Biography of John Mordecai Gottman 1

BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN MORDECAI GOTTMAN 1
Biography Of John Mordecai Gottman
John Mordecai Gottman is an American Psychologist with extensive work on divorce prediction
and marital stability. He developed a therapy model that focuses on the process of conflict
within the marriage. John Mordecai Gottman was regarded as one of the top 10 most influential
therapist of the past quarter-century, by the Psychotherapy Networker[1]. He was born April 26,
1942, in the Dominican Republic, to orthodox Jewish parents. His father was a rabbi in
pre-WWII Vienna. John was educated in a Lubavitch yeshiva elementary school in Brooklyn,
and he observes kosher and the Sabbath [2].
Gottman started his study of Psychology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964,
graduating with a Master of Science. At the University of Wisconsin in 1967, he bagged an M.A
in Clinical Psychology. He completed a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, University of Wisconsin in
197I. The title of his thesis was “Time-series analysis in psychology and education, and a
methodology for action research”[3]. In the 1970s, Gottman began a process of systematic
observation of couples in the Gottman lab and went on to create a “ Talk table,” A place where
people could interact and be analyzed. By 1975, He collaborated with Robert Levenson,
together they “discovered Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen’s Facial Affect Coding System
(FACS), and Dr. Gottman subsequently developed the Specific Affect Coding System
(SPAFF)”[4]. In 1986, John Gottman and his colleagues built an apartment laboratory at the
University of Washington that was dubbed the “Love Lab” by the media. At this 'Love Lab' they
discovered the basis of friendship and intimacy and its relation to conflict[5]. In 1994 Gottman
began working with his wife Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman and by 1996, the Gottman Institute was
founded.
Gottman’s Predictions of Divorce
Throughout four decades, Gottman was able to use a longitudinal method of research to
observe couples and developed multiple models, scales and formulas to predict marital stability
and divorce. In his many works he “concludes that the four negative behaviors that most predict
divorce are a criticism of partners’ personality, contempt (from a position of superiority),
defensiveness, and stonewalling, or emotional withdrawal from interaction usually due to feeling
overwhelmed by criticism. On the other hand, stable couples handle conflicts in gentle, positive
ways, and are supportive of each other[6]. Gottman’s predictions are based on perceived
marital bond. In his 2000 study, Gottman conducted oral interviews with 95 newlywed couples.
Couples were asked about their relationship, mutual history, and philosophy towards marriage.
The interview measured the couple's perceptions of their history and marriage by focusing on
the positive or negative qualities of the relationship expressed in the telling of the story. Rather
than scoring the content of their answers, interviewers used the Oral History Interview coding
system, developed by Buehlman and Gottman in 1996, to measure spouses' perceptions about
the marriage and each other. Therefore, the couples’ perception was used to predict marital
stability or divorce. The more positive their perceptions and attitudes were about their marriage
and each other, the more stable the marriage.[7] Gottman alongside Levenson and other
colleagues also observed gay and lesbian couples for about 12 years. It was the first of such
research in that capacity published in the Journal of Homosexuality. From data collated it
appeared that “The research demonstrates that all couple types—straight or gay—have many of
the same problems and the same paths to staying happy together. However, research has
shown that there are also some qualities of strength (like humor and ability to calm down during
a fight) that are especially key to same-sex couples[8].

1. "The Top 10: The Most Influential Therapists of the Past Quarter-Century".
Psychotherapy Networker. 2007. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
https://www.gottman.com/about/john-julie-gottman/
2. Weinstein, Natalie (30 May 1997), "Do you want to raise a mensch? Psychology
researcher tells how", The Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. Culled from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gottman#cite_note-28
3. https://www.gottman.com/about/john-julie-gottman/
4. https://www.gottman.com/about/research/
6. The Gottman Relationship Institute, culled from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gottman#cite_note-faq-5
7. Buehlman, K.T., Gottman, John (1996). The Oral History Coding System.(In J. Gottman
(Ed.), What predicts divorce? The measures. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Culled from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gottman#cite_note-method-7
9.

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BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN MORDECAI GOTTMAN 1

Biography Of John Mordecai Gottman

and he observes kosher and the Sabbath [2].

in Clinical Psychology. He completed a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, University of Wisconsin in

Gottman’s Predictions of Divorce

divorce are a criticism of partners’ personality, contempt (from a position of superiority),

a fight) that are especially key to same-sex couples[8].

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