8 Interesting Psychological Facts About Relationships and Love

We all want to be in loving relationships with others, but can the field of psychology help us? Although it’s impossible to know what goes on inside someone else’s head, there are certain psychological phenomena that may help us answer some questions about relationships and love. Here are eight interesting psychological facts about relationships and love.

1) Men judge women by their faces

Men are so strongly drawn to a woman's face that they will judge whether or not she is attractive even before seeing her body. Women who have classically beautiful features--feminine chin, full lips, high cheekbones--are rated as more attractive than women with less of these qualities. Men are also likely to overestimate how responsive someone is who is attractive; the relationship between attractiveness and responsiveness isn't as clear among less attractive people. Women don't notice men's hands: Women focus on the man's chest area when trying to assess his level of attractiveness. Men believe most women want them: A survey by Angus Reid found that men think 75% of women want them and 78% would go out with them if given the chance. In reality, 60% of women say no to sex when propositioned by an attractive man.

2) Attractive people get away with more bad behavior

In the 1960s, a famous psychological experiment showed that attractive people got away with more bad behavior than unattractive people. After performing each of the different tasks to measure attractiveness, subjects in the experiment were asked for advice about what type of punishment was appropriate for someone who broke up their parent's marriage. The results: People considered attractive generally recommended lighter punishments than unattractive people did. It seems that we perceive attractive people as less harmful and more likely to change their ways, which leads us to be less harsh on them. We have learned this lesson all too well when it comes to celebrities- handsome or beautiful stars often get away with crimes or infractions that would land an average person in jail. If you're interested in learning more about this phenomenon, check out Dr. Janae Eirich's blog post: Why Is Attractiveness A Legal Defense?

What are some interesting facts about psychology related to relationships and love?

In the 1960s, a famous psychological experiment showed that attractive people got away with more bad behavior than unattractive people. After performing each of the different tasks to measure attractiveness, subjects in the experiment were asked for advice about what type of punishment was appropriate for someone who broke up their parent's marriage.

3) Spend time with your partner, not your ex

How would you feel if your partner expressed a genuine interest in spending time with their ex? Talk to them about it. As we learn more about relationships, it is becoming clear that there is an unspoken advantage to allow couples to have time apart. From enhancing intimacy between partners to reducing the likelihood of infidelity, these are some of the reasons why it's beneficial for couples to spend time with their partners and not their exes. Researchers from Kansas State University found that the best way to improve relationships was by spending quality time together. Researchers found that: Couples who spent more time together had better relationship outcomes. These findings confirmed what many people already knew intuitively: People who shared activities, spent less time on digital devices and invested in healthy habits like exercise had stronger bonds than those who didn't take part in these activities together.

4) The ideal partner is similar to you in most ways, but different in others

The research of Mashek and Aron found that in relationships, the ideal partner is someone who is most similar to you in many ways but not identical to you. It could be a partner's facial features, general intelligence, favorite color or even values. In contrast to this common finding, it is important for relationships that partners have similar interests and are complimentary towards one another. In other words, partners should have some of the same interests but also have different interests so they can be supportive when their partner wants to indulge in something they're interested in. If partners become too alike, there may be less room for disagreement, which allows disagreements to happen without feeling like an attack on the relationship. If partners remain too different, then there may be no sense of shared experience or mutual understanding between them because each person is coming from a totally different perspective.

5) A good kisser knows how you like to be kissed

A good kisser will know how you like to be kissed. If a person kisses in the same way that someone else likes to be kissed, then it is probably a good kisser. But there are other signs too! There are research studies that say physical attraction also plays a role. Of course, one of the surefire ways to find out if somebody is compatible with you in terms of kissing (among many other things) is to date them! You might not want to share your first kiss until after you’ve gotten to know each other for a while but it’s worth considering what kind of partner would make a good long-term partner for kissing. The best time to find out is when they're drunk or high on drugs because they won't remember it the next day.

6) Reminders of an ex may reignite your romantic feelings for them

No matter how long we've been out of a relationship, there will always be those reminders that show up at the most inconvenient times. After all, it can be difficult to just forget someone who has had such a significant impact on your life. One study found that reminiscing about an ex may reignite those romantic feelings for them (Makridakis et al., 2002). Researchers asked students from England and Wales to share their break-ups with two people, one of which was anonymous, then recall all memories related to their ex for five minutes. They were then given photos of their exes and randomly assigned happy or sad feedback before they took another survey. The results showed that when participants were given sad feedback, they were more likely to want to reunite with their ex when compared to happy feedback.

7) People have an acquaintance sweet spot where we want friends who feel familiar but are also new. We don't want too many friends who know us too well or too few friends who know us only a little bit.

The more someone knows about you, the less exciting the relationship feels. In one study, when participants were primed to imagine being open with others, they preferred having a few close friends to many acquaintances. Another recent study found that people have an acquaintance sweet spot where we want friends who feel familiar but are also new. We don't want too many friends who know us too well or too few friends who know us only a little bit. The boundary of this acquaintance sweet spot is different for everyone. Some people might be totally comfortable sharing intimate details of their lives with just one person while others may not share any details at all until they've been friends for years.

8) When someone's mood suddenly changes at the beginning of a relationship it might mean they're interested. If it happens later, it might mean they're confused.

People's moods often change when they meet a new person, with their mood getting more positive if the feeling is mutual. If this is happening early on in the relationship, it might mean that you are interested. But if it happens later on, it might mean that you're confused about how you feel. The way someone feels after an argument can tell you what kind of personality they have: If someone seems really upset after an argument, it could be because of high emotionality. If someone seems to be unaffected by an argument, it could be because of low emotional intelligence or as a defense mechanism for high sensitivity. The difference between introverts and extroverts may not just be in energy levels: Introverts have lower levels of dopamine, which means less stimulation from social situations will make them happy. Extroverts get more stimulation from social situations and need higher levels of dopamine to feel happy than introverts do.