Unrequited love: On Heartbreak, Anger, Guilt, Scriptlessness, and Humiliation is a study done by Roy F. Baumeister, Sara R. Wotman, and Arlene M. Stillwell. The study takes into account the numerous negative effects both on the "Would be Lover," and the "Rejector"(p.377). The negative effects on the "Would be Lover" include, Heartbreak, Anger, and Humiliation, whereas the effects on the "Rejector" also include Anger but also Guilt and Scriptlessness. Unrequited love deals with a social relationship between two people many if not all of the eight overarching themes in social psychology are observable in the behavior of the couples. Construction of Reality is the axiom that each person's view of reality is a construction, shaped both by cognitive processes and by social processes (Smith & Mackie 1995). What this says is that reality is basically in the eye of the beholder meaning what is seen and what is heard is very personal and varies greatly from person to person. One example of this is during the breakup of the couple, the "Would be Lover", may disagree about whether an explicit message of rejection was delivered and therefore persist in their advances towards the rejector who views these actions as inappropriate, irrational and/or obnoxious(p. 380). In this case the "Would be Lover" doesn't interpret the message given as rejection, possibly because from her point of view the relationship is strong and heading in a positive direction with the affections being mutual, therefore when the advances continue the "Rejector" sees them as inappropriate and irrational because he does not take into account the broad contrast in views. Another instance in the relationship involving the construction of reality is the issue of attraction. Initial romantic attraction seems to depend on the partner's desirability such that the most desirable partners elicit the most attraction and the greatest enjoyment of initial dates (Walster, Aro...
