Communication and Understanding in Marriage

Two studies are reported in which audiotape contestations of married couples were analyzed. A total of 82 couples were involved. The research considered how understanding of feelings is related to verbal and nonverbal communication. Paraling expression of affect was more consistently related to understanding than verbal disclosure. Further, there was a strong tendency for spouses to use their own feelings as a reference for predicting their partner's feelings. These findings suggest that information that is more immediate to the perceiver has the greatest effect on understanding.