Anger is hot. Contempt is cold.
Contempt makes us less empathetic with other humans. Anger is hot but can keep a connection to one’s worth as a human. — John Gottman
How can we keep contempt out of our disagreements? And why should we? Arthur talks to John Gottman, who’s spent most of his career as a social psychologist studying contempt within relationships. He is the co-founder of the Gottman Institute in Seattle, where he does work with married couples, and shares his insights on the corrosive nature of contempt, and how we can get out of the habit of expressing it, both in our personal relationships, and more broadly, as a nation. Learn more about your ad choices.
