In other words, the benefits of the relationship must outweigh the costs for people to be satisfied and maintain that relationship. Rewards are a person's personal characteristics that one finds rewarding in the relationship. In my personal experience, I have tried to maintain the relationship between me and my friend in exchange for the reward of emotional support (good listener, support, etc.). In contrast, the costs of a relationship include the time and effort invested in the relationship, as well as the rewards that would be lost if the relationship were to end. For example, my personal relationship costs included the large amount of time and effort I had to spend maintaining the friendship (talking about the differences), as well as the other friendships I was afraid of losing if I stopped continuing the relationship. I was afraid that my other atheist friends would not want to continue our friendship due to their similar beliefs to my other friend's, as well as their relationship with