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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–4Cite as

Kin Relationships

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Synonyms

Evolutionary psychology; Genetic relatedness; Kinship; Mutuality; Social exchange; Subjective closeness

Definition and Summary

Kinship is part and parcel of human existence. Kin relationships reflect the core of what constitutes an individual’s social life. Surprisingly, though, the concept of kinship has long been neglected in psychology. In the last decades – informed by evolutionary theory – the concept of kinship received greater attention in personality psychology. In this regard, psychological conceptions of kinship reach beyond the biology of genetic relatedness that defines kinship as a common descent based on shared alleles in a specific gen-locus. In a psychological perspective, kinship reflects a fundamental category of human sociality that serves to identify and differentiate among various types of an individual’s personal relationships. In a world without kinship, there would be no love, no attachment, and no children; it would be an unpredictable world of one...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychogerontology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Kobergerstr. 62, 90408, Nuremberg, Germany

    Frieder R. Lang

  2. Institut für Psychologie, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Humboldtstr. 11, 07743, Jena, Deutschland

    Franz J. Neyer

Authors
  1. Frieder R. Lang
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  2. Franz J. Neyer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frieder R. Lang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, OH, USA

    Jon Sefcek

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Lang, F.R., Neyer, F.J. (2017). Kin Relationships. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1540-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1540-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Kin Relationships
    Published:
    28 April 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1540-2

  2. Original

    Kin Relationships
    Published:
    08 April 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1540-1

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