Gottman
Love Lab
The legendary Gottman Love Lab,
now reimagined for the 21st century
The All-New, Legendary Love Lab
From it’s historic origins in 1986 at a research lab at the University of Washington, the world-renowned Love Lab, founded by Dr. John Gottman, has developed the most powerful relationship assessment available today. This evidence-based assessment is designed to help clinicians diagnose the most complex relationship challenges.
After putting thousands of marriages under a microscope, we now understand the science of relationships. Through groundbreaking mathematical models integrating nonlinear differential equations, we can reliably predict and chart the future course of a relationship. More importantly, we are now able to provide data-driven suggestions for positively adjusting the course of a couple’s life together.
Pursuing the Gottman mission
Pursuing the Gottman mission of democratizing global access to even the most powerful therapeutic tools, in 2019, Affective Software, in partnership with the Gottman Institute, leveraged the latest in cutting-edge technological advancements to bring the Love Lab into the 21st century. With the release of Gottman Connect, an easy-to-use online platform, clinicians and couples all around the world can now leverage the power of the Gottman Love Lab.
Since the 1980s, Gottman has brought more than three thousand married couples – just like Bill and Sue – into that small room in his “Love Lab” at the University of Washington campus. Can a marriage really be understood in one sitting? Yes it can, and so can lots of other seemingly complex situations. What Gottman has done is to show us how.
Malcolm Gladwell
6x NYT Best-Selling Author, Time’s 100 Most Influential People
The Love Lab on Gottman Connect
The prestigious Gottman Love Lab is now available to couples like you
Pursuing the Gottman mission of democratizing global access to even the most powerful therapeutic tools, Affective Software, in partnership with The Gottman Institute, leveraged the latest in cutting-edge technological advancements to bring the Love Lab into the 21st century. With the release of the online Gottman Connect platform, therapists all around the world are leveraging the power of the Gottman Love Lab with their couples.
This scientific evaluation, more powerful than ever, is the most comprehensive relationship assessment available and can help pinpoint the areas in which couples like you can achieve the greatest growth. You will complete a clinical questionnaire and a video evaluation to receive a scientific x-ray into their relationship. This level of assessment is not available anywhere else.
A Powerful Assessment in 4 Simple Steps
Accept the invitation and create your profile
Your therapist will begin by inviting you to complete the Love Lab via an introductory email. You and your partner will get unique email invites and each will complete a simple registration flow on Gottman Connect to create your own, separate accounts.
Complete the questionnaire
The first step in the assessment is for you and your partner to each complete a comprehensive relationship questionnaire. You will submit your own questionnaires separately, using unique logins to ensure privacy. Your responses are encrypted and never accessible by your partner. Only your therapist sees your full answers, ensuring a safe space for honest reflection.
Record your Love Lab videos
After submitting your questionnaires, next, you will record two videos together: an “events” conversation, and a “conflict” conversation. In these videos, you and your partner will simply sit next to each other and discuss a topic provided by your therapist. Your therapist will guide you how best to complete this – either in session, or at home using your phone.
Independently rate the videos you just recorded
Once both videos are recorded and uploaded, you and your partner will need to log in to Gottman Connect and watch the recordings you just made, using an easy-to-use dial to rate how you felt during the recorded conversations. Each partner will do this using their own Gottman Connect account, alone. According to Gottman’s research, this self-rating is a critical step for the evaluation process.
A Powerful Assessment
in 4 Simple Steps
Register and create your profile
Register and invite your couples to the Gottman questionnaire
Accept the invitation and create your profile
Your therapist will begin by inviting you to complete the Love Lab via an introductory email. You and your partner will get unique email invites and each will complete a simple registration flow on Gottman Connect to create your own, separate accounts.
Complete the Questionnaire
Complete the questionnaire
The first step in the assessment is for you and your partner to each complete a comprehensive relationship questionnaire. You will submit your own questionnaires separately, using unique logins to ensure privacy. Your responses are encrypted and never accessible by your partner. Only your therapist sees your full answers, ensuring a safe space for honest reflection.
Record two conversational videos
Record your Love Lab videos
After submitting your questionnaires, next, you will record two videos together: an “events” conversation, and a “conflict” conversation. In these videos, you and your partner will simply sit next to each other and discuss a topic provided by your therapist. Your therapist will guide you how best to complete this – either in session, or at home using your phone.
Rate your videos
Independently rate the videos you just recorded
Once both videos are recorded and uploaded, you and your partner will need to log in to Gottman Connect and watch the recordings you just made, using an easy-to-use dial to rate how you felt during the recorded conversations. Each partner will do this using their own Gottman Connect account, alone. According to Gottman’s research, this self-rating is a critical step for the evaluation process.
Additional instructions and report walkthroughs are available upon login.
A Brief History
of the Gottman Love Lab
The Gottman Love Lab is the world’s original couples laboratory, first opened in 1986 at the University of Washington by Dr. John Gottman. Watch this brief documentary to explore its 40-year history, and learn below about how the Love Lab has been reimagined by The Gottman Institute for the high-tech modern age.
1970s
Research Begins
Dr. John Gottman begins systematically observing couples in his first lab at the University of Illinois in the 1970s
1986
"The Love Lab"
1996
Founding TGI
In 1996, Drs. Julie and John Gottman co-founded The Gottman Institute to bring this research to the world.
Did you know?...
Over many years, Gottman and Levenson observed hundreds of couples and noted their facial expressions, heart rates, blood pressure, skin conductivity, and the words they used in conversation with their partners.
They discovered that low-risk couples maintain a “magic ratio” of five positive interactions to every one negative interaction during conflict.
2015
First Research Director
In 2015, Drs. John and Julie Gottman asked Carrie Cole, a Master Trainer for the Gottman Institute, to be the Institute’s first Research Director.
2018
The Lab at TGI
In February of 2018, the Gottman Love Lab was re-imagined by The Gottman Institute in the heart of downtown Seattle and opened its doors to the public for the first time.
2019
The All-New Gottman Love Lab
With breakthroughs achieved by expert mathematician and optimization specialist Dr. Vladimir Brayman and his team, ASI launches an all-new virtual Love Lab, available globally online for the first time in history.
In the News
The Love Lab has been notably profiled in Blink, Malcolm Gladwell’s NYT best seller, and has been featured by Dateline NBC, BBC, The Anderson Cooper Show, TIME Magazine, and The Atlantic.
1970s
Research Begins
Dr. John Gottman begins systematically observing couples in his first lab at the University of Illinois in the 1970s
1986
"The Love Lab"
In 1986, Gottman (right) and Robert Levenson (left) build an apartment laboratory at the University of Washington dubbed the “Love Lab” by the media.
1996
Founding TGI
In 1996, Drs. Julie and John Gottman co-founded The Gottman Institute to bring this research to the world.
Did you know?
Over many years, Gottman and Levenson observed hundreds of couples and noted their facial expressions, heart rates, blood pressure, skin conductivity, and the words they used in conversation with their partners.
They discovered that low-risk couples maintain a “magic ratio” of five positive interactions to every one negative interaction during conflict.
2015
First Research Director
In 2015, Drs. John and Julie Gottman asked Carrie Cole, a Master Trainer for the Gottman Institute, to be the Institute’s first Research Director.
2018
The Lab at TGI
In February of 2018, the Gottman Love Lab was re-imagined by The Gottman Institute in the heart of downtown Seattle and opened its doors to the public for the first time.
2019
The All-New Gottman Love Lab
With breakthroughs achieved by expert mathematician and optimization specialist Dr. Vladimir Brayman and his team, ASI launches an all-new virtual Love Lab, available globally online for the first time in history.
In the News
The Love Lab has been notably profiled in Blink, Malcolm Gladwell’s NYT best seller, and has been featured by Dateline NBC, BBC, The Anderson Cooper Show, TIME Magazine, and The Atlantic.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Gottman Love Lab?
The Gottman Love Lab is an evidence-based clinical assessment used for couples therapy that helps identify and remedy complex relationship challenges between partners. This tool is designed to help clinicians upgrade their practice and offer a more effective therapy for longer lasting results.
How do I sign up for the Gottman Love Lab?
The Love Lab is only available to trained clinicians or therapists. You can find a Gottman-trained therapist here.