Quickie: Your Partner’s Affection May Not Mean What You Think It Does
Those sweet nothings may be a sign of deceptive affection
A kiss. A cuddle. Some hand-holding. Those three little words. These behaviors are all signs that your partner is expressing positive feelings toward you, right?
Not necessarily, according to a study published in Communication Quarterly. In fact, these gestures could actually mean the exact opposite of what you think they do.
“Gestures such as hand-holding, kissing, and cuddling could be indicators that your partner is mad at you,” said researcher Sean Horan, who, along with colleague Melanie Booth-Butterfield, studied the nature of deceptive affection.
“Using affection to lie appears to be a regular activity in romantic relationships….”
Deceptive affection is defined by study authors as the use of affectionate behaviors that people don’t actually feel in the moment. This can include expressing affection physically or verbally, and people may do it for a variety of reasons that all boil down to avoiding conflict.
“Couples use deceptive affection because they feel negatively about their partner and want to save face, avoid embarrassing their partner…
