Interpersonal emotional relationships are relationships that have some sort of emotional bond, usually a romantic bond between two people or a bond of friendship between a multiple of people. However, when money becomes involved there can be a variety of potential problems. In emotional relationships, such as marriage or friendship, the aspect of money can lead to the rise of negative emotions and emotional reactions into the relationship that have the ability to force a rift between the people that are involved. Furthermore, money can also become detrimental towards an emotional relationship by affecting the main focus of that relationship and altering the behaviour of the people in to focus on money. Although interpersonal relationships were originally focused on the emotional bonds between two people, it can be altered so that it instead focuses on the aspect of money. Money can create splits between both friends and romantic partners starting with economical issues and can corrupt relationships by compelling people to adopt a business-like behaviour in which emotional exchanges are seen as inappropriate until a negatively emotionally charged argument is created after.
Once money is involved in interpersonal emotional relationships it has the ability to ruin them by implementing negative emotions and emotional responses into people which forces them to either turn on each other or to slowly drift away from each other. In marriage, money has been a sole reason for divorce in the world and occurs due to economic instability between the two partners. Money forces couples to drift apart due to highly stressful economic issues that can simultaneously lead to deeper relationship arguments usually with the topic of trust. According to the article, Divorce Study: Financial Arguments Early In Relationship May Predict Divorce, written by Huffington Post, any economic hardships that occurs during marriage and rises as an issue can lead to “poor relationship satisfaction” in both spouses which could lead to arguments on“deeper issues in the relationship -- power, trust, etc. Money has the ability to influence two married spouses in starting a conflict that begins with the issue of economic instability but later leads to an argument on the deeper issues of their relationship . Therefore, an emotional rift is created between the couple which ultimately leads to the divorce and ultimately destroys the relationship between the partners. Money can affect emotional relationships between partners by creating high strung tensions as a result of economic instability which would then lead to major relationship dissatisfactions. Money also has an effects on friendship and how regular friends portray each other especially when one person has a higher economic status than the other. David Amsden’s magazine article states that that people who have friends which are more financially privileged are more susceptible to jealousy because of their economic differences . According to Amsden “in a city where money has a way of becoming the subtext of every exchange—where just choosing a restaurant can carry relationship-straining implications—certain snags and fissures are inevitable” . This economic difference between two friends would lead to a huge rift being created between them due to the rise of envy in the less wealthier person. Just as how Huffington Post says that economical issues can lead to arguments on deeper issues in married couples, the same can applied to the relationship shared by friends. Any economical issues that are seen between friends can lead to even deeper issues they have with each other.
Money also had the ability to corrupt emotional expression in relationships and affect communication between people. Relationships that revolved around emotions such as love and companionship are corrupted and these emotions are replaced with an indifferent way of thinking. According to social psychologists, Yuwei Jiang, Zhansheng Chen, and Robert S. Wyer Jr, in their article Impact of Money on Emotional Expression, money can change the emotional expression in relationships by corrupting the partners to “perceive themselves in a business-like relationship with others in which transactions are based on objective criteria and the expression of emotion is considered inappropriate” and will result with them having indifferent viewpoints and ideas on the situation . Couples that undergo this process will not only drift apart but will also only focus on the money and nothing else, especially any emotions they feel. Furthermore, Jiang, Chen, and Wyer state that even the mere exposure to money can force couples to adopt a”a utilitarian and business-like mindset that leads to behaviors that are relatively impersonal and self-focused, showing little concern for the needs of others” especially each other. When this occurs not only does it signify the complete separation between two people and the destruction of a relationship but also shows the behavioral changes that can result if money is able to corrupt the relationship. Once money is introduced, the business-like behaviour turns into more of an impersonal and selfish behaviour. This in turn would lead to the further separation of the partners. Moreover, according to the magazine article How Does Money Affect a Relationship? written by Om Paramapoonya “many couples find it difficult to talk about their financial disagreements in a calm and open-minded manner” because the business-like behaviour creates a tense atmosphere that can make it stressful for people and forces them to act more aggressive on the matter . While the business-like behaviour forces the expulsion of any type of communication between the couple, the conflicts that arise after lead to a much more aggressive and argumentative behaviour that is strict and forceful but still at the business-like level since their objectives stay the same. Like other behaviour changes explained by Jiang, Chen, and Wyer, this will also lead to even less communication and wider rifts between the couple.
Money, at several instances, has seen to be a destructive force in terms of an emotional interpersonal relationship. When couples are involved in economic hardship the stress and anxiety they feel due to economic hardships creates conflicts between couples and can even lead to deeper issues such as trust and power issues. Furthermore, money can also lead to conflict within friendships when one economically poorer person starts to develop envy for his economically richer friend. This results in the friends growing farther apart due to awkward and, at times, stressful situations. However, money can also change the emotional behaviour of couples to a more business-like behaviour simultaneously resulting in an impersonal and selfish attitude. If tensions get any higher, arguments will begin resulting in an even larger rift between the couple. Money contains the ability to separate people in a relationship and can change the behaviours of the people to a more business-like attitude devoid of emotional expression until an argument ensues.