Desire Dynamics: Navigating Intimacy and Attraction in Relationships

Under the Cortex

Many studies show that sexual attraction in long-term relationships decreases over time. Is this decline inevitable? Are we doomed to be not as into our partners as we were in the honeymoon period? Can we get too close to our partners?

APS’s Özge Gürcanlı Fischer Baum interviews relationship expert Amy Muise from York University to answer these questions. Muise’s recently published work in APS’s journal Current Directions in Psychological Science addresses when and how closeness with our partners forms and declines over time. Muise shares a new development in relationship research on how to maintain desire in relationships. Together, Fischer Baum and Muise discuss the importance of cultivating an individual identity alongside intimacy within a relationship to sustain attraction over time.

If you're interested in learning more about this research, visit psychologicalscience.org.

Send us your thoughts and questions at [e-mail].