“I knew they wouldn’t last”: can we really predict the breakup of a couple?

Ending a romantic relationship can be difficult. Often people look back and wish they had done things differently, until it seems obvious what was wrong with the relationship. However, what may seem clear in retrospect often was not so at the time.

Even friends and family can take credit for saying I knew they wouldn’t last which is usually the reaction of people when they find out that the couple has ended, but Could anyone really know that it wouldn’t work?

A new study of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (USA) surveyed over a thousand students and adults, noting that when a person finds out breakup of a couple can influence perceptions of the relationship, assuming the breakup was obvious.

According to the study researchers, after a breakup, for example, what was previously interpreted as constant care and affection, then it can be reinterpreted as the behavior of an authoritarian partner. Similarly, differences in beliefs that were previously interpreted as opportunities for perspective taking and negotiation can be reinterpreted as impassable barriers .

The study published in the journal Bulletin of Social Psychology , suggests that You should think twice before assuming what might have happened in the relationship because what you think about when you find out about the breakup is actually hindsight bias. One who plays a trick on memory.

He hindsight bias occurs when, after an event has occurred, the memory of the previous opinion tends to change in favor of the final result, perceive the event as foreseeable . Also, the observer is more likely to focus more on the negative qualities than the positive ones and evaluate the relationship that way.

Researchers suggest that once a rupture has occurred, “signals of the impending breakout that were ignored or missed in the forecast may become more relevant, as they now give a glimpse of how things could have been different.

To demonstrate that hindsight bias was present in romantic relationships, researchers conducted two studies using surveys . They gathered more than a thousand people and They were told the story of a seemingly happy couple, with an emotional and loving connection, but with different religious beliefs.

The research team then divided the respondents into three groups, each of which received a different relationship update six months later. One group received no information, another learned that the couple had separated, and the last learned that the couple remained together or became engaged.

Once all the necessary information has been provided to respondents to form an opinion, they were asked what they thought happened to the relationship when they first read about the couple and were asked to rate the quality of the relationship.

Their conclusions were as follows: in those who did not receive more information from the partner or who received a positive scenario, there was not much difference in response. But those who were told the couple had broken up rated the breakup as more obvious than the other groups and rated the relationship more negatively.

The researchers explain that there was a stark contrast between these two groups and the group who were told the couple had broken up. Even the latter claimed that “I knew they wouldn’t last” .

“As people update their knowledge and use newly acquired outcome information to make sense of experiences, they may forget or reinterpret thoughts and predictions they had before,” the researchers write. .

The data suggests that the dissolution of a relationship may not be as obvious or predictable as one might think and suggests that post-breakup blame and negative reactions from others may be unwarranted and may also increase the risk of depression and anxiety later on.