Love - All posts
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Invisible load in couples shows up as managing, remembering and emotional care
The invisible load is the managing, remembering and emotional care that keeps a household running. A 2024 study found mothers carry about 73% of it, with more stress and lower relationship satisfaction.
Pausing five seconds before reacting can prevent most relationship fights
Recent psychological research demonstrates that taking just a five-second pause during tense moments in a relationship can significantly reduce aggression…
Sustained romantic love rests on four relationship commitments
A peer-reviewed empirical paper in Marriage & Family Review compares people who report staying in love with people who say they have fallen out of love. This article summarizes the four relationship commitments highlighted in that work and in a Psychology Today explainer. It does not predict outcomes for any one couple.
Small inequalities in relationships may strengthen bonds, but large ones cause harm
How dating someone perceived as being “out of one’s league” can impact relationships. While minor disparities between partners, such as…
The five stages of long-term relationships and how to navigate them
The article explains the five key phases in romantic relationships, starting from the initial attraction and infatuation to building deeper…
Massage and other touch ease pain, anxiety, and depression
A Nature Human Behaviour review of 137 controlled studies found that touch, mostly massage, eased pain, anxiety, and depression in adults and helped newborns gain weight, with medium-sized effects.
Whether being single suits you depends on your attachment style
Happiness in long-term singlehood is significantly influenced by an individual’s attachment style. Those with secure attachment are more likely to…
Your brain responds differently to love for a child, a partner, or a pet
A Finnish team used fMRI while 55 adults in relationships with children heard short stories about love toward a partner, a child, friends, strangers, pets, or nature, then held each feeling during a brief imagery period. Interpersonal love engaged social-cognition regions more than pet-only or nature love; during imagery, parental love showed striatum and thalamus activation not reported for the other love types; pet owners differed from non-owners on pet trials. Results reflect one cohort, culture, and task design.
Couples can recover from cheating, and secret affairs fare worst
In couple therapy studies, many couples recovered after an affair and became as satisfied as other couples. Secret affairs ended in divorce most often, and people who cheated once were more likely to cheat again.