Romantic Partner's Perceptual Accuracy and Relationship Quality
Previous research has found associations between personality perception and relationship satisfaction. Being perceived as conscientious correlates with marital satisfaction (Claxton et al., 2012) and partner-perceived extraversion is related to relationship satisfaction (Schaffhuser et al., 2014). In addition, partner self-verification is related to higher relationship satisfaction (Letzring & Noftle, 2010). This pilot study aimed to examine the association between perceptual accuracy in partner personality and overall relationship satisfaction. To test for this association, N = 138 established romantic couples completed a survey that measured their own personality as well as their perception of their partner’s personality. In addition, they also reported their relationship satisfaction. Correlations were all in the hypothesized direction; however, they were not all significant. Notably, there was an association between perceptual accuracy in Extraversion and relationship satisfaction for both partners. Relationship duration did not further moderate the effect. One limitation of this pilot study is statistical power. At N = 138 couples, we were only adequately powered to determine a medium effect size. This research thus aimed to be hypothesis-generating for future works on the topic.