A helpful partner isn’t always helpful

WASHINGTON - A loving partner may or may not help you keep on track — say when you want to stick to your jogging or your studies.

According to a new study, sometimes, the support a significant other offers in pursuing goals can weaken the resolve to work towards those goals and cause procrastination before getting down to work.

Study authors and psychological scientists Grinne M. Fitzsimons of Duke University and Eli J. Finkel of Northwestern University call this phenomenon “self-regulatory outsourcing”.

It is the unconscious reliance on someone else to move your goals forward, coupled by a relaxation of your own effort. It happens with friends and family, too, the journal Psychological Science reports.

Does this mean love doesn’t bring out the best in us? Yes and no, says Fitzsimons. “If you look just at one goal” in isolation - as the study does - “there can be a negative effect”, according to a Duke statement.

“But relying on another person also lets you spread your energy across many goals, which can be effective if your partner is helpful.”

The authors based their three online experiments on participants from a data-collection service.