It's well studied topic in psychology of motivation. In the main theory of human motivation, Self-Determination Theory (SDT), it's one of the three main predictors of motivation change. It's called "relatedness" – the need to feel connected to others (others two are autonomy and competence). These three function almost like a slider that you can increase or decrease in order to influence yours(or others) motivation in your particular domain or situation. It's one of the life-changing theories in psychology. Similar to "game theory" you don't need to get deep into it, but rather learn the fundamentals to start seeing world (mostly motivation/wellbeing of you and others) differently.