In It Together: Shared Reality With Instrumental Others Is Linked to Goal Success

Why are some people more successful than others? In addition to individual factors (e.g., self-control), research has recently suggested that the quality of people's interpersonal relationships is crucial for success. Successful people seem to recognize this, as they tend to like and draw closer to both instrumental objects and instrumental others (IOs; other people who make goal success more likely). For instance, students who are successful at their academic goals tend to like and feel close to both their study materials and study partners. Yet instrumental people have one crucially distinct feature that instrumental objects do not: a mind of their own. One key way to relate to the minds of others is by establishing a shared reality-the perception of shared attitudes and judgments about the world. Therefore, we propose that shared reality, or the sense of having "merged minds", is an important, previously unexplored component of relationships with IOs that contributes to goal success. Specifically, the present research (N = 1,326) explored (a) whether people are especially likely to experience shared reality with IOs, and (b) whether those who do so are more likely to achieve their goals. Participants who perceived their romantic partner as more instrumental for their goals experienced more shared reality with that partner (Study 1); participants also reported greater shared reality with IOs relative to noninstrumental others (NIOs; Study 2). Those who experienced a greater sense of shared reality with IOs reported more goal success initially (Studies 2-4), 3-4 weeks later (Study 2c), and achieved higher Grade Point Averages (GPAs; Study 4). These effects held when controlling for IO liking, closeness, and epistemic trust, as well as NIO shared reality. Self-efficacy consistently mediated the effect of IO shared reality on goal success (Studies 3 and 4), indicating that IO shared reality may bolster people's epistemic confidence in their abilities. Overall, findings suggest that experiencing a shared reality with IOs plays an important role in goal success.