Using emotion-inducing film clips to measure emotional coordination

Synchronization research reveals that those who are able to coordinate behavior in time are more likely to feel positively towards one another. Unlike previous research that has taken a linear approach, I examine the dynamical nature of individuals' emotional coordination by investigating the overlap in their moment-to-moment emotional responses to positive and negative events in the form of film clips. By using the mouse program, I develop a new relationship paradigm and find that this measure is able to capture the nuances of emotional responses, and, more importantly, it is able to distinguish between relationship partners versus pairs of strangers. However, I am unable to determine that emotional coordination, as determined by smaller differences in mouse program data between partners, is related to relationship quality, as measured by their level of liking and loving (for romantic partners only) towards each other and their future expectancy of the relationship.