To Lead To Fewer Future Disagreements Think Objectively About Romantic Conflicts
RELATIONSHIPS & DATING
Lindsey Rodriguez, University of South Florida
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The big idea
Consciously channeling the perspective of a neutral third party can defuse romantic conflict and prevent future disputes, according to a study of 716 Americans my colleagues and I published in the journal Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice.
We surveyed men and women across the U.S. who were living at home with their romantic partner in May 2020 – at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. We asked them to identify a recent disagreement with their partner. Then we randomly assigned them to briefly write about that recent relationship conflict.
We asked half the participants to write about the disagreement from thei...