"Warmth is an essential ingredient of healthy relationships. The warmer we are toward each other, the stronger our bonds become in our romantic relationships, families, and friendships, leading to a higher overall level of subjective well-being."
"The number of Americans reporting that they have three or fewer friends has nearly doubled since 1990. Additionally, about half of U.S. adults think that people act more rudely in public since the pandemic, with 20% saying a lot more rudely. Over-reliance on digital communication may be part of the problem. We trade meaningful, emotionally rich interactions for more frequent, but shallow, connections. This, in and of itself, can diminish interaction quality."
"Smiling, positive statements, and responsiveness infuse our interactions with warmth. We prioritize these types of social warmth cues over ability cues when evaluating others' intentions. Warmth is also tied to traits like acceptance, openness, and curiosity, which together can have a lasting positive effect on our style of communication. Forced warmth may do the opposite."
Warmth predicts relationship satisfaction, trust, and emotional safety across romantic relationships, families, and friendships, and increases subjective well-being. Social indicators show declining warmth: declines in social trust, fewer close friendships, and rising perceptions of rudeness, with Americans reporting fewer friends and many adults perceiving more public rudeness since the pandemic. Over-reliance on digital communication and habits like phubbing reduce interaction quality by replacing emotionally rich contact with shallow connections. Small behaviors—smiles, curiosity, positive statements, responsiveness, and listening—signal warmth and are prioritized over ability cues when judging intentions. Warmth grows most effectively when partners cultivate it together through kindness and self-reflection.
Read at Psychology Today
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