Current research has honed in on responsiveness as the active ingredient that underlies many of the important qualities that define satisfying, healthy relationships. This article describes a dynamic interpersonal model of responsiveness in close relationships that is suggested by recent findings. In particular, we review evidence regarding three key questions of contemporary research interest. First, does responsiveness, in and of itself, promote relationship and personal well-being? Second, to what extent does perceived responsiveness depend on accurate understanding of the self by partners? Third, is perceived responsiveness grounded in the partner's actions, the perceiver's motivated interpretations, or both? Answers to these questions contribute to the development of an integrated model of responsiveness for future work to build upon.
AddressesWhen people are asked what they want from their close relationship partners, they usually mention qualities like having someone to confide in, share in life's joys, be an empathic listener, and provide appropriate support when needed. Consistent with lay impressions, research demonstrates that these qualities are associated with the health of relationships. Researchers have recognized that these processes may share a common foundation, and the active ingredient that binds them to relationship quality has been termed responsiveness [1]. Responsiveness describes how partners attend to and support each other's needs and goals; it is a deliberately broad and inclusive construct that touches on many familiar concepts and processes in relationship science. The advantage of focusing on this common element is that it suggests a theoretical model that can help organize seemingly diverse phenomena into a coherent whole.Responsiveness is rooted in the personalities, goals, and relationship history of interacting persons, grounded in the elements of their interaction, and revealed in their perceptions of those interactions. It contributes to the growth and well-being of relationships, or, in its absence, to their decline and dissolution; likewise, responsiveness fosters the growth and well-being of individuals, or, in its absence, their stagnation and discontent. Because it is a fundamentally interpersonal process with intrapersonal origins and consequences, responsiveness highlights the centrality of relationships for understanding individuals.In this article, we build on theoretical models that we and others have reported previously to discuss recent advances in theorizing about responsiveness [2,3]. We begin by describing the central concepts of this model in general terms. Subsequently we address three key questions suggested by the model that have been the focus of recent research. Throughout this review, for the sake of currency, we emphasize research that has appeared in the past few years, but this is done with full awareness that these studies stand on the shoulders of prior work. A fuller review can be found in [4 ].
A model of responsivenessOur working model of responsi...