Cascade Model of Relational Dissolution: Difference between revisions

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The '''Cascade Model of Relational Dissolution''' is a relational communications theory that proposes four negative behaviors that lead to the breakdown of marital and romantic relationships.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Handbook of interpersonal communication|last=Knapp, M.L.|first=Daly, John A.|publisher=SAGE Publications|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7619-2160-58|___location=|pages=270}}</ref>  This theory focuses on the negative influence of '''[[nonverbal communication]]''' habits on the success and/or failure of marriages and other relationships.<ref name=":0" /> Gottman’s model uses a metaphor that compares the four negative communication styles that lead to the breakdown of a relationship to the biblical '''[[Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]]'''.<ref name=":0" />

== Background ==

This model is the work of psychological researcher '''[[John Gottman]]''', a professor at the '''[[University of Washington]]''' and founder of '''[[The Gottman Institute]]''' and his research partner [https://psychology.berkeley.edu/people/robert-w-levenson '''Robert W. Levenson'''].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gottman.com/about/research/|title=Overview - Research|website=The Gottman Institute|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-04}}</ref> Gottman and Levenson's research focuses on differentiating failed and successful marriages and notes that nonverbal emotional displays progress in a linear pattern, creating a negative emotional and physical response that leads to withdrawal.<ref name=":0" /> Prior to the development of the model (1992-1994) little research had been conducted that focused on finding specific interactive behaviors and processes that resulted in marital dissatisfaction, separation, and divorce.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Gottman|first=John M.|date=1993|title=A theory of marital dissolution and stability.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0893-3200.7.1.57|journal=Journal of Family Psychology|volume=7|issue=1|pages=57–75|doi=10.1037//0893-3200.7.1.57|issn=0893-3200|citeseerx=10.1.1.575.5882}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gottman|first=John M.|last2=Levenson|first2=Robert W.|date=1992|title=Marital processes predictive of later dissolution: Behavior, physiology, and health.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.63.2.221|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|volume=63|issue=2|pages=221–233|doi=10.1037//0022-3514.63.2.221|issn=0022-3514|citeseerx=10.1.1.540.5826}}</ref> Additionally, Gottman and Levenson's research indicated that not all negative interactions, like anger, are predictive of relational separation and divorce.<ref name=":1" /> Gottman and Levenson's research notes that the "cascade toward relational dissolution" can be predicted by the regulation, or non-regulation, of positive to negative interactions of couples, with couples that regulated their positive-to-negative interactions being significantly less likely to experience the cascade.<ref name=":1" />

== The Four Horsemen of Relational Apocalypse ==