While couples are increasingly financially independent, it’s still inevitable that you take an interest in one another’s finances. A recent study from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business highlights the lengths we will go to hide minor purchases from our partners. While this seems like it’s a bad thing for our relationship, the researchers believe it could actually be beneficial.

This is because when we experience guilt associated with secret consumption, we tend to invest more in our relationships. The paper suggests that such investments could include mundane things like washing the dishes all the way through to being more attentive to your partner.

Suffice to say, this logic only tends to apply to minor breaches of trust and not to more significant acts of secrecy, such as having an affair. The paper highlights some of the transgressions people owned up to:

• “When I am apart from him I secretly indulge in smoking 1-2 cigarettes.”
• “I may have had extra money left over from groceries which could have been used for the next week. But instead, I bought something for myself and sneaked (sic) it in the house without my husband knowing.”
• “I am a season ticket holder for the [sports team]…my wife and I decided not to renew… I decided to keep one of the season tickets… I didn’t tell my wife…”

The authors suggest that they may in the future look at why people engage in such behaviors.

“For example, consumers with a high need for independence may be more likely to engage in SCB (secret consumer behaviors), since it could give a sense of autonomy within an otherwise interconnected relationship,” the authors conclude. “Another possibility is that attachment styles within a given relationship … affect the propensity to engage in SCB within that relationship. Those with a secure attachment to their relationship may ironically be more likely to keep SCBs as they may feel more confident that it would not threaten the relationship.”