For psychologists conducting relationship studies, it can sometimes be tricky getting a straight answer. If you ask a participant how happy he is in a relationship, sometimes he may be in denial, just not want to open up to you (ostensibly a complete stranger holding a clipboard), or may simply not truly know himself. So, to circumvent this particular problem in the search for broader truths about romantic relationships, in a new study published in the journal Psychological Science a group of researchers from the University of Rochester decided to take a less direct approach: instead of asking participants directly, they asked them to play word association games. The benefit of this tactic, the researchers write, is that: