Blirter
Your answers indicate that you are a high blirter, which means that you have a tendency to express your thoughts as soon as they come to mind, become very engaged in conversations and interrupt those around you, and respond to people in conversations quickly. Because you're good at keeping conversations going, others see you as very sociable and likable. If you're not careful you may sometimes come across as brash. In general, you think well of yourself, partly because your willingness to express yourself allows you to get your needs met with little difficulty.
High
You scored relatively high on the criticalness scale. This means that you tend to perceive yourself as relatively high on the following dimensions: critical, judgmental, moody, controlling and dominant. You also rated yourself relatively low on these dimensions: patient, warmth, and tolerance.
Much of our research has examined this communication style and how it influences romantic relationships. Recent findings indicate that people are happiest in relationships when their blirt levels match. That is, whether it's 2 low blirters, 2 moderate blirters, or 2 high blirters, similarity in how intimate partners communicate with one another leads to heightened satisfaction. On the other hand, mismatches in blirtatiousness are associated with relatively low relationship satisfaction.
In addition, communication seems to unfold well if the man outscores the woman on the blirt by any amount. On the other hand, when the woman outscores the man on the blirt by any significant amount AND the woman scores in the "high" range on criticalness, then the members of the couple may experience challenges in communication that other couples do not. Of course, this finding is based on averages and there are always exceptions to such generalizations. Your relationship could be one such exception.
The questionnaires you have just completed are designed to extend these previous findings by examining why people with these communication styles experience difficulty. For example, we are wondering if men who are low blirters feel resentment toward blirtatious, critical women because such men feel that such women do not conform to the stereotypically feminine woman. Additionally, we hope to gain insight into how blirtatiousness interacts with other variables in determining relationship satisfaction. Your participation will help us to better understand these questions.
