Give and Take: The Role of Reciprocity in Capitalization

A person can reap psychological benefits when sharing their accomplishments or capitalizing with a partner. These benefits often depend on whether a partner responds with enthusiasm; however, it is unknown what prompts enthusiastic responses. In two experiments, we aimed to examine whether partners reciprocate enthusiastic responses to capitalization attempts. In Study 1, participants (N = 394) who recalled their partner’s past enthusiastic feedback to capitalization attempts endorsed stronger intentions to respond enthusiastically to their partner’s capitalization attempts (relative to a comparison group recalling their partner’s prior demeaning feedback). In Study 2 (N = 326), we found that enthusiastic responses to capitalization attempts were reciprocated among romantic couples but reciprocation was not mediated by subjective emotion, emotional expressiveness, nor physiological responses. In conclusion, our findings support reciprocity in capitalization, i.e. romantic partners are more motivated and more likely to respond enthusiastically to capitalization attempts depending on their partner's previous behavior.