Dependence on a Partner and Relationship Maintenance Effort: Experimentally Manipulated Dependence Promoted Ingratiation but Not Guilt

Dependence on a partner facilitates various types of relationship maintenance effort. In this paper, we report on two experiments in which the level of dependence was manipulated. Study 1 tested whether dependence promotes other enhancement (a form of ingratiation, whereby the likeability of the partner is positively distorted). Study 2 tested whether dependence amplifies a sense of guilt after inadvertently committing a mild form of transgression against the partner, and whether amplified guilt facilitates self-punishment. In both experiments, dependence was manipulated in a conceptually similar manner: Participants’ experimental rewards were partially determined by their partner’s decision. Dependence promoted other enhancement (Study 1) but did not amplify guilt, and failed to promote self-punishment (Study 2). Possible reasons for the contradictory findings of the two studies are discussed.