Close Relationships 

& Self Lab

 

Humans have a fundamental desire to form and maintain close relationships. They readily seek out new relationships (e.g., romantic partnerships, friendships) and are reluctant to end relationships even if a relatioship is detrimental to the self. Individuals can partly meet this need to belong by acting in pro-relationship ways. For instance, individuals may alter their attitudes to match the attitudes of a partner when they disagree, they may practice forgiveness, and they may think back to events in their past that often revolve around relationships. Thus, the formation and maintenance of relationships as individuals seek to preserve feelings of belonging is a theme that permeates the CRS Lab's research program focusing on attitude alignment and balance theory, relational transgressions and forgiveness, and nostalgia. For more information on each of these lines of research, please click here.

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If you are a student at the College of Charleston who wants to get involved in psychology research in the Close Relationships and Self Lab please click the "Get Involved" button below.