People act extremely toward their amorous partner when they feel insignificant

Abstract

Drawing on significance quest theory, we hypothesized that when people in romantic relationships experience a general feeling of significance loss, they should develop an obsessive passion toward their partner, which in turn should enhance their willingness to act in an extreme manner to maintain their relationship (i.e., their remaining source of significance). To test this hypothesis, we ran two cross‐sectional studies and a longitudinal one. The first operationalized extreme behaviors through self‐sacrifice. The second considered obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) to be an example of extreme behavior. The third study tested whether the consequentiality among variables we considered was that hypothesized and ensured that the hypothesized model remained consistent also while considering the possible overlap between significance loss (i.e., quest for significance) and low self‐esteem. Results confirmed our hypothesis, suggesting that love, amorous relationships, and romantic partners are perceived as fruitful in maintaining or restoring one's personal sense of significance. Notably, this research represents one of the first applications of both the significance quest theory and, secondarily, the theory of motivational imbalance, to the context of romantic relationships.