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Relationships matter so much! Science often studies the relationships between physical objects, chemicals or even how theoretical information interacts with other theoretical information. Okay, but what about our own relationships? Romantic relationships have long been a part of the human story, but how well have we really studied them? Every person is unique so that means there's a lot of data to go through if we want to study human relationships. A difficult task, but made a bit more possible with the use of artificial intelligence! How can artificial intelligence study romantic relationships? 

There’s no doubt the global pandemic is having impacts on economics, school and a myriad of other aspects of what was once daily “normal” life. Romantic relationships, too, are being put to the test with new life schedules that were unexpected a few months ago. As we deal with the world these days, how do our characteristics factor into our romantic relationships? 

A recent study looked at variables of both individual’s and their romantic relationships to see what factors truly matter for the quality of the relationship. As we deal with the world around us, how do our characteristics impact our romantic relationships? 

This is an actual field of study. Relationship Science—the science of yep, you guessed it, relationships—combines psychology, sociology, economics, family studies and communication! Relationship science has been around for decades and has yielded thousands of research papers that have ultimately informed marriage counselors, relationship therapist and beyond. But going through decades of collected data is difficult and expensive for individuals to do, so, enter artificial intelligence!

Using AI machine learning, researchers were able to study more than 11,000 couples worth of information from previous studies to yield some interesting conclusions. This study found that relationship-specific perceptions like “my partner is loyal” and “I feel grateful to have my partner” were among the most important for a high-quality relationship. They also observed that an individual’s perceptions like “the world scares me” and “I’m anxious about my future” was important but not nearly as vital as the experiences built together in a relationship.

So, while no one person may be perfect, it’s quite possible that they can still work toward a perfect relationship. There’s still a lot more to learn and a huge range of potential statistical issues to interpret, but this research gave these scientists one large thought to consider: The relationships we build may be more important than the individuals involved. What a strange and beautiful sentiment!

Those inside jokes, common travel experiences, shared daily traditions and beyond could be far more important than the individuals who make up the relationship. Similar to relationships themselves, the study of relationships, too, is hard work. Luckily thanks to technology like AI machine learning we now have a small window into what really matters.  

A friendly reminder to all you love birds out there: when two people truly are in love, nothing is impossible … except deciding on what to eat!

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