Personal Relationships

Preface Across sub-disciplines of psychology, research finds that positive, fulfilling, and satisfying relationships contribute to life satisfaction, psychological health, and physical well-being whereas negative, destructive, and unsatisfying relationships have a whole host of detrimental psychological and physical effects. This is because humans posses a fundamental need to belong" (Baumeister & Leary, 1995, p. 497), characterized by the motivation to form and maintain lasting, positive, and significant relationships with others. The need to belong is fueled by frequent and pleasant relational exchanges with others and thwarted when one feels excluded, rejected, and hurt by others. Notwithstanding the recognition that all relationships can have positive and negative aspects, and that many different types of relationships can influence employee outcomes, most research has honed in on either the positive or negative experiences associated with a specific type of relationship. Because of this we lack both an appreciation and understanding of the full range of relational experiences. We also have not fully considered similarities and differences in relational experiences across different types of relationships, or how these experiences may differentiallyaffect employee attitudes, behavior, and well-being. This edited volume tackles these issues head on, recognizing the powerful role that relationships play in our everyday life, and zeroing in on the cognitive, psychological, and behavioral processes responsible for such effects. Structure of the Book This book uses research and theory on the need to belong as a foundation to explore how five different types of relationships influence employee attitudes, behaviors, and well-being"--