Relationships

Eight tools to help you boost your happiness.

By Gretchen Rubin on July 2, 2009 - 1:53pm in The Happiness Project

Every Wednesday is Tip Day or List Day. This Wednesday: 8 strategies to help you boost your happiness. This is an exciting week for me! Read More

Michael, We Think We Knew Ya

Celebrities Can't Be Consequential strangers

Darling, Do You Realize that My Cyber Lover Is Wiser than You?

Someone stupid could still be extraordinarily sexy

Did everyone see me do that?

The social spotlight is often only in our own mind

The Latest

The Comeback of Love

By Aaron Ben-Zeév, Ph.D. on July 3, 2009 - 8:16pm in In the Name of Love

Despite the difficulties of maintaining long-term romantic relationships in modern times, this is also a flourishing time for love, even a time of its renaissance. Love is on the mind of a greater number of people and its presence is a major criterion for more relationships. Love cannot be dismissed anymore as silly fantasy; it is perceived as realistic and feasible for many more people. Love has made an impressive comeback. And rightly so. Read More
Communication Breakdown: Say the Words, Ask the Question

By Michael J. Formica on July 3, 2009 - 4:34am in Enlightened Living

One of what would appear to be the simplest rules of communication - speak your mind - would also appear to be one of the most difficult to enact. The English language is admittedly clumsy, at best - the Inuit have more than 20 words for ‘snow', while we have one; the French, the same for ‘love' and we have, well, one. Yet, rather than making the most of the directness associated with the language, we are more often mired in euphemism, innuendo and just plain oblique reference. Read More
Are You a Delicate Flower?

By Regina Barreca, Ph.D. on July 2, 2009 - 6:00pm in Snow White Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Please say no, you're not a Delicate Flower; please tell me you're not a DF.
Because she's one kind of broad I just can't stand.
You know the one I'm describing here, right? She the princess of pain; she's the queen of whine and roses, except the roses always have too many thorns. Read More
Eight tools to help you boost your happiness.

By Gretchen Rubin on July 2, 2009 - 1:53pm in The Happiness Project

Every Wednesday is Tip Day or List Day. This Wednesday: 8 strategies to help you boost your happiness. This is an exciting week for me! Read More
Denzel and Travolta: Bromance where you least expect it

By Jeremy Clyman on July 1, 2009 - 6:35pm in Reel Therapy

"The Taking of Pelham 123" is your run of the mill action-packed, summer blockbuster. There are bullets, body counts, witty one-liners and, most significantly, a cat and a mouse. The cat is a bad guy played by John Travolta. He hijacks a NYC subway. The mouse is a good guy played by Denzel Washington. He is a civil service employee in the wrong place at the wrong time. Read More
Virtual Grief

By Eliezer Sobel on July 1, 2009 - 8:53am in The 99th Monkey

George Gurdjieff, the inscrutable Armenian mystic of early last century, insisted that we humans are constantly bearing false witness against ourselves, by glibly using the pronoun "I" to refer to who we are. Rather, he pointed out that careful scrutiny would reveal that this presumably singular person we call "I" is in fact a constantly changing persona simply sharing the same name. Read More
Love, Lust, and the Brain

By Frances Cohen Praver, Ph.D. on July 1, 2009 - 6:41am in Love Doc

What does the brain tell us about the longevity of love, lust, and romance? Read More
Funny Money, Or: The Pleasures of Efficiency

By J.D. Trout, Ph.D. on June 30, 2009 - 11:14pm in The Greater Good

Some months back, PT bloggers were asked to comment on their relationship with money, with a special focus on any quirks we have. This is a more personal perspective than many of us take in our blogs, but still interesting and worthwhile. I hope you like it. Read More
Adultery: Everyone thinks its wrong, but a whole lot of people still do it!

By Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D. on June 30, 2009 - 10:11pm in Love Lessons

Ok, so a recent Gallup poll says that over 90 per cent of people disapprove of marital non-monogamy. That makes sense: none of us like the idea of someone we love flirting with someone else much less having sex with them. It hurts to even think about it. Read More
Taowinism: Tao+Darwin & Serenity prayer variations Part 2

By Jeremy Sherman, Ph.D. on June 30, 2009 - 5:32pm in Ambigamy

About 15 years ago I began to notice a sweet solid convergence between the Tao, Darwinism and the Serenity prayer that has guided both my behavior and my research ever since. Here are some more practical variations on the serenity prayer, second in a series of four. Read More
Michael, We Think We Knew Ya

By Melinda Blau on June 30, 2009 - 12:51pm in Consequential Strangers

Did you feel like you "knew" Michael Jackson? Can celebrities have relationships with mere mortals? And what about the new niche-celbs who rise to online fame. The author of a new book about casual relationships ponders our connections to the cult of celebrity--on and off the Internet. Read More
What Is Crap Anyway? (Part 1)

By John R. Buri, Ph.D. on June 30, 2009 - 12:39pm in Love Bytes

Coming to see crap for what it really is. Read More
Criticism vs. Feedback--Which One Wins, Hands-Down? (Part 2)

By Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D. on June 30, 2009 - 6:35am in Evolution of the Self

What Makes Feedback So Superior to Criticism?
It's hardly a coincidence that the word criticism--though many of its synonyms are not in themselves unfavorable (such as analysis, appraisal, or review)--almost always carries negative connotations. The term feedback, on the other hand, is as likely to refer to something positive as it is negative. . . . Read More
Criticism vs. Feedback--Which One Wins, Hands-Down? (Part 1)

By Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D. on June 30, 2009 - 6:34am in Evolution of the Self

So What's Wrong with Criticism, Anyway?
It's something absolutely crucial to grasp. Criticizing another makes them feel attacked. Not that it's our intention--at least consciously--to attack them, or even to make them feel bad. But the immediate experience for almost everyone being criticized is to feel "invaded," as though under assault. . . . Read More
Cutting to the Chase on Cheating

By Linda Young, Ph.D. on June 29, 2009 - 6:20pm in Love in Limbo

Cheating on your partner comes down to these three things. Period. Read More
Patterns of Pursuit

By

There's a long path from one heart to another. How to find your way through the meandering maze of dating. Read More
Jealousy: Love's Destroyer

By

Jealousy has long been deemed the guardian of love. But more often it's love's downfall. We typically blame our partner for paying attention to another, but the real issue may be what jealousy teaches us about ourselves. Read More
Men Will Be Boys

By Christopher Ryan on June 29, 2009 - 3:56am in Sex at Dawn

How does a guy like John Edwards develop so much intellectual sophistication without even enough emotional/sexual sophistication to detect the obvious manipulations of a Rielle Hunter? Read More
Giving Away Your Network

By Ray B. Williams on June 27, 2009 - 11:47pm in Wired for Success

If you've ever had a business contact or friend introduce you to someone, then they immediately expect you to repay them, you've probably experience a sense of obligation or even resentment. This is brokering, not networking. It's discovering what you can do for someone else. In other words, networking is not about you and how others can help you. Instead, it's about others, and how you can help them. Read More
Give Away Your Network

By Ray B. Williams on June 27, 2009 - 3:33pm in Wired for Success

It has often been said that your network is your net worth. It can be your greatest asset in developing a successful career and social life. But what is more important, you are in service to others. All too often, people define networking, as a transactional relationship--when you connect other people together, you expect to be repaid in some form for it. In fact, the phrase, "you owe me one" is often heard.t's discovering what you can do for someone else. In other words, networking is not about you and how others can help you. Instead, it's about others, and how you can help them. Read More

Relationships Blogs

Insights for the Deeply Romantic and Deeply Skeptical
By Jeremy Sherman, Ph.D.
Teaching men and women how to meet and connect.
By Wayne Elise
The physiology and psychology of human attachments--and why close relationships are so important.
By Cindy Hazan
Divorce Need Not be Destructive--Here's Why
By Sam Margulies
From surly teens to tough mothers-in-law, how to understand what's going on in your family.
By Dr. Terri Apter
Exploring and improving "empathic accuracy," our ability to guess the thoughts and feelings of other people.
By Dr. William Ickes
How to break bad dating habits and discover the joys of lasting love.
By Diana Kirschner, Ph.D.
Resuming Romantic Relations After You've Been Divorced, Widowed, Dumped or Distracted
By Judith Sills, Ph.D.
How to feel truly loved by your partner via principles of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy.
By Sue Johnson
A Philosopher Looks at Our Deepest Emotions
By Aaron Ben-Zeév
Discussion of the social and evolutionary forces that influence personal and public relationships, including romance, work behavior, the media and politics.
By Michael R. Cunningham, Ph.D.
Making the most of all your relationships
By Pat Love, Ed.D.
Insights on Our Deepest Desire
By John R. Buri, Ph.D.
Plumbing the depths of the psychology and neurobiology of love.
By Frances Cohen Praver, Ph.D.
The paradoxes of dating and mating.
By Linda Young, Ph.D.
Everything you need to know about love and sex.
By Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D.
How to have the relationship you want.
By Howard J. Markman, Ph.D.
How You Get It; How you Keep it; How You Give It Away
By Robin Stern, Ph.D.
Lost Loves, Romances, and Families in the 21st Century.
By Nancy Kalish, Ph.D.
Investigating the Science of Attraction and Relationships
By Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick
Rescuing women and men from the quicksand of difficult relationships.
By Harriet Lerner, Ph.D.
Creating a more meaningful life
By Robert Firestone, Ph.D.
Rescuing Yourself From Your Need to Rescue Others
By Mary Lamia and Marilyn Krieger
Decoding the male psyche.
By Michael Bader, D.M.H.
How Close Relationships Shape our Lives
By Robert J. Waldinger, M.D.

Relationships Basics

You know the feeling. It's that rage you get when someone cuts you off on the highway; the one where you just want to floor it and flip the bird. Anger is a corrosive emotion that can run off with your mental and physical health. So do you hold it in? Or do you let it all hang out? Yet, anger doesn't dissipate just because you unleash it.

Go to the Anger Basics page for more on Anger including:

How do you find your perfect match? Your partner for life? And when you meet that someone, how do you know you've made the right choice? Perhaps you feel you are aiming too high, or maybe you are aiming too low. And the talk of the soul mate makes matters worse--besides, do soul mates even exist? Here are some articles to help you maneuver the mating game.

Go to the Mating Basics page for more on Mating including:

For most people, romantic relationships are the most meaningful element in their lives. Whatever the time or place, relationships are always occupying our time and thoughts.

Go to the Relationships Basics page for more on Relationships including:

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