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 via the Gottman Connect telehealth portal!
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, clinicians all around the world can now leverage 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 can achieve the greatest growth. Couples 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.
Benefits to your practice
- Expand and differentiate your practice by leveraging the proven Gottman Love Lab brand.
- Help couples heal faster with deeper, video-based analyses of emotion, attunement, flooding, physiology, and more.
- Use the most advanced available clinical therapy tool in the world.
- Provide clear results and powerful insights with automatically generated analysis reports for even more effective therapy.
A Powerful Assessment in 4 Simple Steps
Register and invite your couples to the Gottman questionnaire
Record two conversational videos
After each partner has submitted their questionnaire on Gottman Connect, each couple will need to record two videos together: an “events” conversation, and a “conflict” conversation.
Since each clinical practice is different, there are various ways of submitting these videos for analysis. Couples can record these videos on their own, or together with their clinician. Clear instructions are available once you login.
Guide your couple in rating each video
Once both videos are recorded and uploaded, each partner will need to log in to Gottman Connect and watch their recordings, using an easy-to-use dial to rate how they felt during the recorded conversations. According to Gottman’s research, this self-rating is a critical step for the evaluation process.
Complete the clinician’s checklist
After your couple has completed their Gottman questionnaires, recorded, and rated their two videos, you will need to answer a brief checklist based on your professional observations of this couple. This is the final step in the evaluation process – once you submit your “Clinician’s Checklist”, the virtual Love Lab will automatically calculate and generate several reports, providing you and your couple deep insights into their relationship.
Additional instructions and report walkthroughs are available upon login.
A Powerful Assessment
in 4 Simple Steps
Register and invite your couples to the Gottman questionnaire
If you haven’t already, start by signing up as a clinician on Gottman Connect via a simple, free registration process. Once logged-in, easily invite your couple to register using an automated process. Each partner gets their own, private login to Gottman Connect and will need to complete their clinicial questionnaires on their own.
Record two conversational videos
After each partner has submitted their questionnaire on Gottman Connect, each couple will need to record two videos together: an “events” conversation, and a “conflict” conversation.
Since each clinical practice is different, there are various ways of submitting these videos for analysis. Couples can record these videos on their own, or together with their clinician. Clear instructions are available once you login.
Guide your couple in rating each video
Once both videos are recorded and uploaded, each partner will need to log in to Gottman Connect and watch their recordings, using an easy-to-use dial to rate how they felt during the recorded conversations. According to Gottman’s research, this self-rating is a critical step for the evaluation process.
Complete the clinician’s checklist
After your couple has completed their Gottman questionnaires, recorded, and rated their two videos, you will need to answer a brief checklist based on your professional observations of this couple. This is the final step in the evaluation process – once you submit your “Clinician’s Checklist”, the virtual Love Lab will automatically calculate and generate several reports, providing you and your couple deep insights into their relationship.
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.
A Brief History of the Gottman Love Lab
Research Begins
Dr. John Gottman begins systematically observing couples in his first lab at the University of Illinois in the 1970s
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Research Begins
Dr. John Gottman begins systematically observing couples in his first lab at the University of Illinois in the 1970s
"The Love Lab"
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..
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.
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.
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 Gottman Love Lab is now available on Gottman Connect. To apply, please submit your information on the wait list above. Due to significant demand, after applications are reviewed, access and training will be granted on a rolling basis.
What are the training requirements for using the Gottman Love lab in my practice?
Clinicians that are currently approved to utilize the Gottman Love Lab are well trained and familiar with practicing the Gottman Method in their therapy and are comfortable using technology aids in their practices.
Where can I get more resources for getting started with the Gottman Love Lab?
To learn more, start by applying for the Love Lab via the waiting list. We also recommend registering for Gottman Connect to begin using the Gottman Relationship Checkup with your clients. Once approved for the Love Lab, you will have access to training videos, tutorials, and other community resources.
Where is the original lab today?
The original physical lab has evolved and is now located in downtown Seattle! In partnership with the Center for Relationship Wellness, founded by Certified Gottman Therapists Don and Carrie Cole, the physical Gottman Love Lab still offers private Marathon Couples Therapy. Couples that participate in Marathon Couples Therapy receive an advanced scientific evaluation of their relationship.
This comprehensive relationship assessment will pinpoint the areas in which you can achieve the greatest growth so you can move forward to a place of strength, reconnection, and hope.