The Science of Intimate Relationships represents the first interdisciplinary approach to the latest scientific findings relating to human sexual relationships.

Offers an unusual degree of integration across topics, which include intimate relationships in terms of both mind and body; bonding from infancy to adulthood; selecting mates; love; communication and interaction; sex; passion;  relationship dissolution; and moreSummarizes the links among human nature, culture, and intimate relationshipsPresents and integrates the latest findings in the fields of social psychology, evolutionary psychology, human sexuality, neuroscience and biology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and clinical psychology.Authored by four leading experts in the fieldInstructor materials are available atwww.wiley.com/go/fletcher

Garth Fletcher is Professor of Psychology at Victoria University Wellington. He is a fellow of five societies including theRoyal Society of New Zealand, theAssociation for Psychological Science, andtheSociety for Personality and Social Psychology, and has been associate editor of bothPersonal Relationships andJournal of Personality and Social Psychology. Fletcher has published over 100 articles and book chapters, and has authored and edited 6 books.

Jeffry A. Simpson is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Doctoral Minor in Interpersonal Relationships (IREL) at the University of Minnesota. He has been the editor of the journalPersonal Relationships and is currently the editor ofJournal of Personality and Social Psychology: Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes (JPSP-IRGP). Simpson is the incoming president of theInternational Association for Relationship Research, and has published nearly 200 articles and chapters along with several edited books.

Lorne Campbell is Associate Professor of Psychology the University of Western Ontario. He has published over 40 articles and book chapters, serves on the editorial board ofJournal of Personality and Social Psychology andPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and has been the editor of the journalPersonal Relationships.

Nickola Overall is Senior Lecturer of Psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She has published over 35 articles and book chapters, serves on the editorial board of theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, and is currently associate editor forPersonal Relationships.

About the Authors xv

Preface xvi

Part One: Introduction 1

1 The Science of Intimate Relationships 3

2 Intimate Relationships in Context: Key Theories, Concepts, and Human Nature 14

Part Two: The Relationship Animal 39

3 The Intimate Relationship Mind 41

4 The Intimate Relationship Body 69

Part Three: Beginning Relationships: Att achment and Mate Selection 97

5 Born to Bond: from Infancy to Adulthood 99

6 Selecting Mates 125

Part Four: Maintaining Relationships:the Psychology of Intimacy 155

7 Love, Sweet Love 157

8 Reading Minds, Partners, and Relationships 184

9 Communication and Interaction 210

10 Sex and Passion 236

11 Relationship Violence 259

Part Five: Ending Relationships: the Causes and Consequences of Relationship Dissolution 285

12 Relationship Dissolution 287

Part Six: Conclusion 313

13 Assembling the Relationship Jigsaw 315

Glossary 327

References 338

Author Index 383

Subject Index 390