Facial Expressions During Marital Conflict

Abstract

A sample of 79 married couples were studied in 1983 in our laboratory engaging in a marital conflict discussion. Their facial expressions were coded from video tape using the Ekman and Friesen (1978) Emotion Facial Affect Coding System. This article describes the validity of this coding in several measurement domains: (a) the couple's perception of the relationship; (b) the prediction of the number of months of marital separation within the next 4 years; (c) the couple's physical health within the next 4 years; (d) the couple's cardiac physiological responses during the conflict interaction (interbeat interval and pulse transit time); (e) the number of floor switches or interacts in the conflict conversation; and (f) coding of the couple's Oral History Interview, which assesses dimensions of the couple's relationship history and philosophy. Facial expressions were consistently related to most domains of measurement.

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