Psychologists at the University of Rochester in New York State conducted a study to predict the longevity of a relationship. It was based on a test previously used to assess racism.
According to experts, couples generally do not know or hide their true feelings about a relationship. However, the Psychological Science reports how an automatic response to negative or positive words revealed a person’s subconscious thoughts.
Researchers asked 222 people who were in a relationship, engaged or married, to associate words. Each participant had to say three words that reminded them of the loved one. Their answers were added to a list of three positive words such as holidays, peace and gift and three negative words like death, accident and tragedy.
Each word appeared on a screen quickly and participants were asked to indicate when they saw good words or partner-related words. Lead investigator and relationship researcher Ronald Rogge said: "It’s difficult because the words flip by quickly to distract people and tie up their conscious mind to find out what their subconscious attitudes are like."
The researchers contacted the participants every three months to check the status of their relationship; those couples they had predicted would break up actually did so within a year.