We're at McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.

We've all heard by now just how important strong relationships are to our health and

well-being.

But a lot of the common advice and conventional wisdom out there about how to build strong

relationships doesn't end up taking us closer to that goal.

My guest today, Eric Barker, has spent years sorting through what really builds better

friendships, reignites love, and helps people get closer to others, and he shares these research

back insights in his new book, plays well with others.

The surprising science behind way, everything you know about relationships is mostly wrong.

Eric shares what he's learned today on the show, beginning with why we're good at figuring

out someone's personality from the moment we meet them, but bad at reading their thoughts

and feelings, and how to get better at the latter by making other people more readable,

as well as how to make a better first impression yourself.

We then turn to what makes friendship a unique relationship that makes us uniquely

happy, and the two costly signals that most develop friendship.

We also get into why friends we feel ambivalent about are actually worse for us than outright

enemies.

We spend the last part of our conversation on how the modern age spoke the worst and the

best time for marriage, and how the key to ensuring that yours is one of the happiest

in history is maintaining positive sentiment override.

After shows over, check out our show notes at a-wim.is slash relationships.

All right, Eric Barker, welcome back to the show.

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