Hanan Parvez 
The phrase ‘emotional intelligence’ gets thrown around a lot. You see someone doing a social blunder, and people say, “He has no emotional intelligence.” Seems like emotional intelligence is an important type of intelligence to have and to develop if you lack it. But what does it really mean from a psychological point of view?
The claim that couples who fight a lot are more in love sounds counterintuitive for good reason. Because it is counterintuitive and counter logic. Greater love within a romantic bond leads to increased positive interactions and feelings. Constant arguing and fighting breed negative interactions and emotions that have the potential to destroy relationships.1Stanley, S. M.,
It’s been days since you’ve had a proper night’s sleep. You promise yourself that tonight’s going to be the night when you finally sleep on time so you can wake up early tomorrow. When tonight comes, you find yourself lying in bed, way past your planned sleep time. As you scroll past another social media
You may already be familiar with the ‘freeze response’ to stress. Usually, the normal stress response is the fight-or-flight response. If you can fight with the source of your threat/stress, you’ll fight. If you can’t, you’ll try to escape (flight). These are basic survival responses present in all animals. The freeze response occurs when you
Masochism means enjoying physical pain. We often hear about masochism in the context of deviant sexual behavior. A sexual masochist is someone who gets sexually aroused by pain. There’s also a term for someone who enjoys non-physical, non-sexual pain- a psychological masochist. Psychological/mental/emotional masochism is when a person derives pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment from psychological
Human relationships are built on the principle of reciprocity- a balance of give and take. That also includes emotional reciprocity, which is a mutual sharing and co-regulation of emotions. When you become someone’s Emotional Punching
People naturally expect the highest levels of intimacy in their romantic relationships. There are different types of intimacies, the primary ones being physical and emotional. When we hear of affairs and cheating, the violation of physical intimacy immediately comes to mind. That is, the cheating partner had a physical relationship with someone other than their
Having children is a social norm. Not only are you genetically programmed to reproduce, but society also pushes you to do it. People who can’t have kids because of infertility or situational reasons feel great distress because they wanted kids but couldn’t have them. They’re breaking a social norm, but not intentionally. Society doesn’t judge
Repression and anger When experiencing an emotional state, you have, broadly speaking, three choices. You can express, suppress, or repress it. Suppression occurs when you consciously choose not to express your emotional state. In contrast, while it can be conscious, repression is essentially an unconscious inhibition of emotional expression. Some people are prone to repressing
Attachment theory is one of the most established theories in psychology. It states that our early childhood interactions with primary caregivers shape how we relate to others in adulthood, especially in romantic relationships. These modes of relating to others are referred to as attachment styles. Attachment styles are of two main types: 1. Secure2. Insecure