Throughout my Psychology Today series, I have written about the concept of deceptive affection. This is a concept I proposed around 2009 and it describes what happens when feeling and communicating ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Mark Travers writes about the world of psychology. “Affection deprivation” refers to an inadequacy of emotional warmth, care and ...

If you've ever written a love letter, you know it's not easy. Amid a swirl of emotions, balancing elegant language and hormone-fueled passion can be tricky. Composers for centuries have skirted this ...

What does it take to hold people together despite disagreements and differences? It seems a very basic question, but it is hard to answer. This past summer witnessed various church bodies wrestling ...

The church I grew up in had a strange habit: Whenever a prospective new convert was introduced, members would virtually smother that person with affection. They would say repeatedly how much they love ...