Research
Stay-Leave Behavior: Why do some relationships continue whereas others end?
One of the most distressing events an individual can go through is the ending of their romantic relationship. As such, we have conducted research in service of better understanding why relationships end.
Need Fulfillment and Goal Pursuit: What happens when we lean on our relationship for support?
Relationships are an important venue for people to have their psychological and aspirational needs met. We look at how partners fulfill each others' needs and support their goals (and the implications for the relationship of doing so).
Health and Relationships: Do our relationships help us stay healthy?
Much previous work has found that having high-quality close relationships is important for optimal physical health. We look at how partners can help or hinder each other's physical health.
Commitment across Domains: Are we committed to people and things other than our relationship?
Not all relationships are romantic, so we also examine whether commitment processes function similarly among other types of interpersonal relationships and among relationships we might have with non-interpersonal targets (e.g., ideologies).
