This kind of dismissive thinking is counter-productive. Our intuitions are often wrong, and hindsight-bias allow us to fool ourselves that our intuition would have been right when we already know the answer. In order to figure out what is actually happening, we need to do studies and experiments rather than just thinking about it, to find out where our intuitions are wrong. When our intuition happens to match the outcome, that is not failure, nor is it a reason to mock the people who did the work. They are advancing our understanding.

My point is that this sort of studies has been done over and over again, and they repeat the same results pretty much all the time. Have you ever heard anyone say that a good relationship is due to partners not talking and not having sex?

Ever since the myth of the "obedient and silent wife" was dispelled in the '60s and '70s, it looks to me as intuition and research in this particular field overlapped fairly consistently. The interesting question would now be "why do people not do this already, even when rational and well-educated?". That would be noteworthy.

I don't know, maybe the point of this research was getting down to the details (which they do, a bit), but the overall structure is the same as always.

The answer to "why do people not do this already, even when rational and well-educated?" is likely because in most families both parents have to work, and are probably tired at the end of the day. Relationships take work and it's sometimes easy to slip into a routine where you let the relationship just coast (especially once you have young children and any free time you used to have is out the window).

Actually scientists aren't really sure what makes water 'wet' :) (at least from a molecular perspective)

It's quite surprising how many things seem to be feedback cycles when it comes to human nature. Happy behavior makes you happier, confident behavior makes you more confident, etc. It kind of gives weight to the "fake it til you make it" philosophy in a lot of ways.

I completely agree. What's more interesting here is that sex is actually _important_ for both partners' health.

Not sure if there was any kind of a research, but generally, it's a known fact - fuck your woman and she'll be happy. Respect her and she'll respect you. Pretty much the same goes vice versa, except some women tend to fuck man's brain. It's better to avoid such people, unless you are a masochist, who doesn't care about its life and the lifetime.

No sex -> no relationships. No mutual respect -> no relationships.