The Love Lab

Currently this method of assessment is only available in Alberta with Dr. Tanja Haley.

The Love Lab adds to the standard Gottman Assessment process by pinpointing the areas in your communication pattern as a couple where you can achieve the greatest growth. According to the Gottman research and specific metrics, watching couples for 10 minutes interacting about a conflict area is predictive with 90% accuracy if a couple will stay together or divorce, without intervention.

Video Recording

Bridging the Couple Chasm: A Research-Based Approach

You and your partner will record two 10-minute videos of your interactions. These videos will be put through a proprietary software program based on Gottman’s research that can analyze your communication patterns. The two recorded discussions are:

  • 1

    An Events Conversation: The first video is a recording of a 10-minute conversation about the events of the past week, and will analyze your friendship.

  • 2

    A Conflict Conversation: The second video is a recording of a 10-minute conversation about an actual area of conflict or disagreement, and will analyze your communication/conflict style.

Video Rating

Bridging the Couple Chasm: A Research-Based Approach

You will each then be asked to give a rating of how you were feeling as the two conversations progressed. The results of the “rating dial” provide powerful insights for understanding your relationship, and that information will be included in the relationship assessment.

Couples Feedback Session

After the video recording and ratings are complete, you will come together with Dr. Tanja to go through the assessment results. All of the information you have shared is summarized in a report that will bring a new understanding of your relationship and assist in formulating the goals for therapy.

A Brief History of the Gottman Love Lab

1970's

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 and Robert Levenson 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.

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 VIRTUAL 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.

Don’t just live life, make it happen.

– Dr. Tanja Haley

For further information on The Love Lab or to book an initial consultation, contact Dr. Tanja today.

GET IN TOUCH TODAY