About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about Duck’s relationship breakdown model, focusing in particular on: (i) the intrapsychic phase, wherein an individual reaches the point at which they wish the relationship to end; (ii) the dyadic phase, wherein the individual shares this with their partner; (iii) the social phase, wherein the individual seeks validation and extrinsic support from their social circle; (iv) the grave dressing phase, wherein the individual cultivates a break-up story which they can move on with (v) some limitations of Duck’s model, including the assumption that all relationships will follow this exact pattern, the nature of the research being retrospective, as well as its lack of address to why relationships break down.

About the lecturer

Dr Veronica Lamarche is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex. Dr Lamarche’s research interests are focused on understanding how people regulate trust and dependence in their romantic relationships. Some of Dr Lamarche’s recent publications include 'It Happened to a Friend of Mine: The Influence of Perspective-Taking on the Acknowledgement of Sexual Assault Following Ambiguous Sexual Encounters' (2022) and 'Who will I be when I retire? The role of organizational commitment, group memberships and retirement transition framing on older worker’s anticipated identity change in retirement' (2022).