It’s always frustrating when a small disagreement with your partner blows up into something major, but it happens all the time. When emotions are running high, it’s easy to get carried away, but new research has figured out a way to keep that from happening. And all it takes is a five-second break.
Psychologists at the University of St Andrews in the U.K. have found that when couples having an argument pause for those five seconds it can diffuse the situation. Their study involving 81 couples finds that brief pause is enough to keep lower-level conflicts from escalating into a big blowup fight. It turns out, five seconds is just as effective as taking a 10 or 15-second break.
“It sounds obvious but this is the first time anyone has experimentally demonstrated a reduction in aggression following enforced breaks,” explains study author Annah McCurry. “This is a simple, free and effective hack to reduce negative emotions during arguments.” She notes that this works for managing small disagreements and conflicts, not serious fights.
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