UT researchers love to research love.
Many academics within the departments of psychology, human ecology and communication studies have developed studies on different aspects of human relationships.
Sam Gosling, associate professor of psychology, has researched how people create environments that provide insights into their personalities that help others see them how they would like to be perceived. Gosling cited MTV's "Room Raiders," a show where contestants choose dates based solely on what's in their rooms, as an important psychological experiment.
"You can learn a lot about people from the places they inhabit," Gosling said.
However, Vanessa Coltwright, a local painter who has been in a relationship for a year and four months, said this doesn't always apply.
"If I saw my boyfriend's room and didn't know him, I would honestly think he was a serial rapist or something," Coltwright said. "But he's not a serial rapist. He's my boyfriend, and I love him. So I don't think your room is a very good indicator of your personality."
Richard Slatcher, a psychology graduate student, recently finished a research report in conjunction with psychology professor James W. Pennebaker entitled "How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Words." In the report, Slatcher said he told one member of a couple to write about their relationship for 20 minutes a day for three consecutive days. The report found a significant number of the couples who wrote intensely about their relationships were still together three months later as opposed to those who didn't write about their relationships, he said.
"I haven't written in a diary about my relationships since middle school," said Jenny Cisneros, an advertising junior who has been in a relationship for three months. "Partly, because I don't have time, and partly, because it's kind of a middle school thing to do."
Stefan McNinsch, a UT English graduate who said he was in a complicated, two-year relationship, said writing about a relationship absolutely helps.
"I'm actually writing a screenplay about my relationship now called 'The Antithesis of a Love Story,' he said. "Writing it has totally made me honest with myself, because once you write something in a moment of passion, it's there, in print, and you can't just take it back. It's very objective."
When asked what the most important aspect of a relationship is, everyone interviewed chimed, "communication."
"Being truthful and open and honest with one another is by far the most important part of a relationship," said Amelia Conine, a mathematics and architecture sophomore who said she was "kind of" dating somebody. "Physical attraction is pretty important in the beginning, but communication is the most important overall."
Information on the human relationship research reports is posted on the University's Web site at www.utexas.edu/opa/news.html.
