One man at the UW can tell you precisely when your summer fling will be over. He can also tell if your relationship is a rampant success.

He’s not a fortuneteller or psychic, but rather a professor in the psychology department.

With the fall season now in full swing, some may wonder if that oh-so-blissful, almost-too-good-to-be true summer romance from June is over.

It also doesn’t help that the shamefully addictive and infectious lyrics of Justin Timberlake’s Summer Love have graced almost everyone’s ears at one point or another during these last few months. And sometimes, when people hear things repeatedly a certain number of times, we may start to take in what we hear as the truth.

Unfortunately, this so-called “summer love” doesn’t seem to live up to the reputation that Timberlake and the general public give it because, as you may have guessed, it inevitably ends. Sure there are relationships that develop over the summer and can turn into something more, but chances are very slim.

According to hitchedmag.com, UW emeritus psychology professor John Gottman, Ph.D., has done extensive research indicating that couples will not be compatible 69 percent of the time. Although his research tends to be more focused on marital relationships, Gottman, claims that not only can he and a team of marital researchers predict which couples will end their relationships, but when they will split as well.

Love and relationships between couples are described in terms of “chemistry” more often than not, but Gottman, along with his team, came up with an equation that has a 94 percent accuracy of the prognosis of relationships, which means the outcome of relationships can almost all be pinpointed by math — calculus to be exact.

“This isn’t just some parlor trick,” Gottman said to The Seattle Times. “The math model gave us a scientific theory for understanding relationships.”

The formula results from observations of 700 couples over the duration of 14 years. Now, all it takes to apply the formula to couples is a simple 15-minute interview.

For the study, Gottman and Sybil Carrère, another UW psychology professor, videotaped couples discussing problem topics and analyzed these tapes using a computer-assisted system; it is then coded in the UW lab in order to score the couple based on a system that measures using an index of facial expression, voice tone and speech content. This was all used in order to characterize the emotion expressed by each couple and, depending upon positive or negative codes, points will be accumulated that can predict the relationship prognosis.

For example, a subtle, but scornful roll of the eyes will earn a negative four, while an interested nod will earn a positive two, as well as a good-natured joke earning another positive two.

Positive codes include interest, validation, affection, humor and joy, while negative codes consist of disgust, contempt, belligerence, domineering, anger, fear, tension, defensiveness, whining, sadness and stonewalling.

“At first I thought it was ridiculous to try to translate something as ethereal as a human relationship into numbers,” UW applied mathematician Kristin Swanson told The Seattle Times. “But I really can’t quibble with over 90 percent accuracy.”

According to UW research coordinator Kim Buehlman, how people talk — not the content of what they say — is the key.

“What is amazing about the coding system is that there is a pattern that emerges in the happiest and the least happy marriages,” Carrère said. “The happiest couples are speaking almost in one voice because they are so tuned into each other’s wants and desires. These people know the value of their partner in their life and know they are not out to get them.”

With the unhappiest couples there is no symmetry. There is no respect for each other. Individuals are really nasty with each other and they struggle to find positive things to say about each other or the relationship,” she said.

Results from the study mean this: “Women need to learn how to soften their approach when they bring up a problem,” Carrère said, “and men have to learn how to be more accepting of what she’s saying.”

Results from this study don’t necessarily mean doom for the majority of relationships. Therapy, among other solutions, is one that Gottman recommends that can lead to a relationship renaissance. One of the main problems, though, comes from the ever-so-clichéd communication bridge that some couples just have a difficult time crossing.

“What typically happens is one person reaches out to the other to get the partner’s interest and it just falls flat,” Gottman explained. “The basic problem is emotional connectedness, and people are just asking their partner to ‘show me you love me.’ Many people live in an emotional desert. That’s why they are so needy.”

Ultimately, all relationships require some amount of work, whether it’s a steaming-hot summer romance or a decades-long marriage that seems to have fallen flat.

No amount of fortunetelling can be substituted in place of a little bit of sweat and tears that’s inevitable to every relationship. So it’s not completely hopeless, even if Gottman gives your relationship the death sentence.

If you want to make it work, the first step is probably working on your communication skills. Or, you can hope that you and your sweetheart are part of the minority about which Gottman is wrong.

[Reach reporter Sheena Nguyen at features@thedaily.washington.edu.]