Curious about how your strengths and weaknesses as a couple affect your relationship?
You and your partner can complete this online experiment, then see how closely your results align with the research.
By SHAUN GALLAGHER
When you click "Begin the Experiment," you will be presented with a short task that you can complete on your own.
Once the task is complete, you'll be given a link that you can share with your partner.
Your partner will also complete a short task, and then you will both be able to examine the results.
Your first name:
Your sex:
Your partner's first name:
Your partner's sex:
We are:
Your partner has already completed the first part of this experiment.
When you click "Begin the Experiment," you will be presented with a short task that you can complete on your own.
Once your task is complete, you'll be given a link that you can share with your partner so you both can examine the results.
Instructions
Research has shown that newlyweds tend to think their relationship satisfaction will grow or at least remain stable — but in reality, relationship satisfaction tends to decline over the first five years of marriage.
Below, you'll complete a task in which you will compare your relationship to that of other couples.
Instructions
The following questions examine how your relationship may be similar to or different than other people's relationships.
As you answer them, please be as honest and as accurate as you possibly can.
Spend about two minutes entering GOOD and BAD qualities of a committed relationship in the columns below.
If you think your relationship exhibits a GOOD quality more than most other couples do, check the checkbox next to it.
If you think your relationship exhibits a BAD quality less than most other couples do, check the checkbox next to it.
Good Qualities
Bad Qualities
Once you have filled in both columns, click "Get Shareable Link" to generate a personalized URL. Share that URL with your partner so they can complete their portion of the experiment.
When your partner finishes, they will get a results URL that you can both view to see the results of the experiment and learn a little more about the science behind it.
Once you have filled in both columns, click "Get Results Link" to generate a personalized URL. Share that URL with your partner so that you can both review the results of the experiment and learn a little more about the science behind it.
The Hypothesis
The partner, who read the text about how relationship satisfaction declines during the first few years of marriage, is likely to have a higher number of checkmarks in the "Good" column and a lower number of checkmarks in the "Bad" column than the other partner, who was asked to answer as honestly and accurately as possible.
The Results
Hypothesis confirmed!
Hypothesis (partially) confirmed!
You defied the hypothesis!
The Science
Romantic couples in committed relationships tend to exhibit a "perceived superiority" bias, in which they are likely to indicate that their relationship has more good qualities and fewer bad qualities than other people's relationships.
In a 2000 study, researchers examined whether participants' opinions about their relationship might be influenced by instructions that were intended to heighten or dampen this "perceived superiority" bias.
One group was assigned to a "threat" condition, where they read instructions that were intended to call into question the strength of their relationship. Another group was assigned to an "accuracy" condition, where they read instructions that emphasized that they should be completely honest and accurate in their responses.
The results revealed that couples in the threat condition showed a higher "perceived superiority" bias than those in the accuracy condition.
The researchers believe that by introducing doubt about the durability of participants' relationships in the threat condition, it caused the participants to lean heavily on perceived superiority as a way of reassuring themselves that their own relationships weren't in trouble. And by emphasizing the need for honest evaluation in the accuracy condition, the participants were less likely to view their own relationships through rose-colored glasses.
The Takeaway
As with life in general, having optimistic expectations about your relationship's future can influence its success, and the perceived superiority effect is one way that you might generate those optimistic expectations, even if they're slightly biased in your favor. Try to reinforce this positive attitude within your own relationship by periodically making lists of the good, the bad, and the things that make your relationship better than the rest.
Share your results on social media: