2017 Volume 56 Issue 2 Pages 165-174
In dyadic relationships, individuals with approach motivation seek to achieve positive outcomes from interactions with partners, whereas individuals with avoidance motivation seek to prevent negative outcomes. Yet, it remains unclear whether a partner’s social motivation affects that of the other. Previous studies have nevertheless suggested that interactions prompted by individuals with approach motivation attune to that of their partners’. We thus predicted that if individuals with strong approach motivation behaved according to that approach’s goals (i.e., intrapersonal process), then their partners would perceive themselves to also have stronger approach motivation (i.e., interpersonal process) as well, relative to a partner with weaker approach motivation. We therefore conducted a panel survey of 55 Japanese student dyads over two times, in April and May. Longitudinal actor–partner interdependence model analyses revealed the convergence process of both parties’ level of approach motivation. Accordingly, interdependence processes in close dyadic relationships may not only transform motivation but enhance it as well.
