The Psychologist John Gottman developed “the four horsemen” 1 that detriments relationship.
The four horsemen are particular types of negative interactions during conflict, which involves criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling.
- Criticism
- Contempt means a sense of superiority toward the other person. It can be sarcasm, negative humor.
- Defensiveness
- Stonewalling
Among these four, Gottman considers contempt the most destructive of them all.
References
Footnotes
-
The name “four horsemen” is a metaphor depicting the end of times in the New Testament (conquest, war, hunger, and death). ↩