ABSTRACT
When people are asked to describe the relationships that are the most meaningful in their lives, they often use emotional inferences to express how they feel about the relationship. Indeed, people find it difficult to be descriptive as opposed to evaluative in describing their romantic partners. How they currently feel about a relational partner affects their recall about the events in the relationship. For example, a married couple who has just had a heated argument will view their wedding video with more cynicism compared to how they felt on the day of the wedding. This chapter reviews research on the role of emotions in processing information about the development of relationships. People have emotion prototypes for anger and love that reveal an association with other types of emotion, such as despair or infatuation.
