The Effect Of Sense Of Giving On The Quality Of Intimate Relationship And The Reasons

Sense of giving is a concept that we are familiar with,but we know little about it.Researchers aboard combine giving and taking,seeing both as a kind of exchange behavior,from the perspective of equity theory.And scholars who hold this view believe that,people in intimate relationships compare whether the giving and taking are balanced.Only when people feel that they acquire neither too much nor too little in the intimate relationships,it is considered that the relationship is most satisfactory.If people experience a sense of unfairness,they will feel stressful or dissatisfied with the relationship.People usually adopt three methods to deal with inequity in intimate relationship,repairing psychological inequity,pursuing actual fairness,or leaving.However,not all scholars agree that people in intimate relationship care about the balance of giving and taking.Some researchers propose that the communal responsiveness to explain the giving in intimacy.They believe that people always response their partners in a a way that promotes their happiness or meets their needs,even when it comes to their own interests.What communal responsiveness emphasizes is the emotional experience in intimacy,rather than the equity of giving and taking.If you ask for a taking after giving,it is not acceptable to your partner.Obviously,the explanations to Sense of giving,by equity theory and communal responsiveness,are inconsistent.The cultural values of collectivism in our country advocate people to give.But,at present,there is no research related to giving inintimacy.Therefore,this study aimed to explore people’s understanding and evaluation of giving in intimacy,in the context of collectivist culture.That was,to explore the sense of giving in intimacy in the context of collectivism,and the relationship between the sense of giving and the satisfaction and commitment.In addition,based on existing research result,this study explored the factors that affect the sense of pay in intimacy.Depending on the literature review,interviews and consulting with expert,we determined the operational definition of the sense of giving,and divided it into three dimensions: cognitive giving,emotional giving and behavioral giving.In study 1,following strictly the procedures of questionnaires,we developed the Scale of Sense of Giving.After statistical analyses such as project analysis,exploratory factor analysis,and confirmatory factor analysis,it had been proved to have a good reliability and validity.In study 2 and study 3,using the Scale of Sense of Giving,three of Investment Model Scales,Experience of romantic Relationships and so on,we exploded the factors that had effect on the sense of giving,as well as the relationship between the sense of giving and the quality of intimate relationships including satisfaction and commitment.In study 4,we tried to find an explanation for why the sense of giving had a positive effect on the commitment in romantic relationship,using the lover-reference task.The main innovation of this study: Firstly,this was an original research.Most of the former research on giving was conducted under the context of western individualism.Before that,there was almost no research on the sense of giving in intimacy in the context of collectivist culture.Secondly,we explored the effect of sense of giving on intimate relationships by structured research.It proved that the point that the sense of giving is the culprit of killing intimate relationship,exaggerated the negative effect of the sense of giving on the quality of intimate relationship.Finally,in the study on the sense of giving in intimacy,communal responsiveness was more suitable than equity theory to account for the intimate relationship in the context of collectivist culture.This study also enriched the theoretical content of sense of giving.The conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)This study initially completed the construction of the scale on feeling of giving.It was composed of 11 items,including sense of cognitive giving,sense of emotional giving,and sense of behavioral giving.It had a good reliability and validity,and the all the indicators were in line with the psychological measurement of statistical standards.So it can be used to measure the sense of giving in intimate relationship;(2)Possible factors that has influence on the sense of giving: The sense of giving was affected by the type of attachment.There was a significant positive correlation between the type of anxiety attachment and the sense of giving,but the type of avoidance was not significantly related to the sense of giving.While the relationships between sense of giving and the degree of intimacy and time of love were not significant;(3)The relationship between the sense of giving and the quality of intimacy: The sense of giving could positively predict the commitment in intimate relationship,but it could not predict satisfaction;(4)Lover-reference effect could explain why the sense of giving had a positive effect on commitment.Individuals scoring higher in sense of giving,showed a lover-reference effect,while individuals scoring lower didn’t.