CFT 412 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Hypervigilance, Longitudinal Study, Heart Rate
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2 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Class 10: May 2
Gottman
Research
● In 1970’s systematic observation of couples started in Gottman lab
○ Psychology was having a difficult time establishing reliable
patterns in personality of one person
● —In series of studies Gottman developed new coding system based
upon observing couples
○ In 1986 built apartment lab in Un of WA (love lab)
● 14 year longitudinal study on heterosexual couples, and 12 year
study of gay and lesbian couples
○ Designed interventions (used worldwide by clinicians) to
utilize with couples and families
Intimacy Killers
●
Intimacy Killers
Harsh start-up
● Conversations are initiated with criticism and/or sarcasm
● Aare essentially doomed if they begin this way
● —If you begin a conversation this way, better to pause, take a breath
and return to try again
4 Horsemen
● Criticism: global, negative words about character and personality
● Contempt: sneering, name- calling, eye-rolling, mockery; worst at it
conveys disgust
● Defensiveness: defending oneself about everything; “the problem
isn’t me, its you”
● Stonewalling: one person tunes out, unresponsive, disengaged
Flooding
● Feeling so overwhelmed in such a sudden way that you feel “shell-
shocked”
● —Feeling defenseless, becomes hypervigilant, becomes focused on
protecting yourself from partner’s turbulence
Body Language
● Heart rate increase, increased secretion of adrenaline;
fight/flight/freeze response
● —Signifies severe emotional distress
● —Ability to reason, process, and think clearly are significantly
diminished
Failed Repair Attempts
● Efforts couple make to de escalate tension, and put on the brakes so
that flooding is prevented
● —Unhappy (negative) feedback loop can develop between 4
horsemen and failed repair attempts
● —A couple can even show evidence of 4 horsemen, but be successful
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