Intimacy

Starting with the mother-infant bond and continuing through life's stages, the sharing of one's innermost self with another is one of the most basic human needs, according to McAdams, an associate professor of psychology at Loyola University in Chicago and author of The Person . Based on research on normal (as opposed to pathological) communities, this non-technical but somewhat repetitious study draws also on the author's own experience, on myths and on literature. In McAdams's view, humans reveal an astonishing diversity in their motivations toward intimacy, which he believes is a major component of all forms of love--romantic, erotic and affectionate. Exploring the vital links between intimacy and loneliness, he also examines the parts played by separation, loss, narcissism and lack of social skills in inhabiting intimate self-disclosure. The balance between often-competing urges toward intimacy and power, he maintains, determines in large measure an individual's behavior, relationships and life focus. (Aug.)