The Partnership Paradox; January/February 2012; Scientific American Mind; by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman; 6 Page(s)

Excerpted with permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc., from Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us, by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman. Copyright © 2011 by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman. This book is available at all bookstores, online booksellers and the Wiley Web site at www.wiley.com, or call 1-800-225-5945.

There are people who meet, fall in love, stay married for their entire lives, and never have an unkind word for their spouses. Then there are the other seven billion people on the planet.