Published: Feb. 11, 2019

WHY MR. NICE COULD BE MR. RIGHT

Contact(s): Kristen ParkerWilliam Chopik

The key to relationship happiness could be as simple as finding a nice person.

And, despite popular belief, sharing similar personalities may not be as important as most people think, according to new research from Michigan State University.

“People invest a lot in finding someone who’s compatible, but our research says that may not be the end all be all,” said Bill Chopik, associate professor of psychology and director of MSU’s Close Relationships Lab. “Instead, people may want to ask, ‘Are they a nice person?’ ‘Do they have a lot of anxiety?’ Those things matter way more than the fact that two people are introverts and end up together.”

The most striking finding of the study was that having similar personalities had almost no effect on how satisfied people were in their lives and relationships, Chopik said.

So, what does this research mean for dating apps?

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