Love, Lies, and Money: Financial Infidelity in Romantic Relationships

Garbinsky, Emily N.; Gladstone, Joe; Nikolova, Hristina; Olson, Jenny G.

doi:10.1093/jcr/ucz052

Cited by 39 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…By systematically contrasting the mediating roles of one’s level of dependence, mutuality of dependence, and overlapping interests, future research might be able to identify the explanatory power of these various drivers. Future research could also explore which facets of relationship quality (e.g., trust, passion, intimacy; Fletcher et al, 2000) benefit the most from account pooling, and examine the downstream effects on financial behaviors, such as financial infidelity proneness (Garbinsky et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pooling finances and relationship satisfaction.

Gladstone¹,

Garbinsky²,

Mogilner³

2022

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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When couples decide to share their lives, they are simultaneously faced with the decision of how (or whether) to pool their finances. Does the way in which couples keep their money affect happiness in their relationship? Drawing on Interdependence Theory, we demonstrate across six studies (N = 38,534)including both primary and secondary data-that couples who pool all of their money (compared to couples who keep all or some of their money separate) experience greater relationship satisfaction and are less likely to break up. Though joining bank accounts can benefit all couples, the effect is particularly strong among couples with scarce financial resources (i.e., those with low household income or who report feeling financially distressed). These findings replicate using experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal data sets, as well as in both individualistic and collectivist cultures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pooling finances and relationship satisfaction.

Gladstone¹,

Garbinsky²,

Mogilner³

2022

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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“…In this spirit, our research offers new insights on gift giving to two research areas, ethical decision making and interpersonal relationships. There is a growing research stream on interpersonal, romantic relationships in decision making (especially joint decision making; Garbinsky et al, 2020; Kardas et al, 2018; Liu et al, 2019; Tu et al, 2016). Here, we highlight the potential unintended consequences of a particular type of decision on such relationships.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are people more selfish after giving gifts?

Polman

2021

Behavioral Decision Making

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How people choose gifts is a widely studied topic, but what happens next is largely understudied. In two preregistered studies, one field experiment, and an analysis of secondary data, we show that giving gifts has a dark side, as it can negatively affect subsequent interpersonal behavior between givers and receivers. In Study 1, we found that giving a gift to one's romantic partner changes givers' interpretation of which behaviors constitute infidelity. Specifically, we found that givers (vs. nongivers) classified their questionable behaviors (e.g., sending a flirtatious text to someone other than their partner) less as a form of cheating on their partner. In Study 2, we examined how politely participants behave when delivering bad news to a friend. We found that givers (vs. nongivers) wrote significantly less polite messages to their friend. In Study 3, we tested real gifts that people give to friends and found givers (vs. nongivers) subsequently made more selfish decisions at their friends' expense. In all, our research refines the oft-cited axiomatic assumption that gift giving strengthens relationships and illuminates the potential for future research to examine how decision making can alter interpersonal, romantic relationships.

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“…A primary driver of this shift in purchasing behavior is feeling the need to justify purchase decisions when financial resources are shared (Garbinsky & Gladstone, 2019). Indeed, Garbinsky et al (2020) showed that when members of couples are lower in financial harmony, they are more likely to have some resources, such as credit cards or bank accounts, that are concealed rather than fully shared.…”

Section: Individual Decisions Influenced By Close Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social relationships and consumer behavior.

Wight¹,

Liu²,

Bettman³

et al. 2022

APA Handbook of Consumer Psychology.

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Social relationships permeate consumers' interactions with both the marketplace and consumption more broadly. Imagine a consumer, Sam, walking through a department store. Sam hopes to buy a birthday present for their best friend, pick up socks for their spouse, find a microwave that will be more accessible for their aging parents, pick up a bedding set for themselves and their spouse, and find something to wear at an upcoming wedding. Any individual consumer, on any given trip, may be shopping for themselves (such as the wedding outfit) or for both themselves and someone else (such as the bedding set), but they also might be buying solely for someone else for a number of reasons, including gifting, providing favors, and caretaking (P. J. Liu et al., 2019). Now imagine that Sam is not alone in the store but brought along their spouse, Joe, and called their sister, Carmen, while picking a microwave for their parents as they are splitting the cost. In this situation, the purchase decisions become joint decisions, which can further shape the decision-making process and the decisions made. Joe might be more price sensitive than Sam and expand Sam' s consideration set by price-checking the products online. Or Joe might feel impatient with clothes shopping and rush Sam through picking a wedding outfit. On the other hand, Carmen might prioritize their parents' preferences and push for Sam to buy the higher quality, but more This chapter is based on the first author' s dissertation.

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Love, Lies, and Money: Financial Infidelity in Romantic Relationships

Cited by 39 publications

References 61 publications

Pooling finances and relationship satisfaction.

Pooling finances and relationship satisfaction.

Are people more selfish after giving gifts?

Social relationships and consumer behavior.

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