Arthur Aron
{{Short description|American psychologist (born 1945)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Arthur Aron
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|07|02}}
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| fields = Psychology of interpersonal relationships
social psychology
| workplaces = State University of New York at Stony Brook
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| alma_mater = University of California at Berkeley,
University of Toronto
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| doctoral_advisor = A. J. Arrowood
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| known_for = Self-expansion model of motivation in interpersonal relationships
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| website = {{URL|www.psychology.stonybrook.edu/aronlab-/}}
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| spouse = Elaine Aron
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| education = BA, MA (University of California at Berkeley),
PhD (University of Toronto)
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Arthur Aron (born July 2, 1945) is a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is best known for his work on intimacy in interpersonal relationships, and development of the self-expansion model of motivation in close relationships.
In 2018, Aron featured in the Australian narrative film 36 Questions.{{Citation |title=36 Questions: The Movie (Featuring Dr. Arthur Aron) | date=14 February 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KhGWVMQAzY |language=en |access-date=2022-10-22}}
Early life and education
Arthur Aron received a bachelor's degree in psychology and philosophy in 1967 and a master's degree in social psychology in 1968, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned a PhD in social psychology from the University of Toronto in 1970.{{Cite web|title=Art|url=http://psychology.psy.sunysb.edu/aronlab-/people/art.htm?ref=binfind.com/web|access-date=2020-07-05|website=psychology.psy.sunysb.edu}}
Career
Aron's work focuses on the role, creation, and maintenance of friendship and intimacy in interpersonal relationships. He developed the self-expansion model of close relationships; it posits that one of the motivations humans have for forming close relationships is self-expansion, i.e., "expansion of the self", or personal growth and development.
= 36 questions =
In 1997, Aron and his wife published an academic paper called The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings, in which the appendix featured a set of 36 questions of increasing intimacy.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/14/love-is-getting-answers-right-to-36-questions | title=Love is … getting the answers to all these 36 questions right | work=The Guardian | date=14 January 2015 }}Participants who were strangers to each other were grouped in pairs to ask each other the questions, and found afterwards to develop a stronger friendship and in some cases even a relationship.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/style/36-questions-love-wedding-mandy-len-catron.html | title=She Wrote About 'The 36 Questions That Lead to Love'— and Now, She's Married | work=The New York Times | last1=Lee | first1=Anna Grace }} In January 2015, New York Times columnist Mandy Len Catron posted the article "To Fall In Love With Anyone, Do This", which listed them as the "36 questions that lead to love".{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/style/36-questions-love-wedding-mandy-len-catron.html | title=She Wrote About 'The 36 Questions That Lead to Love'— and Now, She's Married | work=The New York Times | last1=Lee | first1=Anna Grace }} The list has been used in hundreds of studies, to create closeness in a lab setting, to break down barriers between strangers, and improve understanding between police officers and community members.{{cite news |last1=Anwar |first1=Yasmin |title=Creating love in the lab: The 36 questions that spark intimacy |url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2015/02/12/love-in-the-lab/ |work=Berkeley News |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |date=February 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114080809/https://news.berkeley.edu/2015/02/12/love-in-the-lab/ |archive-date=November 14, 2020 |url-status=live }}
Personal life
Aron married Elaine Aron on February 13, 1975.{{cite news |last1=Sanchez |first1=Sofia |title=Married for 50 years, these psychologists who study love share what they've learned to do — and not to do — to stay happy |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/health/questions-lead-to-love-research-wellness/index.html |access-date=February 9, 2025 |publisher=CNN.com |date=February 8, 2025}}
His son is television writer Elijah Aron. He has two grandsons.
Publications
- {{Cite journal |last1=Aron |first1=A. |last2=Melinat |first2=E. |last3=Aron |first3=E. N. |last4=Vallone |first4=R. D. |last5=Bator |first5=R. J. |date=April 1997 |title=The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167297234003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240517002204/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167297234003 |archive-date=17 May 2024 |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=363–377 |doi=10.1177/0146167297234003 |access-date=21 July 2024|url-access=subscription }}
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{Cite web |title=Arthur Aron's CV |url=http://www.psychology.stonybrook.edu/aronlab-/ |author= |date=May 31, 2011 |publisher=State University of New York at Stony Brook |accessdate=January 11, 2015}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Sprecher |first=Susan |date=March 1988 |title=Love and the Expansion of Self: Understanding Attraction and Satisfaction by Arthur Aron; Elaine Aron |journal=Contemporary Sociology |publisher=American Sociological Association |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=268–269 |doi=10.2307/2070652|jstor=2070652}}
- {{Cite news |last=Catron |first=Mandy Len |date=January 9, 2015 |title=To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/fashion/modern-love-to-fall-in-love-with-anyone-do-this.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 11, 2015}}
- {{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Daniel |date=January 9, 2015 |title=No. 37: Big Wedding or Small? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/fashion/no-37-big-wedding-or-small.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 11, 2015}}
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Category:20th-century American psychologists
Category:21st-century American psychologists
Category:Stony Brook University faculty