Dr Mariko L. Visserman

Dr Mariko L. Visserman · Assistant Professor in Psychology, School of Psychology

I study how couples navigate conflicting goals and needs: the sacrifices partners make, and how gratitude and responsiveness help relationships thrive.

I am a social psychologist with a focus on romantic relationships, studying how people can enjoy high-quality relationships. In particular, I focus on couples’ navigation of conflicting goals, needs, or preferences, and the sacrifices that people make to resolve such incompatibilities.I joined the University of Sussex as an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology after four years as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Emily Impett at the University of Toronto and Prof. Amy Muise at York University, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I obtained my PhD at VU Amsterdam, supervised by Profs. Francesca Righetti and Paul van Lange.Publications

Naeimi, Park, Johnson, Visserman, Horne & Impett (2026). On the move: Trajectories of stressors and rewards among relocating couples. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Sasaki, Righetti, Visserman, Đurić, Dobson, Naeimi & Impett (2025). How romantic partners communicate about sacrifice: A theoretical framework and measurement approach. Preprint (PsyArXiv)

Tissera, Visserman, Impett, Muise & Lydon (2023). Understanding the links between perceiving gratitude and romantic relationship satisfaction using an accuracy and bias framework. Social Psychological and Personality Science

Visserman, Muise, Righetti, Horne, Le, Côté & Impett (2022). Lightening the load: Perceived partner responsiveness fosters more positive appraisals of relational sacrifices. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Murphy, Horne, Visserman & Impett (2022). Relationship functioning following a large-scale sacrifice: Perceived partner prosociality buffers attachment insecurity. Journal of Family Psychology

Righetti, Visserman & Impett (2022). Sacrifices: Costly prosocial behaviors in romantic relationships. Current Opinion in Psychology

Carswell, Muise, Harasymchuk, Horne, Visserman & Impett (2021). Growing desire or growing apart? Consequences of personal self-expansion for romantic passion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Visserman, Righetti, Muise, Impett, Joel & Van Lange (2021). Taking stock of reality: Biased perceptions of the costs of romantic partners’ sacrifices. Social Psychological and Personality Science

Park, Visserman, Sisson, Le, Stellar & Impett (2021). How can I thank you? Highlighting the benefits or costs when expressing gratitude. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Joel, Eastwick, Allison, Arriaga, Baker, Bar-Kalifa, … Visserman & Wolf (2020). Machine learning uncovers the most robust self-report predictors of relationship quality across 43 longitudinal couples studies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Zoppolat, Visserman & Righetti (2020). A nice surprise: Sacrifice expectations and partner appreciation in romantic relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Visserman, Impett, Righetti, Muise, Keltner & Van Lange (2019). To “see” is to feel grateful? A quasi-signal detection analysis of romantic partners’ sacrifices. Social Psychological and Personality Science

Thomson, Yuki, Talhelm, Schug, Kito, Becker, … & Visserman (2018). Relational mobility predicts social behaviors in 39 countries and is tied to historical farming and threat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Visserman, Righetti, Impett, Keltner & Van Lange (2018). It’s the motive that counts: Perceived sacrifice motives and gratitude in romantic relationships. Emotion

Righetti & Visserman (2018). I gave too much: Low self-esteem and the regret of sacrifices. Social Psychological and Personality Science

Visserman, Righetti, Kumashiro & Van Lange (2017). Me or us? Self-control promotes a healthy balance between personal and relationship concerns. Social Psychological and Personality Science

Righetti, Gere, Hofmann, Visserman & Van Lange (2016). The burden of empathy: Partners’ responses to divergence of interests in daily life. Emotion

Righetti, Balliet, Visserman & Hofmann (2015). Trust and the suppression of emotions during sacrifice in close relationships. Social Cognition

Visserman & Karremans (2014). Romantic relationship status biases the processing of an attractive alternative’s behavior. Personal Relationships

Visserman, Hoorens & Vonk (2022). Attractie en intieme relaties [Attraction and intimate relationships]. Book chapter · In Vonk & Hoorens (Eds.), Sociale Psychologie, 5th ed. (Boom uitgevers Amsterdam)

Visserman (2019). Sacrifice in intimate relationships. Book chapter · In Ponzetti (Ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Intimate Relationships and Families (Cengage)

Kim, Visserman & Impett (2019). Power in close intimate relationships. Book chapter · In Agnew & Harman (Eds.), Power in Close Relationships (Cambridge University Press)

Visserman & Karremans (2013). Een aantrekkelijk alternatief in een negatief daglicht [Biased processing of an attractive alternative’s behavior]. Book chapter · Summary paper in Jaarboek Sociale Psychologie

School of Psychology, University of Sussex · Falmer, Brighton · M.Visserman@sussex.ac.uk