The Psychology of Human Relationships

Interpersonal Relationships

  • Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors influence human relationships.
  • Communication is key for relationship maintenance and termination.
  • Relationship development theories also explain relationship changes or endings.

Background

  • Maslow: Humans have a basic need to belong and be accepted.
  • Relationships are significant sources of happiness and unhappiness.
  • Close relationships impact emotional state and health.

Research Findings on Social Support

  • Stronger social relationships correlate with a 50% lower risk of health problems (Holt-Lunstad et al, 2010).
  • Marital stress tripled the risk of heart issues in women with heart disease (Orth-Gomer, 2001).
  • Lack of social relationships is a mortality risk factor for the elderly, similar to smoking or obesity (Luo et al, 2012).
  • Loneliness increases gene activity linked to inflammation and reduces gene activity for antibody production (Cole, 2007).

Romantic Relationships

  • Focus on close relationships involving intimacy and romantic love.
  • Romantic relationship: strong, frequent interdependence.
  • Interdependence: closeness, sharing, commitment.
  • Characterized by an intimate physical bond.

Defining Love

  • Defining "love" is difficult.
  • Hatfield & Rapson (1994) distinguish:
    • Passionate love: absorption in another, sexual feelings, intense emotion.
    • Compassionate love: warm, trusting affection, intertwined lives.
  • Passionate love may be replaced by compassionate love in long-term partnerships.

Formation of Romantic Relationships

  • Focus on formation as an example of personal relationships.
  • Begins with attraction in choosing a mate.
  • Evolution: attraction is to pass genes.
  • In the animal world, males compete for females; females care for offspring.

Human Relationships

  • Human relationships are complex, and biology alone isn't enough to understand them.
  • Pair bonding relates to reproduction, group structures, and providing a safe environment.
  • 'Family' is an agent of primary socialisation.

Biological Theories of Attraction

  • Rooted in natural selection: attracted to traits advantageous for offspring.
  • Sexual selection: preference for certain characteristics.
  • Attraction is a physiological response (neurotransmitters, hormones).
  • Research is correlational and reductionist, using animal models.

The Role of Neurotransmitters

  • Romantic love involves obsession with the loved one.
  • Lovers have an altered mental state with mood swings.
  • Helen Fisher: romantic love is a motivation system shared with mammals.
  • Dopamine-rich areas are associated with a specific attraction system.
  • Love 'symptoms' result from a 'biochemical cocktail' (Fisher et al., 2005).
  • Catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine) are involved in the stress response.

A Love Cocktail

  • Dopamine: feel-good neurotransmitter, responsible for motivation.
  • Noradrenaline: controls emotions and stress, increases alertness and attentiveness.
  • Serotonin: low levels cause obsessive thinking and mood extremes.
  • Testosterone: increases sexual desire and aggression.

Fisher et al. (2005)

  • Three core brain systems for mating and reproduction:
    • Lust: sex drive or libido.
    • Attraction: early-stage romantic love.
    • Attachment: deep feelings of union.
  • Critiques suggest this may not accurately represent the evolution of romantic love.

Fisher et al. (2005) - fMRI Study

  • fMRI to test neural mechanisms associated with romantic love.
  • Participants: 10 women and 7 men in love (average 7.4 months).
  • Semi-structured interview to establish feelings.
  • Passionate Love Scale questionnaire.
  • Correlate brain activity with self-reports.
  • Ventral tegmental area (VTA) involved in reward circuitry.

fMRI Procedure

  • Participants viewed a photo of their beloved for 30 seconds.
  • Filler task for distraction.
  • Neutral photograph for 30 seconds.
  • Repeated six times.
  • Brain's reward system was active when viewing the object of their love.
  • Increased activity in areas with high dopamine levels.
  • More passionate = more active brain circuitry.

Conclusion of fMRI Study

  • Supports correlation between attitudes toward lover and brain activity.
  • Romantic love = motivation system for mating.
  • Specific brain systems evolved to motivate mating.
  • Explains increased energy, focused attention, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite.
  • Dopamine drives the intense motivation to win a mating partner.
  • Humans are similar to other animals (animal model).

Brain's Reward System and Attraction

  • Amygdala: processes emotions; signals excitement and pleasure for a potential partner.
  • Nucleus Accumbens: responds to dopamine release; reinforces desire to approach the attractive individual.
  • Prefrontal Cortex: focuses attention and facilitates planning for social interactions.
  • Hippocampus: remembers past interactions; reinforces attraction based on positive experiences.
  • Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA): produces dopamine, signals pleasure and reinforces seeking out attraction.

Marazitti et al. (1999)

  • Attraction involves intense craving for partner.
  • Obsession may relate to decreased serotonin levels.
  • Serotonin levels of new lovers were similar to those with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The Role of Hormones

  • Attachment: intimate relationship with comfort, security, and relatedness.
  • Bowlby (1969): humans have an innate attachment system.
  • Processes in adult love relationships are like those between mother and child.
  • Attachment keeps individuals together after romantic love fades.

Vasopressin

  • Vasopressin may play a role in long-term commitment.
  • Winslow et al. 1993 study on prairie voles: vasopressin affects devotion to mates.

Walum et al (2008)

  • Men with a variation of the vasopressor receptor gene have lower marital satisfaction.
  • Concerns about this being