PsyPost: New research indicates stress can have a powerful impact on your perceptions of your partner

A new daily diary study of 79 newlywed couples found that individuals who experienced more stressful life events were especially attuned to day-to-day changes in their partner’s negative behaviors, but not their partner’s positive behaviors. They tended to see their partner as behaving more negatively compared to how individuals who faced less stressful events saw their partners. The study was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Dealing with stressors such as work difficulties, financial pressures, or unpleasant exchanges with family members often results in an increase of anxiety, exhaustion, or irritability. Even when the stressors a person deals with are outside the home, their effects can spill over into relationships with family members inside the home.

As a consequence of this, individuals may become less tolerant of their partner’s inconsiderate behaviors and less likely to give their partner the benefit of the doubt or be forgiving when they perceive a transgression. Stress may also color what behaviors individuals notice within their relationship.

Some Insights From This Article

• Research indicates that times of stress can make us more attuned and aware of our significant other’s more negative actions and speech more so than their positives. In other words we begin noticing more the bad than the good.

• This can lead to a lower tolerance to our partners actions more so than in times when we are not stressed. Emotions often feed off each other and usually more negative things will correspond with a more negative state of mind (ie. when we are stressed).

• Understanding this natural biological bias that we have can be the first step to perhaps be more aware of this effect next time we are stressed and are interacting with our significant others. Do you think you may need some time to cool off before talking with them? Doing so can help outside experiences from affecting your own personal experiences at home.

How do you prevent yourself from projecting negative emotions onto others?

Full article is here!

#Projection #Stress #Relationships