How You Treat Others May Depend On Whether You're Single or Attached

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130211135017.htm

Feb. 11, 2013 — With Valentine's Day looming, many married couples will wish marital bliss for their single friends. At the same time, many singles will pity their coupled friends' loss of freedom. People like to believe that their way of life -- whether single or coupled -- is the best for everyone, especially if they think their relationship status is unlikely to change, according to a study forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The study suggests that this bias may influence how we treat others, even in situations where relationship status shouldn't matter.

Research shows that feeling "stuck" within a particular social system leads people to justify and rationalize that system.

-----

Ironically, people may idealize their own status as a way of dealing with the unsatisfactory aspects of that status.
-----

Participants who were led to perceive greater stability in their relationship status judged same-status job candidates more positively, although they weren't more likely to hire them. Participants were more likely to vote for a same-status political candidate, however, when they had information that gave them an excuse to express their bias.

When the data from all four studies were combined into one analysis, the results showed that perceived stability led both coupled and single participants to treat others like them more favorably.