Social Relationships

Human beings are an intrinsically gregarious species - our personal relationships are of immense interest to us and are a key factor in achieving happiness and well being. From the moment of birth, humans crave love and intimacy and we devote much energy to creating and maintaining successful personal relationships throughout our personal and our working lives. However, modern industrialized societies present a particularly challenging environment for sustaining rewarding personal relationships. Understanding how people initiate, develop, maintain, and terminate relationships is one of the core issues in psychology, and the subject matter of this book. Contributors to this volume are all leading researchers in relationship science, and they seek here to explore and integrate the subtle influence that evolutionary, socio-cultural, and intra-psychic (cognitive, affective and motivational) variables play in relationship processes. In addition to discussing the latest advances in areas of relationship research, they also advocate an expanded theoretical approach that incorporates many of the insights gained from evolutionary psychology, social cognition, and research on affect and motivation. The contributions should be highly relevant to researchers, teachers, students, laypersons and to everyone who is interested in the subtleties of human relationships. The book is also highly recommended to clinical, health, and relationship professionals who deal with relationship issues in their daily work.

Joseph P. Forgas, Julie Fitness

Part 1. Introduction and Basic Principles. J.P. Forgas, J. Fitness, Introductory Remarks, History Background and Issues of Research on Personal Relationships. E. Hatfield, R. Rapson, Passionate Love and Sexual Desire: Multicultural Perspectives. M. Haselton, G. Gonzaga, The Evolution of Love. P. Shaver, M. Mikulincer, Augmenting the Sense of Security in Romantic, Leader-Follower, Therapeutic, and Group Relations: A Relational Model of Personality Change. D.P. Schmitt, Attachment Matters: The Personality and Sexuality Correlates of Romantic Attachment across Cultures, Genders, and Relationship Forms. Part 2. Cognitive Processes in Relationships. G. Fletcher, Is Love Blind? L. Acitelli, Do Relationship Reflections Help or Hurt Close Relationships? P. Clark, How Attentional Flexibility Builds High Quality Close Relationships. C. Agnew, X. Arriaga, J. Wilson, Committed To What? Using the Bases of Relational Commitment Model to Understand Continuity and Change in Social Relationships. Part 3. Motivational and Affective Processes in Relationships. M. Brewer, Social Identity and Close Relationships: What is the Connection? J. Simpson, C. Jeffry, A.W. Collins, S. Tran, C. Haydon, Developmental Antecedents of Negative Emotion in Romantic Relationships. J. Forgas, Happy and Close, But Sad and Effective? Mood Effects on Strategic Relationship Behaviors. S. Gable, Approach and Avoidance Motives In Close Relationships. P. Noller, S. Conway, A. Blakeley, Sibling Relationships in Adolescent and Young Adult Twin and Non-twin Siblings: Managing Competition and Comparison. Part 4. Managing Relationship Problems. J. Fitness, J. Peterson, Punishment and Forgiveness in Close Relationships: An Evolutionary, Social-Psychological Perspective. E. Finkel, The Impelling/Inhibiting Model of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: Theory and Preliminary Evidence. S. Murray, Realizing Connectedness Goals: The Risk Regulation System in Relationships. L. Zadro, K. Williams, X. Arriaga, Relational Ostracism. R. Miller, Attending to Temptation: The Operation (and Perils) of Attention to Alternatives in Close Relationships.