Not all emotions are emotional – what is a cold emotion? ”Cold hard math” is a quote from the film Mr & Mrs Smith, starring Branjalina.

Mr. – So it’s all business yeah?
Mrs. – It’s all business
Mr. – From the go
Mrs. - cold hard math
Mr. – Thank you that’s all i needed to know. Okay.
Mrs. – okay.

Cold Shoulder © by Dragon Weaver

Last week Garth Sundem and John Tierney from the New York Times, updated their formula for predicting the longevity of celebrity marriages.  So the question is I guess what is the relationship between “cold hard math” and emotions – what does it mean to our emotional life as we move towards a better and better rational understanding of behavior – can we have an app for that?

According to the research the most significant factors predicting the longevity of the marriage are:

• The number of the wife’s first five Google hits that show her in skimpy clothing
• The couple’s combined age when married
• How long they dated before getting married
• The ratio of the wife’s mentions in the New York Times to her mentions in the National Enquirer

So here is the updated maths:

And here we have the original equation from the New York Times.

Sex Differences
There are some significant sex differences in relative influence of the variables, with the wife’s image, her tabloid fame, counting for much more than the husband’s. Interpreting the results, John G. Holmes, a psychologist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario comments “Women initiate 70 percent of breakups, so perhaps that’s why their personality and image are more predictive” – I think these figures relate to the American context?

Continuing on the theme of sexist comments / sorry hard cold fact – psychologists Dr. Buss, of the University of Texas is quoted as revealing “My research on married couples found that the trait of narcissism predicted likelihood of sexual infidelity. Those high on narcissism feel entitled to have sex with others. Also, they oscillate between feelings of grandiosity and worthlessness, and the sexual attention helps keep them in the self-aggrandizing region of self-esteem.”