In intimate relationships, greater social approach motivation is associated with a host of personal and relational benefits. Why is this the case? Although previous research suggests approach motivation primarily influences relational outcomes via increased exposure to positive relational events, in this research, based on approach-avoidance motivational theory, we revive the upward reactivity hypothesis, which suggests approach motivation upwardly enhances people's affective and relational experiences in response to positive social events. Specifically, we hypothesized that people with greater social approach motivation would react more positively to positively valenced interactions with their partner, and that this would occur even when accounting for their global levels of key outcomes. We tested these ideas across three studies. In all three studies, couples first reported their approach motivation toward the relationship, then engaged in a gratitude interaction. In Study 3, participants additionally engaged in a capitalization interaction, and provided nightly reports of positive relational events across the course of 14 days. We found robust support for the upward reactivity hypothesis: In lab-based interactions and in daily life, individuals with greater approach motivation reported enhanced outcomes in response to positive social events. We also found support for upward observability: When individuals were high in approach motivation, their partners observed them as experiencing greater positive emotion during the laboratory interactions. Moreover, we found evidence for upward crossover, as the upward reactivity experienced by people with greater approach motivation indirectly predicted enhanced partner outcomes. These results provide suggestive evidence that approach motivation can make already good relational moments extra sweet. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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享受甜蜜时刻：接近动机是否会提高对积极人际交往过程的反应？

在亲密关系中，更大的社会接近动机与许多个人和关系利益相关联。为什么会这样？尽管先前的研究表明接近动机主要通过增加对积极关系事件的接触来影响关系结果，但在本研究中，基于接近回避动机理论，我们重新提出了向上反应性假设，该假设表明接近动机向上增强了人们的情感和关系经验作为回应积极的社会事件。具体来说，我们假设具有更大社交接近动机的人会对与其伴侣的正价互动做出更积极的反应，即使考虑到他们的全球关键结果水平也会发生这种情况。我们在三项研究中测试了这些想法。在所有三项研究中，夫妻首先报告了他们对这段关系的接近动机，然后进行了感恩互动。在研究 3 中，参与者还参与了大写互动，并在 14 天的过程中提供了关于积极相关事件的每晚报告。我们发现了对向上反应假设的有力支持：在基于实验室的互动和日常生活中，具有更大接近动机的个体报告了对积极社会事件的反应增强的结果。我们还发现了对向上可观察性的支持：当个体接近动机高时，他们的合作伙伴观察到他们在实验室互动中经历了更大的积极情绪。此外，我们发现了向上交叉的证据，因为具有更大接近动机的人所经历的向上反应间接地预测了增强的合作伙伴结果。这些结果提供了暗示性证据，表明接近动机可以使已经很好的关系时刻变得更加甜蜜。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。