Compensatory Relationship Enhancement

Abstract

The motivation-management model suggests that people are equipped with a variety of motivated strategies to mitigate against relationship threats such as conflicts of interests and partner transgressions. We propose that such strategies are more likely to be enacted when the nature of the threat is calibrated with the motivational basis for relationship maintenance. We examine how value dissimilarity may pose an identity threat that triggers reaffirming and bolstering one’s positive views of the partner and the relationship, namely, compensatory relationship enhancement. We experimentally manipulated feedback to dating couples about value similarity regarding a possible pregnancy decision (similar vs. control vs. dissimilar) and assessed relationship evaluations pre- and postmanipulation. Using multilevel modeling, we found that individuals highly identified with their relationship increased their baseline positive relationship evaluations in response to the threat of value dissimilarity.