Priming relationship pedestal beliefs in single people

Relationship pedestal beliefs (i.e., the belief that people need to be in a romantic relationship to be happy) has been linked to worse well-being. Yet, it is unclear if relationship pedestal beliefs can be primed. Across four pre-registered experimental studies (total N = 830), we tested whether exposure to a low vs. high relationship pedestal beliefs prime are associated with differences in the endorsement of relationship pedestal beliefs and well-being. Results from 3 of the 4 pre-registered studies suggest that participants in the high relationship pedestal beliefs condition (suggesting coupled people are happier than single people) reported higher endorsement of relationship pedestal beliefs compared to participants in the low relationship pedestal beliefs condition (suggesting single people are just as happy as coupled people) – although the lack of a control condition made it difficult to establish what direction the primes shifted beliefs. Exploratory analyses comparing experimentally primed vs. natural endorsement of relationship pedestal beliefs suggest that the priming effects may be limited to lowering (not increasing) relationship pedestal beliefs. Furthermore, the downstream effects of the primes were inconsistent across studies. Participants in the high relationship pedestal beliefs condition reported higher fears of being single (S2 and S4), relationship desire (S1 and S3) and negative mood (S2 and S4), and lower well-being (S1) compared those in the low relationship pedestal beliefs condition. Overall, we provide novel evidence that relationship pedestal beliefs may be malleable. Future research should establish directionality and consequences of exposing people to different narratives about single and coupled people.