In this way, they have become familiar with each other's behavioral traits and the reasons behind these traits.
Psychodynamic aspects (Cherry, 2010) did play a role since the beginning of the relationship, but became significant only while Eric and Amanda were learning about each other on a cognitive level. Eric's fundamental insecurity regarding Amanda's relationships with other men stem not only from his first disappointment, but also from the fact that his mother abandoned him as a baby. Raised by his father and stepmother, who did provide him with plenty of love and security, Eric always experienced a sense of loss and abandonment from the female gender. This broken mother-child relationship, reinforced by his disappointment at 19, has informed his relationships in later life.
Amanda in turn did not have traumatic childhood experiences. Her parents are still together and provided her with plenty of love and security during her formative years. She is therefore finding it difficult to truly relate to Eric's situation. However, her background has provided her with a deep sense of sympathy for her fellow human beings, and she has used this to provide her with a cognitive understanding of Eric's situation.
In terms of the sociocultural perspective, Eric and Amanda's relationship is quite typical of the romantic dynamic for people between 20 and 30 years old. They had an apartment together and regularly engaged in intercourse. When the relationship started, they were each keenly aware of their single status. Most of their friends were in relationships, and hence they felt somewhat excluded from their social circle.
During their relationship, Eric and Amanda regularly enjoyed evenings out with friends, most of whom were also in relationships. The sociocultural perspective here then dictates that, as young, relatively attractive people, both Eric and Amanda are expected to be in relationships.
The partners enjoyed a relatively stable relationship for approximately three years. However, after about two and a half years, Eric began suggesting that they get married. Amanda did not have a specific problem with getting married. However, because she was just establishing...
Eric on the other hand felt that he wanted to begin with a family right away, as he was just entering his thirties, and he did not want to wait too long.
Here, the sociocultural perspective (Cherry, 2010) can be applied again, where no longer considers a married woman as immediately entering motherhood. Most of Amanda's friends had their first children only late in their twenties, after having established their careers. Furthermore, Eric felt that Amanda should be home with the children at least for the first year of their lives, and he wanted at least two children, like most of his friends. Amanda on the other hand felt that one child would be enough.
Because they considered these differences of opinion as irreconcilable, Eric and Amanda made the mutual decision to part after three years of their relationship.
The biological aspect of Eric and Amanda's relationship played the most important part during the start of their partnership. While this diminished over the three years they were together, it never disappeared; they continued to enjoy a significant amount of physical connection throughout. The sociocultural aspect played the most important role in the end of the relationship. This is also the only aspect that involves humanity in general rather than the individual partners or the individual relationship. It acts as a comparative aspect between the relationship in question and the mean of other relationships. The learning, cognitive, and psychodynamic aspects interacted during the middle of the relationship, when both Eric and Amanda experienced stability and satisfaction in their connection.
References
Appraiser Central (2010). 5 Major Perspectives. Retrieved from http://www.appraisercentral.com/research/5%20Major%20Perspectives.htm
Cherry, Kendra. (2010). Perspectives in Modern Psychology. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychology101/a/perspectives.htm
Matheson, Kelly (2009, Jul. 27). The Psychology Behind Romantic Relationship. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/guestab8f5a1/the-psychology-behind-romantic-relationships
