Thaindian News

Washington, Jan 13 (IANS) Some of the most intense or volatile emotions felt by people occur during a conflict in romantic relationships. A research turns the spotlight on how a person perceives his or her partner’s emotion during a conflict that greatly influences different types of thoughts, feelings and reactions in themselves, the journal Personal Relationships reports.

Keith Sanford, neuroscientist and associate professor in Baylor College of Arts and Sciences in the US, and his team studied 105 students in relationships as they communicated through different arguments over an eight-week period.

Sanford focused on how emotion changed within each person across episodes of relationship conflict.

He distinguished between two types of negative emotion as “hard” and “soft”, according to a Baylor statement.

“Hard” emotion is associated with asserting power, whereas “soft” emotion is associated with expressing vulnerability.

Another type of concern is called “perceived neglect”, which involves a perception that one’s partner is failing to make a desired contribution or failing to demonstrate an ideal level of commitment or investment in the relationship.

Sanford said the results show that people perceive a threat to their control, power and status in the relationship when they observe an increase in partner’s hard emotion.

Conversely, they perceive partner neglect when they observe an increase in partner’s flat emotion or a decrease in partner’s soft emotion.