Empathic accuracy in couples: A daily diary study of relationship-related emotions.

Abstract

Empathic accuracy-the ability to accurately infer one's partner's emotions-has important implications for couples' relational well-being. Although distinct emotions convey various needs and elicit different responses between romantic partners, research on empathic accuracy-its patterns, underlying processes and relational consequences-across a spectrum of discrete emotions directed towards the partner or the relationship remains sparse. This study employed a 35-day dyadic daily diary design to examine empathic accuracy in couples, focusing on seven emotions (joy, feeling loved, anger, contempt, sadness, fear, and guilt) while also investigating the reliance on bias of assumed similarity, the moderating role of the target's social sharing, and the links between empathic accuracy and perceived partner responsiveness (PPR). The sample included 327 couples who reported on their own emotions, their perceptions of their partner's emotions, their perceptions of their own social sharing and their perception of their partner's responsiveness. Results showed that partners tend to hold a slight negativity bias when inferring each other's emotions. However, most are adept at tracking changes in their partner's emotions, especially when partners verbalize how they are feeling, and they strongly rely on their own emotions to make such inferences. In addition, the intensity of felt or perceived emotions-rather than empathic accuracy-were associated with PPR, though some distinct patterns emerged across emotions. These results provide partial support for error-management theory and highlight the importance of examining emotions beyond valence, as both similarities and distinctions emerge in patterns of empathic accuracy and their links to relational outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).