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.

About the Author
Joseph P. Forgas, Julie Fitness

Reviews

"This is a marvelous collection of the latest, cutting-edge research and thinking, including contributions by some of the best respected authorities and most vigorous young researchers in the area. Fascinating and informative, it significantly advances the scientific understanding of love and interspersonal connection." - Roy F. Baumeister, Social Psychology Area Director and Francis Eppes Eminent Scholar, Florida State University

"This book marks the start of the next stage of relationship research in which the study of human relationships becomes fully integrated which mainstream areas of social and behavioral science. The contributors to this volume area veritable "Who's Who" of relationship scientists who draw upon research from many disparate areas -- including social, developmental, cognitive, clinical, and evolutionary psychology -- to offer new, expanded, and integrative perspectives on close relationships. As a result, readers are treated not only to enriching descriptions of cutting-edge research on relationship phenomena but also to new theoretical insights into the fundamental processes that influence our relationships with other people." - Mark R. Leary, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University

"This is a marvelous collection of the latest, cutting-edge research and thinking, including contributions by some of the best respected authorities and most vigorous young researchers in the area. Fascinating and informative, it significantly advances the scientific understanding of love and interspersonal connection." - Roy F. Baumeister, Social Psychology Area Director and Francis Eppes Eminent Scholar, Florida State University

"This book marks the start of the next stage of relationship research in which the study of human relationships becomes fully integrated which mainstream areas of social and behavioral science. The contributors to this volume area veritable "Who's Who" of relationship scientists who draw upon research from many disparate areas -- including social, developmental, cognitive, clinical, and evolutionary psychology -- to offer new, expanded, and integrative perspectives on close relationships. As a result, readers are treated not only to enriching descriptions of cutting-edge research on relationship phenomena but also to new theoretical insights into the fundamental processes that influence our relationships with other people." - Mark R. Leary, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University

Book Information
ISBN 9781138882959
Author Joseph P. Forgas
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Psychology Press Ltd
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 235g