The Analysis of Change

by John M. Gottman (editor)

Continuity and change have been major concerns of the social and behavioral sciences -- in the study of human development and in the study of processes that unfold in various ways across time. There has been a veritable explosion of techniques for studying change over time which have fundamentally changed how we need to think of and study change. Unfortunately, many of the old precepts and beliefs are still among us.

The field of methodology for the study of change is itself ready to change. Recently, there have been many analytic and conceptual developments questioning our cherished beliefs about the study of change. As such, how are individuals to think about issues and correctly analyze change? The chapters in this volume address these issues.

Divided into two sections, this book deals with designs that analyze change in multiple subjects, and with change in single subjects and an interacting system. Papers presented in this volume are accessible to scientists who are not methodologists. The character of the papers are more like primers than basic treatises on methodology, written for other methodologists. It is time that people stop thinking in rigid ways about how to study change and be introduced to a range of many possibilities. Change, stability, order and chaos are elusive concepts. The pursuit of the laws of change must be approached in as flexible and creative a fashion as possible. This book should help to lead the way.

542 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Dr. Gottman was one of the Top 10 Most Influential Therapists of the past quarter-century by the Psychotherapy Networker. He is the author or co-author of over 200 published academic articles and more than 40 books, including the bestselling The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work; What Makes Love Last; Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love; The Relationship Cure; Why Marriages Succeed or Fail; and Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child — among many others. Dr. Gottman’s media appearances include Good Morning America, Today, CBS Morning News, and Oprah, as well articles in The New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Glamour, Woman’s Day, People, Self, Reader’s Digest, and Psychology Today.

Co-founder of The Gottman Institute and co-founder of Affective Software, Inc. with his wife, Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman, John was also the Executive Director of the Relationship Research Institute. He is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Washington, where he founded “The Love Lab” at which much of his research on couples’ interactions was conducted.