Past research has shown that having positive illusions about ones' general relationship increases relationship satisfaction. The present research examines how positive illusions about a specific conflict influences the relationship, while examining both partners' perspective on the conflict and the relationship. One hundred and nine couples (N= 218) were recruited via crowdsourcing to participate in an online self-report questionnaire about experiences of positive illusions and recent conflict in their relationship. Self-esteem was assessed as a moderator. Results were mixed: Participants who held positive illusions about how their partner felt during the conflict experienced greater relationship satisfaction. However, positive illusions about how fair the interaction was and positive illusions about partner's feelings about the relationship were not significantly linked to satisfaction. Further, participant's positive illusions did not affect their partner's relationship satisfaction. No moderating effects of self-esteem were found. Further research is needed to understand when positive illusions might be beneficial or detrimental to romantic relationships.

We examine bias in how people perceive their romantic relationship over time. Participants appraised their relationship 6 months and 1 year ago on average more negatively than they had done at the time (retrospective bias) but showed no significant mean-level forecasting bias. Higher relationship quality at the time of appraisal was linked to less negative retrospective bias but to more positive forecasting bias (Study 1). Similarly, participants who were experimentally manipulated to focus on the high relationship quality aspects in their relationship (vs. considering challenging aspects of their relationship) showed more forecasting bias and less retrospective bias (Study 2). This pattern occurred due to participants’ projecting positive current feelings onto predicted relationship quality in the future and remembered relationship quality in the past. This projection reduced the overall negative bias in recalled relationship quality for those currently perceiving higher relationship quality but increased positive bias in forecasted relationship quality.