Paula R. Pietromonaco is an American psychologist and principal investigator of the Growth in Early Marriage Project at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the editor-in-chief of the journal Emotion , as well as the associate editor of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology : Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes section. [1] [2]
Pietromonaco earned her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1975 and her doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in 1983. Since then, she has held different positions in multiple universities, before attaining her current position of Professor Emerita at the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences of University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2018. [1] [2]
She was president of the APA Coalition for Academic, Scientific, and Applied Research Psychology from 2014 to 2015, and a member of the SPSP Executive Board from 2010 to 2016. She is also on the editorial board of multiple APA journals. [2] As the editor-in-chief of Emotion , Pietromonaco stated her intent to prioritize research on affective processes and emotion, and encourages submissions connecting different subdisciplines and fields. She also wants to continue the journal's emphasis on diverse methodologies. [1]
Pietromonaco's research mainly focuses on close relationships, with relationship processes investigated by understanding behavioral, physiological, affective, and cognitive processes. Her teaching and research interests also include social psychology, health psychology, emotion, and research methods. [1] [2] [3]
In one of her studies, Pietromonaco and other researchers investigate how attachment styles of couples affect their cortisol levels and risks of future mental health issues. It is suggested that couples with wives having the anxious attachment style and husbands having the avoidant attachment style stand more chances of developing depression and anxiety over time. [4] Similarly, she and other researchers state that the attachment styles can affect how people behave and think during interpersonal conflicts. [5] [4] She has also emphasized in other studies that a partner plays an important part when a person faces a stressful event or has chronic diseases. Partners can help calm or can make recovery more difficult, depending on their behavior. [4] In another study with college students, her team has found that responsiveness affects the intimacy of self-disclosure among couples.[ citation needed ]
In social psychology, an interpersonal relation describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more persons. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which are the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences. Relations vary in degrees of intimacy, self-disclosure, duration, reciprocity, and power distribution. The main themes or trends of the interpersonal relations are: family, kinship, friendship, love, marriage, business, employment, clubs, neighborhoods, ethical values, support and solidarity. Interpersonal relations may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and form the basis of social groups and societies. They appear when people communicate or act with each other within specific social contexts, and they thrive on equitable and reciprocal compromises.
An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves emotional or physical closeness between people and may include sexual intimacy and feelings of romance or love. Intimate relationships are interdependent, and the members of the relationship mutually influence each other. The quality and nature of the relationship depends on the interactions between individuals, and is derived from the unique context and history that builds between people over time. Social and legal institutions such as marriage acknowledge and uphold intimate relationships between people. However, intimate relationships are not necessarily monogamous or sexual, and there is wide social and cultural variability in the norms and practices of intimacy between people.
Lisa Feldman Barrett is a University Distinguished Professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where she focuses on affective science. She is a director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory. Along with James Russell, she is the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Emotion Review. Along with James Gross, she founded the Society for Affective Science.
In psychology, the theory of attachment can be applied to adult relationships including friendships, emotional affairs, adult romantic and carnal relationships and, in some cases, relationships with inanimate objects. Attachment theory, initially studied in the 1960s and 1970s primarily in the context of children and parents, was extended to adult relationships in the late 1980s. The working models of children found in Bowlby's attachment theory form a pattern of interaction that is likely to continue influencing adult relationships.
Social connection is the experience of feeling close and connected to others. It involves feeling loved, cared for, and valued, and forms the basis of interpersonal relationships.
"Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued; when they can give and receive without judgement; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship." —Brené Brown, Professor of social work at the University of Houston
Emotionally focused therapy and emotion-focused therapy (EFT) are a set of related approaches to psychotherapy with individuals, couples, or families. EFT approaches include elements of experiential therapy, systemic therapy, and attachment theory. EFT is usually a short-term treatment. EFT approaches are based on the premise that human emotions are connected to human needs, and therefore emotions have an innately adaptive potential that, if activated and worked through, can help people change problematic emotional states and interpersonal relationships. Emotion-focused therapy for individuals was originally known as process-experiential therapy, and it is still sometimes called by that name.
Psychology encompasses a vast domain, and includes many different approaches to the study of mental processes and behavior. Below are the major areas of inquiry that taken together constitute psychology. A comprehensive list of the sub-fields and areas within psychology can be found at the list of psychology topics and list of psychology disciplines.
Bonnie Ruth Strickland is known for her contributions to the psychology community. From her decades long career at Emory University and University of Massachusetts Amherst to her time as the president of the American Psychological Association (APA) she has contributed a great deal to clinical psychology, social psychology, and feminism.
Wendy Wood is a UK-born psychologist who is the Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at University of Southern California, where she has been a faculty member since 2009. She previously served as vice dean of social sciences at the Dornsife College of the University of Southern California. Her primary research contributions are in habits and behavior change along with the psychology of gender.
Nilanjana Dasgupta is a social psychologist whose work focuses on the effects of social contexts on implicit stereotypes - particularly on factors that insulate women in STEM fields from harmful stereotypes which suggest that females perform poorly in such areas. Dasgupta is a professor of Psychology and is the Director of the Institute of Diversity Sciences and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Batja Mesquita is a Dutch social psychologist, a cultural psychologist and an affective scientist. She is a professor of psychology at the University of Leuven, Belgium, where she studies the role of culture in emotions, and of emotions in culture and society. She is director of the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology in Leuven.
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.
Stacey Sinclair is an American psychologist and professor of psychology and public affairs, and associate professor of African American studies at Princeton University. Her research focuses on how interpersonal interactions translate culturally held prejudices into individual thoughts and actions.
Kerry Kawakami is a Canadian social psychologist. She is a professor of social psychology at York University in Toronto. She is the current editor of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP): Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes. Kawakami's research focuses on developing strategies to reduce intergroup bias.
Heejung Kim is a South Korean psychologist and a professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on how culture influences humans' thought process. She is co-editor of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review.
Linda C. Gallo is a scientist known for behavioral medicine. Gallo is a professor at San Diego State University and serves as a part of the San Diego State / University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. She serves as a co-director at the South Bay Latino Research Center.
Interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) or relational neurobiology is an interdisciplinary framework that was developed in the 1990s by Daniel J. Siegel, who sought to bring together scientific disciplines to demonstrate how the mind, brain, and relationships integrate. IPNB views the mind as a process that regulates the flow of energy and information through its neurocircuitry, which is then shared and regulated between people through engagement, connection, and communication. Drawing on systems theory, Siegel proposed that these processes within interpersonal relationships can shape nervous system maturation. Siegel claimed that the mind has an irreducible quality which informs this approach.
Joanne Davila is a clinical psychologist known for her research on the romantic relationships and mental health of adolescents and adults, including the impact of social media use on relationships and well being. She is a Professor and Associate Director of Clinical Training int the Department of Psychology, at Stony Brook University.
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 works in the field of close relationships.
Nickola Christine Overall is a New Zealand academic, and is a professor of psychology at the University of Auckland, specialising in relationship, family and couples psychology. She is especially interested in communication strategies to overcome conflict.