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Background

My interest in partners’ perceptions of one another began during my predoctoral internship, when I started conducting couples therapy. At that time, I was required to interview partners separately before seeing them together. I was struck by how often they struggled to agree on the very reasons that brought them to treatment. Each partner articulated a completely different version of their shared relationship dynamics, and their portrayals of one another often bore no resemblance to how I imagined their partners based on the descriptions. It seemed as though the members of the couple existed in separate realities while maintaining a facade of being a high-functioning dyad. This inspired me to explore and evaluate these perceptual discrepancies while developing ways to help partners reintroduce themselves to one another with fresh perspectives.

Michael Ivanov, Ph.D.

Perceptual agreement: Assessing reality and illusion in romantic relationships

(The journal abstract from Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 2018)
The construct of perceptual agreement (PA) represents variations among couples in the extent to which partners have a shared reality of their relationship, such as a jointly held representation of one another and the characteristics each brings to the relationship. This study assessed PA by 3 methodological approaches in samples of couples and individual partners: (a) by comparing self- and partner descriptions on measures in multiple domains, (b) by comparing self- and partner descriptions on a brief dyadic Perceptual Agreement Questionnaire, and (c) using one partner’s report about the couple’s PA. The measures produced internally consistent, retest reliable, and intercorrelated scores. The developed PA questionnaires explained 72% and 64% of the variance in male and female partners’ relationship satisfaction scores, respectively. PA also related positively to measures of open and constructive communication and negatively to measures of perceptual distortions in the relationship (behavioral communication and projective mystification). These findings, which suggest PA’s meaning and etiology within the context of partners’ personalities, lead to implications for consideration of PA in clinical work on relationship issues.

References

• Ivanov, M, & Werner, P. (2018) Perceptual Agreement: Assessing Reality and Illusion in Romantic Relationships. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 7(2), 76-90. https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000101
• Ivanov, M. & Malkovich, K. (2012). Perceptual Agreement: Reality and Illusion in Romantic Relationships. Presented at Conference, San Francisco, CA
• Ivanov, M. (2012). Perceptual agreement: Reality and illusion in romantic relationships. (Order No. 3517200, Alliant International University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 186.

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