Sources & further reading

We don't footnote every line in our pieces — the prose would become unreadable. Instead, this page collects the research, books, and frameworks our writing rests on. When we describe attachment styles, body-language signals, conflict dynamics, or the texture of long-term love, this is the literature we're drawing from.

Where a finding is contested, we say so in the relevant article. If you spot a claim in our writing you'd like to source, email hello@attractionlaboratory.com and we'll point you at the primary reference.

Foundational works on attachment and relationships

A Secure Base: Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development
John Bowlby · 1988
The foundational work on attachment theory. Bowlby established that early caregiver relationships shape adult patterns of intimacy — the basis of much of what we write about anxious vs. secure attachment.
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment
Amir Levine & Rachel Heller · 2010
Translates attachment theory into adult romantic patterns. Our framing of anxious, avoidant, and secure attachment styles draws heavily on the clinical research summarized here.
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
John Gottman & Nan Silver · 1999
Decades of observational research on what predicts relationship success and failure. Gottman's identification of contempt as the single best predictor of divorce informs our writing on conflict and repair.
Silent Messages: Implicit Communication of Emotions and Attitudes
Albert Mehrabian · 1971
The original research on the role of nonverbal signals in conveying emotional content. Our body-language pieces reference the broader framework Mehrabian established, while noting that the popular '7-38-55' rule oversimplifies his findings.

Communication and difficult conversations

Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton & Sheila Heen (Harvard Negotiation Project) · 1999
The frame of separating 'what happened' from 'feelings' and 'identity' is core to our writing on relationship repair and difficult conversations.
Nonviolent Communication
Marshall B. Rosenberg · 2003
The structure 'observation → feeling → need → request' underpins the phrasing recommendations in our pieces on lowering defenses and apologies that actually land.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler · 2002
The concept of psychological safety in dialogue, and how to maintain it under emotional pressure, informs how we write about conflict regulation.

Psychology of intimacy and desire

Daring Greatly
Brené Brown · 2012
On vulnerability as the basis of intimacy. Our writing on the 'inconvenient truth' and disclosure as a trust signal owes much to Brown's research at the University of Houston.
The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel van der Kolk · 2014
Our framing of the nervous system as a more honest reader of relationships than the conscious mind — and of physical sensation as data — draws on van der Kolk's clinical work.
Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love
Helen Fisher · 2004
Fisher's neurobiological research on romantic attraction, including the role of dopamine, novelty, and uncertainty, shapes how we discuss the difference between attachment and desire.

Specific studies referenced in our writing

Affect Labeling Disrupts Amygdala Activity in Response to Affective Stimuli
Lieberman, Eisenberger, Crockett, Tom, Pfeifer & Way · 2007
The neuroscience behind why naming a feeling reduces its intensity — referenced in our writing on emotional regulation in conflict.
The Eyebrow Flash: A Cross-Cultural Greeting Display
Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt · 1972
Documentation of the involuntary eyebrow movement that occurs on first meeting someone you recognize — the basis of one of our body-language signals.
Pupil Dilation and Romantic Interest
Eckhard Hess (University of Chicago) · 1960s
Hess's research on involuntary pupil dilation in response to images of preferred romantic partners. Our discussion of pupils as one of the few truly involuntary signals references this work.

Our editorial position

Relationship science is not physics. Many findings are probabilistic, replication-sensitive, and culturally bounded. Where a claim is well-supported across decades and multiple studies (e.g. contempt predicting divorce, attachment patterns being relatively stable across adulthood), we treat it as established. Where a claim is interesting but only suggestive, we say so in the article rather than overstating its certainty.

We update this list as our writing references new sources. Last revised: May 2026.