Editing Significant other (section)

==Scientific use==
Its usage in [[psychology]] and [[sociology]] is very different from its colloquial use. In psychology, a significant other is any person who has great importance to an individual's life or [[quality of life|well-being]]. In sociology, it describes any person or persons with a strong influence on an individual's [[self-concept]]. Although the influence of significant others on individuals was long theorized, the first actual measurements of the influence of significant others on individuals were made by Archie O. Haller, Edward L. Fink, and [[Joseph Woelfel]] at the University of Wisconsin.{{r|haller-1972}}

Haller, Fink, and Woelfel are associates of the [[Wisconsin model]] of status attainment. They surveyed 100 Wisconsin adolescents, measured their educational and occupational aspirations, and identified the set of other individuals who communicated with the students and served as examples for them. They then contacted the significant others directly measured their expectations for the adolescent's educational and occupational attainments, and calculated the impact of these expectations on the aspirations of the students. Results of the research showed that the expectations of significant others were the single most potent influences on the student's aspirations.{{r|woelfel-1971}} This usage is synonymous with the term "relevant other" and can also be found in plural form, "significant others".

In [[social psychology]], a significant other is an "insulating person", uncle/aunt, grandparent, guardian, or teacher – the person who guides and takes care of a child during primary [[socialization]].{{cn|date=April 2020}} The significant other protects, rewards, and punishes the child as a way of aiding the child's development. This usually takes about six or seven years, after which the significant other is no longer needed, and the child moves on to a general "other" which is not a real person, but an abstract notion of what [[society]] deems good or bad.