Psychologists have created a new tool to measure the phenomenon called compersion
rael-science
Psychologists have created a new tool to measure the phenomenon called compersion
A
new psychological test measures the feeling of satisfaction or pleasure
one gains from knowing or imagining that their romantic partner is
emotionally or sexually involved with another person — a phenomenon
known as compersion. The development and validation of the new
assessment is outlined in a study recently published in Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Compersion,
which is sometimes referred to as the opposite of jealousy, is a
well-known term among those who practice consensual non-monogamy, which
refers to any romantic relationship where people consensually form
non-exclusive romantic partnerships. But until now, there has been no
standardized assessment of compersion, preventing researchers from
delving deeper into the phenomenon.
“Compersion,
or the positive emotion one may experience in response to their partner
loving and/or being intimately involved with another partner, is a
fascinating topic because, in our mononormative society, most people
believe that the ‘normal’ or ‘natural’ reaction to one’s partner
engaging intimately with another is jealousy,” explained study author Sharon M. Flicker, an assistant professor of psychology at California State University at Sacramento and director of the Relationships Lab.
“The
experience of compersion flies in the face of that assumption.
Additionally, there could be some important applications to what we
learn about the factors that facilitate compersion: it could lead to
effective interventions for both monogamous and consensually
non-monogamous relationships.”
In
the study, 44 English-speaking adults who had been involved in at least
one consensually non-monogamous relationship within the past 12 months
were asked open-ended questions about the experience of compersion. The
researchers then conducted a thematic analysis of the responses and used
their findings to develop a scientific survey, which they named the
Classifying Our Metamour/Partner Emotional Response Scale (COMPERSe).
To
ensure that the new scale was measuring a valid concept, Flicker and
her colleagues tested it against other psychological assessments of
jealousy, empathy, emotion contagion, and relationship satisfaction in a
second study with 630 participants. A factor analysis of the survey
items confirmed that the COMPERSe contained three distinct subscales.
“There
is now a validated scale that measures three aspects of compersion:
positive feelings toward one’s partner’s relationship with an
established metamour (a metamour is one’s partner’s partner), excitement
about one’s partner potentially forming a new intimate connection, and
sexual excitement that one may experience thinking about one’s partner
and metamour together. Individuals may experience compersion in ways
that are distinct from others and may even vary toward different
partners or at different points in time,” Flicker told PsyPost.
The
COMPERSe asks participants the extent to which they agree or disagree
with statements such as “I am delighted that my partner has a
relationship with my metamour,” “My partner and metamour’s relationship
turns me on sexually,” and “I share in the emotional high when my
partner tells me about a new potential intimate partner.”
But the new study — like all research — includes some limitations.
“A
main problem experienced by those of us who conduct quantitative
research about consensually non-monogamous relationships is that most
relationship measures assume monogamy (despite CNM being fairly common),
both in terms of the language used in the scale and in the samples used
to validate the scales. Thus, the validation measures we used were the
best we could find, but were not ideal in these ways,” Flicker
explained.
“In
addition, our samples were predominantly White, polyamorous, and women
who reported on male/masculine partners with female/feminine metamours.
In the future, it would be helpful to explore measurement invariance of
the scale across styles of CNM (e.g., swinging, polyamory, open
relationships, relationship anarchy, solo polyamory,
polyfamily/networks) and across genders and racial/ethnic groups to
examine the structure and psychometric properties of the scale within
populations that have received relatively little attention/focus.”
Despite
the limitations, having a standardized measure of compersion will allow
researchers to better understand the causes and consequences of the
psychological phenomenon.
“It
will be interesting to examine the ability to experience compersion as a
trait and as a state-like experience. One goal is to eventually design
and test the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase
compersion,” Flicker said.
“My
current project examines individual, relationship-level,
partner-specific, and metamour-specific factors that are associated with
greater experiences of compersion. I am essentially seeking to examine
how feelings of compersion vary across time or across partners and
metamours and what factors may drive such changes/differences. It would
also be of interest to determine if differences exist in the extent to
which individuals involved in various forms of consensual non-monogamous
relationships experience compersion.”
The study, “Feeling Good About Your Partners’ Relationships: Compersion in Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships“, was authored by Sharon M. Flicker, Michelle D. Vaughan, and Lawrence S. Meyers.
