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Partner enhancement versus verification and emotional responses to daily conflict

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Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Published online on

Abstract

This study investigated the moderating role of partner enhancement and verification on couples’ emotional responses to daily conflicts. Each evening for 5 weeks, 264 couples in which one partner was under stress reported whether a conflict occurred and both positive and negative relationship feelings. Partners rated each other on relationship-central and relationship-peripheral traits before the diary period, allowing us to examine the consequences of derogation (partner views more negative than self-views) and enhancement (partner views more positive than self-views) relative to verification. Derogation on both relationship-central and relationship-peripheral traits was associated with more negative conflict responses. Enhancement on relationship-peripheral traits was associated with more negative conflict responses than verification. Although not as consistent a pattern, results suggest that enhancement on relationship-central traits was beneficial.