Following a brief overview of the history of the study of relationships and marital problems, the author challenges the widespread conclusion from prior research that partners in a distressed marriage are simply more negative toward one another than partners in non-distressed relationships (as well as the implication that it is sufficient to encourage couples in conflictual relationships to be more positive to each other). The author summarizes a large amount of work from his laboratory (conducted in collaboration with Robert Levenson, and using observational methods as well as psychophysiological recording) that shows that the sequential patterns of affective interchange partners show in non-conflict contexts may regulate affect in conflict contexts. The data show that these stable affective interaction patterns predict marital happiness and stability or divorce. Based on these empirical research findings, the author suggests that only a proper “relationship science” can do justice to the complexity of the issues and generate plausible suggestions for policy implementations in the future.
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