Social Experiment #A
An idea came into my head this morning. I'd love to do a social experiement concerning couples and the effects that what their friends say to them on the relationship. Of course, with out the ability to go to alternate realities or travel back in time, this would pretty much be impossible due to the different variables human behavior present.
Hypothesis
A couple that is given negative re-enforcement from their friends is going to break up in a short amount of time.
Reasoning
It is my belief that if individual members of a couple are constantly exposed to negativity concerning their new love interest, that after a period of time it will affect the relationship. I've seen this happen a lot and experienced it. People say to the guy "dude, she's no good for you." or "Look, in all seriousness, I think she's using you." or "Wow, she really takes away your self control." Now, that normally doesn't affect a guy too much because we're pretty thick headed to begin with. It's what is said to the woman that really affects it. Things like "you're too good for him" or "you can do so much better" or "he's very insensitive to what you want".
This leads me to my Sub-Hypothesis - If the main hypothesis is true, then the woman will be the one to break up the couple.
Like any good experiment - you need the test groups and the control group. This is where the wheels come off the wagon. You'll see why after I explain them.
Control Group
This group would consist of the newly formed couple. The circle of friends are not to comment on the relationship at all and the couple is not to seek validation from them. They are simply to exist and allow the relationship to develop naturally.
Test Group A
This group would consist of the same newly formed couple. However, the same friends are to say only bad things about the partner to the individual member of the couple without the other one being present. This is to be a constant occurance. The couple is allowed to individually seek validation from their friends, but the friends must re-act negatively.
Test Group B
This group would consist of the same newly formed couple. However, the same friends are to say only good things about the partner to the individual member of the couple without the other one being present. Again, this is to be a constant and frequent occurance. The couple is allowed to individually seek validation but the friends must re-act positively.
Feasibility
This would be impossible to create because you would need the same couple and same group of friends to act in three different situations without remembering the other two groups. Still, I believe that Test Group A would break up rather quickly. Test Group B would probably last longer than Control Group because the friends would be able to calm the individuals down if something erked them.
Conclusion
Now, I make it a habit to try to tell my friends the truth about their relationship. However, try to only tell the good stuff about your friend's partner until they really ask for the truth. Let them enjoy the relationship for what it is, even if you can see it's heading for a wreck.
Like Jerry Springer says - "Be good to yourself, and each other."