Accuracy and bias in emotion perception predict affective response to relationship conflict

Facial expressions of emotions are a communicative tool in relationships. We argue that given expressions' impact on social experiences, individual differences in people's abilities to read others' emotional expressions may predict affective reactions to conflict. We theoretically distinguish between emotion perception accuracy and bias, and describe when these two perceptual abilities apply to the perception of facial displays. We then present data from a preliminary study testing the impact of emotion perception accuracy and bias on affective reactions people have during stages of conflict. While only conflict severity predicted negative affect experience in the stages prior to a fight, bias predicted negative affect during conflict and the ability to recover from conflict. Accuracy predicted negative felt affect after conflict. Implications for the study of emotion perception and relationship quality are discussed.