John Gottman

John Mordechai Gottman (born April 26, 1942) is an American psychologist, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington.

His work focuses on divorce prediction and marital stability through relationship analyses.

The lessons derived from this work represent a partial basis for the relationship counseling movement that aims to improve relationship functioning and the avoidance of those behaviors shown by Gottman and other researchers to harm human relationships.

His work has also had a major impact on the development of important concepts on social sequence analysis.

He and his wife, psychologist Julie Schwartz Gottman, co-founded and lead a relationship company and therapist training entity called The Gottman Institute.

They have also co-founded Affective Software Inc, a program designed to make marriage and relationship counseling methods and resources available to a larger audience.

John Gottman was born on April 26, 1942, in the Dominican Republic to Orthodox Jewish parents.

His father was a rabbi in pre-World War II Vienna.

Gottman was educated in a Lubavitch yeshiva elementary school in Brooklyn.

Today, Gottman practices Conservative Judaism, keeps kosher (follows Jewish dietary laws) and observes Shabbat, a day dedicated to religious worship and rest.

John Gottman received his bachelor's degree in Mathematics-Physics from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1962.

In 1964, Gottman earned his master's in Mathematics-Psychology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He received an M.A. in Clinical Psychology-Mathematics in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1971 from the University of Wisconsin.

At Fairleigh Dickinson University, Gottman worked as an instructor for the mathematics department, a research assistant for the department of physics, and a researcher for the school of engineering.

At the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, he worked as a computer programmer and mathematician.

He was a program evaluator and research designer for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

In 1981, Gottman became a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois.

Additionally, he was a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, Seattle for 16 years.

In 1987, he married Julie Gottman née Schwartz, a psychotherapist.

His two previous marriages had ended in divorce.

He has a daughter named Moriah Gottman.

John and Julie Gottman currently live in Washington state.

From 2002 until today, Gottman works as the Emeritus Professor of Psychology for the University of Washington and as the executive director for the Relationship Research Institute in Seattle.

Alongside his wife, he is also the co-founder of The Gottman Institute.

Gottman developed multiple models, scales, and formulas to predict marital stability and divorce in couples.

He has completed seven studies in this field.

Some of Gottman's most popular work comes from his research regarding newlywed couples.

This work concludes that there are four negative behaviors that are most likely to lead to and therefore predict divorce.

These are: criticism of a partner's personality; contempt, which is usually derived from a position of superiority; defensiveness; and stonewalling, which is displayed through emotional withdrawal from interactions.

Typically, defense occurs in response to criticism and stonewalling as a result of feeling overwhelmed by the experience of conflict.

Stable couples handle conflict in positive ways and support each other.

In Gottman's book Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work he addresses some standard tools that these couples implement to stay together, from taking the time to continue building a friendship with their spouse, to honoring and respecting their spouse.

He developed "The Gottman Method Couple's Therapy" based on his research findings.

The form of therapy aims to increase respect, affection, and closeness; break through and resolve conflict; generate greater understandings; and keep conflict discussions calm.

The goal of The Gottman Method is to help couples build happy and stable marriages.

Gottman's therapy model focuses more on the process of conflict within the marriage, and less on the content of the conflict.

John Gottman conducted a study based on oral interviews with 95 newlywed couples.

His predictions are based on perceived marital bonds.

Couples were asked about their relationship, mutual history, and philosophy toward marriage.

Gottman was recognized in 2007 as one of the 10 most influential therapists of the past twenty-five years by the Psychotherapy Network.