The First Minutes of Conflict Really Do Matter

Did you know that researchers have been able to observe newlyweds marital conflict discussion for three minutes and predict divorce? While this is interesting I find it more interesting in what the coders used to measure the conflict patterns. Below are the categorized affects that were displayed:

Five positive codes (interest, validation, affection, humor, joy), 10 negative affect codes (disgust, contempt, belligerence, domineering, anger, fear/tension, defensiveness, whining, sadness, stonewalling), and a neutral affect code.

I believe it is very interesting that 3 minutes into a conversation can be so predictive. However, in observing these communication patterns in couples I too have seen the negative patterns destroy marriages.