Peter A. Caprariello

Are you happy for me? How sharing positive events with others provides personal and interpersonal benefits.

Sharing good news with others is one way that people can savor those experiences while building personal and interpersonal resources. Although prior research has established the benefits of this process, called capitalization, there has been little research and no experiments to examine the underlying mechanisms. In this article, we report results from 4 experiments and 1 daily diary study conducted to examine 2 mechanisms relevant to capitalization: that sharing good news with others increases the perceived value of those events, especially when others respond enthusiastically, and that enthusiastic responses to shared good news promote the development of trust and a prosocial orientation toward the other. These studies found consistent support for these effects across both interactions with strangers and in everyday close relationships.

Social Structure Shapes Cultural Stereotypes and Emotions: A Causal Test of the Stereotype Content Model

The stereotype content model (SCM) posits that social structure predicts specific cultural stereotypes and associated emotional prejudices. No prior evidence at a societal level has manipulated both structural predictors and measured both stereotypes and prejudices. In the present study, participants (n = 120) responded to an immigration scenario depicting a high- or low-status group, competitive or not competitive, and rated their likely stereotype (on warmth and competence) and elicited emotional prejudices (admiration, contempt, envy, and pity). Seven of eight specific predictions are fully confirmed, supporting the SCMs predicted causality for social structural effects on cultural stereotypes and emotional prejudices.

To do, to have, or to share? Valuing experiences over material possessions depends on the involvement of others.

Recent evidence indicates that spending discretionary money with the intention of acquiring life experiences-events that one lives through-makes people happier than spending money with the intention of acquiring material possessions-tangible objects that one obtains and possesses. We propose and show that experiences are more likely to be shared with others, whereas material possessions are more prone to solitary use and that this distinction may account for their differential effects on happiness. In 4 studies, we present evidence demonstrating that the inclusion of others is a key dimension of how people derive happiness from discretionary spending. These studies showed that when the social-solitary and experiential-material dimensions were considered simultaneously, social discretionary spending was favored over solitary discretionary spending, whereas experiences showed no happiness-producing advantage relative to possessions. Furthermore, whereas spending money on socially shared experiences was valued more than spending money on either experiences enacted alone or material possessions, solitary experiences were no more valued than material possessions. Together, these results extend and clarify the basic findings of prior research and add to growing evidence that the social context of experiences is critical for their effects on happiness.

Perceived Partner Responsiveness Minimizes Defensive Reactions to Failure

Can thinking about responsive relationships increase openness to failure? Study 1 tested whether subliminally priming responsiveness would increase accessibility of words associated with a failed intelligence test. Compared to participants primed with acquaintances or nonsense letters, participants primed with responsive partners were quicker to recognize words associated with failure and did so more accurately, suggesting lesser defensiveness. Study 2 tested whether supraliminally priming responsiveness would decrease self-handicapping on a difficult and potentially embarrassing task. Compared to participants who thought about friends or acquaintances, participants who thought about responsive relationships claimed less external interference with their abilities. These findings indicate that relationships characterized by understanding and validation may promote nondefensive reactions to real or potential failure.

In Live Interaction, Does Familiarity Promote Attraction or Contempt? Reply to Norton, Frost, and Ariely (2011)

In this reply, we address and refute each of Norton, Frost, and Arielys (see record 2011-18560-001) specific objections to the conclusion that, ceteris paribus, familiarity breeds liking in live interaction. In particular, we reiterate the importance of studying live interaction rather than decontextualized processes. These rebuttals notwithstanding, we concur with Norton et al.s call for an integrative model that encompasses both Norton, Frost, and Arielys (see record 2006-23056-008) results and ours (see record 2011-04644-001), and we point readers toward a description of a possible model presented in our original article.

When Does Familiarity Promote Versus Undermine Interpersonal Attraction? A Proposed Integrative Model From Erstwhile Adversaries

This article began as an adversarial collaboration between two groups of researchers with competing views on a longstanding question: Does familiarity promote or undermine interpersonal attraction? As we explored our respective positions, it became clear that the limitations of our conceptualizations of the familiarity–attraction link, as well as the limitations of prior research, were masking a set of higher order principles capable of integrating these diverse conceptualizations. This realization led us to adopt a broader perspective, which focuses on three distinct relationship stages—awareness, surface contact, and mutuality—and suggests that the influence of familiarity on attraction depends on both the nature and the stage of the relationship between perceivers and targets. This article introduces the framework that emerged from our discussions and suggests directions for research to investigate its validity.

Partner support for individual self-expansion opportunities Effects on relationship satisfaction in long-term couples

Previous research indicates that partner responsiveness and self-expansion play key roles in the creation, maintenance, and improvement of close relationships. This experiment examined the hypothesis that active (vs. passive) partner support for an individual’s opportunity for self-expansion would increase relationship satisfaction. In an experimental task manipulated to be either self-expanding or stressful, dating couple members (N = 116; 58 couples) received active or passive support messages, ostensibly from their partners. Among those in longer term (14–60 months), but not in shorter term relationships, relationship satisfaction increased significantly more for those who received active (vs. passive) support for self-expansion. This same pattern was not found when partners’ messages responded to a stressful task or for couples in short-term relationships. This study provides the first experimental evidence for effects on relationship satisfaction of partner support for individual self-expansion. In addition, the findings suggest the potential substantial importance of relationship length for moderating self-expansion processes.