Ever wonder what the secret to a happy relationship is? Apparently bringing up old arguments on a regular basis is the key to a happy marriage, well, if a new study to be believed.
The Telegraph reports that clinging onto the past and bringing up bad arguments in excrutiating detail at least three times a year can actually improve your relationship. And here we were thinking that picking fights was a bad thing…
So how did researchers come to this strange conclusion? Well, after conducting a study they discovered that going over old arguments with our other halves actually encourages us to take a kinder view of the situation and see things from our man’s perspective.
The researchers issued 120 couples with questionnaires on their satsifaction within their marriage. The questions focussed on their relationship with their partner, love, intimacy, trust, passion and commitment.
Fighting can encourage us to see the situation from our partner’s point of view
As part of the study, couples were asked to fill out a seven-minute survey online where they were asked to rate how they felt after they went over an old argument with their partner. The researchers claimed that bringing up the past actually managed to offset the decline in marital satisfaction that most average couples experience over time.
“I don’t want it to sound like magic, but you can get pretty impressive results with minimal intervention,” said Eli Finkel, a professor of psychology who was in charge of the study.
So the next time it feels like you and your man are having the same old fight again, don’t worry – it could be having a positive impact on your relationship. Well, providing you view the situation from a compassionate standpoint that is.
