We’re all trying to make our marriage work, which seems to be why, almost every day, there’s a new study out there on how to make it last.
One of the latest, out of the University of Southern California and the University of Utah, show that that old adage, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it,” is truer than ever.
By tracking over 100 conversations of married couples in marriage therapy for two years and then following them through their marriages for three years afterwards, lead researchers found that when it comes to how an individuals’ emotions are relayed through their tone of voice, certain tones (like high pitched noises) relay directly to the changing nature of a relationship.
Co-lead research, Shrikanth Narayanan said, “It’s not just about studying emotions, and it’s about studying the impact of what your partner says on your emotions.
Ultimately, words may be deceiving but tone of voice absolutely isn’t.
The study, which is one of the first of its kind to examine how tone of voice affects arguments, was funded by the National Science Foundation.
Readers, tell us… Do you think that your tone of voice affects how you communicate and receive information from your spouse? How do you and your partner work through communication snafus?
