John Gottman Popular Books

John Gottman Biography & Facts

John Mordechai Gottman (born April 26, 1942) is an American psychologist, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. His work focuses on divorce prediction and marital stability through relationship analyses. The lessons derived from this work represent a partial basis for the relationship counseling movement that aims to improve relationship functioning and the avoidance of those behaviors shown by Gottman and other researchers to harm human relationships. His work has also had a major impact on the development of important concepts on social sequence analysis. He and his wife, psychologist Julie Schwartz Gottman, co-founded and lead a relationship company and therapist training entity called The Gottman Institute. They have also co-founded Affective Software Inc, a program designed to make marriage and relationship counseling methods and resources available to a larger audience.Gottman was recognized in 2007 as one of the 10 most influential therapists of the past twenty-five years by the Psychotherapy Network. Personal life John Gottman was born on April 26, 1942, in the Dominican Republic to Orthodox Jewish parents. His father was a rabbi in pre-World War II Vienna. Gottman was educated in a Lubavitch yeshiva elementary school in Brooklyn. Today, Gottman practices Conservative Judaism, keeps kosher (follows Jewish dietary laws) and observes Shabbat, a day dedicated to religious worship and rest.In 1987, he married Julie Gottman née Schwartz, a psychotherapist. His two previous marriages had ended in divorce. He has a daughter named Moriah Gottman.John and Julie Gottman currently live in Washington state. Education and work experience John Gottman received his bachelor's degree in Mathematics-Physics from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1962. In 1964, Gottman earned his master's in Mathematics-Psychology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received an M.A. in Clinical Psychology-Mathematics in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1971 from the University of Wisconsin.At Fairleigh Dickinson University, Gottman worked as an instructor for the mathematics department, a research assistant for the department of physics, and a researcher for the school of engineering. At the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, he worked as a computer programmer and mathematician. He was a program evaluator and research designer for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. In 1981, Gottman became a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois. Additionally, he was a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, Seattle for 16 years. From 2002 until today, Gottman works as the Emeritus Professor of Psychology for the University of Washington and as the executive director for the Relationship Research Institute in Seattle. Alongside his wife, he is also the co-founder of The Gottman Institute. Studies Predictions of divorce Gottman developed multiple models, scales, and formulas to predict marital stability and divorce in couples. He has completed seven studies in this field. Some of Gottman's most popular work comes from his research regarding newlywed couples. This work concludes that there are four negative behaviors that are most likely to lead to and therefore predict divorce. These are: criticism of a partner's personality; contempt, which is usually derived from a position of superiority; defensiveness; and stonewalling, which is displayed through emotional withdrawal from interactions. Typically, defense occurs in response to criticism and stonewalling as a result of feeling overwhelmed by the experience of conflict. Stable couples handle conflict in positive ways and support each other. In Gottman's book Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work he addresses some standard tools that these couples implement to stay together, from taking the time to continue building a friendship with their spouse, to honoring and respecting their spouse. He developed "The Gottman Method Couple's Therapy" based on his research findings. The form of therapy aims to increase respect, affection, and closeness; break through and resolve conflict; generate greater understandings; and keep conflict discussions calm. The goal of The Gottman Method is to help couples build happy and stable marriages. Gottman's therapy model focuses more on the process of conflict within the marriage, and less on the content of the conflict. John Gottman conducted a study based on oral interviews with 95 newlywed couples. His predictions are based on perceived marital bonds. Couples were asked about their relationship, mutual history, and philosophy toward marriage. The interview measured the couple's perceptions of shared history and marriage by focusing on the positive or negative qualities of the relationship expressed in the telling of the story. To measure each spouse's perception of the marriage and each other, the interviewer listened to the couple's negative or positive experiences. Rather than scoring the content of their answers, interviewers used the Oral History Interview coding system, developed by Buehlman and Gottman in 1996, to measure spouses' perceptions about the marriage and each other. Therefore, the couples' perception was used to predict whether they would gain marital stability or end up divorced. The more positive their perceptions and attitudes were about their marriage and each other, the more stable the marriage.Gottman's models partly rely on Paul Ekman's method of analyzing human emotion and microexpressions. Ekman's research was primarily based on observing the micro-expressions to determine whether somebody was lying or telling the truth.The original study was published by Gottman and Kim Therese Buehlman in 1992, in which they interviewed couples with children. A posteriori modeling yielded a discriminant function that could discern those who had divorced with 94% accuracy. Since Gottman believed that early married life is a period of adjustment, and perceptions are being formed, he sought to predict marital stability and divorce through couples' perceptions during the first year of marriage.In 1998, Gottman developed a model to predict which newlywed couples would remain married and which would divorce four to six years later. The model fits the data with 90% accuracy. Another model from Gottman can determine with 81% accuracy which marriages survived after seven to nine years.Gottman's follow-up study with newlywed couples, published in 2000, used the Oral History Interview to predict marital stability and divorce. Gottman's model fit with 87.4% accuracy for classifying couples who divorce (or not) within the couples' first five years of marriage. He used couples' perceptions about their marriages and each other to model marital stability or divorce.In a 2002 paper, Gottman and Robert W. Levenson perform a regression analysis of a two-factor model where skin conductance levels and oral history narratives encodings .... Discover the John Gottman popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Gottman books.

Best Seller John Gottman Books of 2024

  • The Emotionally Destructive Marriage synopsis, comments

    The Emotionally Destructive Marriage

    Leslie Vernick

    Something Has to Change…   You can’t put it into words, but something is happening to you. Your stomach churns, your heart aches, and the tension in your marriage is making yo...

  • Your Man is Wonderful synopsis, comments

    Your Man is Wonderful

    Noelle C. Nelson

    "Here's a secret about your man: He wants to please you. He wants to be your knight in shining armor. He wants to see the smile on your face that tells him he's worthy. He wants t...

  • Just Dandy synopsis, comments

    Just Dandy

    Sandra Swenson

    Through her child’s addiction, a divorce, beginning a career at sixty, caring for aging parents, and facing her own old age alone, Sandra Swenson shares her heartache and her journ...

  • Hold Me Tight synopsis, comments

    Hold Me Tight

    Dr. Sue Johnson

    Strengthen and deepen your relationships with this "muchneeded" (Harville Hendrix, PhD) guide that has sold over one million copies, through revelatory practical exercises, seven p...

  • The Complete Marriage Counselor synopsis, comments

    The Complete Marriage Counselor

    Sherry Amatenstein & Tina B. Tessina

    More couples than ever before are seeking relief from couples therapy (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy) Author is the Dating Doyenne for iVillage and writes t...

  • It Takes One to Tango synopsis, comments

    It Takes One to Tango

    Winifred M. Reilly

    With a focus on selfempowerment and resilience, this refreshing and witty relationship guide has a reassuring counterintuitive message for unhappy spouses: you only need one partne...

  • For Women Only, Revised and Updated Edition synopsis, comments

    For Women Only, Revised and Updated Edition

    Shaunti Feldhahn

    REVISED AND UPDATED EDITIONDiscover the Truth He Wants You to Know The man in your life carries important feelings so deep inside he barely knows they’re there, much less how ...

  • Sex Talks synopsis, comments

    Sex Talks

    Vanessa Marin

    The definitive guide to creating the sex life of your wildest dreamsjust by talking about it!from sexpert couple Vanessa and Xander Marin. INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AARP.or...

  • And Baby Makes Three synopsis, comments

    And Baby Makes Three

    John Gottman Ph.D. & Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD

    Having a baby is a joyous experience, but even the best relationships are strained during the transition from duo to trio. Lack of sleep, neverending housework, and new fiscal conc...

  • The 7 Principles for Making Marriages Work Insights synopsis, comments

    The 7 Principles for Making Marriages Work Insights

    Instant-Summary

    The Principles  for Making  Marriages Work: A Practical Guide from the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert A Comprehensive Summary You have likely heard of the imp...

  • The Surrendered Wife synopsis, comments

    The Surrendered Wife

    Laura Doyle

    A New York Times bestseller, this controversial guide to improving your marriage has transformed thousands of relationships, bringing women romance, harmony, and the intimacy they ...

  • The Principles for Making Marriages Work synopsis, comments

    The Principles for Making Marriages Work

    Turbo-Learning

    A Comprehensive Study Guide of The Principles for Making Marriages Work You have likely heard of the importance of communication in marriage many times over since you first got to...

  • Fight Right synopsis, comments

    Fight Right

    Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD & John Gottman Ph.D.

    LEARN THE 5 SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL COUPLESConflict is the top reason couples seek helpbut it's also an opportunity for greater intimacy, deeper connection, and lasting love accordin...