Caring and the Graduate Student: A Phenomenological Study

Given the increasing numbers of adult learners on university campuses, both as undergraduates and graduates, an understanding of adult learning processes is relevant—indeed essential—to the university's response to this student group. While educators have attempted to understand learners in terms of developmental stages, learning styles, and contextual factors, less attention has focused on the dynamics of helping relationships that attend learning or the importance of caring in the learning process. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and explicate the experience of caring as it relates to graduate education from the perspective of the graduate student. The connection between caring relationships and learning was confirmed. Seven components of the caring were identified. Implications for the university center on attention to relationship skills and the creation of a campus community in which caring relationships are encouraged and nurtured.     

The Twisted Relationship Between School Spending and Academic Outputs: in Search of a New Metaphor

In this commentary we explore both putative and potential relationships between school funding and educational outcomes, for which numerous indices and variables have been examined during the past two decades. We conclude that despite large increases in real dollars, there is no readily discernable link between inputs and outputs, although when statistical control is exerted over prior ability, school mix, and teacher turn-over, certain causal inferences appear warranted. However, it can be argued that the dominant analogy should be reconsidered, and schools serving large numbers of needy children may require higher inputs to keep from further declines, much like certain departments of a hospital require disproportionately more resources than others in order to be successful because they deal with problems that are more severe.     

Redemptive Experience in Relational Family Therapy: A Christian Perspective

We all long for relationships with others, because only in connecting with others can we develop our intrapsychic structure and become functional adults. We are psychologically predisposed to have a constant connection with others and are driven toward relationships with others. Our deepest yearnings are therefore devoted to building solid dialogue as the means of becoming fully human. We, therefore, consciously or unconsciously, long for a relationship where we can experience happiness, satisfaction and, above all, redemption or salvation from our dreads, miseries and unhappiness. In this article we presuppose that a therapeutic relationship, demonstrated in a psychoanalytic setting, namely in relational family therapy, can contain redemptive dimensions in which the inextinguishable longing for salvation is always present.

Linking the Levels: Network and Relational Perspectives for Community Psychology

In this article, we assert that relationships and networks are of paramount importance for understanding and improving settings, neighborhoods, communities, and larger social systems. Despite previous acknowledgements of their relevance, relational and social network perspectives and analyses remain underrepresented in community psychological research and action. Here, we claim that network and relational perspectives can provide conceptual and empirical ‘links’ between levels of analysis, more fully reflecting a transactional view. We also describe some of the sophisticated methodologies that can be employed in empirical studies drawing on these perspectives. Additionally, we contend that core concepts in community psychology such as health promotion, empowerment, coalition building, and dissemination and implementation can be better understood when employing relational and network perspectives. As an introduction to this special issue of American Journal of Community Psychology, we draw out themes and key points from the articles in the issue, and offer recommendations for future advancement of these perspectives in the field.     

Relational Turbulence Theory: Explaining Variation in Subjective Experiences and Communication Within Romantic Relationships

This essay extends the relational turbulence model as a framework for understanding communication in romantic relationships. Following the relational turbulence model, relational turbulence theory identifies relational uncertainty and interdependence as parameters that shape subjective experiences, but the theory clarifies the theoretical processes underlying their distinctive effects. In addition, relational turbulence theory articulates causal processes linking cognitive appraisals and emotions to communication. Relational turbulence theory also describes how episodes characterized by biased appraisals, intense emotions, and volatile communication coalesce into global evaluations of relationships as turbulent. In turn, the theory addresses the effect of relational turbulence on personal, relational, and social outcomes. Finally, the theory explains how communication can contribute to the development of both turbulence and resilience in romantic relationships.     

Relational operants: processes and implications: a response to Palmer's review of Relational Frame Theory

Palmer has recently criticized Relational Frame Theory (RFT) on the grounds that it has developed data in search of a principle. In this reply, we show that he has done so by attacking fundamental concepts within behavior analysis itself, including the functional nature of an operant and contingencies of reinforcement as a behavioral process. His claim that RFT appeals to new behavioral principles to explain the development of relational operants is shown to be incorrect: As with any operant, RFT appeals to a history of contacted consistencies in contingencies across multiple ex-emplars to explain them. New principles only emerge later as a logically necessary extension of such operants if they exist--a view that Palmer failed to address or appreciate. Palmer's desire to see the use of methods other than matching-to-sample is proper but already largely satisfied in the empirical literature on RFT. We show Palmer's defense of Skinner's definition of verbal behavior to be illogical and unresponsive to the empirical challenge behavior analysis faces. Palmer's alternative common sense mediational associationistic account is another in more than a century of such accounts, all of which have failed empirically. At its root, Palmer's criticism is based on a mechanistic philosophy that is hostile to a traditional functional behavior analytic approach.     

Predictors of Early Community Involvement: Advancing the Self and Caring for Others

Recent research on community involvement points to the importance of both agentic (advancing the self) and communal motives (serving others) as key predictors, though few studies have examined both simultaneously. At the same time, research has identified generativity, defined as concern for future generations as a legacy of the self, as particularly relevant for community involvement. Moreover, generativity involves both agentic and communal motives, meaning that advancing personal goals and caring for others are integrated in this construct. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how individual differences in attributes pertaining to self and to others—specifically, self‐esteem, initiative, and empathy—related to both generativity and community involvement. A sample of adolescents (N = 160; 64% female, M_age = 17) and a sample of young adults (N = 237; 84% female, M_age = 20) completed a survey including measures of community involvement and generativity. Generative concern fully mediated the associations between individual differences (self‐esteem, initiative, and empathy) and community involvement, suggesting that the early generativity has a role in fostering capacities and contribution in youth. These developmental indicators pertaining to self and others link to actions that benefit the community through a desire to benefit future generations.     

Relational accommodation in negotiation: Effects of egalitarianism and gender on economic efficiency and relational capital

Highly relational contexts can have costs as well as benefits. Researchers theorize that negotiating dyads in which both parties hold highly relational goals or views of themselves are prone to relational accommodation, a dynamic resulting in inefficient economic outcomes yet high levels of relational capital. Previous research has provided only indirect empirical support for this theory. The present study fills this gap by demonstrating the divergent effects of egalitarianism on economic efficiency and relational capital in negotiation. Dyads engaged in a simulated employment negotiation among strangers within a company that was described as either egalitarian or hierarchical. As hypothesized, dyads assigned to the egalitarian condition reached less efficient economic outcomes yet had higher relational capital than dyads assigned to the hierarchical condition. Negotiations occurring between females resulted in lower joint economic outcomes than negotiations occurring between males. Results are consistent with the theory of relational self-construal in negotiation.     

Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Childhood: Feelings about Spending Predict Children's Financial Decision Making

Adults differ in the extent to which they find spending money to be distressing; “tightwads” find spending money painful, and “spendthrifts” do not find spending painful enough. This affective dimension has been reliably measured in adults and predicts a variety of important financial behaviors and outcomes (e.g., saving behavior and credit scores). Although children's financial behavior has also received attention, feelings about spending have not been studied in children, as they have in adults. We measured the spendthrift–tightwad (ST–TW) construct in children for the first time, with a sample of 5‐ to 10‐year‐old children (N = 225). Children across the entire age range were able to reliably report on their affective responses to spending and saving, and children's ST–TW scores were related to parent reports of children's temperament and financial behavior. Further, children's ST–TW scores were predictive of whether they chose to save or spend money in the lab, even after controlling for age and how much they liked the offered items. Our novel findings—that children's feelings about spending and saving can be measured from an early age and relate to their behavior with money—are discussed with regard to theoretical and practical implications. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relational Priming Based on a Multiplicative Schema for Whole Numbers and Fractions

Why might it be (at least sometimes) beneficial for adults to process fractions componentially? Recent research has shown that college‐educated adults can capitalize on the bipartite structure of the fraction notation, performing more successfully with fractions than with decimals in relational tasks, notably analogical reasoning. This study examined patterns of relational priming for problems with fractions in a task that required arithmetic computations. College students were asked to judge whether or not multiplication equations involving fractions were correct. Some equations served as structurally inverse primes for the equation that immediately followed it (e.g., 4 × 3/4 = 3 followed by 3 × 8/6 = 4). Students with relatively high math ability showed relational priming (speeded solution times to the second of two successive relationally related fraction equations) both with and without high perceptual similarity (Experiment 2). Students with relatively low math ability also showed priming, but only when the structurally inverse equation pairs were supported by high perceptual similarity between numbers (e.g., 4 × 3/4 = 3 followed by 3 × 4/3 = 4). Several additional experiments established boundary conditions on relational priming with fractions. These findings are interpreted in terms of componential processing of fractions in a relational multiplication context that takes advantage of their inherent connections to a multiplicative schema for whole numbers.     

Relational spirituality and depression among married couples in Antigua

The World Health Organization indicates depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. At the same time researchers have found religion/spirituality is inversely associated with depression. However, the mechanisms by which spirituality/religion impacts mental health have not been clearly identified particularly in non-western populations. Relational spirituality is a concept that focuses attention on the ways people relate to the sacred. This study examines whether different ways of relating to the sacred are implicated in levels of depression and whether marital partners affect each other’s level of relational spirituality and depression. Ninety-one (n?=?91) married heterosexual couples in the Caribbean Island of Antigua completed measures of relational spirituality and depression. Data were analysed using path analysis and through Actor Partner Interdependence Model methods. Results of the analysis showed wives’ and husbands’ depression scores covaried (COV?=?6.59, Pearson r?=?.28, p?β?=??.24, unstandardised B?=??3.23, se?=?1.30), and higher instability scores (β?=?.49, unstandardised B?=?5.46, se?=?.96). The husbands’ disappointment (β?=?.21, unstandardised B?=?2.17, se?=?.95) and instability (β?=?.54, unstandardised B?=?4.65, se?=?.72) were positively related to their depression scores. The results demonstrate relational spirituality is a useful framework for addressing depression in individuals as well as married couples.     

Acting in our interests: Relational self-construal and goal motivation across cultures

Relationally-autonomous reasons (RARs) are motives for behavior that take into account one’s close relationships. A cross-cultural model tested the hypotheses that (a) people with a highly relational self-construal will pursue their goals for RARs, and (b) RARs will predict positive goal outcomes after controlling for variance explained by personally-autonomous reasons (PARs) and social support. One hundred seventy Americans and 219 Japanese completed a well-being and self questionnaire then generated and rated seven goals on several attributes. Results showed that relational self-construal was associated with RARs for goals. RARs predicted effort directly and predicted progress and purpose in life indirectly for both groups. In addition, Americans and Japanese differed in the types of goals they pursued and the degree to which social support predicted effort. Implications for self, culture, and motivation research are discussed.

Relational Risk and Its Personal Correlates in Strategic Alliances

In this study we focus on the perception of one particular type of risk in the context of strategic alliances—relational risk. Perceived relational risk refers to the degree to which decision makers are concerned with the partner's opportunistic behavior in cooperative efforts. We develop a measure of relational risk in strategic alliances, and empirically examine some of its personal correlates. Based on a survey of senior executives of corporations and MBA students, we found partial support for the principal hypothesis that the perception of relational risk for prospective strategic alliances is related to an individual's age and trust in people.     

Rituals in the Time of COVID-19: Imagination,Responsiveness, and the Human Spirit

Following the format put forth by Imber-Black and Roberts, I examine daily rituals, family traditions, holidays, and life cycle rituals during the pandemic of COVID-19. Marked by symbols capable of carrying multiple meanings, symbolic actions, special time and special place, and newly invented and adapted rituals are illustrated through stories of couples, families, and communities.     

A Test of Contextual Theory: The Relationship Among Relational Ethics,Marital Satisfaction,Health Problems,and Depression

Few studies have examined the theoretical underpinning of contextual theory. Using structural equation modeling, the relationship among relational ethics (recognized as the most important aspect of contextual theory), marital satisfaction, depression, and illness was examined. Data came from a national sample of 632 mid-life, married individuals. Results supported Nagy’s contextual theory. The total score of the Relational Ethics Scale was a significant predictor of marital satisfaction, and marital satisfaction was significantly associated with depression and health problems. Vertical and horizontal subscales of relational ethics also were significant predictors of depression and health problems through the mediating variable of marital satisfaction.     

Relational property between head and eye regions is the primary determinant of the efficiency in search for a deviant gaze

The human visual system is extremely sensitive to the directions of the gazes of others. However, the mechanism underlying gaze direction perception has yet to be clarified. The primary aim of the present study is to investigate whether the relational property between the local eye region and other facial regions serves as the primary visual system cue in detecting a direct gaze. Our results showed that search efficiency was determined primarily by the gaze direction indicated by the relational property regardless of the direction indicated by the local feature information of the eye region; this was true even when the gaze directions indicated by these two types of information were conflicting. These results bolster the hypothesis that the human visual system primarily accesses socially meaningful information in searching for a deviant gaze.     

The Lost Voice: How Libertarianism and Consumerism Obliterate the Need for a Relational Ethics in the National Health Care Service

This article analyzes the contribution Christian ethics mightbe able to make to the ethical debate on policy and caregivingin health and social care in the United Kingdom. The articledeals particularly with the concepts of solidarity and subsidiaritywhich are essential in Christian social ethics and health careethics, and which may be relevant for the ethical debate onhealth and social caregiving in the United Kingdom. An importantargument in the article is that utilitarian and market-drivenpolicies in the National Health Service (NHS) and the socialcare system have marginalized the position of the elderly andhave seriously impoverished the quality of care for the elderly.The neglect of the elderly and other vulnerable groups is alsothe result of widespread consumerist attitudes among patientsand of libertarian models of noninterference which are affirmedby a public ethos of self-sufficiency and counter-dependency.Those who need care dare not make their need known to othersand ask for help, while simultaneously those who could helpare so intimidated by the public affirmation of privacy andnegative rights that they do not dare to offer help except ifthis is explicitly demanded. This distant and standoffish attitudeis in an important way responsible for the fact that the voiceof those in need is altogether lost to the public forum. Christianethics puts much emphasis on responsibility and solidarity withthe needy other but is not able to have much impact on the deliveryof care in a secularized society and health care system likethe NHS. Nonetheless, Christianity still has a powerful andrespected voice, by speaking up for those who cannot speak forthemselves, such as the elderly and the handicapped. Christianscan find allies in the ethics of care and other relational approachesin health care ethics in order to combat libertarianism, consumerism,and utilitarianism.