Sacrifice in close relationships

Abstract

Prosocial behavior is often thought to bring psychological benefits to individuals and relationships. Do such benefits exist when prosocial behavior is particularly costly for the individual, such as when people are sacrificing personal goals and preferences for their partner or relationship? Different theoretical accounts would predict that sacrifice is either positively or negatively associated with personal and relational well-being. I will review recent research from my lab that look at the consequences of sacrifice for the person who sacrifices and for the recipient. Specifically, I will discuss how accurately sacrifices are detected by partners in daily life, what are the consequences of this detection and I will present some preliminary results of a meta-analysis that investigate the link between sacrifice and personal and relationship well-being across 65 studies.