Topics
Discover why relationships are so important to your need satisfaction and why they often decline over time. Learn a variety of techniques that can be used to prevent relationship failure. For a brief description of each sub-section and related eXperiments see the Relationships Grid below.
4.01 Key Accounts
Identify your most important relationships and learn how to keep them strong by understanding exchange theory.
4.02 Threats to Relationships
Learn to overcome each of the four major threats to your relationships: unresolved conflict, psychological distance, stress, and boredom.
4.03 Conflict
Investigate why conflict is inevitable in long-term relationships and why traditional conflict resolution techniques often fail. By understanding the real source of conflict you will be able to overcome it and make your relationships successful.
4.04 Self-Importance
Self-importance causes you to put your needs first and to discount what you get from other people. Over time, this can erode any relationship – and you don’t even know its happening because of its automated nature.
4.05 Consequences
of Self-Importance
Discover how self-importance can distort your relationship accounting, make you overly competitive, cause frequent dissatisfaction, and become an automated part of your personality.
4.06 Losing Self-Importance
Learn to recognize self-importance in yourself and others. Acquire new techniques to overcome this destructive force and improve your relationships.
4.07 Cognitive Consistency
Gain an understanding of your tendency toward cognitive consistency and how it negatively affects your relationships. Learn to appreciate novel ideas and different opinions.
4.08 Psychological Distance
Discover how impression management increases the psychological distance between you and the people you love. Learn rational honesty so your intrinsic self and relationships can flourish.
4.09 Being Love
Possessive love is not “true” love and often fails over time. Learn to understand “Being” love which makes you tolerant and increases your psychological intimacy with the people you care about.
4.10 Neurotic Needs
Find out how enlarged need states cause you to be needy and negatively impact your key relationships. In addition, learn why people often complain and focus on the negative elements in relationships and life.
4.11 Frustration and Stress
Find out how frustration and repression negatively impact your well being and harm your relationships. Learn more effective techniques for coping with the stress we all encounter in the modern world.
4.12 Boredom
Investigate how automation and adaptation slowly increase over time and squeeze the value out of your relationships. If you have ever wondered what happened to a once strong love, you have probably been a victim of these “inevitable” forces.
4.13 Relationship Life Cycles
Identify the natural cycles that occur in all relationships and why they usually rise and fall. Learn how to add value during every stage to keep your relationships strong over the long-term.
GX – Growth eXperiments
Apply what you’ve learned by completing the growth eXperiments. Learn how to lose self-importance, gain self-worth, live more truthfully, and accurately assess your most important relationships.