Deciding to Dissolve: Individual- and Relationship-Level Predictors of Roommate Breakup

The desire to change roommates served as a model of nonromantic relationship dissolution within 115 college roommate dyads. We measured personality, mental health, social/communication patterns, and academic achievement attitudes over the course of a semester, and we used multilevel modeling to estimate individual-level and relationship-level predictors of dissolution. Self-characteristics (e.g., one's own depression), roommate characteristics (e.g., roommate's poor communication), and relationship characteristics (e.g., similarity in attitudes toward competition) each increased desire to end the roommate relationship. In these data, unique contributions from one's own psychological health, one's own and one's roommate's social/communication style, and roommates' attitude similarity predicted relationship dissolution.     

Practical Reason,Sympathy and Reactive Attitudes

This paper has three aims. First, I defend, in its most radical form, Hume's scepticism about practical reason, as it applies to purely self‐regarding matters. It's not always irrational to discount the future, to be inconstant in one's preferences, to have incompatible desires, to not pursue the means to one's ends, or to fail to maximize one's own good. Second, I explain how our response to the “irrational” agent should be understood as an expression of frustrated sympathy, in Adam Smith's sense of sympathy, rather than a genuine judgement about Reason. We judge these people because we cannot imaginatively identify with their desires and attitudes, and this is frustrating. Third, compared to the standard cognitive view, my account better explains the nature of our criticism of the “irrational,” and, by portraying “irrationality” as a cause of upset to other people, provides a better normative basis for being “rational.”     

The real me: Authenticity,interpersonal goals,and conflict tactics

Dispositional authenticity is associated with positive intra- and interpersonal outcomes, yet how authenticity relates to conflict solving strategies has not been examined. The present study aims to explore the relationship between authenticity and conflict solving strategies in close friendships and proposes that interpersonal goals (i.e., compassionate goals and self-image goals) might mediate the relationship. Three hundred sixty-three Taiwanese college students completed a survey package. Results showed that authenticity was positively associated with strategies that promote the needs of both oneself and one's friend (i.e., integrating and compromising) while negatively, or not, associated with those that don't concern one's own needs (i.e., obliging) or one's friend's needs (i.e., dominating and avoiding). Further, compassionate goals mediated the relationship between authenticity and integrating, compromising, and dominating strategies, while suppressing the relationship between authenticity and avoiding and obliging strategies. Self-image goals mediated only dominating and avoiding strategies.     

Let it be: expatriate couples' adjustment and the upside of avoiding conflicts

This research examines the moderating effect of conflict avoidance on the relationship between conflict and psychological adjustment among 45 expatriate couples at two points in time. We propose a model based on the actor–partner interdependence model, which assumes both intrapersonal and interpersonal effects, to address simultaneously the effects of one's own and the other's avoidance behavior. We found substantial support for our model, especially for expatriate spouses. As expected, and only for expatriate spouses, avoidance moderated the conflict–adjustment relationship such that both one's own and one's counterpart's avoidance behavior diminished the negative effect of conflicts. Because these effects were observed only at T2 and psychological adjustment decreased from T1 to T2, our research suggests that the impact of expatriation-associated interaction particularly manifests itself in the long run.     

Kierkegaard and the Search for Self‐Knowledge

Abstract: In the first part of this essay (Sections I and II), I argue that Kierkegaard's work helps us to articulate and defend two basic requirements on searching for knowledge of one's own judgements: first, that searching for knowledge whether one judges that P requires trying to make a judgement whether P; and second that, in an important range of cases, searching for knowledge of one's own judgements requires attending to how one's acts of judging are performed. In the second part of the essay (Sections III and IV), I consider two prima facie problems regarding this conception of searching for knowledge of one's own judgements. The first problem concerns how in general one can coherently try to meet both these requirements at once; the second, how in particular one can try to attend to one's own acts of judging. I show how Kierkegaard's work is alive to both these problems, and helps us to see how they can be resolved.     

The neuropsychological correlates of cognitive insight in healthy participants

Cognitive insight is the ability to monitor and correct one's own erroneous convictions. The Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) assesses two sub‐dimensions of cognitive insight: self‐reflectiveness (SR), which is the attitude of questioning one's own judgments; and self‐certainty (SC), which is the unwillingness to modify and correct one's own convictions. There is little information about cognitive insight in healthy participants (HP). Here we investigated the socio‐demographic and neuropsychological correlates of cognitive insight in 50 HP who were administered the BCIS and a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. The global BCIS R‐C index correlated positively with age and WCST perseverative errors. SR correlated positively with age. These data support the hypothesis that a less self‐reflective and more self‐confident style is cognitively functional in HP. Thus, what has been found malfunctioning in mental illnesses is adaptive in HP. Future studies should consider a wider range of factors that might affect this complex construct. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attractions and constraints as determinants of relationship commitment: Longitudinal evidence from gay,lesbian, and heterosexual couples

The proposition that commitment to a relationship is uniquely determined by forces that draw one to the relationship (attractions) and forces that prevent one from leaving the relationship (constraints) was tested with five annual waves of longitudinal data from two samples: both partners from 155 married couples and both partners from 57 gay couples and 50 lesbian couples. Growth curve analyses that controlled for the interdependence of partners' scores indicated that, for both heterosexual and gay/lesbian couples, variability in one's own commitment was uniquely predicted by one's own attractions and one's own constraints, interactions involving one's own attractions and one's own constraints, and one's partner's attractions. It is concluded that attractions and constraints exert unique dynamic effects on maintaining a close relationship.     

Desperately Seeking Approval: The Importance of Distinguishing Between Approval and Recognition

Victoria Davion confuses seeking approval with the desire for recognition of and respect for one's difference. Ironically, when she asserts that the desire to please others provides an incentive to do well (and thus constitutes a positive aspect of competition) Davion undermines her argument that competition enhances one's sense of self. Rather than enhancing one's sense of self, striving to win approval from others sabotages one's ability to rely on her own judgment and take moral responsibility for herself.     

Religiosity,the need for structure,death attitudes,and funeral preferences

Study one (N?=?309) verified the common assumption that religious beliefs provide a sense of structure. Religion and structure indices contributed both shared and unique variance to the prediction of hope, affect, and life satisfaction. In a second study, 368 participants self-reported death attitudes, desire for structure, and answered questions concerning their own death (e.g., disposition of body, style of memorial). Strongly held religious beliefs linked to more positive and less negative attitudes toward death. The need for structure resonated with pain and natural aspects of death. Religious beliefs and structure needs further independently influenced attitudes toward and planning for one's own death.     

Commitment,Cold War,and the battles of the self: Thomas Schelling on behavior control

Economist Nobelist Thomas C. Schelling (1921–2016) is known for his contribution to the analysis of international conflict and many see him as the Cold Warrior par excellence. At a time of great uncertainties and dangers, Schelling combined a deep understanding of strategic analysis, a detailed knowledge of US commitments around the world and an inimitable talent for dissecting everyday behavior, which made him a think tank all on his own. When he turned to the analysis of bargaining in the mid-1950s, one question dominated policy discussions: “How to demonstrate the US commitment to the ‘free world’”? Schelling answered unequivocally: By restricting one's choices so as to shift others' expectations and thereby influence their behavior in the desired direction. By the mid-1970s, after he had broken with the US administration and joined the Committee on Substance Abuse and Habitual Behavior, Schelling transposed the tactics deployed in international conflict to the analysis of individuals trying to achieve self-control. In the process, he reproduced the logic of military conflict at the level of the self. The view of a conflicted self itself comprised of two selves made restricted choice the daily routine of individuals who wish to avoid the negative consequences of their present behavior in the future while it promised those who enjoy unbounded freedom of choice an unsettling future.     

What Am I Looking at? Interpreting Dynamic and Static Gaze Displays

Displays of eye movements may convey information about cognitive processes but require interpretation. We investigated whether participants were able to interpret displays of their own or others' eye movements. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants observed an image under three different viewing instructions. Then they were shown static or dynamic gaze displays and had to judge whether it was their own or someone else's eye movements and what instruction was reflected. Participants were capable of recognizing the instruction reflected in their own and someone else's gaze display. Instruction recognition was better for dynamic displays, and only this condition yielded above chance performance in recognizing the display as one's own or another person's (Experiments 1 and 2). Experiment 3 revealed that order information in the gaze displays facilitated instruction recognition when transitions between fixated regions distinguish one viewing instruction from another. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Coping with work and family: How do dual‐earners interact?

Juggling the demands of both work and family has become increasingly difficult, especially for dual‐earner households; nevertheless, families have developed strategies to deal with work‐family challenges. This paper uses couple level analyses (APIM models) with 100 dual‐earner couples to provide insight about partners' mutual influence on the use of work‐family coping strategies. The results show that women's use of coping strategies is more associated with work‐family conflict and work‐family enrichment than men's coping. In addition, using partner coping, having a positive attitude towards multiple roles, using planning and management skills and avoiding having to cut back on professional responsibilities is associated with better outcomes (more enrichment and less conflict). Surprisingly, the use of childcare facilities is associated with women's conflict and partner effects were only found concerning the use of management and planning skills. These skills, however, have distinct effects for men and women's outcomes: their use by men reduces their own conflict but increases their wives', while their use by women decreases their own conflict and increases their own and their partner's enrichment. These results point to the fact that gender roles continue to be a hallmark of work‐family issues. Our design and results point out the need for new interventions that take couple interdependences into account.     

Similarities and dissimilarities between teachers' and students' relationship views in upper elementary school: The role of personal teacher and student attributes

The present study aimed to advance insight into similarities and dissimilarities between teachers' and students' views of closeness and conflict in their dyadic relationship, and personal teacher and student attributes that contribute to these views. In total, 464 students (50.2% girls) and 62 teachers (67.5% females) from grades 4 to 6 participated in this study. Teachers filled out questionnaires about their background characteristics, self-efficacy (TSES), and student–teacher relationship perceptions (STRS) and students answered questions about their demographics and the student–teacher relationship quality (SPARTS). Peer-nominations were used to measure students' internalizing and externalizing behavior. Tests for measurement invariance suggested that the conflict and closeness constructs both approximated similarity across students and teachers. Multilevel structural equation models furthermore indicated that students' relationship perceptions, and conflict in particular, were predicted by their own gender, socioeconomic status, and internalizing and externalizing behavior. Additionally, teaching experience negatively predicted students' perceived conflicts. Teachers' relationship perceptions were both predicted by their own characteristics (teaching experience) and student features (gender, socioeconomic status, and externalizing behavior). These predictors explained between 39% and 61% of the variance in student- and teacher-perceived closeness and conflict. Last, teachers' general self-efficacy was positively associated with mean levels of closeness, and negatively associated with mean levels of conflict across student–teacher dyads.     

Changes in the Family System and in Its Beliefs About Control,Trust, and Vulnerability Related to Economic Extortive Kidnapping

Abstract

This article reports some results of a study on the effects of economic extortive kidnapping (EEK) on the family system, and on family beliefs about control over one's life, trust in others, and vulnerability to kidnapping. Eighteen families having one of their relatives in captivity and 54 who had their relative released were interviewed. During captivity, family communication and affective involvement improved. However, the negotiation made family relationships more prone to conflict. After release, family relationships became more empathetic; family communication and affective involvement improved, but the loss of trust in their surroundings and the fear of becoming victims again, led families to feel safe only in their own home and to perceive social context as threatening.     

The relationship between marital interaction behaviors and affective reactions to one's own and one's spouse's self-evaluation needs

A recent extension (Beach, & Tesser, 1993) of Tesser's self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM: Tesser, 1988) proposed that a person's motivation to feel good about the self, and his or her concern for the partner's need to feel good about the self, can affect the couple's interaction behavior. In the present study, individual differences in the motivation to maintain one's own and one's partner's SEM needs are used to predict the couple's problem-solving discussion behaviors. Fifty-three married couples were videotaped for 20 minutes while discussing an important relationship issue on which there was disagreement. From these video records, husbands' and wives' favorable and unfavorable discussion behaviors were coded. During a subsequent session, couples reported their affective reactions to a number of SEM scenarios recalled from memory, which were used to create an individual difference measure representing the strength in motivation to maintain one's own and one's partner's self-evaluation needs. In general, husbands' and wives' responsiveness to their partners' SEM needs was associated with favorable interaction behavior, whereas responsiveness to one's own SEM needs was associated with unfavorable interaction behavior. The results of this study suggest that the extended SEM model provides an experimental framework that incorporates research directed at both the elucidation of individual differences and the examination of the couple as a unit.     

Impulsivity,communication, and marital satisfaction in newlywed couples

The authors used a vulnerability–stress–adaptation framework to examine how and why impulsivity affects communication and marital satisfaction in a sample of 100 newlywed couples. We specifically examined the links between impulsivity and perceptions of conflict communication patterns and their associations with marital satisfaction. Using an actor–partner interdependence framework, the results demonstrated that impulsivity was negatively associated with one's own and partner's marital satisfaction. Impulsivity was also negatively associated with constructive communication and positively associated with destructive communication. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed that communication patterns mediated the impulsivity–satisfaction link. Taken together, these findings suggest that impulsivity is likely to lead to lower marital satisfaction, partly through its effect on communication between partners.     

Hybrid search in context: How to search for vegetables in the produce section and cereal in the cereal aisle

ABSTRACT

The own race bias (ORB) refers to a finding that faces of members of one's own racial or ethnic group are easier to recognize. Holistic processing theories suggest that the ORB might be moderated by viewing distance. Participants studied photographs of own and other race individuals and then took a recognition memory test. Viewing distance was simulated by varying the degree to which photographs were blurred (Experiment 1) and by varying photograph size (Experiment 2). Findings indicated that own race faces were better recognized, that recognition was impaired by simulated viewing distance, but the size of the ORB was not contingent upon distance.     

Proactive Vitality Management and Creative Work Performance: The Role of Self-Insight and Social Support

Integrating proactivity and creativity literatures, we argue that people can perform more creatively at work when they proactively manage their levels of vitality. Proactive vitality management is defined as individual, goal-oriented behavior aimed at managing physical and mental energy to promote optimal functioning at work. We hypothesize that this process may be facilitated by being aware of one's own state and by support from others. A total of 242 employees participated in a weekly diary study for three consecutive weeks, yielding 610 observations. Results of multilevel analyses show that participants reported more creative work performance during weeks in which they had proactively used vitality management. In addition, in line with our predictions, self-insight and social support for creativity in the workplace acted as cross-level moderators and strengthened the relationship between proactive vitality management and creativity. We conclude that a proactive approach regarding physical and mental energy is an important bottom-up strategy that may foster creativity in work settings.     

Changing Relationship Growth Belief: Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Consequences of Compassionate Goals

The belief that difficulties can lead to growth in relationships, or growth belief, has consequences for relationships (e.g., C. R. Knee, 1998 ). But what predicts change in this belief? The current study hypothesized that compassionate goals to support others ( J. Crocker & A. Canevello, 2008 ) predict increased growth belief through increased need satisfaction. In Study 1, 199 college freshmen reported their friendship growth belief and goals. In Study 2, 65 roommate pairs reported their roommate growth belief, goals, and need satisfaction. Across studies, compassionate goals predicted increased growth belief. In Study 2, goals predicted increased perceived mutual need satisfaction, which predicted increased growth belief. Additionally, partners' compassionate goals predicted actors' increased growth belief. Results suggest that growth beliefs are shaped by goals—own and others'.