Does Positivity Resonance Signify Love? Markers of Positivity Resonance in Long‐Term Married Couples Relate to Trait and State Love

ABSTRACT Positivity resonance is a collective emotion experienced by two or more individuals during moments of shared positive affect; it is theorized to constitute the experience of love, yet this claim has not been empirically tested. Using archival data from 148 long‐term married couples, we examined whether dyad‐level indicators of positivity resonance are linked to dyad‐level indicators of trait and state love. Trait love was assessed as a latent variable using partners' ratings of their spouse on validated adjectives prototypic of love (e.g., affectionate, warm) and previously validated nonverbal cues of love displayed in synchrony (i.e., head tilts, body leans, Duchenne smiles, and nodding) during a recorded spousal interaction. State love was assessed as synchronous nonverbal cues of love during successive 30‐s segments of this interaction. A global measure of positivity resonance, as well as measures of its constituent components of co‐expressed and co‐experienced positive affect (but not physiological linkage), were positively associated with the latent index of trait love. Within‐couple variation over time in the global measure of positivity resonance was associated with within‐couple variation over time in state love. These findings provide initial support for convergent validity between the measures of positivity resonance and love at trait and state levels.