Did you ever watch and listen to a group of teen women (or any age really) looking at pictures of puppies, bunnies, or babies? Each picture is followed by the unsolicited chorus of “Aww, that’s so cute.” If you’ve never had that experience, stop by my house sometime and watch my daughter looking at pictures.  Anyway, a grant given by the Department of Defense explored similar pictures to help married couples “cope with the stress of separation and deployment.” They recruited 144 couples and showed each spouse a stream of images in which pictures of their spouse were embedded. In one group they embedded images of their spouse within a stream of neutral images like a button. In a second group they embedded images of their spouse within a stream of “positive” pictures like puppies, bunnies, or the word “wonderful.”  Both groups viewed the stream of images every three days for six weeks. The group who saw their spouse’s image among the pictures of puppies, bunnies, and words like “wonderful…”

• Showed more positive reactions to their spouse over the six week study than the other group, and,
• The spouses reported greater overall marriage quality. (Read more about this study here.)

So, what does this mean for your marriage? How can you use this information to benefit your marriage? First, remember that “interactions between spouses are actually the most important factor” in building a strong marriage. Even the researchers conducting this study agreed with that statement. Beyond that, you can use begin to incorporate cute objects like “puppies and bunnies” into your pictures to enhance the quality of your marriage. Take pictures of one another with cute puppies, bunnies, stuffed animals, or babies. Superimpose words of admiration on the photos of your spouse. If your spouse has to go out of town, send a picture of you holding the family pet, a favorite stuffed animal, or with a word like “wonderful” written on it. You might even hide pictures like that around the house. This could add a whole new dimension to taking pictures at the zoo. You might pose with a koala bear in the background or stand next to a friendly peacock. The cuteness factor may just enhance your marriage. Have fun with this idea. Be creative. Enjoy combining pictures of your spouse (and pictures of the two of you as a couple) with various cute animals and admiring words. You might just find yourself falling in love even more!  “Aww, that’s so cute!”