1. Describe how Dr. Gotmann with colleagues arrive to predictions of what leads to successful/unsuccessful marriages. * Dr. Gotmann with his colleagues invited couples to their Love Lab where the couples were tested while being observed and analyzed. * First, they separately complete some questionnaires about their marriage. (questions about their financial problems, kids.) * After that, couples together with a researcher completed an oral history Interview. ( they were sharing the story of how they met) * The next step was the conflict discussion. (the heart rates, facial expressions, emotions were monitored) * The back stage was analyzing the results. * Dr. Gotmann met the couples and talked about the findings.

2. What Dr. Gotmann and his colleagues claim to be able to predict?

By analyzing the video tapes recorded of the couples, the researchers are able to predict the relationship stability.

3. Describe the “master” and “disaster” of relationships (in details). Listen for the patterns of distructive communication (4 hourses of apocalypse) the “disaster” use that you’ve also read about.

Master- the couples who are together, didn’t divorce and are pretty happy. They are very gentile with one another even during an argument, take responsibility for even a small part of a problem.

Disaster- couples who broke apart or stay together but are unhappy. Are pointing their finger at their partner, are critical, are diagnosing their partner’s personality defects. * Criticism- stating the problem in a relationship as a defect in a partner. * Defensiveness- any way of warding off a perceived attack. * Contempt- any statement that you make to your partner from a superior place. * Stonewalling- listener withdrawal from the conflict.

4. Describe the essence of Sound Relationship House model. Describe what