Harold Kelley was an American social psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His major contributions have been the development of interdependence theory, the early work of attribution theory, and a lifelong interest in understanding close relationships processes. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Kelley as the 43rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
Christian Stephen Smith is an American sociologist, currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Smith's research focuses primarily on religion in modernity, adolescents and emerging adults, sociological theory, philosophy of science, the science of generosity, American evangelicalism, and culture. Smith is well known for his contributions to the sociology of religion, particularly his research into adolescent spirituality, as well as for his contributions to sociological theory and his advocacy of critical realism.
Ellen S. Berscheid is an American social psychologist who is currently a Regents professor at the University of Minnesota, where she earlier had earned her PhD in 1965. Berscheid conducted research on interpersonal relationships, emotions and moods, and social cognition. Berscheid wrote books, articles and other publications to contribute to the field of Social Psychology. She was involved in controversy surrounding the funding for her research on why people fall in love. In addition to her position at the University of Minnesota as a Psychology and Business professor; she has also held a position at Pillsbury. She has received awards for her contributions to social psychology, including The Presidential Citation and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association.
Bertram Gawronski is a social psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is known for his research in the areas of attitudes, social cognition, decision making, and moral psychology.
David Reuben Jerome Heise was a social psychologist who originated the idea that affectual processes control interpersonal behavior. He contributed to both quantitative and qualitative methodology in sociology. He retired from undergraduate teaching in 2002, but continued research and graduate student consulting as Rudy Professor of Sociology Emeritus at Indiana University. He was most well known for his work on affect control theory.
Interdependence theory is a social exchange theory that states that interpersonal relationships are defined through interpersonal interdependence, which is "the process by which interacting people influence one another's experiences"(Van Lange & Balliet, 2014, p. 65). The most basic principle of the theory is encapsulated in the equation I = ƒ[A, B, S], which says that all interpersonal interactions (I) are a function (ƒ) of the given situation (S), plus the actions and characteristics of the individuals in the interaction. The theory's four basic assumptions are 1) The Principle of Structure, 2) The Principle of Transformation, 3) The Principle of Interaction, and 4) The Principle of Adaption.
Kenneth A. Bollen is the Henry Rudolf Immerwahr Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bollen joined UNC-Chapel Hill in 1985. He is also a member of the faculty in the Quantitative Psychology Program housed in the L. L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory. He is a fellow at the Carolina Population Center, the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also the Director of the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science from 2000 to 2010. His specialties are population studies and cross-national analyses of democratization.
Philip Michael Podsakoff is an American management professor, researcher, author, and consultant who held the John F. Mee Chair of Management at Indiana University. Currently, he is the Hyatt and Cici Brown Chair in Business at the University of Florida.
Arne Lindeman Kalleberg is a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Faculty Fellow at the Carolina Population Center. He is also an adjunct professor in the Kenan-Flagler Business School, the Department of Public Policy, and the Curriculum in Global Studies. Kalleberg served as the secretary of the American Sociological Association from 2001 to 2004 and as its president from 2007 to 2008. He has been the editor-in-chief of Social Forces, an international journal of social research for over ten years.
Julio Ramirez is the R. Stuart Dickson Professor of Psychology at Davidson College and a national leader in neuroscience education. He received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009.
Myron Kent Jennings is an American political scientist best known for his path-breaking work on the patterns and development of political preferences and behaviors among young Americans. He is widely held in libraries worldwide and is recognized as one of the "founding fathers" of political socialization research and theory. He is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1982, and served as the president of the International Society of Political Psychology in 1989–1990 and as the president of the American Political Science Association in 1997–1998.
Sandra L. Murray is Professor of Psychology at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She is a social psychologist known for her work on close relationships and their trajectories over time. Murray received the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology in 2003 for "distinguished and original contributions to an understanding of motivated social cognition in relationships." Other awards include the New Contribution Award from the International Society for the Study of Personal Relationships in 1998 and 2000, the Outstanding Early Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity in 2000, the Career Trajectory Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology in 2012, the Mid-Career Distinguished Contribution Award from the International Association for Relationship Research in 2016, and the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2020.
Irene Hanson Frieze is a personality psychologist and pioneering figure in the field of women's studies. She is known for her research on intimate partner violence in marriage and dating relationships, and for cross-cultural studies of attitudes about work and gender roles. Frieze is Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women's Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
Elizabeth G. Loboa is an American biomedical engineer, inventor, researcher and academic administrator currently serving at Southern Methodist University (SMU) as provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Terence J. G. Tracey is an American psychologist, author and researcher. He is professor emeritus of counseling and counseling psychology at Arizona State University. He is also a visiting professor at University of British Columbia. He has served in many administrative positions at Arizona State University including department head and associate dean. He is the former editor-in-chief of Journal of Counseling Psychology.
Jeffrey Sherman is a Social Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. He is known for his research on social cognition, stereotyping, and implicit bias.
Darby Saxbe is a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, who researches stress within the context of relationships.
Relationship science is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to the scientific study of interpersonal relationship processes. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, relationship science is made-up of researchers of various professional backgrounds within psychology and outside of psychology, but most researchers who identify with the field are psychologists by training. Additionally, the field's emphasis has historically been close and intimate relationships, which includes predominantly dating & married couples, parent-child relationships, and friendships & social networks, but some also study less salient social relationships such as colleagues and acquaintances.
Omri Gillath is an Israeli-American social psychologist. As a professor of social psychology at the University of Kansas, Gillath has spent over 20 years doing research, teaching psychology, and mentoring students. He is a leading figure in the field of close relationships and has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed psychology journals. His research interests include: close relationships, attachment theory, brain mechanisms and genetic polymorphisms underlying attachment style, social networks, and recently, humans connections with AI.
The investment model of commitment, originally described by Caryl E. Rusbult, is a predictive psychological theory that aims to explain why people remain in relationships. Its tenants are based primarily on those of interdependence theory, created by Harold Kelley and John Thibaut. Interdependence theory is based on both satisfaction and dependence. One's satisfaction within a relationship is determined by the outcomes one sees in a relationship versus their comparison level, or what they expect out of a relationship. Dependence is a measure in which you compare the outcomes of a relationship with the outcomes possible in another relationship, or an alternative. In the case of interdependence theory, one would theoretically be able to predict whether an interaction or relationship will flourish or end poorly based on whether each person in the relationship is satisfied, and if they each believe that the situation they are currently in is superior to a relationship that they could have with an alternative. However, certain situations in which people remain in relationships cannot fully be explained by this model alone. Examples include relationships in which outside alternatives are likely better, including abusive relationships. For this reason, the investment model was theorized to further predict relationships like these.
