Dottorato in PSICOLOGIA SOCIALE, DELLO SVILUPPO E DELLA
RICERCA EDUCATIVA

Titolo della tesi: PEOPLE ARE MOTIVATED TO ENTER AND MAINTAIN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS BECAUSE THEY ARE SOURCES OF SIGNIFICANCE

Drawing on significance quest theory (Kruglanski et al., 2022) and its derived model of love (Krugalnski et al., 2023), the present dissertation argued that real or potential romantic partners should be chosen for both – entering and maintaining – romantic relationships to the extent they are perceived as able to enhance one’s sense of significance. Study 1a and 1b demonstrated that a) merit, and b) appreciation features of a potential partner increase the significance one expects to gain through a romantic relationship with that specific potential partner which, in turn, enhanced the likelihood to enter in a romantic relationship. Study 2, through a longitudinal methodology, showed that the same is true for relationship maintenance. Further, Study 3 demonstrated that the significance gained through love and the inclusion of the other in the self (Aron & Aron, 1986) are two distinct constructs, both associated with relationship’s maintenance intention among people engaged in a romantic relationship. Study 4 demonstrated that a partner’s merit features and appreciation features interact differently with an individual's sense of significance loss. Specifically, individuals experiencing feelings of significance loss were more sensitive to their partners’ merit features in terms of significance gained through the relationship. However, appreciation features had this effect only for women, not men. Study 5, conducted with real couples, confirmed that a partner’s appreciation features interacted with actor’s significance loss only for women. Meanwhile, for men, it was the actor’s appreciation features that interacted with actor’s significance loss. Additionally, these findings revealed that the appreciation factor could enhance an individual's sense of significance gained in a romantic relationship through the ‘actor’ effect as well. Results are discussed in the light of the rich social psychological literature on romantic relationships, and future directions are outlined.