Whether you’re head over heels with a special someone or you’re of the opinion that you’re doomed to be single forever, the future of your love life can be dictated by two simple questions. Apparently.
Two researchers believe they have come up with a formula to tell you if you’re in love or if your relationship is heading for the rocks.
The all-important questions are as follows: “How happy are you in your marriage relative to how happy you would be if you weren’t in the marriage?” and “How do you think your spouse answered that question?”
Spotted on Mail Online, Leora Friedberg and Steven Stern, professors at the University of Virginia, asked 4,242 couples the above questions and after six years, repeated the questions to the same couples.
The couples who thought that they would be no worse off single were more likely to be broken up… very reassuring altogether.
Interestingly, only 41 per cent of participants could tell how their partner felt about the state of their relationship.
The scientists are of the opinion that if you can’t tell how your other half is feeling, you’re likely to “bargain too hard”.
Speaking about this theory, Professor Stern said: “If I believe my wife is really happy in the marriage. I might push her to do more chores or contribute a larger portion of the family income.
“If, unbeknownst to me, she’s actually just lukewarm about the marriage, or she’s got a really good-looking guy who is interested in her, she may decide those demands are the last straw, and decide a divorce would be a better option for her.
“In this scenario, pushing a bargain too hard, based on the misperception of a partner’s happiness, will result in a divorce that wouldn’t otherwise have occurred.”
Both scientists believe the key to a happy relationship is choosing your battles wisely.
“This data shows that people aren’t being as tough negotiators as they could be, and then we realised that we needed to include caring in the model for it to make sense” said Professor Friedberg.
