CAREER: Modeling Responsive Relationship Behavior: Channels of Communication, Social Benefits, and Mechanisms of Action

拥有良好人际关系的人更长寿、更健康。这个项目的重点是什么使良好的关系变得良好，以及这些关系如何将利益传递给拥有这些关系的人。良好关系的一个重要部分是感觉伴侣理解你，认可你，关心你。人们用他们说的话和说话的方式来表达理解、认可和关心（回应），有时根本不用语言。此外，有些人更容易根据他们在关系中的安全感来做出和接受回应行为。这项研究着眼于语言和非语言暗示用来表达回应的不同方式，以及每种类型的交流如何对自我、关系和生理功能有独特的好处。它还测试了在一段关系中感到安全是否在能够从回应中获益方面发挥了作用。了解语言和非语言反应行为分别是如何有益的，以及谁受益最大，可以帮助确定具体的行为，帮助人们更好地回应彼此，提高他们关系的质量。与科学界和整个社会分享这项工作的结果将有助于支持更健康的社会联系。该项目汇集了社会心理学、健康心理学、神经科学和传播学的理论和研究。该研究比较了语言（言语）和非语言（语气和触摸）反应行为对个人幸福感、关系质量和生理健康途径（如压力激素分泌、心血管活动、睡眠）的影响。它还测试了在关系中感到安全是否会影响人们是否能够做出反应或从伴侣的反应行为中受益。该项目主要研究情侣、朋友和陌生人，采用纵向、行为和日常日记的方法。这项工作的相关教育目标包括增加来自代表性不足群体的人们对科学的参与。该项目支持关系科学新课程的开发，指导本科生和研究生进行研究，并与布鲁克林学院内外的不同社区分享有关研究结果的基本信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

People with good relationships live longer and healthier lives. This project focuses on what makes good relationships good, and how those relationships transmit benefits to the people who have them. One important part of a good relationship is feeling like a partner understands, validates, and cares for you. People communicate understanding, validation, and care (responsiveness) in the words they say and the way they say them, and sometimes without words at all. In addition, some people are more easily able to give and receive responsive behavior based on how secure they feel in their relationships. This research looks at the separate ways that words and nonverbal cues are used to show responsiveness, and how each type of communication is uniquely beneficial to the self, the relationship, and physiological function. It also tests whether feeling secure in a relationship plays a role in being able to benefit from responsiveness. Learning how verbal and nonverbal responsive behavior are separately beneficial, and who benefits most, can help identify specific behaviors to help people be more responsive to each other and to improve the quality of their relationships. Sharing the results of this work with the scientific community and society at large will help support healthier social connections.The project draws from a convergence of theory and research in social psychology, health psychology, neuroscience and communication studies. The research compares the effects of verbal (words) and nonverbal (tone of voice and touch) responsive behavior on personal well-being, relationship quality, and physiological pathways to health (e.g., stress hormone production, cardiovascular activity, sleep). It also tests whether feeling secure in relationships affects whether people are able to be responsive or benefit from a partner’s responsive behavior. The project focuses on romantic couples, friends, and strangers using longitudinal, behavioral, and daily diary methods. The related educational goals of this work include increasing participation in science among people from underrepresented groups. This project supports the development of new courses in relationship science, mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in research, and sharing basic information about the results with the diverse community within and around Brooklyn College.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.