Abstract
Physiological linkage (i.e., the covariation of moment-to-moment physiology between individuals) is thought to play an important role in relationship functioning. The present study examined physiological linkage across interbeat interval (IBI) and skin conductance levels (SCL) in a sample of married spouses (N=106) during both a pleasant and a conflict conversation and looked for associations with spouses’ marital satisfaction and subjective emotional experience. When physiological linkage was operationalized with anti-phase and in-phase linkage constituting opposite ends of a continuum (i.e., overall linkage), results indicated a significant negative association between overall linkage and subjective experience of disgust; and this finding generalized across conversations and physiological channels. When physiological linkage was operationalized with anti-phase and in-phase linkage constituting one end of a continuum and no linkage constituting the other end of a continuum (i.e., total linkage), similar patterns were seen, except certain additional results that suggested a positive correlation between total linkage and marital satisfaction. Overall, these findings provide insight into the relationship between linkage, marital satisfaction and emotional experience and suggest the need for further research.