Emotional convergence between people over time.

TLDR

The study proposes that people in relationships become emotionally similar over time to coordinate thoughts and behaviors, increase mutual understanding, and foster social cohesion, and discusses the implications and potential mechanisms of this convergence. The authors used laboratory procedures to induce and assess emotional responses in dating partners and college roommates over a year, revealing increasing emotional similarity. They found that emotional convergence occurs over a year, is driven more by partners with less power, and that greater similarity predicts higher relationship cohesion and lower dissolution rates.

Abstract

The authors propose that people in relationships become emotionally similar over time--as this similarity would help coordinate the thoughts and behaviors of the relationship partners, increase their mutual understanding, and foster their social cohesion. Using laboratory procedures to induce and assess emotional response, the authors found that dating partners (Study 1) and college roommates (Studies 2 and 3) became more similar in their emotional responses over the course of a year. Further, relationship partners with less power made more of the change necessary for convergence to occur. Consistent with the proposed benefits of emotional similarity, relationships whose partners were more emotionally similar were more cohesive and less likely to dissolve. Discussion focuses on implications of emotional convergence and on potential mechanisms.