The New Science of Intimate Relationships

* Looks at what science can tell us about love, sex and friendship. * Synthesises ideas from different sub--disciplines of psychology. * Written to be accessible to general readers as well as students. . In this elegantly written and provocative book, Garth Fletcher, one of the world's leading relationship scientists, provides an antidote to the avalanche of pop-psychology books on intimate relationships. Integrating the latest scientific work from social psychology and evolutionary psychology, with contributions from clinical psychology and anthropology, he analyses and answers questions such as: how do people know they are in good relationships? does good communication produce successful relationships? where does love come from? do men have stronger sex drives than women? why do people sometimes batter or kill their partners? The answers provided are never less than fascinating and are often surprising. Fletcher dissects the arguments surging around evolutionary and social psychological theories. He also authoritatively describes the reality of the intimate lives and minds of both men and women, exploding the stereotypes and myths of pop psychology as he goes. Fletcher has written a book that is rigorous, and true to the science, but is also accessible and engagingly written. Written by one of the world's leading authorities on close relationships, this accessible study is one of the first to look seriously at what science can tell us about love, sex and friendship.