Our interactions with primary caregivers form our attachment styles in early childhood. Our attachment style, or how we attach ourselves to our parents, also tends to be how we attach to our romantic partners. There are four attachment styles: Anxious attachment style or Anxious Preoccupied (AP) attachment style is when a person has high love …
A compliment is like a greeting. When you greet someone, you acknowledge their existence and expect them to do the same. You communicate that you value them and want them to value you, too. The same reciprocity lies underneath the dynamics of compliments. When someone compliments you, they’re giving you a status boost. They’re raising …
The following traits characterize a narcissistic personality: Not everyone with these traits has a full-blown Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Most people have a mix of narcissistic and empathic traits. In some people, their narcissism overshadows their empathy. They’re the ones likely to hurt others and have NPD. Narcissistic abuse Narcissists are like children who think …
If you badly need to put someone in their place, you’ve probably been a victim of verbal aggression. Examples of verbal aggression include: All these rude behaviors make you feel attacked. Since humans are wired to maintain their status and respect, you feel the need to defend yourself. You feel the need to put the …
Avoidant attachment style is a type of insecure attachment where a person feels insecure in close relationships. An avoidant tries to create distance in their close relationships. Since relationships are all about bonding and closeness, this upsets and frustrates their partner. Avoidants, like all human beings, have a biological need for connection. But their childhood …
Before you learn how to talk to someone who turns things around, you must thoroughly understand the phenomenon of ‘turning things around’. There are a lot of things going on in this dynamic that need to be well understood. In this article, I’ll break down what happens when someone turns everything around on you and …
To manipulate someone means to make them do something that’s not in their best interests. Manipulations always incur some cost on the manipulated and a benefit to the manipulator. Manipulation is different from influence. You can influence someone to do something that is in their best interests. For instance, a marketing campaign that influences you …
The word ‘fetish’ comes from the Portuguese feitico, meaning ‘spell’, which in turn comes from the Latin facticius, meaning ‘artificial’ or ‘made up’. Someone with a fetish has sexual interests so deviant that they seem artificial or made up. Fetishism is indulging in a fetish, and a fetishist is a person having a fetish. Fetishism …
Attachment styles shape the way we connect with others, especially romantic partners. They’re shaped in early childhood and are reinforced throughout life. A person can develop a secure or insecure attachment style based on early childhood interactions with primary caregivers. People with a secure attachment style can form healthy relationships with others and themselves. Those …
Humans have a fundamental desire to be free and in control of their lives. They want to be able to do what they want with minimal restrictions on their freedom. A relationship tends to steal away some of that freedom because there is interdependence in a relationship. One partner’s choices affect another. Each partner tries …