"How has the week been for you two?" Relationship satisfaction and hindsight memory biases in couples' reports of relationship events.

Abstract

We predicted that low relationship satisfaction is associated with negative hindsight biases in memory of relationship interaction. Sixty couples individually kept a diary of their relationship on a daily basis for 1 week. At the end of the week they described that week, and their comments were recorded and coded. Hindsight bias was operationalized as the rate of positive and negative comments about the relationship after controlling for partners' immediate perceptions of the relationship, as recorded in their diary. As predicted, low relationship satisfaction was associated with negative hindsight memory bias. Future research needs to clarify the source and nature of this hindsight bias, and therapists may need to promote more recall of positive relationship memories in distressed couples.