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Negative Speaks Louder than Positive: Negative Implicit Partner Evaluations Forecast Destructive Daily Interaction and Relationship Decline

Implicit partner evaluations (IPEs)—the evaluations triggered nonconsciously when thinking of one’s partner—have been shown to predict consequential outcomes. Despite the interest, there is a glaring paradox in current approaches. A defining feature of significant other mental representations is their affective complexity; but commonly-used methods assess positive relative to negative IPEs, which do not capture this complexity. Using a longitudinal design, we examined the differential attunement of positive and negative IPEs in forecasting relationship behaviors and outcomes. Time 1 negative IPEs forecasted perceiving and enacting daily negative behaviors assessed in a 14-day daily diary, which, in turn, predicted deterioration in explicit partner and relationship evaluations three months later. Positive IPEs, as well as explicit attitudes, were weak and inconsistent predictors of relationship outcomes. These findings elucidate the differential functions of negative and positive IPEs and demonstrate the importance of independently assessing negative and positive IPEs.