390. The psychology of serial monogamy & relationship hopping
The Psychology of your 20s
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 28 February 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why do some people seem to move from relationship to relationship with barely any time in between, and why does being single feel almost impossible for them? In this bonus episode, we’re diving into the psychology behind relationship hopping (aka serial monogamy) and what’s really happening when someone craves commitment quickly, struggles with time alone, or keeps repeating the same cycle with different partners.
We explore:
• The role of attachment in serial monogamy
• Why artificial closeness is so appealing
• The pull of the infatuation cycle
• The brain chemistry of love, reward and attachment
• What this pattern can teach us about self-growth
Listen now!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody, I'm Jemma Spake and welcome back to the psychology of your 20s, the podcast where we talk through the biggest changes, moments and transitions of our 20s and what they mean for our psychology. |
| 0:23.3 | Hello everybody. |
| 0:24.6 | Welcome back to the show. |
| 0:26.0 | Welcome back to the podcast. |
| 0:27.8 | It is so great to have you here back for another episode. |
| 0:31.1 | I am very excited for this episode because I think it's something that a lot of us are going to find relevant and very |
| 0:41.1 | revealing. Today, we are talking about serial monogamy or relationship popping. I think it is |
| 0:49.0 | safe to say we have all had, we all know that one person, that one friend who seemingly cannot stay single |
| 0:58.3 | for any period of time, who's always in a relationship. |
| 1:02.2 | We all have encountered that person in our dating lives who maybe wants something suspiciously |
| 1:08.8 | fast despite having just gone through a breakup, |
| 1:11.6 | somebody who really seems to be hell-bent on finding a relationship after only just |
| 1:17.2 | ending one very, very previously, very shortly before. |
| 1:23.4 | Maybe you are that person. |
| 1:25.8 | This is what we're talking about today, relationship popping, |
| 1:29.3 | this situation, phenomena, where somebody jumps quickly from relationship to relationship |
| 1:36.5 | without really leaving any time for emotional processing, for healing, for self-reflection. |
| 1:46.9 | It's not simply going on a few dates after a bad breakup or meeting a new person kind of serendipitously after a bad breakup. |
| 1:52.7 | We've all done it. We've all, I think, had those moments where, well, maybe not all of us, |
| 1:57.4 | but I think it's pretty normal to sometimes have those moments where a relationship |
| 2:01.8 | ends and you happen to find somebody really amazing pretty soon after. What we are talking about |
| 2:07.7 | instead is this pattern of quickly needing emotionally significant relationships to follow each other, |
... |
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