Abstract
Marriage license applicants and law students were surveyed about their knowledge of divorce statutes, knowledge of the demographics of divorce, and expectations for their own marriage. Both groups had largely incorrect perceptions of the legal terms of the marriage contract as embodied in divorce statutes, but they had relatively accurate, if sometimes optimistic, perceptions of both the likelihood and the effects of divorce in the population at large. These same individuals expressed thoroughly idealistic expectations about both the longevity of their own marriages and the consequences should they personally be divorced. Increasing individuals' knowledge of divorce statutes through a course on family law did not diminish this unrealistic optimism. Both groups largely approved of the existing divorce statutes, although there was substantial agreement about a few important respects in which the laws should be changed. These findings suggest that the sense of unfairness and surprise that frequently attend divorce may be a result of systematic cognitive biases rather than of a lack of information about divorce.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Baker, L. A. (1990). Promulgating the marriage contract.University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 23, 217–264.
Bell, R. B. (1988). Alimony and the financially dependent spouse in Montgomery County, Maryland.Family Law Quarterly, 22, 225–318.
Bumpass, L. (1984). Children and marital disruption: A replication and update.Demography, 21, 71–82.
Duncan, G. J., & Hoffman, S. D. (1985). A reconsideration of the economic consequences of marital dissolution.Demography, 22, 485–497.
Emery, R. E. (1988).Marriage, divorce, and children's adjustment. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Fineman, M. A. (1991).The illusion of equality: The rhetoric and reality of divorce reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Furstenberg, F. F., Peterson, J. L., Nord, C. W., & Zill, N. (1983). The life course of children of divorce: Marital disruption and parental contact.American Sociological Review, 48, 656–668.
Gigerenzer, G. (1991). How to make cognitive illusions disappear: Beyond “heuristics and biases.” In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.),European review of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 83–115). Chichester, United Kingdom: Wiley.
Gigerenzer, G., Hell, W., & Blank, H. (1988). Presentation and content: The use of base rates as a continous variable.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 14, 513–525.
Glendon, M. A. (1987).Abortion and divorce in Western law: American failures, European challenges. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Glick, P. C., & Lin, S. (1986). Recent changes in divorce and remarriage.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 737–747.
Hirschman, A. O. (1967). The principle of the hiding hand.Public Interest, 6, 10–23.
Hoffman, S. D., & Duncan, G. J. (1988). What are the economic consequences of divorce?Demography, 25, 641–645.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1982a). Subjective probability: A judgment of representativeness. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, & A. Tversky (Eds.),Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 32–47). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1982b). On the psychology of prediction. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, & A. Tversky (Eds.),Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 48–68). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Norton, A. J., & Moorman, J. E. (1987). Current trends in marriage and divorce among American women.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 3–14.
Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families of the U.S. House of Representatives (1983).U.S. children and their famlies: Current conditions and recent trends. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Taylor, S. E. (1989).Positive illusions: Creative self-deception and the healthy mind. New York: Basic.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (1989).Child support and alimony: 1985 (Series P-23, No. 154). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Support Enforcement (1989).Child support enforcement: Twelfth annual report to Congress for the period ending September 30, 1987 (Vol. I). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Weitzman, L. J. (1985).The divorce revolution: The unexpected social and economic consequences for women and children in American. New York: Free Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The authors thank Michele Tuer for valuable assistance at all stages of this research, Dana Richens and Elizabeth Scott for help with data collection, and John Monahan for advice on survey design. We are grateful to Mary Becker, Bo Burt, Bob Ellickson, Mary Ann Glendon, Julia Mahoney, Bob Mnookin, John Monahan, Tom Oldham, Carol Sanger, Carl Schneider, Elizabeth Scott, Bill Stuntz, Peter Swire, and Larry Walker for valuable comments on early drafts. The University of Virginia Law School Foundation and the Streich Lang Research Fellowship at the University of Arizona College of Law provided important financial support.
About this article
Cite this article
Baker, L.A., Emery, R.E. When every relationship is above average. Law Hum Behav 17, 439–450 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01044377
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01044377