The final episode on John Gottman's research on marriage and divorce, where we continue our discussion on conflict within close relationships. We talk about the inevitability as well as potential value of conflict, the art of the soft startup when broaching difficult topics, the peril of the fight-or-flight response when things get heated (and the virtue of taking a break), Gordon B. Hinckley's favorite hymn, and so much more!

A continuation of our discussion of John Gottman's research on marriage and divorce. We discuss what conflict looks like in marriage and other relationships, how healthy friendship can make conflict a lot less disastrous, and what can be done to approach conflict constructively. In the process, Viviana makes a nice analogy about cooking brownies and having all the ingredients for a good relationship, Bryce makes a few allusions to murder as a deal-breaker, and Paul reveals lessons learned from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

We continue our discussion on John Gottman's video on predictors of success and failure in marriage (and other relationships). This time, we focus more on the role of communication and making and responding to each other's bids. Bryce makes a terrible pun about yoga. Viviana relates slot machines to human communication. Paul invokes calculus to describe the pain inflicted by leading someone on versus directly rejecting them. We discuss when ghosting is ok, and when it's an utterly jerk move, the role of family upbringing and agency, and lots of other juicy stuff!