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Does imagining you never met a romantic partner boost relationship satisfaction and gratitude? A conceptual replication and extension of the effect of mentally subtracting a partner

Previous research has found that thinking about the presence of a partner in one’s life can, at least temporarily, increase relationship satisfaction. However, other studies have found that doing the opposite—thinking about the absence of a partner from one’s life (i.e., mentally subtracting a partner)—can boost relationship satisfaction. The current study is a conceptual replication and extension of a previous study demonstrating that people who imagined never meeting their current partner reported greater satisfaction than people who thought about the presence of a partner in their life or a neutral control. We expected that thinking about the absence of a partner could boost gratitude and, in turn, promote greater relationship satisfaction. However, we did not find support for the mental subtraction effect on relationship satisfaction or gratitude. That is, participants who mentally subtracted their romantic partners from their lives did not report greater relationship satisfaction or gratitude compared to participants who thought about the presence of their partner in their lives (or those in a control condition). Our study suggests that mentally subtracting positive life events may not always boost feelings of satisfaction.