This is a small sample of the research that helped shape kindshare. We’ve divided it into two sections: materials that are freely available, and those that require purchase. Unfortunately, we can’t share the paid sources directly—but if something catches your interest, we recommend reaching out to the authors. Many are generous about offering free or discounted access.
A large-scale study identified four household financial management styles—joint (syncratic), male-dominant, female-dominant, and autonomous—and found that couples who share accounts and make decisions together experience fewer financial problems. Joint decision-making and shared accounts are linked to better financial outcomes and overall partner well-being compared to separate or one-sided financial control. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016748702030074X?via%3Dihub
Social Exchange Theory is grounded in the concept that individuals engage in social interactions based on the perceived benefits and costs, aiming to maximize rewards while minimizing punishments. It applies economic models to everyday decisions, making it highly relevant in individualist societies. The theory, developed through the works of scholars like Homans, Blau, and Emerson, focuses on the exchange relationship as a series of transactions between actors, considering the pursuit of rewards, avoidance of punishments, and the influence of past rewards and punishments on future behavior. https://open.ncl.ac.uk/theories/6/social-exchange-theory/
This chapter introduces why we should pay attention to the quality of interpersonal relationships in the first place. It highlights the shortcomings of a materialistic, individualistic society and describes how we might benefit from a greater focus on relationships between people. It can be seen that it takes greater and greater doses of money to make any difference to wellbeing once people have enough resources to cover their basic needs, whereas steady inputs into the quality of interpersonal relationships can have an ongoing impact on quality of life. Monitoring the things that matter helps us to steer the right course for ourselves. https://www.elgaronline.com/monochap/9781788114196/chapter01.xhtml
This research underscores how greater income disparities erode the quality of social relations, shifting behaviors from cooperative to dominance-focused. A significant finding is the association between higher levels of income inequality and increased status anxiety across all income levels, highlighting how societal disparities amplify concerns over social standing. Furthermore, the research links income inequality to a higher prevalence of psychopathologies, including depression and aggression, suggesting that societal divides intensify social evaluative threats. The study also reveals that societies with larger income differences suffer from weakened social cohesion and trust, indicating that inequality not only affects individual well-being but also the collective social fabric. These insights collectively demonstrate the multifaceted impacts of income inequality, emphasizing its role in exacerbating social tensions and contributing to psychological distress. https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/upload_documents/EJSP%20WilkPick%20final.pdf
The exploration of self and self-concept is central to social psychology, tracing back to the works of prominent thinkers across history. The self encompasses organized thoughts, feelings, identities, and motives that emerge from self-reflexivity and language, shaping individual human beings. Key distinctions are made between the self, self-concept, and identity, with the self acting as an overarching entity that includes self-concept and identity. Self-concept is defined as the totality of an individual's thoughts and feelings regarding themselves as an object, influenced by interactions and societal factors. http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/handle/123456789/1277
The current study expands and deepens our understanding of how economic inequality shapes people’s interpersonal relationships. High inequality polarizes individuals' wealth, leading to greater status concerns and competition, which undermine harmonious social relations. It is well-documented that economic inequality negatively affects communal sharing relationships, such as trust and civic participation. However, economic inequality does not always lead people to ignore and withdraw from others. Our study found that the instrumental perception of others, to facilitate self-enhancement goals, is a critical factor in determining whether people affiliate with others. Specifically, in highly unequal contexts, there is a stronger tendency to focus on the instrumental aspects of others and approach those with potential value for achieving self-enhancement goals. In summary, our study demonstrated that economic inequality reinforces instrumental social relationships. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.2978
The study explores how economic inequality influences the generosity of individuals across different income levels. The research highlights that higher-income individuals tend to be less generous than their lower-income counterparts, but this pattern is significantly influenced by the level of economic inequality in their environment. In areas with high inequality, higher-income individuals display less generosity, possibly due to a sense of entitlement or fear of losing their socioeconomic status. Conversely, in areas with lower inequality, the generosity of higher-income individuals is either comparable to or greater than that of lower-income individuals. This suggests that economic policies aimed at reducing inequality could enhance societal generosity. The study challenges the simplistic notion that higher-income individuals are inherently less generous and underscores the importance of considering the socioeconomic context when evaluating generosity and designing interventions to promote equitable behavior. https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.1511536112
Previous research suggests that economic inequality has caused a wide range of negative societal impacts. However, little is known about how economic inequality influences prosocial behaviour as a socioecological environment determinant. In five studies (N = 62,342), we examined whether economic inequality reduces prosocial behaviour by decreasing interpersonal trust and the moderation role of interpersonal targets. Studies 1, 2a, and 2b showed that interpersonal trust mediated the negative relationship between perceived economic inequality and prosocial behaviour. In Study 3, we used data from the World Values Survey to explore the relation between inequality and trust and found that it was moderated by the closeness of trust targets. In Study 4, we demonstrated that economic inequality only reduced trust and prosocial behaviour towards strangers, but not among friends and family. Taken together, the current research shed light on how economic inequality undermines trust and negatively impacts prosocial behaviour among different targets. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.3007?af=R
This study explores the interplay between affluence and interpersonal trust in the United States. While existing research often focuses on the impoverished, this investigation shifts the lens to the affluent, shedding light on how affluence affects interpersonal trust dynamics. Using qualitative methods, we conducted 15 in-depth interviews with affluent individuals and their family members. Three key findings emerged: Trust Discrepancy: Participants claimed to trust others, but their behaviors suggested hesitancy in trust-dependent activities like sharing secrets or loaning money. Affluent Upbringing and Lower Trust: Those raised in affluent households reported lower trust levels compared to others. Reluctance to Discuss Finances: Affluent individuals hesitated to discuss financial matters within their families, possibly linked to economic inequality implications. In summary, affluence appears to negatively impact interpersonal trust, extending beyond personal relationships to societal consequences. This research informs discussions on income inequality by shifting the focus to the accountability of the affluent and offers insights into the affluent's experiences and behaviors. Understanding these dynamics can guide policies and interventions toward a more equitable and trusting society. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/items/32e44098-aebe-4dcb-96bb-8fc30ab70840
The relationship between conjugality and household financial management has yet to be properly studied in Portugal, particularly in what concerns the ways dominant social norms regarding gender and marriage influence financial behaviour, power relations and resource consumption and sharing by couples. Studies carried out in other countries show that the various systems for managing family accounts are related, in a complex manner, to access to resources, wellbeing and satisfaction of needs of the different family members. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of this subject in the Portuguese context by discussing the complexity of intrahousehold financial negotiations and decisions. https://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/546
This study examines how expressions of anger, guilt, and sadness are related to (in)equity and marital satisfaction. Data from 92 couples demonstrated that being overbenefited was positively associated with guilt, whereas being underbenefited was positively associated with anger. For wives, being underbenefited was also positively associated with sadness. Results also revealed that (i) people who perceived equity reported using more constructive, prosocial emotional expressions, (ii) underbenefited people reported using more destructive, antisocial emotional expression, and (iii) overbenefited people reported using both prosocial and antisocial emotional expressions. Both husbands and wives reported higher levels of marital satisfaction when they perceived themselves to be treated equitably or to be overbenefited as compared to underbenefited. Results also suggested that angry feelings and aggressive expressions of anger mediated the relation between underbenefiting inequity and martial satisfaction, and that the way people express anger mediated the relationship between anger and marital satisfaction. https://asu.elsevierpure.com/en/publications/the-experience-and-expression-of-anger-guilt-and-sadness-in-marri
This book advances the notion that intimate life—marriage and ideas of how to best live—is closely linked to the class in which individuals were raised. Arguing against the notion that class is a meaningless category or that college degrees erase childhood inequalities, this book describes the ways that the class of individuals’ past influences their identities and marriages. Drawing on interview data, the book reveals that not only are adults’ class origins linked to their ideas of who is a desirable spouse, but class origin is also tied to ideas of how to use money, attend to work, engage in leisure, organize time, divide household duties, raise children, and express emotions. Couples in which each partner was raised in a different class must then contend with their different ideas of how to live—ideas that they rarely realize are related to the class of their past. https://academic.oup.com/book/5030
In this investigation, we tested the hypothesis that increased income inequality between individuals will reduce social affiliation within dyadic interactions. In three experiments, we examined the effects of income inequality on key indices of affiliation using semi-structured interactions. In the first two experiments, a participant and confederate were randomly assigned to a low- or high-power role and compensated mildly or extremely unequally. In Experiment 3, inequality and inequity were orthogonally manipulated to determine whether inequality’s social consequences are moderated by the fairness of the income distribution. We demonstrated that greater inequality produced more negative emotional responses, reduced desire for closeness, and harsher evaluations of one’s partner, regardless of one’s power role and the equitability of the income distribution. We also obtained evidence that greater inequality reduces behavioral warmth, although this effect was less consistent. Our results begin to unpack the psychological processes through which income inequality worsens societal well-being. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01461672231164213