Divorce Is Contagious
vorce is the dissolution of a social tie, but it is also possible that attitudes about divorce flow across social ties. To explore how social networks influence divorce and vice versa, we utilize a longitudinal data set from the long-running Framingham Heart Study. We find that divorce can spread between friends, siblings, and coworkers, and there are clusters of divorcees that extend two degrees of separation in the network. We also find that popular people are less likely to get…
1 min read
The Formula That Predicts How Long Celebrity Marriages Will Last
s. John Tierney reports on a formula created by Garth Sundem, author of Brain Trust: 93 Top Scientists Reveal Lab-Tested Secrets to Surfing, Dating, Dieting, Gambling, Growing Man-Eating Plants, and More!. Garth, a self-professed über-geek, has crunched the numbers and discovered a better way to gauge the toxic effects of celebrity. Whereas the old equation measured fame by counting the millions of Google hits, the new equation uses a ratio of two other measures: the number of mentions in The…
2 minutes
Why is it so hard finding a spouse in NYC?
o many choices makes people ridiculously picky. From Willpower: Resdiscovering the Greatest Human Strength: For a column in 1995, Tierney did a semiscientific survey to investigate a New York phenomenon: the huge number of intelligent and attractive people who complained that it was impossible to find a romantic partner. Manhattan had the highest percentage of single people of any county in America except for an island in Hawaii originally settled as a leper colony. What was keeping New Yorkers apart?…
2 minutes
What personality trait should you seek in a spouse?
nscientiousness was the trait most associated with long, happy marriages: In this study of 125 heterosexual long-wed couples, we examined both spouses' personality traits and relative differences in partner perceptions of personality as predictors of marital satisfaction, simultaneously for both husbands and wives. As hypothesized, each of the Big Five personality traits emerged as significantly associated with marital satisfaction though significant between-trait and between-sex differences were observed. Most notably, trait levels predicted marital satisfaction less consistently than positive reporting discrepancies…
1 min read
Does guilting people really work?
minding people of their transgressions causes them to improve their behavior: People’s desires to see themselves as moral actors can contribute to their striving for and achievement of a sense of self-completeness. The authors use self-completion theory to predict (and show) that recalling one’s own (im)moral behavior leads to compensatory rather than consistent moral action as a way of completing the moral self. In three studies, people who recalled their immoral behavior reported greater participation in moral activities (Study 1),…
1 min read
Is there a connection between love and delusion?
ople with positive illusions about their relationship are more satisfied, score higher on love and trust and have fewer problems: It is proposed that satisfying, stable relationships reflect intimates' ability to see imperfect relationships in somewhat idealized ways-to make a leap of faith. Both members of dating and married couples completed a measure of relationship illusions, tapping idealized perceptions of the partners' attributes, exaggerated perceptions of control, and unrealistic optimism. Results of concurrent analyses revealed that relationship illusions predicted greater…
2 minutes
Can dancing together improve your relationship?
s, it can: The significance that romantic partners ascribe to joint activities and the impact these activities have on relationship quality were examined in the context of self-determination theory. Individuals who practice ballroom dancing with a romantic partner were invited to complete measures of motivation and perception of dyadic adjustment for their relationship and when dancing. Results from path analyses suggested direct and indirect effects of relationship motivation on satisfaction when dancing with a partner. Additionally, direct and indirect effects…
1 min read
This Increases A Woman’s Relationship Satisfaction And Decreases Her Sexual Satisfaction
e Pill. It affects women's taste in men. From New Scientist: Studies show that women on the pill are attracted to different men than when they are not on the pill. One explanation is that because the pill simulates pregnancy, women tend to head for traits associated with fidelity. And: Women on the pill when they met their partner were significantly less sexually satisfied, but reported higher levels of general satisfaction in the relationship, such as financial support and partner loyalty. They…
1 min read
