The Psychologist John Gottman developed “the four horsemen1 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

  1. The name “four horsemen” is a metaphor depicting the end of times in the New Testament (conquest, war, hunger, and death).