From: Scientific American
Mate Idealization Makes for Happy Early Marriage
Scientific American:
They say that love is blind. And that’s probably for the best. Because a new study shows that people who greatly idealize their spouses have the happiest marriages. For the first few years, anyway. The research appears in the journal Psychological Science. [Sandra Murray et al., “Tempting Fate or Inviting Happiness?: Unrealistic Idealization Prevents the Decline of Marital Satisfaction,” link to come]
Most people mentally accentuate their partners’ better qualities. At least during courtship. If we didn’t, who would ever tie the knot? But some folks take these fantasies to cartoonish extremes. Now, you’d think such people are in for a rude awakening when they realize they married a real human being with real human flaws. But this new study says it isn’t so.
Read the whole story: Scientific American
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