My wife, Nancie, and I used to vacation with a couple who were unusually affectionate, always holding hands, always touching. We'd catch ourselves watching them and asking each other, Should we be more like that? Then we actually talked about it. Neither of us is a big hand-holder, especially the interlaced-fingers kind. It makes her hands feel hot and mine claustrophobic. We decided we didn't have to be as lovey-dovey as they were. Every couple is different. But something's been happening as our kids have gotten older. We've grown more affectionate, not less, and oddly enough, we discovered this new warm-and-fuzzy feeling in a cold, fuzzy-less place: marriage research. Turns out there's actual research behind this phenomenon, something researchers call the 6-second kiss, 20-second hug. The 6-Second Kiss Researcher and relationship expert Dr. John Gottman studies what he calls the "masters and disasters" of marriage: the couples who thr...