Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga.
Emotion. 2018 Aug;18(5):625-637. doi: 10.1037/emo0000344. Epub 2017 Jun 12.
Gratitude is robustly linked to many positive outcomes for individuals and relationships (e.g., greater life and relationship satisfaction). However, little is known about how romantic partners come to feel grateful for each other's pro-relational acts, such as when a partner makes a sacrifice. The present research examines how perceptions of partner sacrifice motives evoke gratitude. We distinguish between partner, relationship, and self-focused motives, and how they are guided by approach or avoidance orientations. We expected that perceiving a partner to sacrifice for partner-focused approach motives (i.e., to promote the partner's well-being) should evoke gratitude, as this type of motive may signal a genuine departure from self-interest. Moreover, we expected these motives to provoke greater perceptions of partner responsiveness, which should partially explain why they elicit gratitude. In contrast, perceiving a partner to sacrifice for relationship-focused motives (e.g., to promote the well-being of the relationship), or self-focused motives (e.g., to feel good about oneself), should not evoke gratitude-irrespective of an approach or avoidance orientation-as these motives may, to some extent, be perceived as tainted by self-interest. Two studies of romantic couples (N = 413), using diary methods (Studies 1 and 2) and having couples converse about a major sacrifice in the laboratory (Study 2), consistently showed that perceived partner-focused approach motives promote gratitude and that this association is partly mediated by perceived partner responsiveness. In contrast, relationship and self-focused motives (approach and avoidance oriented) were not associated with gratitude. Implications regarding perceiving and displaying sacrifice motives are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
感激与个体和人际关系的许多积极结果密切相关（例如，更高的生活和关系满意度）。然而，人们对浪漫伴侣如何彼此感激对方的亲关系行为（例如，当伴侣做出牺牲时）知之甚少。本研究探讨了伴侣牺牲动机的感知如何引发感激。我们区分了伴侣、关系和自我为中心的动机，以及它们如何被接近或回避取向所引导。我们预计，当伴侣为伴侣为中心的接近动机而牺牲（即促进伴侣的幸福）时，伴侣会感到感激，因为这种动机可能标志着真正脱离了自身利益。此外，我们预计这些动机将引起伴侣反应性的更大感知，这应该部分解释为什么它们会引起感激。相比之下，当伴侣为关系为中心的动机（例如，促进关系的幸福）或自我为中心的动机（例如，自我感觉良好）而牺牲时，不应引起感激——无论取向是接近还是回避——因为这些动机在某种程度上可能被视为受到自身利益的影响。两项关于浪漫伴侣的研究（N = 413），使用日记法（研究 1 和研究 2）和让伴侣在实验室中谈论重大牺牲（研究 2），一致表明感知到的伴侣为中心的接近动机促进了感激，而这种关联部分是由感知到的伴侣反应性介导的。相比之下，关系和自我为中心的动机（接近和回避取向）与感激无关。讨论了关于感知和表现牺牲动机的意义。（心理学信息数据库记录）
