Before Dr. John Gottman’s initial studies, few researchers studied relationships, as many in the psychology field felt results would be unreliable since individuals and couples have vastly different personalities and actions. However, results from his systematic study proved that couples did behave with tremendous regularity over time and science could, indeed, identify sequences of interactions among sets of happy and unhappy couples. The successes of Dr. John Gottman’s early studies propelled him to embark on a quest to discover what triggered positive and negative sequences of couple behaviors. He wanted to develop materials and therapy methods to guide couples toward patterns of behaviors characteristic of successful couples.
