others, RI is
simply a set of fleeting physiological changes that disappear quickly. A range of
different features and emotions accompanies RI. Intrusive thoughts, persistent
thoughts of the person of interest, and distressing, anxious ruminations are three of
the main experiences of infatuation (Tennov, 1998). People who are severely
affected by the feelings associated with RI tend to switch between these anxious
ruminations and their normal, everyday experiences. The feelings that are
associated with RI can negatively impact a person’s life, and intrusive thoughts
can be all encompassing (Schupak & Rosenthal, 2009). People experiencing these
thoughts report wanting to be around the person of interest at all times, wondering
where and what he or she is doing, wanting to be in physical contact with him or
her, and changing plans to be closer to him or her (Charny, 1981). This passion
and wanting precedes any actual physical contact with the person of interest.
A strong component of RI is sexual desire. People often long for physical
contact with the person at the center of their infatuations. Without an intense
desire to be emotionally connected to another person, these feelings would simply
be defined as a sexual attraction, which is fundamentally different than a desire to
 5

be both emotionally and physically bonded with another person (Eastwick &
Finkel, 2008). Sexual attraction is a driving force for the feelings and behaviors
associated with RI. While infatuated, people often fantasize about having sexual
encounters with the individual they are interested in, but sexual attraction is not a
necessary feature of RI. While sexual desire can be an influential component of
some people’s experiences of RI, it is not sufficient to sustain an infatuation of a
person of interest for an extended period of time. These sexual passions, as well as
other non-sexual intense emotions, are not sustainable, and have a tendency to
fade over time.
Infatuation fades over time for a number of reasons, both physiological and
psychological (Hazan & Diamond, 2000). Physiologically, the highly arousing
feelings associated with RI cannot be maintained over an extended period of time.
An alertness and awareness of the person of interest is all that is sustainable
(Tennov, 1998). Heightened awareness allows the infatuated individual to focus
on everything that is being communicated by the person of interest. The important
factors that are communicated are displayed through body language. Because there
is little, if any, physical interaction between an infatuated individual and the
person he or she is infatuated with, it is advantageous for the infatuated individual
to pick up on these subtle cues in body language.
Body language cues that signal when romantic feelings are unreciprocated
include a lack of eye contact, repetitive movements like rubbing the nose,
clenching teeth, and pursing the lips together. An important factor for deciding to
pursue a real relationship with a person of interest, or moving on to someone else,
is to know whether he or she is interested or not. It is possible that RI is dependent
upon the possibility of an actual relationship forming with a person of interest.
One of the quintessential characteristics of RI is that the infatuated individual
 6

longs to be in a relationship or romantic connection with the person of interest.

Negative affect is a product of unreciprocated interest. A fear of rejection due to
an abundance of mental and emotional effort toward a person of interest can cause
an initial hesitation in the pursuit of a romantic connection.
Both reciprocated and unrequited feelings can cause a switch between
intense negative and positive psychological arousal (Hatfield et al., 2012).
Negative and positive emotions associated with these factors include feelings of
angst, despair, emptiness, bliss, pleasure, and fulfillment (Hatfield & Sprecher,
1986). Many of the emotions and behaviors characterizing RI are internalized due
to a person’s fear of rejection. People who experience these emotions hesitate
actively seeking out a real-life connection with a person of interest.
Evolutionarily, natural selection tended to favor the animals that were able
to form and maintain relationships with others of their kind (Leary, 2015). Such
bonds made group living easier, which was more advantageous for survival and
reproduction. Social rejection by a group had serious consequences for survival,
and these effects have been carried into modern society through emotional
reactions.
Over time, behaviors and feelings driven by infatuations fade (Fisher,
1998). A person either loses interest in the individual he or she is infatuated
with—because the feelings are unreciprocated—or an actual relationship begins to
form (Kenny & La Voie, 1982). It is important to understand that infatuation is
solely the initial feelings that precede a romantic relationship. One of the
characteristic components of long-term relationships is attachment, which is what
marks the difference between infatuation and love (Aloni & Bernieri, 2004;
Langeslag, Muris, & Franken, 2013). Helen Fisher, a researcher and
anthropologist who has studied romantic attraction and interpersonal relationships
 7

for over 30 years, concluded that the element of attachment evolved in human
mating systems as a way for people to be able to tolerate their partners long
enough to carry out necessary parental duties. Evolutionarily, the feelings
associated with being romantically infatuated with another individual are enticing
enough to make humans want to seek out romantic relationships, which is
important for successful reproduction. The attachment that accompanies a love
relationship is what differentiates the chaotic feelings and behaviors of RI from a
stable love relationship characterized by attachment.

The Five-Factor Model of Personality

The Big Five personality traits were originally developed to provide
researchers in psychology with a taxonomy of personality traits. This model
allows researchers to best summarize an individual’s personality traits. One of the
main criticisms of using the Big Five personality traits to assess personality
differences is that the traits are not entirely independent of each other. Personality
traits comingle, meaning that the combination of traits and their impact vary from
person to person. An additional criticism is that personality cannot be entirely
summed up by five different traits, and that there are other factors like
humorousness or masculinity that contribute to variation in personality expression
(Paunonen & Jackson, 2000). Regardless, the Big Five traits are widely accepted
as a general measure of personality. The dimensions cover aspects of personality
that all people share, but vary in the extent of their expression of each trait. This
five-factor model of personality is relevant to answering the research question of
whether there is a relationship between the dimensions of personality and RI. In
the following subsections, each of the five dimensions will be explored in detail in
order to provide a more focused description of the characteristics of each trait.
 8
Extraversion
This dimension is characterized by an individual’s amount of engagement
in the external word. Individuals higher in extraversion show a marked increase in
their need to interact with people. These individuals tend to be more talkative,
assertive, sociable, more cheerful in their disposition, more optimistic, and tend to
go along with a group (Goldberg, 1992). Introverts are those who are low in
extraversion, and seek quietness and solitude in order to feel recharged. Introverts
tend to be characterized by their quietness, independence, and deliberateness.

Agreeableness
Agreeableness is characterized by an individual’s ability to get along well
with others and is concerned with keeping harmony in social situations.
Individuals who score high in agreeableness are characterized as being
trustworthy, unselfish, polite, willing to make compromises, tend to be more
optimistic, and are considerate of the needs of others. People who score lower in
the agreeableness dimension are said to be cynical, uncooperative, and interested
in placing their own needs before those of others.

Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is characterized by an individual’s ability to direct his or
her impulses, display more self-discipline, and act in a compliant manner.
Individuals who score high in conscientiousness tend to be more organized,
hardworking, industrious, reliable, like to have a plan, and are more efficient.
Individuals who score low on the conscientiousness dimension tend to be
characterized as being careless, impulsive, impractical, and rash.
 9
Emotional Stability
Also called neuroticism, this dimension is characterized by instability of
emotions. People who score low in this dimension are said to be emotionally
stable. Neurotic individuals tend to be characterized by irritability, higher levels of
anxiety, are more vulnerable to stress, and tend to be more temperamental and
discontented. Individuals who are stable can be characterized as less emotionally
reactive, more confident, stable, calm, and free of negative thoughts and feelings.

Openness to Experience
Openness to experience is characterized by an individual’s sense of
adventure, curiosity, and imagination. Individuals higher in openness to
experience tend to be marked by higher levels of curiosity, a wider range of and
ability to display emotions, a greater interest in exploring new things, and more
creativity. Individuals who score lower in this dimension are said to be closed to
experience. They are characterized by more cautious behaviors, do not like
change, and prefer things that are familiar to them.

The Act Frequency Approach

Past studies of RI focused on creating psychometric tools to measure the
construct (Hatfield et al., 2012; Langeslag et al., 2013). Existing measures of RI
have failed to separate the measurement of infatuation from other components of
the love relationship. Scales measuring RI incorporate elements like attachment,
which is a component that comes later in a love relationship (Langeslag et al.,
2013). Love is a combination of the blissful feelings of passion and desire from
infatuation and the level-headedness associated with being able to maintain a
connection.
 10

Scales that claim to measure infatuation more often measure a combination

of constructs. For example, the Reiss Romantic Love Scale measures people’s
beliefs about romantic love as well as sexual permissiveness (Reiss, 1964); the
Passionate Love Scale measures infatuation as well as attachment (Hatfield &
Sprecher, 1986); the Hattis Love Scale measures feelings of closeness and
intimacy (Hattis, 1965); and the Styles of Loving Scale measures eight different
love styles (Lee, 1977). While all have been shown to be reliable and valid for the
constructs they measure, the present research is interested in looking specifically
at RI as defined as the initial feelings and emotions experienced that precede a
love relationship.
In an initial exploration of this topic, RI was measured by collecting a host
of behaviors that circumscribe the domain of RI using the Act Frequency
Approach developed by Buss and Craik (1983). The Act Frequency Approach is
used to gather a list of behaviors that define a particular domain of behavior. The
approach uses a three-step process for gathering, rating, and selecting the
appropriate behaviors that are believed to be most relevant to the construct itself.
In phase one, participants are given a set of instructions about how to nominate
behaviors, along with a general overview of the construct that is being looked at.
Participants are instructed to list behaviors that they believe an individual would
perform under a specified construct. The nominated acts are then examined.
Nominations that are not behaviors are removed from the pool of nominated acts.
The final pool of acts is further refined by removing redundancies (similar acts
nominated by more than one participant).
Phase two of the Act Frequency Approach requires a separate set of
participants to rate each of the acts for prototypicality. Participants rate each
behavior using a 7-point Likert Scale for how prototypical they believe each act is
 11

to the domain of behavior being assessed. Higher ratings indicate that the act is
more central to the domain of behavior. Lower ratings indicate that the act is more
peripheral to the domain of behavior. The most highly prototypical acts are
selected for inclusion in the construction of an “Act Report,” a psychometric tool
that can be used to measure a construct.
In phase three of the Act Frequency Approach, participants complete an
Act Report, and are assessed for their relative level of performance of each
behavior. Each participant rates, on a 7-point scale ranging from “1” strongly
disagree to “7” strongly agree, how often he or she personally performs each
behavior. The ratings for each participant on the Act Report are then summed to
produce a total score. A higher total score indicates that the person displays many
of the behaviors associated with the specified domain of behavior. A lower total
score indicates that the person does not display many of the behaviors associated
with the specified domain of behavior. Those who have higher total scores are said
to be more romantically infatuated, and those who have lower total scores are said
to be less romantically infatuated.
Study 1 of RI led to the development of an Act Report consisting of 78 acts
that circumscribe the domain of RI (see Appendix D). While many other measures
assessing RI contain some of the behaviors in this Act Report, these measures
typically include other areas outside the domain of RI (Hatfield et al., 2012). This
new RI Act Report uniquely assesses the primary components of RI by narrowing
the construct to those specific to infatuation. In the present series of studies,
participants completed the RI Act Report while under the influence of a mood
induction procedure. This technique was used to obtain ratings that approximate
how an individual would respond while infatuated with another person.
 12
Mood Induction
Mood induction procedures have been used in psychological research to
place participants in a particular mindset (Westermann, Spies, Stahl, & Hesse,
1996). It is believed that an induced mindset, through specific procedures, will
produce more representative end results. Many different techniques and
procedures for inducing moods have been developed and used in psychological
research (Westermann et al., 1996). The techniques that are used in the
preliminary and present study were developed using multiple mood induction
procedures. An original set of mood induction instructions was created that was
believed would most effectively induce a mood of RI.
Mood induction techniques have been found to effectively induce a variety
of moods such as happiness, fear, sadness, and anger. (Mayer, Allen, &
Beauregard, 1995). Mood induction procedures utilize a variety techniques such as
music, vignettes, and imagination (McClanahan, Gold, Lenney, Ryckman, &
Kulberg, 1990; Westermann et al., 1996). In a musical mood induction,
participants are generally asked to listen to a musical piece that is chosen by a
researcher to represent a particular mood (Pignatiello, Camp, & Rasar, 1986).
Musical pieces are rated by a group of experts prior to the study, in order to assess
the mood each piece elicits. Participants generally tend to report sadder feelings
after they listen to a sad piece of music than before they listened to it (Pignatiello
et al., 1986). Other mood induction procedures have utilized vignettes. Participants
were shown some form of film or written material that had been designed to
stimulate their imagination (Westermann et al., 1996). Participants were asked to
involve themselves in whatever situation is presented. These situations are
designed to elicit a mood of the researcher’s choosing.
 13

In this research, it was believed that the feelings and behaviors associated
with RI were too complex to fit with any of the already existing methods. The
imagination technique was used, where participants were asked to read a set of
instructions aimed at inducing a mood that was consistent with being romantically
infatuated. The instructions were adapted from research conducted in the area of
sexual jealousy (Buss, Larsen, Westen, & Semmelroth, 1992). Buss et al.
examined sex differences in sexual jealousy. Participants were asked to imagine
their current romantic partner (or a past partner if not currently in a relationship).
They were then asked to imagine that this individual was forming an emotional
connection with another person. In a second condition they were asked to imagine
that this individual was having sexual encounters with another person. They then
reported how upsetting each scenario made them feel. Results indicated that men
tended to experience higher levels of emotions like anger after imagining a partner
having sexual encounters with another individual, and women were more affected
by imagining a partner making an emotional connection with another individual.
This procedure was useful for the creation of the new set of RI mood
induction instructions, because it showed an effective induction of jealousy using
the imagination technique (Buss et al., 1992). Since participants’ moods were
successfully affected by imagining past or fictional romantic experiences, it was
hypothesized that inducing an infatuated state by imagining being romantically
infatuated would be successful also.
 CHAPTER 3: STUDY 1: DEVELOPMENT OF THE ACT
REPORT

Introduction
This is the first out of three studies making up this body of work. Study 1
was designed to assess RI as a construct by developing an original measure, as
discussed below. In addition, the relationship between RI and the Big Five
personality dimensions are examined.

Method

Participants
Undergraduate students enrolled in Introductory Psychology courses
(PSYCH 10) at California State University, Fresno were recruited, using an online
system (SONA), to participate in this study. All participants received one class
credit as compensation for their participation in this study. Data were collected
from a sample of convenience consisting of 163 participants through the three
phases of this study. Each participant was only permitted to participate in one of
the three components of this study.

Design and Procedure

Phase 1: Act nominations. For the first study, 51 participants (18 males, 33
females) received a consent form, and a pencil and paper including a brief
demographics questionnaire and an act nomination form (see Appendices A, B, &
C). The act nomination form is designed to solicit “acts” that represent a domain
of behavior, which in the case of this study is RI (Buss & Craik, 1983). In this
study we asked the participants to nominate at least five acts or behaviors an
individual who is romantically infatuated may perform. Duplicate behaviors,
 15

nominations that were not behaviors, and nominations that were otherwise
unsuitable were removed from the final Act Report.
Participants nominated a total of 268 acts through phase one of the current
study. Men nominated a total of 92 behaviors, and women nominated a total of
176 behaviors. The combined 268 acts were input into a spreadsheet, where they
were individually sorted for similarity by category. The categories ranged from
buying him/her gifts, to texting and calling him/her constantly. Once the acts were
sorted for similarity, the duplicates were deleted to account for redundancy. The
sorted list totaled 117 behaviors, and was presented to a new set of participants in
Phase 2.

Phase 2: Prototypicality ratings. The second step of the act frequency

approach was to identify the acts that are most central to the domain of behavior
under investigation via prototypicality ratings (Buss & Craik, 1983). The goal of
this part of the study was to collect ratings on the centrality of each of the
nominated behaviors to the category of romantic infatuation. Forty-eight
participants (12 males, 36 females) received a consent form, and a prototypicality
ratings report. This portion of the study was conducted online, and each act was
assessed using a 7-point Likert scale rating. A “7” indicated an act that was very
central to the domain of RI, a “1” indicated that the act was very peripheral to the
category of RI.
After an examination of the mean prototypicality rating for each act, the
most prototypical acts were used to construct the Romantic Infatuation Act Report.
Descriptive analyses were conducted to assess the mean scores for each of the 117
acts elicited in this phase. Means ranged from 1.88 to 5.88 on a 7-point Likert
scale. Table 1 shows the means and standard deviations for the top 10 rated acts of
 16

RI. The collective descriptive data from this phase was then assessed for a clear
break in means by looking to see if the act list, once ordered by descending means,
showed a clear area where participants’ ratings went from prototypical to not
prototypical. The gap between means of 3.67 and 3.63 was chosen as the cut-off
point. Therefore, a total of 78 acts were retained in the final RI Act Report.

Table 1

Top 10 Rated Acts of Romantic Infatuation from Study 1

Acts Mean SD
I find him/her very attractive 5.88 1.32
I get butterflies in my stomach when around him/her 5.73 1.38
I want to kiss him/her 5.63 1.42
I want to hug him/her 5.60 1.51
I am happy when I am around him/her 5.56 1.60
I get a cheesy smile on my face when I see him/her 5.48 1.47
I have a better day when I get to see him/her 5.42 1.25
I picture what my life would be like with him/her in the long run 5.40 1.58
I want to hold his/her hand 5.35 1.52
I get excited whenever he/she is around 5.29 1.64

Phase 3: Act performance. Sixty-four participants (13 males, 51 females)

participants completed a consent form and demographics survey. Participants also
completed a questionnaire to assess personality, social desirability and RI under a
mood induction procedure. We hypothesized that openness to experience,
emotional stability, and conscientiousness would be correlated with high scores of
RI. We also hypothesized that extraversion and agreeableness would be correlated
with low scores of RI.
 17
Materials

Romantic Infatuation Act Report. This report consists of 78 items aimed at

measuring a person’s level of RI. It was created in Study 1 using the Act
Frequency Approach (Buss & Craik, 1983) (see Appendix D).

Big Five Personality Inventory. Goldberg (1992) IPIP Five-Factor markers

scale was chosen to assess personality due to its availability and ease of scoring.
This scale consists of 50 items aimed at assessing each of the five dimensions of
personality (see Appendix E).

Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding. Paulhus (1984) developed a

40-item scale to assess the level of desirable reporting that commonly
accompanies self-reports. This social desirability scale assesses two sub-scales of
self-deceptive enhancement and impression management in self-report data,
specifically in personality test responses (Barrick & Mount, 1996). Self-deception
is an unconscious misrepresentation of the self that makes responses more
positively biased (Paulhus, 1984). Impression management is a conscious
misrepresentation of the self where someone intentionally tries to make him or
herself look more desirable through his or her own reporting (see Appendix F).

Results

Act Performance with Mood

Induction
The 78 RI Act Report items were very reliable ( ). Pearson’s r
correlations between RI total score and the Big Five personality dimensions, and
RI and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding dimensions of impression
management and self-deception were conducted and are reported in Table 2.
 18
Table 2

Correlations for Males, Females, and Total RI Scores with the Big Five
Personality Dimensions and Social Desirability
Variable Total RI Male RI Female RI
Extraversion .21** -.04** .27**
Agreeableness .16** -.05** .23**
Conscientiousness -.05** .19** -.09**
Emotional Stability -.09** .38** -.20**
Openness to Experience .27** .07** .29**
BIDR.SDE -.37** .12** -.46**
BIDR.IM -.42** .38** -.49**
Note. **p < .01, two-tailed. *p < .05, two-tailed, N = 64.

In these Phase 3 analyses, we found a strong, negative, correlation between

self-deception and RI for females (r = -.46). We also found a strong, negative,
correlation between impression management and RI for females (r = -.49). A
moderate, negative, correlation was found between self-deception and RI for
males and females combined (r = -.37). A strong, negative, correlation was found
between impression management and RI for males and females combined (r =
-.42). A positive, correlation was found between openness to experience and RI
for males and females combined, (r = .27). There were no other significant
correlations between Romantic Infatuation and the Big Five personality
dimensions. However, due to a relatively low sample size, if trends continue, it is
believed a larger sample size will yield significant results.
 19
Discussion
A positive correlation between openness to experience and RI was found. It
was hypothesized that RI would be positively correlated with the personality
dimensions of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.
Conversely, it was believed that RI would be negatively correlated with
extraversion and agreeableness. The actual results were not significant, and
reflected the opposite direction of the original hypotheses.
It is believed that the lack of significance between RI and the Big Five
personality dimensions of agreeableness and extraversion could be due to a
relatively low sample size in the act performance phase of this study (N = 64). It is
hypothesized that in future studies with a larger sample sizes, significant
correlations may be found between RI and the personality dimensions of
extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and agreeableness.
Additionally, sex differences were found between reports of RI and the
dimensions of social desirability. Female participants were responding to the
questions within this study in such a way that was making them seem more
desirable through their reporting. As a result, the more desirable females were
attempting to make themselves look, the less RI behaviors they reported
displaying. This same result was not shown for males. The lack of significance
between RI and desirable responding for males may be due to gender gap within
this sample. Within the act performance phase, only 13 of the 64 participants were
males.
Study 1’s main focus was the development of the RI Act Report.
Additionally, we wanted to determine if the preliminary correlations with the Big
Five personality dimensions would change as a result of a more comprehensive
mood induction procedure. It was believed that the results of Study 1 indicated
 20

that the instructional mood induction set for the act performance phase of the
study was not working as expected in Phase 3 of this study. These instructions
were adapted from Larson and Buss’ 1992 study on jealousy. Perhaps the mood
induction was not as effective for RI as it was for Buss’s study on sexual jealousy
because negative emotions, such as anger and jealousy, tend to be perceived as
much more salient to individuals than positive emotions.
We believed putting people in a mentally infatuated state would yield
stronger correlations between RI and the Big Five personality dimensions, based
on previous research indicating that the closer a person is to their infatuated
experiences, the more accurate their reports tend to be (Tennov, 1998). It was
unclear if the participants were following the instructions when completing an
online version of the act performance phase of this study. We believed continuing
this method face-to-face in Study 2 would increase the effectiveness of this
component. We expected to find positive correlations between RI and extraversion
and agreeableness, and negative correlations between emotional stability in
women, if trends were to continue. These hypotheses are consistent with theories
from trait research, and research on interpersonal relationships.
Some of the methodological issues faced during this study were in the
initial act collection phase. These issues included participants nominating feelings,
attitudes and states of mind, instead of behaviors, which is one of the criticisms of
using the Act Frequency Approach. By more explicitly defining what a behavior is
in Phase 1, it is possible that more substantial act nominations would have been
obtained. Participants were only given a brief definition of RI before being asked
to think of a time when they or someone they knew was infatuated with another
individual. They were then asked to write down at least five behaviors they
performed while romantically infatuated, or behaviors they believed to be
 21

associated with the construct. Along with insufficient instructions on how to

nominate behaviors, we believed the definition of RI was too broad for
participants to be able to effectively nominate behaviors. In the continuation of
this research, infatuation was more clearly defined within the context of a
romantic relationship.
Similarly, it is possible that the results from Phase 2 were hindered by the
way in which the RI Act Report was presented to the participants. We were
interested in whether sex differences were present for scores of RI, but the act lists
were not separated by gender. The items were listed as follows, “I find him/her
very attractive.” Splitting the items into gender specific lists could potentially help
improve the connection the participant is able to make with each item, and could
potentially yield more accurate nominations of acts males and females feel are
prototypical of RI. These split lists should also be carried over into the act
performance phase of future studies.
Lastly, it was believed that by conducting all three phases in person, using
pencil and paper surveys, a more realistic environment would be created. This
would hopefully ensure that participants were accurately grasping the concepts
being examined, which would likely produce more accurate assessments of RI.
 CHAPTER 4: STUDY 2

Introduction
Study 2 was an extension of the Act Performance phase of Study 1. The
primary goal of Study 2 was to explore the underlying factor structure of RI using
a modified mood induction technique. It was hypothesized that gathering a larger
sample using a modified mood induction instructional set would produce
significant correlations between the Big Five personality dimensions and the total
RI score.

Method

Participants
Undergraduate students in Introductory Psychology courses (PSYCH 10) at
California State University, Fresno were gathered using an online pool (SONA) to
participate in this study. All participants received one class credit as compensation
in exchange for their participation. This sample of convenience was made up of a
total 291 participants (88 males, 203 females) who completed this online study.
Study 1 proposed that paper and pencil data collection would be ideal for future
assessments, but online data collection was used due to a short amount of time
allotted for access to the participant pool.

Materials

Mood induction instructions. The mood induction instructions were

developed by blending a combination of mood induction techniques that have
been found to be effective for inducing specific moods in a research setting. These
instructions differ from those used in Study 1. The original instructional set was
 23

presented to the participants in writing, and it was left up to the participants to

immerse themselves in the feelings associated with past experiences of romantic
infatuation. The transcript of these instructions was as follows:
In this study we are exploring romantic infatuation. Please rate each
behavior on the seven-point scale listed below. Please think of a time when
you were seriously romantically infatuated with another individual.
Imagine the feelings and emotions you had about that person. When you
have these feelings and emotions in your mind, please begin to rate each of
the following behaviors in the context of your feelings of romantic
infatuation.

Romantic Infatuation Act Report. This report consists of 78 prototypical

acts assessing an individual’s level of romantic infatuation as discussed in Study 1
(see Appendix D).

Design and Procedure

Participants were directed to the online survey via an anonymous survey
link. Once participants opened the survey, they were presented with a web adapted
consent form, demographic questions, mood induction instructions, RI Act Report,
Big Five personality inventory, and Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding
scale. See Study 1 (p. 17) for a description of these materials.
Based on the results of the Act Performance phase in Study 1, it was
hypothesized that there would be positive correlations of openness to experience,
agreeableness, and extraversion with the total RI score. Additionally, it was
hypothesized that there would be negative correlations of neuroticism and
conscientiousness with the total RI score.
 24
Results
Several principal components analyses, with varimax rotations, were
conducted on the 78 RI acts. Based on a factor loading cutoff of .29, no items were
excluded from the analyses. A scree plot of the initial factor solution indicated that
there are between 4 and 10 factors that account for the majority of the variance
within the 78 RI items. The solution yielding eight reliable and interpretable
factors of RI was chosen over the other solutions, based on its greater
interpretability (see Table 3). This solution accounted for approximately 56% of
the cumulative variance. The eight factors have been labeled as (1) General
Infatuation, (2) Self-sacrifice, (3) Monopolizing, (4) Insecurity, (5) Confidence,
(6) Irrationality, (7) Obsession, and (8) Closeness (see Table 4).

Table 3

Number of Items and Alpha Reliabilities for the Eight Factors of RI

Component Number of Items
General Infatuation 24 .94
Self-sacrifice 17 .93
Monopolizing 11 .90
Insecurity 6 .83
Confidence 4 .82
Irrationality 6 .70
Obsession 5 .81
Closeness 5 .79
 25
Table 4

Varimax Rotated Principal Components Analysis, Displaying the 3 Highest

Loading Items of the 78 Acts of RI for Each Factor
Factors
Act 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
I want to kiss him/her .82
I want to hug him/her .79
I want to hold his/her hand .76
I prioritize his/her time above my own .77
I put his/her needs before my own .69
I do anything he/she asks me to do .67
I talk to him/her for more than two hours .74
a day
I have to talk to him/her every day .73
I have to spend countless hours with .72
him/her
I get angry when he/she is interested in .64
someone other than me
I get jealous when he/she spends time .60
with others
I become insecure/worried that he/she will .59
cheat on/leave me
I become more confident when I am .68
around him/her
I act more spontaneous when I am around .66
him/her
I act happy-go-lucky when I am around .60
him/her
I get quiet and shy around him/her .72
My speech stutters when around him/her .72
I say stupid things when I am around .57
him/her because I get nervous
I constantly talk about him/her with my .75
friends
I constantly bring him/her up in .65
conversations
I talk about him/her all the time .65
I add him/her on various social media .52
sites
I look at his/her pictures on social media .50
sites
I find reasons to talk to him/her .44
Note. The three highest loading items within each factor are displayed, N = 291.
 26

The acts within each factor were summed to obtain a score for each of the
eight RI factors. The eight RI factors were then correlated with the Big Five
personality dimensions and a measure of social desirability. Significant
correlations were found between total RI score and openness to experience (r =
.18), agreeableness (r = .17), and emotional stability (r = -.17). See Appendix H
for further significant correlations found between the Big Five personality
dimensions and the eight factors of RI.

Discussion
With RI being defined as the initial feelings and behaviors that precede a
romantic relationship, different dimensions were found and defined within the
current study. A factor analysis was conducted on the RI Act Report items,
revealing eight reliable and interpretable factors of RI. These eight factors
consisted of: General Infatuation, Self-sacrifice, Monopolizing, Insecurity,
Confidence, Irrationality, Obsession, and Closeness. Significant correlations were
found between the total RI score and openness to experience, agreeableness, and
emotional stability.
It was hypothesized, based on the results found in Study1, that the
following significant correlations would be found: openness to experience would
be positively correlated with the total RI score, emotional stability would be
negatively correlated with the total RI score, and agreeableness would be
positively correlated with the total RI score. As stated previously, openness to
experience is characterized by creativity and inventiveness (Caspi, Roberts, &
Shriner, 2005). This could potentially explain the positive relationship between
total RI scores and openness to experience. Ruminative thoughts and fantasies
may require higher levels of creativity and inventiveness. Additionally, total RI
 27

scores were negatively correlated with emotional stability. This too makes sense,
intuitively. The more stable people are emotionally, the less likely they may be to
have the ruminative and intrusive thoughts and emotions associated with RI.
Lastly, total RI scores were positively correlated with the agreeableness
dimension. According to previous research, agreeableness is characterized by
thoughtfulness and kindness (Caspi et al., 2005). Kinder people may be less
willing to put themselves out there for a potential romantic partner, thus increasing
their internalization of the feelings of RI.
 CHAPTER 5: STUDY 3

Introduction
This final phase of data collection differs from the previous study in its
mood induction procedure, and delivery of the study materials. For Study 3, the
mood induction procedure was modified and delivered as an audio recording.
Additionally, the online surveys were completed in-person in a computer lab for
the first half of the collection of data, and online for the second half of the
collection of data. Additionally, the order in which the instruments were presented
was rearranged to account for bleed over effects potentially caused by the mood
induction procedure. Finally, the Infatuation and Attachment scales was added to
the procedure in order to assess its similarity with the RI Act Report created in
Study 1 (Langeslag et al., 2013). Further discussion of the methodological
modifications follows.

Method

Participants
Two hundred and thirty-one undergraduates (67 males, 163 females, 1
prefer not to state) at California State University, Fresno participated in this study.
Participants were recruited using the online system SONA to make up this sample
of convenience. Participants were primarily single (N = 140) and Hispanic (N =
105), ranging in age from 18-20 years old (N = 193). Each participant received one
class credit as compensation in exchange for their participation.
 29
Materials

Infatuation and Attachment Scales. Langeslag et al. (2013) developed these

scales consisting of 20 items aimed at measuring attachment and infatuation
separately. Ratings for each item were collected using a 5-point Likert scale, and
total scores were calculated separately for items relating to infatuation and
attachment (see Appendix G). Although these scales measure infatuation and
attachment separately, we believed that the 10 items of infatuation were not
sufficient for addressing the entire construct of RI. As a result, the RI Act Report
was created.
See page 17 for a description of the RI Act Report, Big Five personality
inventory, and Balanced Inventory of Desirable Reporting.

Design and Procedure

The mood induction instructions were modified from Study 2’s
instructional set. The modified mood induction instructions presented to the
participants was a voice recording. The revised, standardized instructional set was
as follows:
In this study, we are interested in the behaviors individuals experience
when they are infatuated with someone romantically. Romantic infatuation
directed towards another person can be defined by having intense emotions,
including physical discomfort that at its height may even include irrational
romantic feelings for another person. These intense feelings include being
obsessed with the person, intense feelings of passion and an overwhelming
attraction to the partner.
For the purposes of this study, please think of a serious romantic
relationship that you have had in the past, that you currently have, or that
 30

you would like to have. Try to feel the passionate emotions you would have
had if you were in an intense state of infatuation with this person [pause 3
seconds].
When you have these feelings in your mind, I would like you to close
your eyes, and go into them deeper. Imagine yourself with this person.
Imagine how you would feel [pause 3 seconds] what they would say [pause
3 seconds] what you would do [pause 3 seconds]. These feelings and
images in your mind can be anywhere on the spectrum of emotions: joyful,
uncomfortable, lustful, angry, etc. Please take a moment to really reflect on
a time when you were infatuated with someone [pause 5 seconds].
When you feel as though you have been brought back to a place of
being romantically infatuated, please begin to rate each of the following
behaviors in the context of your feelings.
Data were collected in two phases in Study 3. In the first phase, participants
were directed to meet in a specified computer lab on their scheduled day and time.
The computer lab used in this study accommodated up to 24 students per session.
Once participants had read and signed the consent form, they were instructed via
an overhead projector to turn on their computer monitors and begin completing the
online surveys. Participants first completed the online demographics
questionnaire, Big Five personality inventory, and the Balanced Inventory of
Desirable Responding. They were then prompted by a break in the online survey
to put on a pair of headphones and play the audio file containing the recorded
online RI mood induction instructions, and complete a set of questions assessing
the effectiveness of the procedure. Once the mood induction instructions had been
heard, participants then completed the RI Act Report, and the Infatuation and
Attachment Scales.
 31

In the second phase, participants were directed to the online survey via an
anonymous survey link. Individuals who participated in the in person phase of
Study 3 were prevented from completing the online phase of this study.
Participants first completed the online demographics questionnaire, Big Five
personality inventory, and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding. They
were then prompted by a break in the online survey to play the audio file
containing the recorded online RI mood induction instructions, and complete a set
of questions assessing the effectiveness of the procedure. Once the mood induction
instructions had been heard, participants then completed the RI Act Report, and
the Infatuation and Attachment Scales. The change to online data collection was
necessary due to the low rate of recruitment for in-laboratory studies within the
Department of Psychology.
Participants were asked a series of questions to ensure they were in fact
remembering a time when they were infatuated with someone romantically.
Eighty-six percent of the participants reported that they were currently
remembering a time when they were infatuated with someone. The remaining 14%
who reported not remembering a time when they were infatuated, were asked to
take a few moments to think of a serious romantic relationship that they have had
in the past, that they currently have, or that they would like to have. They were
asked to try to feel the passionate emotions they would have had if they were in an
intense state of infatuation with this person. When they felt as though they had
been brought back to a place of being romantically infatuated, they were told to
press “continue” and begin rating the remaining questions in the context of their
feelings. All participants were then asked if their current feelings and emotions of
RI as a result of the mood induction were the same as their memories of those
feelings and emotions. Seventy-one percent reported that the feelings and
 32

emotions were the same, and 29% reported that they were not the same. Lastly,
78% reported that the feelings and emotions were positive, and 21% reported that
they were negative. There was no assessment on whether the 14% who did not
remember a time when they were infatuated had ever experienced RI in the past.
Additionally, there was no way for participants to opt out of these mood induction
check questions if they failed to recall a time when they have been romantically
infatuated in the past.
Each participant completed a Big Five inventory, Balanced Inventory of
Desirable Responding, mood induction instructions, RI Act Report, and
Infatuation and Attachment Scales in that order. The reason the mood induction
instructions were administered after the Big Five inventory and Balanced
Inventory of Desirable Responding, and before the RI Act Report and Infatuation
and Attachment Scales was to ensure that the questions pertaining to assessing
level of RI were answered while the participants were in a romantically infatuated
mood. Once the surveys had been completed, the participants received one credit
as compensation for their participation in the study.
It was hypothesized that based on the results found in Study 2, there would
be a highly interpretable eight factor solution of the 78-item RI Act Report. It was
hypothesized that we would find positive correlations between openness to
experience and agreeableness, and the total RI score. It was hypothesized that we
would find negative correlations between emotional stability and the total RI
score. Lastly, it was hypothesized that we would find significant correlations
between the eight factors of RI and the Big Five personality dimensions, matching
in direction with the total RI score.
 33
Results

Sample Comparison
As described above, out of necessity due to low participation rates, the
method of data collection switched from in person in a computer lab in phase one,
to online survey data collection in phase two. To assess whether the in person and
online samples were comparable, all of the possible combinations of bivariate
correlations were tested for online versus in-person data collection. Results
showed that there were no significant differences between the two samples, which
justified combining the two samples for the remaining analyses (see Table 5).
Additionally, the in-person and online samples were compared on total RI
score. Results showed that there was no significant difference between the two
groups, t(227) = -.68, p = .50.

The Structure of Romantic Infatuation

A principal components analysis was conducted to determine the structure
of the RI items. A scree plot of the initial factor solution indicated that between
three and eight factors accounted for the majority of the common and unique
variance within the 78 RI items. After examining a variety of varimax rotated
solutions, a five factor solution was selected. This solution accounted for
approximately 56% of the cumulative variance. The five factor structure was
determined to be the best fitting factor solution for the acts. Based on a factor
loading cutoff of .35, no items were excluded from the analyses (Pedhazur &
Schmelkin, 2013). The five factor structure is presented in Table 6.
 34
Table 5

Sample Transformations and Correlation Comparisons

Comparison 1 2 3 4 5 6
Extraversion and Agreeableness .22 135 .04 95 1.37 .17
Extraversion and Conscientiousness .06 135 .06 95 -.04 .97
Extraversion and Neuroticism .03 135 .14 95 -.79 .43
Extraversion and Openness .22 135 .24 95 -.15 .88
Extraversion and RI total .11 134 .03 95 .59 .56
Extraversion and Infatuation -.06 134 -.13 95 .52 .60
Extraversion and IM -.16 135 -.13 95 -.29 .77
Extraversion and SDE .01 135 -.01 95 .14 .89
Agreeableness and Conscientiousness .06 135 .34 95 -2.14 .03
Agreeableness and Neuroticism .04 135 .08 95 -.31 .76
Agreeableness and Openness .26 135 .34 95 -.70 .48
Agreeableness and RI total .20 134 .04 95 1.23 .22
Agreeableness and Infatuation -.05 134 -.03 95 -.15 .88
Agreeableness and IM .17 135 .39 95 -2.08 .04
Agreeableness and SDE .08 135 .26 95 -1.35 .18
Conscientiousness and Neuroticism .22 135 .15 95 .56 .58
Conscientiousness and Openness .09 135 .22 95 -.95 .34
Conscientiousness and RI total -.27 134 -.08 95 -1.42 .16
Conscientiousness and Infatuation -.25 134 -.12 95 -.99 .32
Conscientiousness and IM .44 135 .37 95 .63 .53
Conscientiousness and SDE .44 135 .22 95 1.86 .06
Neuroticism and Openness .09 135 .14 95 -.48 .63
Neuroticism and RI total -.10 134 -.01 95 -.63 .53
Neuroticism and Infatuation -.15 134 -.09 95 -.49 .62
Neuroticism and IM .21 135 .22 95 -.02 .98
Neuroticism and SDE .45 135 .26 95 1.62 .11
Openness and RI total .12 134 .05 95 .54 .59
Openness and Infatuation -.01 134 -.05 95 .29 .77
Openness and IM .09 135 .18 95 -.64 .52
Openness and SDE .28 135 .32 95 -.30 .76
RI total and Infatuation .55 134 .34 95 1.93 .05
RI total and IM -.18 134 -.05 95 -.94 .35
RI total and SDE -.02 134 .04 95 -.46 .65
Infatuation and IM -.18 134 -.02 95 -1.25 .21
Infatuation and SDE -.14 134 -.23 95 .72 .47
IM and SDE .42 135 .50 95 -.77 .44
Note. Comparison labels are as follows: (1) In person r, (2) In person N, (3) Online r, (4) Online
N, (5) z, and (6) p < .05, two-tailed.
 35
Table 6

Varimax Rotated Principal Components Analysis, Displaying Eigenvalues for

Items of the 78 Acts of RI for Each Factor.
Factor
Act 1 2 3 4 5
I am happy when I am around him/her. .85
I have a better day when I get to see him/her. .82
I get excited whenever he/she is around. .79
I want to hug him/her. .79
I want to kiss him/her. .78 .34
I find him/her very attractive. .76
I get a cheesy smile on my face when I see him/her. .75
I want to hold his/her hand. .74
When I see him/her I am more motivated throughout the day. .71
I get butterflies in my stomach when I am around him/her. .68
I constantly daydream about him/her. .65
I am extra kind to him/her. .65
I get butterflies in my stomach when around him/her. .64
I stare at him/her. .62
I giggle when I am around him/her. .61
I never get tired of being around him/her. .60
I want frequent physical contact. .59 .39
I act happy-go-lucky when I am around him/her. .58
I lust for him/her. .58 .35
I act more spontaneous when I am around him/her. .56
I become more confident when I am around him/her. .56 .42
I engage in activities that he/she enjoys. .54 .49
I find reasons to talk to him/her. .54
I listen to what he/she wants. .54 .53
I picture what my life would be like with him/her in the long run. .53
My cheeks blush when I'm around them. .48
I do my best to impress him/her. .48 .35
I make eye contact with him/her as much as possible. .48 .45
I travel long distances to be around him/her. .47 .42
I give him/her many compliments. .46 .43
I buy him/her gifts he/she will like. .75
I put his/her needs before my own. .72
I spend more money on him/her than I do on myself. .72
I prioritize his/her time above my own. .70
I spend money on him/her. .69
I go out of my way to do things for him/her. .68
I compromise my own wants and needs to accommodate his/hers. .67
I cook him/her dinner or clean his/her house because I like them. .62
I drop my plans to be with him/her. .62
I spend countless hours with him/her. .61 .46
I become protective of him/her. .38 .57
I try things that are out of my comfort zone, because I want to make him/her .55
happy.
 36
Factor
Act 1 2 3 4 5
I talk about my feelings with him/her. .49 .52
I keep him/her around at all times. .52 .42
I spill all of my thoughts out to him/her. .40 .50 .40
I do anything he/she asks me to do. .50 .41
Even when I get rejected, I will still message/call him/her. .46
I become overwhelmed when I do not see him/her. .39 .38
I constantly check my phone to see if he/she has texted me. .35
I say stupid things when I am around him/her because I get nervous. .72
I get nervous about asking him/her out on a date. .70
I become insecure/worried that he/she will not like me back. .63 .40
I change my appearance to make myself more desirable to him/her. .63
My speech stutters when around him/her. .61
I get quiet and shy around him/her -.37 .56
I act outgoing so I don't bore him/her. .55
I lose focus easily when I am around him/her. .55
I ignore aspects of my own life, because I am thinking about him/her. .48 .53
I lose focus when I am around him/her. .41 .48
I try more risky things when I am around him/her. .39 .46
I make irrational decisions that that affect my romantic life when I am .45
infatuated with someone.
I go to school when I know he/she has class so that I can be around him/her. .44
I don't listen to my friends advice when it comes to the person I am .43
infatuated with.
My hands sweat. .40
I talk about him/her all the time. .77
I constantly bring him/her up in conversations. .74
I constantly talk about him/her with my friends. .72
I post about him/her on social media sites. .38 .56
I talk to him/her for more than two hours a day. .41 .54
I have to talk to him/her every day. .37 .50 .53
I look at his/her pictures on social media sites. .39 .50
I add him/her on various social media sites. .37 .49
I become over-talkative on the phone. .39 .40
I stay close to him/her when others are around. .36 .39
I get angry when he/she is interested in someone other than me. .63
I get jealous when he/she spends time with others. .62
I become insecure/worried that he/she will cheat on/leave me. .37 .50
I feel unsatisfied when I am not able to be in a romantic relationship with .41 .45
him/her.
Note. Factor loadings less than .35 are not shown, N = 231.
 37

Composite scores were calculated for each of the five factors (see Table 7).
These factors were labeled as follows: General Infatuation, Resources, Fumbling,
Obsessive, and Negative Emotions. There were significant inter-correlations
between the factors suggesting that they more than likely occur together when an
individual is experiencing RI (see Table 8).

Table 7

Number of Items, Means, Standard Deviations, and Alpha Reliabilities for the Five
Factors of RI
Component Number of Items Mean SD
General Infatuation 30 161.46 32.76 .97
Resources 19 82.69 24.63 .95
Fumbling 15 57.82 17.01 .87
Obsessive 10 45.14 14.04 .90
Negative Emotions 4 18.32 5.94 .78

Table 8

Inter-correlations of the Five Factors of RI

Factor Gen. Infatuation Resources Fumbling Obsession

Resources .72**
Fumbling .50** .49**
Obsession .69** .78** .40**
Neg. Emotions .51** .56** .58** .52**
Note. **p < .01, two-tailed, N = 231.

Partial correlations between the five factors of RI found and the Big Five
personality traits were examined while controlling for social desirability.
 38

Agreeableness (r = .17) and Conscientiousness (r = -.18) correlated significantly

with the total RI score. Neuroticism negatively correlated with the factor of
Negative Emotions (r = -.25). Additionally, the total RI score was significantly
correlated with the existing measure of infatuation from the Infatuation and
Attachment Scales (r = .48). See Appendix I for all correlations between the total
RI score and tactics of RI with the Big Five personality dimensions.

Discussion
A factor analysis was conducted on the 78-items of RI from the original
Act Report created in Study 1 of this work. A five factor solution was found, with
the five factors named as follows: General Infatuation, Resources, Fumbling,
Obsessive, and Negative Emotions. The structure of the Act Report data showed
that the five factors accounted for a majority of the cumulative variance within the
RI Act Report. In direct contrast to what was hypothesized, there were no
significant correlations between all of the Big Five personality dimensions and this
new measure of RI (the RI Act Report). Instead, only two of the five dimensions
significantly correlated with the total RI score in Study 3 (i.e., agreeableness and
conscientiousness). Regression analyses were conducted, predicting the Big Five
traits, total RI score, General Infatuation, Resources, Fumbling, Obsession, and
Negative Emotions, with self-deceptive enhancement and impression management
removed. Agreeableness and conscientiousness correlated significantly with the
total RI score, General Infatuation, Resources, Fumbling, and Negative Emotions.
Neuroticism negatively correlated with the factor of Negative Emotions.
Although there were fewer correlations of the total RI score with the Big
Five personality dimensions as was originally predicted, a new measure of RI was
created within this program of research as well as a more direct definition of the
 39

construct of RI. Additionally, a unique factor structure was found, indicating that
RI is not a unidimensional construct, but is in fact multidimensional.
Because correlations with all five personality dimensions were not found in
the culmination of these three studies, continued exploration of this topic is
advised. Study 3 further revealed that it is possible that personality plays a role in
an individual’s experience of RI. The total RI score on the original RI Act Report
created in Study 1 was significantly correlated with the existing measure of
infatuation from the Infatuation and Attachment Scales. This, along with the
reliability analyses conducted on the scale, leads us to conclude that RI was
explored in greater detail than in previous studies of this construct.
 CHAPTER 6: GENERAL DISCUSSION

The Structure of RI and its Personality Correlates

The series of studies presented was the first step in a more comprehensive
investigation of the domain of RI. The goal of this program of research was to
further understand and clarify how individuals are romantically infatuated. These
exploratory studies have resulted in the development of a taxonomy of RI tactics,
which is a new method to assess this domain of behavior. The relationship
between personality traits, as represented by the five-factor model of personality,
and the domain of RI was also explored.
Previous findings in the domain of romantic love have found systematic
relationships between styles of romantic love and the five-factor model, that have
not been found in the current research (White, Hendrick, & Hendrick, 2004). With
the new instrument created in Study 1 more comprehensively defining the domain
of RI, it was hypothesized that extraversion and agreeableness would be
negatively correlated with RI. Conversely, it was hypothesized that openness to
experience would be positively correlated with RI. While results from Study 2 and
Study 3 showed that there were significant correlations between the total RI scores
and the Big Five dimensions, in contrast to what was hypothesized, the results
indicated that agreeableness was positively correlated with the total RI score, and
neuroticism was negatively correlated with the total RI score. Openness to
experience was positively correlated with the total RI score, and conscientiousness
was negatively correlated with the total RI score. Extraversion was not correlated
with the total RI score in Study 2 or Study 3, but extraversion was significantly
correlated with the Irrational factor in Study 2. Further discussion of these findings
is provided below.
 41

Obsession often arises as a consequence of unreciprocated contact by a

person of interest (Reynolds, 1983). As a result, it was reasonable to assume that
the RI tactic of Obsession would be found in both Study 2 and Study 3’s factor
solutions. The top three items of this tactic for both studies were, “I talk about
him/her all the time,” “I constantly bring him/her up in conversations,” and I
constantly talk about him/her with my friends.” Previous research has supported
that the obsessive thoughts an infatuated person experiences can take over most
hours of a person’s day (Reynolds, 1983). The thoughts are persistent, intrusive
and often all-encompassing (Schupak & Rosenthal, 2009; Willmott & Bentley,
2015). People experiencing these obsessions can even go as far as changing their
plans to be closer to the person of interest (Charny, 1981). It could be argued
based on the results of this research, and the opinion of previous studies, that
obsession caused by RI is the most important component of this construct
(Reynolds, 1983).
Within the current research, we found that the tactic of Obsession was
positively correlated with agreeableness. Agreeableness is described as an
individual’s ability to display politeness, cooperativeness, and flexibility
(Goldberg, 1992). This sample showed that the more present these characteristics
are, the more RI behaviors and emotions are displayed and experienced. Obsession
was also found to be negatively correlated with emotional stability. Those who are
emotionally unstable tend to be more insecure and discontented (Goldberg, 1992).
This led us to conclude that the more emotionally unstable a person is, the more
infatuated behaviors they may tend to express. Because the experience of RI can
change from one moment to the next, feelings of despair can quickly turn into
feelings of elation (Fehr & Russell, 1991). Previous research has defined
passionate love as a set of behaviors and emotions that arise as a result of wanting
 42

to be with someone romantically (Hatfield et al., 2007). Reciprocation often leads

to elation, and un-reciprocation often leads to despair.
Additionally, it was assumed that the tactic of General Infatuation would
remain consistent from Study 2 to Study 3. Some of these shared General
Infatuation items are “I get butterflies in my stomach when around him/her,” “I get
excited whenever he/she is around,” “My cheeks blush when I am around them,”
“I stare at him/her,” and “I get a cheesy smile on my face when I see him/her.”
These items are consistent with the emotions and behaviors cited from previous
research claiming to solely measure infatuation, without unrelated constructs like
attachment (Langeslag et al., 2013). This tactic was negatively correlated with the
personality dimension of conscientiousness in Study 3’s sample. High
conscientiousness is marked by practicality and cautiousness, which supports the
finding that highly conscientious individuals tend to perform fewer RI behaviors.
Conversely, this tactic was positively correlated with openness to experience in
Study 2 and agreeableness in Studies 2 and 3. People ranking high on the openness
to experience dimension are said to be more imaginative, reflective, and creative
(Goldberg, 1992). As a temporary relief from the negative emotional effects of
unreciprocated interest, infatuated individuals often imagine reciprocated interest
(Willmott & Bentley, 2015). Thus, individuals who are predisposed to be more
imaginative than their less open counterparts, may tend to report more RI
behaviors.
Extraversion remained uncorrelated with the total RI score in all three
studies conducted within this program of research. Previous findings on the
relationship between extraversion and relationship variables have been mixed.
Multiple studies have indicated positive, negative, and no relationships between
this dimension and different styles of love (White et al., 2004). Research has
 43

indicated mixed correlations between extraversion and positive relationship

variables like intimacy and satisfaction (White et al., 2004). This current study did
not find a relationship between extraversion and the total RI score, but a negative
correlation was found between this dimension and the Irrational tactic in Study 2.
This tactic included behaviors such as, “I get quiet and shy around him/her,” “My
speech stutters when around him/her,” and “I say stupid things when I am around
him/her because I get nervous.” This negative association supports our hypothesis
that highly infatuated individuals tend to be more introverted than extraverted.
The structure of the RI Act Report data revealed different interpretable
solutions across Studies. In Study 2, the eight factor solution provided many more
significant correlations between the five dimensions of personality, total RI score
and RI tactics than did the five factor solution produced by Study 3. It was
originally hypothesized that with a larger sample size, and a further standardized
and modified mood induction procedure, better factor and total score correlations
of RI would be found in Study 3. From Study 2 to Study 3, General Infatuation
and Obsession were the only factors that remained constant. What was lost in
Study 3 were the dimensions of Self-sacrifice, Monopolize, Insecurity,
Irrationality, Confidence, and Closeness. These factors split between and added to
the factors of Resources, Fumbling, and Negative Emotions. Although more factor
correlations with the Big Five personality dimensions were found with the eight
factor solution obtained in Study 2, the five factor solution obtained in Study 3
appears to be more stable.

Limitations and Future Directions

In the current investigation, results were based on the responses collected
from university students only. This sample was one of convenience and was
 44

significantly limited in variation within major demographic characteristics. The

majority of the participants were between the ages of 18 and 22, and were at the
undergraduate level academically. This sample limits the generalizability of the
findings of this research, particularly in the areas of age, socioeconomic status and
culture. Future research might attempt to collect these results from a sample with
more demographic variability. For example, “I get butterflies in my stomach when
around him/her” was the second highest rated act in the prototypicality phase of
Study 1. Although it may be a quintessential component of the experience of RI
for respondents within this sample, it may not be part of the lived experience for
older respondents. In future studies, it would be beneficial to do an age
comparison between younger and older adults on prototypicality ratings of the 78
Acts of RI.
It would also be beneficial to inquire about whether or not participants have
been infatuated in the past. This was not assessed in this program of research, and
it is possible that some individuals may not have experienced RI previously. An
individual would not be able to effectively rate behaviors that he or she has never
experienced.
Due to the nature of the RI construct, it would be extremely difficult to
obtain a sample consisting exclusively of participants who were currently
infatuated with someone. For this reason, RI was examined retrospectively in this
program of research. Since RI is a state that is fleeting, finding the best way to
measure this construct was challenging. Having participants retrospectively think
back on a time when they were infatuated with someone romantically, was
determined to be the most feasible method. Additionally, people are often unaware
of their own infatuations in the current moment, so gathering a sample of people
who were currently infatuated was deemed too challenging for the current study.
 45

Previous research has also reported that retrospective estimates of RI tend to

underestimate the actual intensity of the experience, as opposed to reports from
those who are currently or closer to the infatuated experiences (Tennov, 1998). In
future research, it may be beneficial for researchers to assess infatuation scores
strictly for those who are currently infatuated.
Mood induction procedures were employed in an attempt to get respondents
as close to being in an authentic state of infatuation as possible. The mood
induction instructions were developed by expanding on Study 2’s instructional set,
which blended a combination of mood induction techniques that have been found
to be effective for inducing specific moods in a research setting. Study 2’s
instructional set was presented to the participants in writing directly before they
completed the RI Act Report. It was up to the participant to immerse himself or
herself in the feelings associated with when he or she was ever romantically
infatuated in the past. Study 3’s mood induction instructions were expanded upon,
and were presented to the participants as a voice recording for standardization.
The instructions were intended to induce a more romantically infatuated mood
than was produced by Study 2’s instructional set. It was believed that having the
participants listen to the instructions would ensure that the instructions were not
skipped over, and enough time was allotted for the participants to immerse
themselves in an infatuated mood. It is unknown whether the mood induction
procedure sufficiently brought participants back to a state of romantic infatuation.
Correlations with the Big Five personality dimensions could differ between
currently infatuated people, and “artificially” infatuated people by way of mood
induction.
Additionally, the procedure used in this research is substantially lengthy for
a research study. In total, there were 198 survey questions asked in Study 3. Due
 46

to the nature of the research question, it was imperative to include all of the proper
instruments to assess personality, social desirability, and RI. The length of this
study combined with the convenience sample could have potentially negatively
impacted the results. Responses were anonymous, which made falsely rating
items, by clicking quickly through the survey, easy to do. Study 3 attempted to
counteract this limitation by conducting the study in-person, but due to the slow
rate of data collection, the remainder of the responses were collected online via an
anonymous survey link. In future studies, the 78-item Act Report could potentially
be reduced to a more manageable number that still adequately addresses the
construct without losing its multidimensionality.
It is also possible that Goldberg’s IPIP scale for assessing the Big Five
personality dimensions is ineffective for assessing RI correlates with personality
traits. The IPIP Five-Factor markers scale was chosen for use within this study due
to its ease of distribution as well as its validity. It is possible that there is another
measure of personality that would be better suited to finding correlations between
the construct of RI and other topics relating to romantic connections.
When considering the limitations of this study, based on the results, further
exploration of this topic is warranted. This study failed to find a direct correlation
between all of the Big Five personality dimensions and RI as it was defined and
measured within this study. It is possible that the original RI Act Report that was
created in Study 1 of this work was not sufficient in defining and circumscribing
the entire domain of RI. For instance, previous definitions and measures of RI
included the element of attachment that was taken out of the current definition and
measure (Langsleg et al., 2012). This new definition and subsequent measure may
have constrained the potential of their trait expression.
 47

The results of these three studies support the notion that there is a
relationship between personality traits and RI as it was defined within this body of
work. The behaviors and emotions associated with RI tend to be experienced more
intensely in people who are highly agreeable, less conscientious, and highly open
to experience. Although RI is not correlated significantly with the dimensions of
extraversion and emotional stability, the correlations that were found are important
to note and further add to this topic. But it is possible that RI is not related to
personality at all, and is just a part of human nature.
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: CONSENT FORM
 54

Statement of Informed Consent

You are invited to participate in a study conducted by Dr. Michael Botwin and Hope Castro at
California State University, Fresno. In this research, we are interested in romantic infatuation and
its correlation with traits in the five-factor model of personality. You were selected as a possible
participant in this study because of your decision to volunteer for the study.

If you decide to participate, we the researchers will direct you to an online survey including
demographic questions, Big-Five Personality Inventory, Social Desirability Scale, audio mood
induction instructions, Romantic Infatuation Questionnaire, and Infatuation and Attachment
Scale. The surveys should take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Due to participating in this study you may experience fatigue or mild boredom. We cannot
guarantee that you will receive any benefits from this study, but everyone who helps with this
work will be contributing directly to our knowledge of the psychology of romantic infatuation.

Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you
will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission or as required by law. If
you give us your permission by signing this document, we plan to disclose your information only
to the appropriate authorities.

By participating in this study you may receive extra credit for a current class. There are no
additional costs to you for participating in this study.

Your decision whether or not to participate in this study will not prejudice your future relations
with California State University, Fresno the Department of Psychology. If you decide to
participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and to discontinue participation at any time
without penalty. This research is for educational purposes only.

If you have any questions, please ask us. If you have additional questions at a later time, please
contact the following sources:
-Questions regarding the Nature of the Research: Dr. Michael Botwin (559) 278-5099
-Questions regarding the Rights of Research Subjects: The CSUF Committee on the
Protection of Human Subjects (559) 278-2083. You may have a copy of this consent
form to keep.

YOU ARE MAKING A DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO PARTICIPATE. YOUR

SIGNATURE INDICATES THAT YOU HAVE DECIDED TO PARTICIPATE, HAVING
READ THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ABOVE.

___________________ _________________ ___________________

Date Signature Name (Please Print)

______________________________
Signature of Investigator
APPENDIX B: DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE
 56
Please complete the following items:
1.) Age____________
2.) Sex: Male______ Female_______
Please circle the response that best represents you.
3.) What is the status of your current romantic relationship?
(A) Single
(B) Dating Cohabiting
(C) Cohabiting / Living with a Partner
(D) Engaged
(E) Married
(F) Divorced
(G) Widowed
4.) What is your race?
(A) African American
(B) Asian
(C) Hispanic
(D) Native American
(E) White
(F) Other
(G) Chose not to state
5.) Approximately, how often do you think of your current romantic
partner? If you do not currently have a romantic partner how often
do you think about your last romantic partner? If you have never had
a romantic partner, how often do you think about a potential
romantic partner?
(A) never
(B) one to ten times a month
(C) one to five times a week
(D) one to five times a day
(E) more than five times a day
6.) Approximately, how many minutes on an “average” day do you
spend thinking about a significant other, or potential partner?
(A) none
(B) one minute to one hour
(C) one hour to two hours
(D) two hours to three hours
(E) three hours to four hours
(F) five hours to six hours
(G) six hours to seven hours
(H) seven hours to eight hours
(I) more than eight hours
APPENDIX C: ACT NOMINATION SURVEY
 58
Individuals who are romantically infatuated are usually obsessed with the other
individual. Romantic infatuation can be defined as having intense, even irrational,
romantic feelings for another individual.

Think of a time when either you or someone you know has been romantically infatuated
with another individual. Please write down at least five behaviors that you or someone
you know performed while romantically infatuated, or behaviors you believe to be
associated with the construct of romantic infatuation.

1.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

2.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

3.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

4.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

5.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

6.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.
7.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

8.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

9.______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.

10._____________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________.
APPENDIX D: ROMANTIC INFATUATION ACT REPORT
 60
In this study we are exploring romantic infatuation. Please rate each behavior on
the seven-point scale listed below.

Please, think of a time when you were seriously romantically infatuated with
another individual. Imagine the feelings and emotions you had about that person.
When you have these feelings and emotions in your mind, please begin to rate
each of the following behaviors in the context of your feelings of romantic
infatuation.

1. I find him/her very attractive

2. I get butterflies in my stomach when around him/her
3. I want to kiss him/her
4. I want to hug him/her
5. I am happy when I am around him/her
6. I get a cheesy smile on my face when I see him/her
7. I have a better day when I get to see him/her
8. I picture what my life would be like with him/her in the long run
9. I get butterflies in my stomach when I am around her/him
10. I want to hold his/her hand
11. I get excited whenever he/she is around
12. When I see him/her I am more motivated throughout the day
13. I listen to what he/she wants
14. I give him/her many compliments
15. I am extra kind to him/her
16. I want frequent physical contact with him/her
17. I engage in activities that he/she enjoys
18. I buy him/her gifts he/she will like
19. I never get tired of being around him/her
20. I talk about my feelings with him/her
21. I giggle when I am around him/her
22. My cheeks blush when I'm around them
23. I become more confident when I am around her/him
24. I do my best to impress him/her
25. I constantly daydream about him/her
26. I spend money on him/her
27. I constantly check my phone to see if he/she has texted me
28. I get jealous when he/she spends time with others
29. I have to talk to her/him everyday
30. I lust for him/her
31. I find reasons to talk to him/her
32. I cook her/him dinner or clean his/her house because I like them
33. I add him/her on various social media sites
 61
34. I go out of my way to do things for her/him
35. I stare at him/her
36. I make eye contact with him/her as much as possible
37. I get angry when he/she is interested in someone other than me
38. I talk to him/her for more than two hours a day
39. My speech stutters when around him/her
40. I feel unsatisfied when I am not able to be in a romantic relationship with
him/her
41. I act happy-go-lucky when I am around her/him
42. I become protective of him/her
43. I spend more money on him/her than I do on myself
44. I travel long distances to be around him/her
45. I lose focus when I am around him/her
46. I talk about him/her all the time
47. I act more spontaneous when I am around him/her
48. I spend countless hours with him/her
49. I look at his/her pictures on social media sites
50. I try things that are out of my comfort zone, because I want to make
him/her happy
51. I change my appearance to make myself more desirable to him/her
52. I become insecure/worried that he/she will not like me back
53. I spill all of my thoughts out to him/her
54. My hands sweat
55. I say stupid things when I'm around him/her because I get nervous
56. I constantly bring him/her up in conversations
57. I become insecure/worried that he/she will cheat on/leave me
58. I get quiet and shy around him/her
59. I stay close to him/her when others are around
60. I get nervous about asking him/her out on a date
61. I act outgoing so I don’t bore him/her
62. I drop my plans to be with him/her
63. I compromise my own wants and needs to accommodate his/hers
64. I try more risky things when I am around him/her
65. I go to school when I know he/she has class so that I can be around him/her
66. I constantly talk about him/her with my friends
67. I keep him/her around at all times
68. I prioritize his/her time above my own
69. I put his/her needs before my own
70. I don’t listen to my friends advice when it comes to the person I am
infatuated with
71. I lose focus easily when I am around him/her
72. I become overwhelmed when I do not see him/her
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73. I do anything he/she asks me to do
74. Even when I get rejected, I will still message/call him/her
75. I become over-talkative on the phone
76. I post about him/her on social media sites
77. I ignore aspects of my own life, because I am thinking about him/her
78. I make irrational decisions that affect my romantic life when I am
infatuated with someone
APPENDIX E: BIG FIVE PERSONALITY INVENTORY
 64

How Accurately Can You Describe Yourself?

Describe yourself as you generally are now, not as you wish to be in the future.
Describe yourself as you honestly see yourself, in relation to other people you
know of the same sex as you are, and roughly your same age. So that you can
describe yourself in an honest manner, your responses will be kept in absolute
confidence.

Indicate for each statement whether it is 1. Very Inaccurate, 2. Moderately

Inaccurate, 3. Neither Accurate nor Inaccurate, 4. Moderately Accurate, or 5. Very
Accurate as a description of you.

1. I am the life of the party. О О О О О (1+)

2. Feel little concern for others. О О О О О (2-)
3. Am always prepared. О О О О О (3+)
4. Get stressed out easily. О О О О О (4-)
5. Have a rich vocabulary. О О О О О (5+)
6. Don't talk a lot. О О О О О (1-)
7. Am interested in people. О О О О О (2+)
8. Leave my belongings around. О О О О О (3-)
9. Am relaxed most of the time. О О О О О (4+)
10. Have difficulty understanding abstract ideas. О О О О О (5-)
11. Feel comfortable around people. О О О О О (1+)
12. Insult people. О О О О О (2-)
13. Pay attention to details. О О О О О (3+)
14. Worry about things. О О О О О (4-)
15. Have a vivid imagination. О О О О О (5+)
16. Keep in the background. О О О О О (1-)
17. Sympathize with others' feelings. О О О О О (2+)
18. Make a mess of things. О О О О О (3-)
19. Seldom feel blue. О О О О О (4+)
20. Am not interested in abstract ideas. О О О О О (5-)
21. Start conversations. О О О О О (1+)
22. Am not interested in other people's problems. О О О О О (2-)
23. Get chores done right away. О О О О О (3+)
24. Am easily disturbed. О О О О О (4-)
25. Have excellent ideas. О О О О О (5+)
26. Have little to say. О О О О О (1-)
27. Have a soft heart. О О О О О (2+)
 65
28. Often forget to put things back in their proper
place. О О О О О (3-)
29. Get upset easily. О О О О О (4-)
30. Do not have a good imagination. О О О О О (5-)
31. Talk to a lot of different people at parties. О О О О О (1+)
32. Am not really interested in others. О О О О О (2-)
33. Like order. О О О О О (3+)
34. Change my mood a lot. О О О О О (4-)
35. Am quick to understand things. О О О О О (5+)
36. Don't like to draw attention to myself. О О О О О (1-)
37. Take time out for others. О О О О О (2+)
38. Shirk my duties. О О О О О (3-)
39. Have frequent mood swings. О О О О О (4-)
40. Use difficult words. О О О О О (5+)
41. Don't mind being the center of attention. О О О О О (1+)
42. Feel others' emotions. О О О О О (2+)
43. Follow a schedule. О О О О О (3+)
44. Get irritated easily. О О О О О (4-)
45. Spend time reflecting on things. О О О О О (5+)
46. Am quiet around strangers. О О О О О (1-)
47. Make people feel at ease. О О О О О (2+)
48. Am exacting in my work. О О О О О (3+)
49. Often feel blue. О О О О О (4-)
50. Am full of ideas. О О О О О (5+)
APPENDIX F: BALANCED INVENTORY OF DESIRABLE
RESPONDING
 67
Using the scale provided, please indicate what number represents your level of
agreement with each statement.

1 2 3 4 . 5 6 7
Not true ….Somewhat true Very true

____ 1. My first impressions of people usually turn out to be right.

____ 2. It would be hard for me to break any of my bad habits.
____ 3. I don't care to know what other people really think of me.
____ 4. I have not always been honest with myself.
____ 5. I always know why I like things.
____ 6. When my emotions are aroused, it biases my thinking.
____ 7. Once I've made up my mind, other people can seldom change my opinion.
____ 8. I am not a safe driver when I exceed the speed limit.
____ 9. I am fully in control of my own fate.
____ 10. It's hard for me to shut off a disturbing thought.
____ 11. I never regret my decisions.
____ 12. I sometimes lose out on things because I can't make up my mind soon
enough.
____ 13. The reason I vote is because my vote can make a difference.
____ 14. My parents were not always fair when they punished me.
____ 15. I am a completely rational person.
____ 16. I rarely appreciate criticism.
____ 17. I am very confident of my judgments
____ 18. I have sometimes doubted my ability as a lover.
____ 19. It's all right with me if some people happen to dislike me.
____ 20. I don't always know the reasons why I do the things I do.
____ 21. I sometimes tell lies if I have to.
____ 22. I never cover up my mistakes.
____ 23. There have been occasions when I have taken advantage of someone.
____ 24. I never swear.
____ 25. I sometimes try to get even rather than forgive and forget.
____ 26. I always obey laws, even if I'm unlikely to get caught.
____ 27. I have said something bad about a friend behind his/her back.
____ 28. When I hear people talking privately, I avoid listening.
____ 29. I have received too much change from a salesperson without telling him
or her.
____ 30. I always declare everything at customs.
____ 31. When I was young I sometimes stole things.
____ 32. I have never dropped litter on the street.
____ 33. I sometimes drive faster than the speed limit.
____ 34. I never read sexy books or magazines.
 68

____ 35. I have done things that I don't tell other people about.
____ 36. I never take things that don't belong to me.
____ 37. I have taken sick-leave from work or school even though I wasn't really
sick.
____ 38. I have never damaged a library book or store merchandise without
reporting it.
____ 39. I have some pretty awful habits.
____ 40. I don't gossip about other people's business.
APPENDIX G: INFATUATION AND ATTACHMENT SCALES
 70

Infatuation and Attachment Scales

1. I stare into the distance while I think of _____.
2. I feel that I can count on _____.
3. I get shaky knees when I am near _____.
4. I am prepared to share my possessions with _____.
5. I would feel lonely without _____.
6. My feelings for _____ reduce my appetite.
7. My thoughts about _____ make it difficult for me to concentrate on
something else.
8. _____ is the one for me.
9. I am afraid that I will say something wrong when I talk to _____.
10. _____ knows everything about me.
11. I hope my feelings for _____ will never end.
12. I get clammy hands when I am near _____.
13. I feel emotionally connected to _____.
14. I become tense when I am close to _____.
15. _____ can reassure me when I am upset.
16. I have a hard time sleeping because I am thinking of _____.
17. I search for alternative meanings to _____’s words.
18. _____ is the person who can make me feel the happiest.
19. _____ is part of my plans for the future.
20. I am shy in the presence of _____.
APPENDIX H: STUDY 2 CORRELATIONS
Correlation Coefficients for Big Five, Social Desirability, and the Eight Factors of RI
Variable RI Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Extraversion .004 .021 .030 .016 -.090 .069 -.223** .105 .049
Agreeableness .168** .315** .000 .072 .000 .244** .037 .182** .176**
Conscientiousness -.053 .056 -.139* -.019 -.109 .030 -.054 -.073 -.080
Emotional Stability -.171** -.012 -.243** -.095 -.333** .065 -.184** -.174** -.124*
Openness to Experience .183** .192** .162** .069 .122 .200** .047 .104 .175**
BIDR.SDE -.237** -.075 -.314** -.050 -.358** .017 -.286** -.169** -.207**
BIDR.IM -.207** -.108 -.238** -.081 -.271** -.021 -.176** -.136* -.236**
Note. **p < .01, two-tailed. *p < .05, two-tailed. (1) General Infatuation, (2) Self-sacrifice, (3) Monopolizing, (4) Insecurity, (5) Confidence,
(6) Irrationality, (7) Obsession, (8) Closeness, N = 291.

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APPENDIX I: STUDY 3 PARTIAL CORRELATIONS
Partial Correlations Between the Big Five Personality Traits, and the Five Factors of RI, Controlling for Social
Desirability
Big Five RI.Total 1 2 3 4 5

Extraversion .062*** .076*** .075*** -.054*** .101*** .015***

Agreeableness .171*** .197*** .139*** .086*** .094*** .151***
Conscientiousness -.184*** -.154*** -.156*** -.219*** -.072*** -.172***
Emotional Stability -.064*** .008*** -.058*** -.042*** -.123*** -.252***
Openness to Experience .094*** .094*** .091*** .061*** .039*** .095***
Note. **p < .01, two-tailed. *p < .05, two-tailed. (1) General Infatuation, (2) Resources, (3) Fumbling, (4) Obsession, and (5) Negative
Emotions. N = 231.

74