Consistent with the embedded dyad framework, we find that people like third parties who share our hatred for our rivals and our love for our friends (as predicted by both views) but we dislike those who share our love for our spouses (countering Balance Theory). Here, we propose a new embedded dyad framework which foregrounds the substantive indirect effects that third parties can have on our outcomes through their relationships with our partners.

What drives our feelings toward such third parties? A classic formalist theory, Balance Theory, suggests we like third parties who share our feelings toward our existing partners (and dislike those who do not) because of affective balance.

Less attention has been paid to the myriad third parties who impact our social lives through their own relationships with our dyadic partners. Research on close relationships has tended to focus on the dyad (e.g., friends, romantic partners, rivals). In this way, we hope that an evolutionary approach not only augments our basic scientific understanding of these fundamental social relationships, but also contributes to the practical objective of enhancing friendships and maximizing their happiness yield. In light of the various fitness-benefits and challenges that these relationships can pose, we propose evolutionarily inspired strategies for individuals to reap the benefits of friendships while simultaneously minimizing the costs they impose. We also review the empirical literature on different friendship types, drawing attention to the unique profiles of costs and benefits that characterize each type of friendship. This chapter outlines hypothesized ancestral functions of friendship, and discusses why immersion in friendships results in positive emotions such as happiness. This approach sheds light on how specific types of friendship would have benefited ancestral humans in the currency of natural selection-reproductive success-as well as in the currency of subjective well-being. An evolutionary perspective yields fresh insights into the nature of human friendships and the emotions associated with these relationships.

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