Positive sentiment over-ride occurs when your overall positive sentiment towards your partner outweighs the negative.
According to Gottman, when a couple has positive sentiment over-ride, they are more likely to give one another the benefit of the doubt.
For example if your partner is comes home grumpy one day, instead of automatically thinking that they are angry with you or that they are a bad partner; you may think that maybe they just had a bad day or slept badly or something.
Basically positive sentiment over-ride acts as a sort of buffer against irritability in a relationship. You are understanding of your partner and that helps you to be more forgiving and tolerant of your partner.
If your partner comes home grumpy and you have a negative sentiment over-ride, on the other hand, you may interpret your partner’s grumpiness as a reflection of something that you have done. You will probably be hyper-vigilant towards criticism and put downs and therefore end up misinterpreting some of the actions from your partner to be more malicious or careless than they were.
Perhaps developing a stronger positive sentiment over-ride in your relationship could be beneficial to you and your partner. 🖤🖤