Is there a biological difference beyond the legal and social distinctions of marriage? A new study out of the University of Virginia suggests that the human brain can tell when a person is married versus “just living together.” The study found that when a person is holding hands with their married partner their stress response to the threat of shock was reduced by a significant margin. One interesting part of this study was inclusion of same sex couples in the resesarch. Regardless of the participant’s gender or their partner’s gender, the results were the same. Couples who were committed enough to consider themselves married, showed the same decrease in stress response. The study showed that the brain knows when it is “married” and not just living together. As a couple, we respond to being committed by feeling safer, particularly when the threat is greater to our personal well being.
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