Significant other (or SO) is a generic term used to refer to any person who has great importance to an individual's life such as a family member or close friend.[1] It can also be used as a gender-blind term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship[1] without disclosing or presuming anything about their marital status or sexual orientation as it is vague enough to avoid offence by using a term that an individual might consider inappropriate (e.g. lover when he or she considers him a boyfriend, or her a girlfriend when he or she considers her a life partner).
In the United States the term is sometimes used in invitations, e.g., to weddings and office parties.
In the United States the term is sometimes used in invitations, e.g., to weddings and office parties.
Its usage in both psychology and sociology is very different from its colloquial use. In psychology, a significant other is any person who has great importance to an individual's life or well-being. In sociology, it describes any person or persons with a strong influence on an individual's self-evaluation, which are important to this individual, as well as reception of particular social norms. This usage is synonymous with the term "relevant other" and can also be found in plural form. "significant others". This use of the term has become common in the UK in correspondence from hospitals e.g. "you may be accompanied for your appointment by a significant other"
In social psychology a significant other is the parent, uncle/aunt, grandparent, or teacher — the person that guides and takes care of a child during primary socialization. The significant other protects, rewards and punishes the child as a way of aiding the child's development. This usually takes about six or seven years, and after that the significant other is no longer needed, the child moves on to a general other which is not a real person, but an abstract notion of what society deems good or bad.
[edit] First use
The first known occurrence of the term was in 1953 by U.S. psychiatrist, Harry Stack Sullivan, a former editor of the journal Psychiatry, in his posthumously published work, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry[2]. While the term currently enjoys use and familiarity, greatest use of the term peaked in the late 80s to mid 90s and has generally declined since then in favor of other terminology as deemed appropriate.
[edit] NMPOSO
The term Non-Married Presumed Obligate Significant Other (NMPOSO) is a term used since around 1990 by some conservative and/or feminist commentators to point out the concerns with relationships in which a jealous and/or parasitic male claims the presumed benefits of marriage without having to take any of the responsibilities. Others find this term useful in that the terms "boyfriend", "girlfriend" etc. seem to imply that the only relationship that members of the opposite sex should have with one another should be romantic, sexual, and subject to significant impingements on autonomy and personal freedom.
In social psychology a significant other is the parent, uncle/aunt, grandparent, or teacher — the person that guides and takes care of a child during primary socialization. The significant other protects, rewards and punishes the child as a way of aiding the child's development. This usually takes about six or seven years, and after that the significant other is no longer needed, the child moves on to a general other which is not a real person, but an abstract notion of what society deems good or bad.
[edit] First use
The first known occurrence of the term was in 1953 by U.S. psychiatrist, Harry Stack Sullivan, a former editor of the journal Psychiatry, in his posthumously published work, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry[2]. While the term currently enjoys use and familiarity, greatest use of the term peaked in the late 80s to mid 90s and has generally declined since then in favor of other terminology as deemed appropriate.
[edit] NMPOSO
The term Non-Married Presumed Obligate Significant Other (NMPOSO) is a term used since around 1990 by some conservative and/or feminist commentators to point out the concerns with relationships in which a jealous and/or parasitic male claims the presumed benefits of marriage without having to take any of the responsibilities. Others find this term useful in that the terms "boyfriend", "girlfriend" etc. seem to imply that the only relationship that members of the opposite sex should have with one another should be romantic, sexual, and subject to significant impingements on autonomy and personal freedom.
