Romantic Relationships as a Source of Significance

Drawing on significance quest theory and its derived model of romantic relationships, we demonstrated that perceiving romanticpartners as having socially valued qualities (partners’ merit) and as admiring and caring (partners’ appreciation) enhanced actors’significance gained through the romantic relationship which, in turn, increased the likelihood to enter (Studies 1A and 1B) andmaintain (Study 2) romantic relationships. Further, Study 3 demonstrated that significance gained through romantic relationshipsand inclusion of the other in the self were independently associated with romantic partners’ merit and appreciation and thelikelihood of maintaining romantic relationships. Finally, Study 4 showed that people experiencing feelings of significance losswere more sensitive to their partners’ merit and appreciation features. Findings are compared with the rich social psychologicalliterature on romantic relationships and future directions are outlined.