About

Shelly Gable is a Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She received her BA in Psychology from Muhlenberg College, a Master of Arts in Psychology from the College of William & Mary, and earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of Rochester in 2000. She began her academic career as an Assistant Professor at UCLA, where she earned tenure and co-founded the Interdisciplinary Relationship Science Program, before joining UCSB in January 2007. Her research focuses on motivation, close relationships, and positive emotions. She investigates how approach and avoidance social motives influence the course and quality of social interactions and close relationships. Additionally, her work examines the positive aspects of close relationships and their role in physical and emotional health. Dr. Gable's research has been funded by prominent organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Positive Psychology Network. She is currently supported by an NSF CAREER grant for newer investigators. Dr. Gable has received numerous awards, including the Early Career Award from the Close Relationships Group of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in 2005 and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President George W. Bush in 2006. She serves on the editorial board of several journals and has been recognized for her teaching excellence with a distinguished teaching award from UCLA's Psychology Department. Her work emphasizes understanding the social and emotional dynamics of positive interactions and their implications for health and well-being.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Psychotherapist
• Artificial Intelligence
• Clinical psychology
• Social psychology
• Statistics
• Mathematics
• Physics
• Developmental psychology

Selected publications

• Through good and bad times: Perceived responsiveness in Malaysian relationship quality and satisfaction

  Family Relations · 2026-01-26

  articleSenior author

  ABSTRACT Objective We investigated how perceived partner responsiveness (PPR) across three situational contexts—(a) through adversities (perceived partner support), (b) through conflicts (accommodation), and (c) through triumphs (capitalization)—relates to relationship quality (intimacy, commitment, and trust) and satisfaction among monogamous unmarried and married individuals in Malaysia. Background PPR is a fundamental aspect of effective communication in romantic relationships. Yet existing research on PPR, capitalization, and accommodation predominantly reflects Western perspectives, offering scant insight into their dynamics within Asian contexts. This raises the question of whether PPR operates similarly in Asian cultures, a gap our study aimed to help bridge. Method A sample of 1,851 Malaysian individuals (1,339 unmarried, 512 married) completed an online survey. Results The hierarchical regression results indicated that perceiving partner support during stress, as well as either active or passive‐constructive responses amid conflicts and triumphs, were generally positively related to relationship quality and satisfaction. These responses operated differently between relationship groups and across relationship well‐being markers, however. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate that culture matters in understanding contributors to relationship quality and satisfaction, advancing existing theories with comparative Asian data. Implications The findings may help practitioners understand perceptions of what are considered constructive responses from a Malaysian cultural lens, benefiting both couples and their families by fostering healthier, more resilient relationships tailored to their unique dynamics and communication styles.

  PublisherDOI

• Secrets lurking in the background: Investigating the underlying effects of secrets in everyday life

  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · 2025-05-29

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Keeping secrets can have negative consequences for well-being, yet most research relies on artificially prompting participants to reflect on their secrets prior to assessing key outcomes. The current research addresses this methodological limitation by having participants ( N = 114) report on significant social interactions with five people for 10 days of experience sampling, with the extent of secrecy from each person only assessed after those 10 days. Results show that keeping more secrets from an interaction partner (and secrets of greater importance) was associated with higher burden in daily interactions (i.e., more stress, distractedness, distance, inauthenticity) and lower relationship quality. These results provide compelling evidence that keeping secrets may be negatively associated with daily interactions and relationships even when secret-keepers are not necessarily dwelling more on their secrets. Altogether, this research suggests that the implications of secrecy can be pervasive, subtle, and variable depending on each unique relationship with one's secrecy targets. • Studies tend to prompt participants to artificially dwell on their secrets. • Experience sampling can capture more subtle effects of secrets in everyday life. • Keeping more secrets was associated with higher burden in daily interactions. • More burdensome interactions were associated with lower relationship quality. • These negative effects of secrets emerged even without secret-related prompts.

  PublisherDOI

• Machine learning uncovers the most robust self-report predictors of relationship quality across 43 longitudinal couples studies

  UNC Libraries · 2025-06-26

  articleOpen access

  Given the powerful implications of relationship quality for health and well-being, a central mission of relationship science is explaining why some romantic relationships thrive more than others. This large-scale project used machine learning (i.e., Random Forests) to 1) quantify the extent to which relationship quality is predictable and 2) identify which constructs reliably predict relationship quality. Across 43 dyadic longitudinal datasets from 29 laboratories, the top relationship-specific predictors of relationship quality were perceived-partner commitment, appreciation, sexual satisfaction, perceived-partner satisfaction, and conflict. The top individual-difference predictors were life satisfaction, negative affect, depression, attachment avoidance, and attachment anxiety. Overall, relationship-specific variables predicted up to 45% of variance at baseline, and up to 18% of variance at the end of each study. Individual differences also performed well (21% and 12%, respectively). Actor-reported variables (i.e., own relationship-specific and individual-difference variables) predicted two to four times more variance than partner-reported variables (i.e., the partner's ratings on those variables). Importantly, individual differences and partner reports had no predictive effects beyond actor-reported relationship-specific variables alone. These findings imply that the sum of all individual differences and partner experiences exert their influence on relationship quality via a person's own relationship-specific experiences, and effects due to moderation by individual differences and moderation by partner-reports may be quite small. Finally, relationship-quality change (i.e., increases or decreases in relationship quality over the course of a study) was largely unpredictable from any combination of self-report variables. This collective effort should guide future models of relationships.

  PublisherDOI

• Dyadic Emotion Regulation

  Annual Review of Psychology · 2025-09-12 · 1 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  A robust approach to understanding dyadic emotion regulation needs to incorporate insights from affective science and relationship science. To date, research emerging from these two traditions has largely unfolded separately with limited cross-disciplinary collaboration. Here we review research from these two disciplinary perspectives, focusing on social support and dyadic coping in the close relationship literature and on extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation in the affective science literature. We also present a framework of dyadic emotion regulation. This framework includes both affect-improving and affect-worsening processes that can be motivated by hedonic or instrumental goals and that can have effects not only on the emotions targeted for regulation but also on the relationship dynamics of the dyadic partners. We identify key gaps in the literature and directions for future research, and we conclude that recognition of the complex interplay between emotion regulation and relationship processes allows for deeper and more nuanced models of dyadic emotion regulation.

  PublisherDOI

• Secrecy Burden Scale

  PsycTESTS Dataset · 2024-01-01

  datasetSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Keeping and sharing secrets at the interpersonal level

  Social and Personality Psychology Compass · 2024-02-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Secrets are inherently social, for they are always kept from somebody else. Accordingly, keeping and sharing personal secrets not only has implications for one’s close relationships, but the individual experience of keeping and sharing secrets is also largely influenced by existing close relationship dynamics. Here, we extend prior discussions of secrecy by providing a theoretical discussion of the sociality of secrets and the potential mechanisms through which they could influence and be influenced by interpersonal relationships. We specifically focus on the mechanisms of shared reality, authenticity, trust, and rumination, and argue that keeping and sharing secrets can have considerable influence on close relationships, in ways that may be distinct from self‐disclosure. This paper integrates individual‐level concerns about keeping and sharing secrets with the dyadic implications of those decisions by considering both the secret‐keeper and target (i.e., the person from whom the secret is kept or shared with). In turn, we offer novel predictions for future research regarding the interpersonal consequences of secrecy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Methods for Studying Everyday Experience in Its Natural Context

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2024-12-11 · 1 citations

  book-chapterOpen accessSenior author

  In the past three decades, methods that go by the generic name of everyday-experience methods have matured from the status of promising innovations to standard, widely used tools. This term refers to a paradigm that examines social psychological theories and phenomena in the ebb and flow of everyday activity, as it is displayed in its natural context. This technique, which includes daily diary studies, experience sampling, and ecological momentary assessment, has become remarkably popular in the past two decades, so much so that all researchers must be familiar with its advantages and limitations. The current chapter aims to help budding researchers become familiar with this tool and its potential for expanding the validity, relevance, and usefulness of our research.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Empathic accuracy and interpersonal emotion regulation in close relationships.

  Emotion · 2024-11-12 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  to help them feel good or better in each situation. Accuracy was defined as the mean difference in ratings between the regulator's estimates of their partner's emotions and their actual emotion ratings across the scenarios. Effectiveness of regulation was defined as the mean score of similarity between regulator's open-ended responses and target's open-ended responses as rated by independent coders. The results showed that empathic accuracy significantly predicted regulation effectiveness. We also found that individual differences in regulators' emotional clarity scores predicted empathic accuracy. This study sheds light on the importance of accurately perceiving a partner's emotions for effective regulation in close relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Secrets Lurking in the Background: Investigating the Implicit Effects of Secrets in Everyday Life

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• How Much Is It Weighing on You? Development and Validation of the Secrecy Burden Scale

  Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · 2023-05-24 · 20 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Keeping a secret is often considered burdensome, with numerous consequences for well-being. However, there is no standardized measure of secrecy burden, and most studies focus on individual/cognitive burden without considering social/relational aspects. This research aimed to develop and validate a secrecy burden measure tapping both intrapersonal and interpersonal components. Study 1 used exploratory factor analysis to reveal a four-factor model of secrecy burden: Daily Personal Impact, Relationship Impact, Pull to Reveal, and Anticipated Consequences. Study 2 used confirmatory factor analysis to replicate this factor structure and found that each factor was uniquely associated with different emotional and well-being outcomes. Study 3 employed a longitudinal design and found that higher scores on each factor predicted lower authenticity and higher depression and anxiety 2 to 3 weeks later. Altogether, this research is the first step in standardizing a secrecy burden measure and applying it to real-world secrets and well-being outcomes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R03MH065346

  NIH · $147k · 2005

• Capitalizing on Positive Events

  NSF · $378k · 2011–2015

• CAREER: Regulation of Interpersonal Incentives and Threats

  NSF · $334k · 2007–2011

Frequent coauthors

• Natalya C. Maisel

  University of California, San Francisco

  24 shared

• Harry T. Reis

  23 shared

• Amy Strachman

  20 shared

• Sara B. Algoe

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  19 shared

• Emily A. Impett

  14 shared

• Courtney L. Gosnell

  Pace University

  12 shared

• Andrew J. Elliot

  University of Rochester

  10 shared

• Alisa Bedrov

  8 shared

Labs

• EMBeR LabPI

  The EMBeR Lab is focused on research in social psychology.

Awards & honors

• Early Career Award from the Close Relationships Group of the…
• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers…
• Berscheid-Hatfield Award (2020)
• elected to the American Association for the Advancement of S…