Glossary terms beginning with O
The plain-language glossary behind The Architecture of Intimacy — a field guide to 369 green flags of healthy relationships.
Terms beginning with O
- observational observational study
- Describing research that watches what naturally happens without assigning people to conditions, so it can show links but cannot prove one thing causes another.
- offer of repair
- One of six apology components researchers name: a commitment to undo the damage done and to act differently going forward, not just to express regret.
- OLIW model OLIW
- A four-part map of adult playfulness — Other-directed, Lighthearted, Intellectual, and Whimsical — describing different flavors of how a person brings play into daily life.
- operationalize operationalization
- To turn a loose concept into something a study can actually measure, by defining it concretely enough for researchers to test.
- Oral History Interview
- A research interview in which couples tell the story of their relationship — how they met, hard times, beliefs about marriage — coded for how the story is told.
- oscillation (grief sense) oscillation
- The natural back-and-forth of grieving — moving between engaging the loss and taking breaks to handle life — uneven, personal, and healthy rather than a sign of relapse.
- ostracism silent treatment
- Being ignored, excluded, or given the silent treatment — an experience that strikes at basic needs to belong, feel worthy, feel in control, and feel that you matter.
- other-directed playfulness
- Playfulness aimed warmly at another person — good-natured teasing, clowning, and cheering them up — rather than play kept to yourself or aimed only at ideas.
- other-praising thanks other-praising · other-praising behavior · other-praising gratitude · specific other-praising thanks
- A thank-you that points at the giver — naming their thoughtfulness, character, or the good thing the act revealed — rather than only reporting how the favor helped you.
- otherness
- Experiencing your partner as a distinct, separate person — seeing them in a new light or learning something surprising about them — rather than as fully known and merged with you.
- outing outed
- The disclosure of someone's sexual orientation or gender identity to others without that person's consent.
- outness
- How openly a person's sexual or gender identity — and their relationship — is known to family, friends, and the wider social world.
- outness discrepancy
- When two partners are out to different degrees, so one person's disclosure timeline can pull on the other's — a common strain in LGBTQ+ couples.
- over-benefited
- In fairness terms, getting more from a relationship than you give — a position that tends to bring mild guilt or unease rather than resentment.
- overgeneralization
- Treating one or a few events as proof of an unbreakable pattern — a single bad instance becoming "always" or "never" in your mind or your words.
- ownership
- Taking a household task from start to finish, including noticing it needs doing and handling its planning — not just executing a step after someone else flags it.
- oxytocin endogenous oxytocin · plasma oxytocin · salivary oxytocin
- A hormone the body produces that is involved in social bonding and closeness, which researchers measure in blood or saliva as a marker of the body's response to warm contact.