John Gottman

John Gottman

John Mordecai Gottman (born April 26, 1942) is a Professor emeritus in psychology known for his work on marital stability and relationship analysis through scientific direct observations published in peer-reviewed literature. The lessons derived from this work represent a partial basis for the relationship counseling movement which aim to improve relationship functioning and the avoidance of those behaviors shown by Gottman and other researchers to harm human relationships. Gottman is a Professor Emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. With his wife Julie Schwartz, Gottman heads a non-profit research institute (The Relationship Research Institute) and a for-profit therapist training entity (The Gottman Institute).

Gottman was recognized in 2007 as one of the ten most influential therapists of the past quarter century. "Gottman's research showed that it wasn't only how couples fought that mattered, but how they made up. Marriages became stable over time if couples learned to reconcile successfully after a fight."