This study examined the role of compassionate love (CL) in shaping cognitive, emotional, physiological, and behavioral responses to partner distress (N = 56 couples). One member of each couple (the support provider) observed his/her partner perform an easy or difficult stress task (designed to vary signals of partner distress). Support providers in the difficult (vs. easy) condition showed more partner focus, emotional distress, and blood pressure reactivity during the task and expressed more support afterward. Support providers high (vs. low) in CL showed greater partner focus and emotional empathy and sent more caring messages. Additional analyses suggest that CL increases sensitivity to a partner’s distress and that the link between CL and support behavior is mediated by increases in empathy and attention to one’s partner.
BatsonC. D. (2009). These things called empathy. In DecetyJ.IckesW. (Eds.), The social neuroscience of empathy (pp. 3–15). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
4.
BatsonC. D. (2011). Altruism in humans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
5.
BatsonC. D.EarlyS.SalvaraniG. (1997). Perspective taking: Imagining how another feels versus imagining how you would feel. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 751–758.
6.
BerscheidE. (2006). Searching for the meaning of “love.” In SternbergR. J.WeisK. (Eds.), The new psychology of love (pp. 171–183). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
7.
BlascovichJ. (2008). Challenge and threat. In ElliotA. J. (Ed.), Handbook of approach and avoidance motivation (pp. 431–445). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
8.
BlascovichJ.MendesW. B.VanmanE.DickersonS. (2011). Social psychophysiology for social and personality psychology. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
9.
BowlbyJ. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Basic Books.
10.
BowlbyJ. (1988). A secure base. New York, NY: Basic Books.
11.
BrownS. L.BrownR. M.PrestonS. D. (2011). A model of human caregiving motivation. In BrownS. L.BrownR. M.PennerL. A. (Eds.), Moving beyond self-interest: Perspectives from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and the social sciences (pp. 75–88). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
12.
BuchananT. W.BagleyS. L.StansfieldR. B.PrestonS. D. (2012). The empathic, physiological resonance of stress. Social Neuroscience, 7, 191–201.
13.
BuckA. A.NeffL. A. (2012). Stress spillover in early marriage: The role of self-regulatory depletion. Journal of Family Psychology, 26, 698–708.
14.
CanevelloA.CrockerJ. (2010). Creating good relationships: Responsiveness, relationship quality, and interpersonal goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 78–106.
15.
ClarkM. S.GrahamS.GroteN. (2002). Bases for giving benefits in marriage: What is ideal? What is realistic? What really happens? In NollerP.FeeneyJ. A. (Eds.), Understanding marriage: Developments in the study of couple interaction (pp. 150–176). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
16.
ClarkM. S.MillsJ. (1993). The difference between communal and exchange relationships: What it is and is not. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 684–691.
17.
CollinsN. L.FeeneyB. C. (2000). A safe haven: An attachment theory perspective on support-seeking and caregiving in adult romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 1053–1073.
18.
CollinsN. L.FordM. (2010). Responding to the needs of others: The caregiving behavioral system in intimate relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27, 235–244.
19.
CollinsN. L.FordM. B.GuichardA. C.KaneH. S.FeeneyB. C. (2009). Responding to need in intimate relationships: Social support and caregiving processes in couples. In MikulincerM.ShaverP. R. (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior (pp. 367–389). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
20.
CrockerJ.CanevelloA. (2008). Creating and undermining social support in communal relationships: The role of compassionate and self-image goals. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 95, 555–575.
21.
de WaalF. B. M. (2008). Putting the altruism back into altruism: The evolution of empathy. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 279–300.
22.
EliezerD.TownsendS. S. M.SawyerP. J.MajorB.MendesW. B. (2011). System-justifying beliefs moderate the relationship between perceived discrimination and resting blood pressure. Social Cognition, 29, 303–321.
23.
EndersC. K.BandalosD. L. (2001). The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Structural Equation Modeling, 8, 430–457.
24.
FeeneyB. C. (2004). A secure base: Responsive support of goal strivings and exploration in adult intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 631–648.
25.
FeeneyB. C.CollinsN. L. (2001). Predictors of caregiving in adult intimate relationships: An attachment theoretical perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 972–994.
26.
FeeneyB. C.CollinsN. L. (2003). Motivations for caregiving in adult intimate relationships: Influences on caregiving behavior and relationship functioning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 950–968.
27.
FeeneyB. C.CollinsN. L. (2013). A theoretical perspective on the importance of social connections for thriving. In MikulincerM.ShaverP. R. (Eds.), Mechanisms of social connection: From brain to group (pp. 291–314). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
28.
FeeneyB. C.CollinsN. L. (2014). A new look at social support: A theoretical perspective on thriving through relationships. Unpublished manuscript.
29.
FeeneyB. C.CollinsN. L.VanVleet, M.TomlinsonJ. M. (2013). Motivations for providing a secure base: Links with attachment orientation and secure base support behavior. Attachment and Human Development, 15, 261–280.
30.
FeeneyB. C.ThrushR. L. (2010). Relationship influences on exploration in adulthood: The characteristics and function of a secure base. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 57–76.
31.
FehrB.SprecherS. (2009). Compassionate love: Conceptual, measurement, and relational issues. In FehrB.SprecherS.UnderwoodL. (Eds.), The science of compassionate love: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 27–52). Malden, MA: Blackwell-Wiley.
32.
FraleyR. C.ShaverP. R. (1998). Airport separations: A naturalistic study of adult attachment dynamics in separating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1198–1212.
33.
GableS. L.GonzagaG. C.StrachmanA. (2006). Will you be there for me when things go right? Supportive responses to positive event disclosures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 904–917.
34.
GableS. L.ReisH. T. (2010). Good news! Capitalizing on personal events in an interpersonal context. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 195–257.
35.
GeorgeC.SolomonJ. (2008). The caregiving system: A behavioral systems approach to parenting. In CassidyJ.ShaverP. R. (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 383–416). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
36.
Holt-LunstadJ.SmithT. B. (2012). Social relationships and mortality. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6, 41–53.
37.
IidaM.SeidmanG.ShroutP. E.FujitaK.BolgerN. (2008). Modeling support provision in intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 460–478.
38.
KaneH. S.JaremkaL. M.GuichardA.FordM.CollinsN.FeeneyB. C. (2007). Feeling supported and feeling satisfied: How one partner’s attachment style predicts the other partner’s perceived support, felt security, and relationship satisfaction. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 24, 535–556.
39.
KaplanM.MadduxJ. E. (2002). Goals and marital satisfaction: Perceived support for personal goals and collective efficacy for collective goals. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 21, 157–164.
40.
KeltnerD. (2009). Born to be good: The science of a meaningful life. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
41.
KirschbaumC.PirkeK. M.HellhammerD. H. (1993). The ‘trier social stress test’: A tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology, 28, 76–81.
42.
KunceL. J.ShaverP. R. (1994). An attachment-theoretical approach to caregiving in romantic relationships. In BartholomewK.PerlmanD. (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships: Vol. 5. Attachment processes in adulthood (pp. 205–237). London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
43.
LakeyB.OrehekE. (2011). Relational regulation theory: A new approach to explain the link between perceived social support and mental health. Psychological Review, 118, 482–495.
44.
MendesW. B. (2009). Assessing autonomic nervous system activity. In Harmon-JonesE.BeerJ. S. (Eds.), Methods in social neuroscience (pp. 118–147). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
45.
MoninJ. K.FeeneyB. C.SchulzR. (2012). Attachment orientation and reactions to anxiety expression in close relationships. Personal Relationships, 19, 535–550.
46.
MoninJ. K.SchulzR.FeeneyB. C.CookT. B. (2010). Attachment insecurity and perceived partner suffering as predictors of personal distress. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 1143–1147.
47.
MoninJ. K.SchulzR.MartireL. M.JenningsJ. R.LinglerJ. H.GreenbergM. S. (2010). Spouses’ cardiovascular reactivity to their partners’ suffering. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 65, 195–201.
48.
NeffL A.KarneyB. R. (2008). Compassionate love in early marriage. In FehrB.SprecherS.UnderwoodL., (Eds.), The science of compassionate love: Research, theory and applications (pp. 201–222). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
49.
NeffL. A.KarneyB. R. (2009). Stress and reactivity to daily relationship experiences: How stress hinders adaptive processes in marriage. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 435–445.
50.
PaschL. A.BradburyT. N. (1998). Social support, conflict, and the development of marital dysfunction. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 219–230.
51.
PorgesS. W.CarterS. (2011). Mechanisms, mediators, and adaptive consequences of caregiving. In BrownS. L.BrownR. M.PennerL. A. (Eds.), Moving beyond self-interest: Perspectives from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and the social sciences (pp. 53–71). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
52.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2008). Contemporary approaches to assessing mediation in communication research. In A. F. Hayes, M. D. Slater, & L. B. Snyder (Eds.), The Sage sourcebook of advanced data analysis methods for communication research (pp. 13–54). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
53.
PrestonS. D. (2013). The origins of altruism in offspring care. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 1305–1341.
54.
ShaverP. R.MikulincerM.Shemesh-IronM. (2009). A behavioral systems perspective on prosocial behavior. In MikulincerM.ShaverP. R. (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior: The better angels of our nature (pp. 73–92). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
55.
SimpsonJ. A.RholesW. S.OriñaM. M.GrichJ. (2002). Working models of attachment, support giving, and support seeking in a stressful situation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 598–608.
56.
SprecherS.FehrB. (2005). Compassionate love for close others and humanity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22, 629–651.
57.
SprecherS.FehrB. (2011). Dispositional attachment and relationship-specific attachment as predictors of compassionate love for a partner. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 28, 558–574.
58.
SprecherS.FehrB.ZimmermanC. (2007). Expectation for mood enhancement as a result of helping: The effects of gender and compassionate love. Sex Roles, 56, 543–549.
59.
SprecherS.ZimmermanC.AbrahamsE. M. (2010). Choosing compassionate strategies to end a relationship: Effects of compassionate love for partner and the reason for the breakup. Social Psychology, 41, 66–75.
60.
SullivanK. T.PaschL. A.JohnsonM. D.BradburyT. N. (2010). Social support, problem solving and the longitudinal course of newlywed marriage. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 631–644.
61.
TabachnickB. G.FidellL. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
62.
UchinoB. N. (2004). Social support and physical health: Understanding the health consequences of our relationships. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
63.
UchinoB. N. (2009). Understanding the links between social support and physical health: A life-span perspective with emphasis on the separability of perceived and received support. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 236–255.
64.
UnderwoodL. G. (2002). The human experience of compassionate love. In PostS. G.UnderwoodL. G.SchlossJ.HurlbutW. B. (Eds.), Altruism and altruistic love (pp. 72–88). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
65.
WilliamsonG. M.ClarkM. S.PegalisL. J.BehanA. (1996). Affective consequences of refusing to help in communal and exchange relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 34–47.
66.
YooS. H.ClarkM. S.LemayE. P.JrSaloveyP.MoninJ. K. (2011). Responding to partners’ expression of anger: The role of communal motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 229–241.
