gottmanbidsrepairfour-horsemen
Gottman — bids, repair, and the four horsemen
Bids → responses and repair attempts predict relationship outcomes better than trait similarity alone. Our relationship items probe biddability and repair.
Citation
Gottman, J. M., & Silver, N. (1999). Why Marriages Succeed or Fail
View source5 min · Updated 2026-08-27
Educational context only, not a diagnosis or clinical assessment. Product-authored items are labeled where validated instruments do not apply.
§ 01 — Findings
What the study found
- Bid-turning-toward rate is the single strongest behavioral predictor of relationship satisfaction and survival.
- The four horsemen (criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling) erode relationships on a measurable trajectory.
- Repair-attempt willingness is the strongest protective factor against horsemen damage.
§ 02 — Encoding
How we encode it
- Why we route bid-behavior and repair items to a relationship_dynamics aggregate separately from personality traits.
- Why ledger-keeping is a known risk marker (not a virtue of accountability).