A dyadic investigation of exercise support between cardiac patients and their spouses.

The authors examined married partners' similarity in reported exercise behavior as a moderator of the association between social support for exercise provided and received by extending an actor-partner dyadic effects model. Participants were married cardiac rehabilitation patients and their spouses (N=99 couples). For couples similar in their reported exercise behavior, a significant association was found between both partners' independent reports of providing exercise support to and receiving exercise support from one another (n=49 couples). However, for couples differing in their reported exercise behavior (n=50 couples), no association was found between either partner's provision and receipt of support for exercise. Findings have the potential to inform practitioners of patients who may not be receiving adequate social support for their recommended exercise. Future interventions may consider implementing dyadic educational or motivational strategies with patients and their spouses.     

From indirect aggression to invisible aggression: A conceptual view on bullying and peer group manipulation

Recent research has emphasized the importance of indirect aggression among children and has challenged the conception that aggressive children lack social–cognitive skills. In schools, victimization against non-provocative targets rarely involves just a dyad, but might not be simply the product of group processes either. This paper suggests that in most cases it results from the encounter between a skillful bully and a group that lacks true cohesiveness, through a process of normative social influence. Groups with low quality of friendships may be more likely than others to become instruments of aggression as victimization provides them with a common goal and an appearance of cohesion. We hypothesize that, in some cases, the manipulation of a healthy-functioning group is also possible but requires use of particularly subtle devices, and thus a higher level of social intelligence by the bully. We also suggest that in such a situation the aggressive act is not just indirect, but invisible and the influence exerted on the group might be informational and not normative. Implications for the characteristics of the victim and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

A dyadic model of consciousness

The proposed model for consciousness, called a dyadic model, is based upon reexamination of traditional thought structures in the light of modern experimental evidence from a number of scientific fields. It is an evolutionary cosmological model using energy and information as fundamental concepts. It proposes that the antecedent attributes of anthropic consciousness find their roots in the field of zero point quantum potential which gave rise to the Big Bang. In this model consciousness has both a fundamental aspect and an evolutionary aspect in the same sense that quantized energy manifests fundamentally as wave/particles and is observed in more complex form as molecular matter. Physical existence evolved through natural process into ever more complex organizations of matter; so also must anthropic consciousness have evolved from more fundamental antecedent characteristics. The dyadic model proposes a scenario for this evolution that corresponds to the appearance of the universe we seem to inhabit.     

Attachment insecurity as a moderator of cardiovascular arousal effects following dyadic support

We examine the cardiovascular arousal effects of emotional support receipt, and the moderation of these by the support recipient’s and provider’s attachment. Seventy couples engaged in a laboratory dyadic supportive interaction, while their ECG was monitored. With more emotional support, men with high attachment anxiety showed greater arousal reduction during the dyadic interaction, whereas men with low attachment anxiety showed less reduction; additionally, women coupled with partners with high attachment anxiety showed greater arousal reduction, whereas women coupled with partners with low attachment anxiety showed less reduction. Men and women with high attachment avoidance showed less arousal reduction, whereas those with low attachment avoidance showed greater reduction. These results highlight the differential ways in which support gets under the skin.     

A dyadic assessment of forgiveness in intimate relationships

This study investigated forgiveness by examining couples’ recollections and perceptions of specific incidents of transgressions in their relationships. The results replicated previous research but also produced some novel findings. Results showed that more positive attributions and relationship quality independently predicted higher internal forgiveness, whereas expressed forgiveness was related only to relationship quality. Overall, the sample was negatively biased in their perceptions of their partner's forgiveness, but those participants who tended toward a positive bias were happier with their relationships as were their partners. Results are discussed in terms of prior research and theories of forgiveness and related social judgments in intimate relationships.     

Family capital and the invisible transfer of privilege: intergenerational support and social class in early adulthood

Sociologists have long recognized the relationships between family background and social class attainment. However, by neglecting the multiple ways in which families and parents provide advantages and the extent to which these advantages extend into adulthood, they may still be underestimating the role of families in the reproduction of class inequalities. This chapter explores these impacts under the conceptual rubric of family capital. A new battery of interviews with a diverse collection of young adults is used to illustrate these points and offer suggestions for future research and analysis.     

A view of the background of Freudian theory.

A major concern of nineteenth century scientists was to delineate the objective units or entities with which science deals. While some philosophers of science abandoned the search as futile and tried to redefine science, investigators in the biological sciences and the sciences of man attempted to discover new entities upon which to base their disciplines. A new understanding of hypnotism gave Freud the opportunity to isolate objective entities within the mind and to found a psychology on that basis.     

A social relations variance partitioning of dyadic behavior

The authors investigate the relative importance of actor and interaction partner as determinants of dyadic behavior. Using the social relations model (D. A. Kenny, 1994a; D. A. Kenny & L. La Voie, 1984), the authors estimate the variance attributable to each determinant plus the reciprocity of behavioral responses from 7 studies. The authors find evidence for moderate behavioral consistency in a person's behavior across interaction partners, little or no evidence that people consistently engender the same behavioral response from others, and preliminary evidence of unique responding to particular partners. They also consider several methodological issues concerning behavioral measurement as well as the implications of the results for the study of accuracy.     

A controlled-attention view of working-memory capacity.

In 2 experiments the authors examined whether individual differences in working-memory (WM) capacity are related to attentional control. Experiment 1 tested high- and low-WM-span (high-span and low-span) participants in a prosaccade task, in which a visual cue appeared in the same location as a subsequent to-be-identified target letter, and in an antisaccade task, in which a target appeared opposite the cued location. Span groups identified targets equally well in the prosaccade task, reflecting equivalence in automatic orienting. However, low-span participants were slower and less accurate than high-span participants in the antisaccade task, reflecting differences in attentional control. Experiment 2 measured eye movements across a long antisaccade session. Low-span participants made slower and more erroneous saccades than did high-span participants. In both experiments, low-span participants performed poorly when task switching from antisaccade to prosaccade blocks. The findings support a controlled-attention view of WM capacity.     

A Christian philosopher's view of recent directions in the abortion debate.

From the standpoint of a Christian philosopher, heeding the teaching and exhortations of Pope John Paul II and previous popes, I examine three directions in which the recent philosophical debate has developed. In the last seven or eight years there has been 1) a renewed focus on the biological issue of when a human individual comes to be, 2) new arguments for the proposition that personhood is a characteristic acquired after birth, and 3) refinements of the early argument of Judith Thomson. Replying to these developments, I defend, on philosophical grounds, the pro-life position. I argue that a distinct, whole (though immature) human individual comes to be at conception, that he or she is a person, with full moral worth, from the moment he or she comes to be, and the mothers and fathers have a special responsibility to their children which entails (at least) that they ought not to choose to abort them. I conclude by briefly indicating, from the standpoint of Christian faith, why Christian philosophers should vigorously pursue this debate.     

Common factors in the enhancement of dyadic coping

Stress and coping are important constructs in understanding the dynamics of close relationships. Couple therapy and marital distress prevention approaches have become increasingly focused on these variables to gain knowledge of how stress and coping may impact the quality and stability of close relationships. In this paper, we outline couple's coping enhancement training (CCET) and the coping-oriented couple's therapy (COCT); both, couple interventions derived from stress and coping research. We address specific features of each approach and report data on their efficacy and effectiveness. We also examine both the common and specific factors that may play a role in the effectiveness of these approaches.     

Perceiving communion in the dyadic relationship of others

The present research took an ecological approach to explore a relational issue in social perception ? are the perceived personality characteristics of dyad members and their perceived behavioural exchanges related to perceptions of that dyad’s perceived level of friendship? To this end, observers reported on a dyad they knew well using an indigenous measure of personality perception and the Dyadic Behavioural Exchange Scale, combined with an adapted version of Hays’ Friendship Observation Checklist. Perceived similarity of personality on the dimensions of application, emotional stability (negative) and helpfulness (negative) along with the perceived level of dyadic behaviour exchange were found to be additive predictors of perceived communion or friendship strength. This interplay of personal and interpersonal processes has demonstrated the application of methodological relationalism in the social domain, and broadened the ambit of social cognition to include knowledge of relationship units of which the observer is not a member, but which plays a part in his or her social world.     

Decoding dyadic interactive nonverbal behaviour in Chinese and Australian cohorts: A novel dyadic puzzle‐solving task

The current study used a novel problem‐solving task in which the solution could only be reached via interactions between members of dyads. The study aimed to systematically examine how nonverbal interactive behaviour was related to the cultural background of the dyads, the participant's role in the dyad (viz., instructor, problem solver) and task repetition. Twenty‐one Australian dyads and 32 Chinese dyads performed the dyadic puzzle‐solving task while their interactions were video‐recorded. In each dyad, one instructor and one problem solver worked together to solve a seven‐piece puzzle. Six trials, each comprising a different puzzle, were completed. Results indicate that the Australian instructors engaged in significantly more eye gazing and displayed more hand gestures but smiled less than the Chinese instructors. The Australian problem solvers maintained longer eye gazing, displayed more hand gestures and more echoing than their Chinese counterparts. Over trials, the Chinese instructors reduced their total talking time, hand gestures, nodding behaviour and smiling during self‐talking more than the Australian instructors. Moreover, the problem solvers in the dyads from both countries significantly reduced their smiling across trials. The current study shows that nonverbal behaviours during dyadic interactions are related to one's cultural background, role in the task and task repetition.     

Birth order effects in dominance: failure to support Sulloway's view

Contrary to Sulloway's 1996 assertion that firstborns should score higher than laterborns on measures of dominance, the dominance scores for 76 firstborn undergraduate students (50 women, 26 men) did not differ significantly from the scores of 75 laterborn students (48 women, 27 men) on the 16PF dimension of Dominance vs Submissiveness (Factor E). Further research into possible differences in performance strategies between laterborns and firstborns in childhood vs adulthood is necessary to evaluate Sulloway's theory of ordinal position definitively.     

The code of the street and romantic relationships: A dyadic analysis

Since its publication, Elijah Anderson's (1999) Code of the Street thesis has found support in studies connecting disadvantage to the internalization of street‐oriented values and an associated lifestyle of violent/deviant behavior. This primary emphasis on deviance in public arenas has precluded researchers from examining the implications of the code of the street for less public arenas, such as intimate relationships. In an effort to understand if and how the endorsement of the street code may infiltrate such relationships, this study examines the associations between the code of the street and relationship satisfaction and commitment among young adults involved in heterosexual romantic relationships. Using a dyadic approach, the study finds that street code orientation, in general, negatively predicts satisfaction and commitment, in part due to increased relationship hostility/conflict associated with the internalization of the code. Gender differences in these associations are considered and discussed at length.