Research paper · RP11

The Capitalisation Effect

People tell someone about the best thing that happened to them on most days. This systematic review and restricted meta-analysis asked how strongly an active-constructive response to that good news — enthusiasm plus curiosity, not a polite nod — relates to relationship quality, and whether training the response changes team outcomes. Across five independent published samples (k = 5, N = 1,071), perceived active-constructive responding was associated with relationship satisfaction at r = .40 (95% CI .35 to .45; I² ≈ 0%). That is a medium-to-large association, consistent from dating couples in the United States to married couples in Italy and dating adults in Malaysia. Only the active-constructive style is reliably positive; quiet congratulations and both flavours of rain-on-the-parade track with lower satisfaction. A randomised trial of a 20-minute active-constructive practice plus four weeks of daily reps did not change self-reported relationship satisfaction (γ = 0.09, p = .20). It did raise perceived partner satisfaction and gratitude receipt. No eligible randomised trial has tested active-constructive training against team cohesion. No India-resident primary study was found in PubMed, Google Scholar, CTRI or ClinicalTrials.gov. The association is real. The training effect on one’s own satisfaction is unproven. Transfer to Indian workplaces is a hypothesis, not a result. Programmes should treat active-constructive responding as a countable daily rep, measure perceived response rather than self-congratulation, and test it in India before claiming team change.