Rather than conceptualize romantic relationship success in terms of individual or gender-specific factors, psychologists Murray (U. at Buffalo, State U. of New York) and Holmes (U. of Waterloo, Canada) emphasize dyad-specific if-then rules that take into account how each partner responds to the other and the fact of their relationship. For example, trust is the monitor of the strength of the motivation to risk rejection. Their research-based motivation-management model of interdependence explains how these patterns of mutual responsiveness/unresponsiveness develop, how this "smart unconscious" determines relationship success/failure, and the role of partner compatibility in relationships. Hypothetical couple cases exemplify these dynamics and prescriptions for putting the model into practice to promote mutual responsiveness. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)