Why Mr. Nice could be Mr. Right

The key to relationship happiness could be as simple as finding a nice person.

And, despite popular belief, sharing similar personalities might not be as important as most people think, according to a new study from Michigan State University.

"People are investing a lot in finding a compatible person, but our research indicates that this may not be the end," said Bill Chopik, badociate professor of psychology and director of the relationship lab. narrow MSU. "Instead, people may want to ask," Is this a nice person? "" Do they have a lot of anxiety? "These things matter a lot more than the fact that two people are introverts and find themselves together."

The most striking finding of the study is that having similar personalities has virtually no effect on how satisfied people are in their lives and relationships, Chopik said.

So, what does this search mean for dating apps?

Despite their popularity, applications that match users in terms of compatibility may have everything wrong, he said.

"When you start creating algorithms and psychologically matching people, we do not know as much about it as we think," Chopik said. "We do not know why the heart chooses what it does, but with this research, we can exclude compatibility as an isolated factor."

The researchers looked at almost every means by which couples could be happy, making it the most comprehensive study to date.

Chopik and Richard Lucas, a professor in the Psychology Department of the MSU Foundation in the Department of Psychology, measured the effects of personality traits on the well-being of more than 2,500 heterobadual couples. who have been married for about 20 years.

Even among couples who share similar personalities, Chopik and Lucas found that having a conscientious and kind partner resulted in greater satisfaction of the relationship. At the same time, having a neurotic partner and, more surprisingly, more extroverted leads to less relational satisfaction.

Provided by
University of Michigan