The "Dark" Side of Relationships

One of the interesting paradoxes we experience in life is that relationships have the potential to be tremendously beneficial and awfully harmful to us. Dr. Shebib’s talk will emphasize how if we change the way we think about “dark” and destructive events that occur in our relationships, we can begin to reap the benefits inflicted from our pain.

Dr. Samantha J. Shebib is a social scientist and assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research interests are embedded in interpersonal/family relationships. Currently, she is interested in examining how physiological responses (i.e., cortisoland testosterone) affect how one communicates when conflict transpires. Similarly, she intends to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to see how messages affect the brain, which is the biological organ of communication.