We communicate affection to friends when they are feeling low, as a means of providing comfort and emotional support. We express affection to our children as a way of making them feel loved, cared for, and protected.Few behavioural processes are more central to the development and maintenance of intimate relationships than the communication of affection. Indeed, affectionate expressions often initiate and accelerate relational development.. By contrast, their absence in established relationships frequently coincides with relational deterioration.
Social scientists have long considered affection to be among the most fundamental of human needs and with good reason. The expression of affection is one of the primary communicative behaviours contributing to the formation, maintenance and quality of human relationships.
It contributes to physical health, mental well-being, and academic performance and mitigates loneliness and depression.
Often, it is through one’s expression of affection for another that a relationship is formed or transformed.
Affection is truly a central component of many social and personal relationships, from those that are casually close to those that are deeply intimate.
Highly affectionate people tend to have better mental health and less stress. They also react to stress better.
It is a wonderful photo. It calls to my mind the security and love of family. The mother provides a safe haven for her children to grow and develop while giving them a view of the world outside.
~Lillian
