Essay #4 1 Self- Concept Change after Romantic Breakups Affects the Transference of Relational Selves By Rosa Amador February 10, 2023 The transcendence of the relational self demonstrates that the self links current and prior experiences during our relationships with others. This concept explains that our brain stores these experiences and might be triggered across situations reflecting our interpersonal self. Saying this, people use their past experiences to make sense of their new ones. The Slotter and colleagues article stated that the personal self becomes confused after a romantic breakup and causes emotional distress. We all know that in most romantic relationships and mostly in long relationships, partners become intertwined, and the individualistic line can become blurry; during this time, couples create good and bad memories and experiences. After a romantic breakup, these experiences might affect their future relationships with another person, either for good or bad. Example: a person who was previously in a toxic relationship, and after the breakup, they went back to another toxic relationship; this could be because the individual was very in love with their prior partner and they wanted the relationship to last; studies describe that our subconscious will recognize this experience and might lead the individual to a false sensation that this time, it might be different, and they will achieve the bonding they did not have in the prior relationships. Or vice versa, because of the terrible experience, they might avoid having any relationship with someone who has a physical resemblance to their past partner, evading the feeling of lost and confusion. Essay #4 2 References Andersen, M., & Przybylinski, E. (2013). The Relational Self: Transference as a Meaning-Making Mechanism. Personality Dynamics: Meaning Construction, the Social World, and the Embodied Mind, 67–89. Slotter EB, Gardner WL, Finkel EJ. Who am I without you? The influence of romantic breakup on the self-concept. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2010 Feb;36(2):147-60. doi: 10.1177/0146167209352250. Epub 2009 December 15. PMID: 20008964.
