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Emotional Closeness Predicted by Relatedness

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Altruism; Bonding; Empathy; Kin; Prosociality; Relationship closeness; Social closeness

Definition

Emotional closeness is used to measure the strength of a relationship. Humans tend to feel emotionally closer to genetically close kin compared to more distant relatives or non-kin. Emotional closeness is also high between spouses and affinal kin, who share a reproductive interest in mutual offspring.

Individuals feel more compassion for and provide more help to emotionally close others. Among close kin, however, emotional closeness explains only part of the willingness to help.

Introduction

Emotional closeness is a kind of magic wand for scholars of sociality. Close dyadic bonds are the foundation for primate cooperation, and a seemingly trivial question – “how close do you feel to ‘x’?” – taps deep also into human behavior.

Charles Darwin (1871, p. 308) was the first to link the “all important emotion of sympathy” to social behavior and family relations. Emotional closeness...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Population research Institute, Väestöliitto – Finnish Family Federation, Helsinki, Finland

    Anna Rotkirch

Authors
  1. Anna Rotkirch
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Rotkirch .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Minna Lyons

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Rotkirch, A. (2016). Emotional Closeness Predicted by Relatedness. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1506-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1506-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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