Major histocompatibility complex alleles, sexual responsivity, and unfaithfulness in romantic couples

Preferences for mates that possess genes dissimilar to one's own at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a polymorphic group of loci associated with the immune system, have been found in mice, birds, fish, and humans. These preferences may help individuals choose genetically compatible mates and may adaptively function to prevent inbreeding or to increase heterozygosity and thereby immunocompetence of offspring. MHC-dissimilar mate preferences may influence the psychology of sexual attraction. We investigated whether MHC similarity among romantically involved couples (N= 48) predicted aspects of their sexual relationship. All women in our sample normally ovulated, and alleles at three MHC loci were typed for each person. As the proportion of MHC alleles couples shared increased, women's sexual responsivity to their partners decreased, their number of extrapair sexual partners increased, and their attraction to men other than their primary partners increased, particularly during the fertile phase of their cycles.     

Marriage enrichment for clergy couples

Following a four-year study of clergy marriages, the Maces arrived at certain conclusions. In this article they comment on what they learned from this investigation, and offer some recommendations designed to help clergy couples to appropriate their relational potential.Dr. Mace is affiliated with the School of Pastoral Care, Baptist Hospital, 300 South Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27103. He and Mrs. Mace, after helping to develop marriage counseling services in Britain, the U.S.A., and other countries, have been involved since 1973 in supplementing these remedial services with preventive equivalents. They are founders and past presidents of the Association of Couples for Marriage Enrichment (A.C.M.E.).     

Generation difficulty and memory for source

The role of the word predictability from sentence context for reality monitoring and external source monitoring was examined in two experiments. In a reality-monitoring task, discrimination of an internal source was better in the hard than in the easy condition. It is probable that extra cognitive operations engaged during word generation in the hard condition were effective cues for reality-monitoring judgements. In contrast, in an external source-monitoring task (recognition memory of item's colour), the hard condition resulted in worse source memory for generated words than did the easy condition. This result is consistent both with an item-context trade-off hypothesis and a processing hypothesis. Greater effort involved at the time of generation might limit resources available for encoding of an external source. It is also possible that for generated words, the hard condition promoted conceptual processing instead of perceptual processing; therefore the item's colour was not effectively encoded.     

Generation difficulty and memory for source

The role of the word predictability from sentence context for reality monitoring and external source monitoring was examined in two experiments. In a reality-monitoring task, discrimination of an internal source was better in the hard than in the easy condition. It is probable that extra cognitive operations engaged during word generation in the hard condition were effective cues for reality-monitoring judgements. In contrast, in an external source-monitoring task (recognition memory of item's colour), the hard condition resulted in worse source memory for generated words than did the easy condition. This result is consistent both with an item–context trade-off hypothesis and a processing hypothesis. Greater effort involved at the time of generation might limit resources available for encoding of an external source. It is also possible that for generated words, the hard condition promoted conceptual processing instead of perceptual processing; therefore the item's colour was not effectively encoded.     

The areas of change questionnaire: A cross-cultural comparison of israeli and american distressed and nondistressed couples

Abstract

This study examines Israeli couples' presenting complaints about their relationship, their perceptions of one another's complaints and perceptual accuracy between actual and perceived complaints, using the Areas of Change Questionnaire (ACQ). Samples were obtained of both distressed and nondistressed couples. Each sample met stringent criteria for categorization as distressed and nondistressed. Normative data for both samples are examined and areas of similarities and differences are discussed. The instrument is found to discriminate distressed and nondistressed Israeli couples. Results are compared with a previous study of American distressed and nondistressed couples. The American finding that women desire more change in marriage is not replicated in the Israeli sample, nor the American finding that distress and stage in the life cycle are related. However, there is an indication in both samples that men, compared to women, perceive more requests for change. Men in both cultures also feel more change is asked of them than they themselves ask in return.     

Attribution difficulty and memory for attribution-relevant information

This research compared the processing and retrieval of attribution-relevant information when the attributional inference is easy or difficult to make. Subjects attributed behavioral events to the person or to the situation, based on several items of context information. Each context sentence implied either the person or the entity as causal agent. When the attributional inference was difficult to make (an equal number of context sentences implied actor and entity as the causal agent), subjects recalled more of the behavioral events, recalled more context sentences, and were less confident in their attributions than when the attributional inference was easy to make (most context sentences implied the same causal agent). Subjects also recalled context information that was implicationally incongruent with the majority of the other context sentences with a higher probability than when that same information was implicationally congruent.     

Rational-emotive treatment for the sexual problems of couples

A rational-emotive approach to the treatment of sexual dysfunction is presented. It is asserted that the attitudes with which RET therapists approach sexual problems are as important in determining therapeutic outcome as are the techniques utilized in treating those problems. Regardless of whether one is treating disorders of desire, arousal, or orgasm, the rational-emotive sex therapist remains committed to the stoic position that is is not the unfortunate events in life but rather one's perceptions and evaluations of those events that cause distress. In this regard, the distinction between sexual dysfunction (unfortunate life events) and sexual disturbance (exaggeratedly negative perceptions and evaluations of those events) is emphasized. It is further asserted that only therapy regimens utilizing behavioral strategies within the context of what we have labeled elegant or preferential RET will adequately and comprehensively treat all sexual disorders.     

The support gap for dual clergy couples

Within this study six levels of support for dual clergy couples with and without children were investigated. Seven dual clergy couples of several synods of the Lutheran Church in two western Canadian provinces were asked open-ended questions about the support they had received in several employment and family related areas. While findings in each of the areas varied, overall, most individuals received the most support from their spouse and little from close friends and relatives often due to physical distance. Support provided by other clergy and church administrators was mixed. Only one major difference was found between couples with and without children. The group without children were more optimistic about the support that would be provided by family and friends in the area of child care while couples with children failed to mention support from friends and family.     

A difficulty for the possible worlds analysis of counterfactuals

I present a puzzle concerning counterfactual reasoning and argue that it should be solved by giving up the principle of substitution for logical equivalents.     

Treatment outcome of an inpatient group therapy for couples

In this article, we present the outcomes of an inpatient group treatment programme for couples with complicated problems that need intensive therapy. Each group includes five couples who are admitted for seven weeks. They receive a range of verbal and non‐verbal therapies in a fixed weekly protocol. Outcome was measured by means of two self‐report questionnaires (SCL‐90 and IPSI) completed before and after the treatment programme and at six and eighteen months of follow‐up. The results show that clinical group therapy for these couples is effective.     

Money: a therapeutic tool for couples therapy

This article addresses the therapeutic importance of discussing money at every stage of a couple's relationship, both as a concrete reality and as a metaphor for security, adequacy, competence, commitment, acceptance, and acknowledgment in a relationship. I will present a developmental schema looking at financial issues that couples confront at various stages in the adult life cycle and how these affect and reflect relationship problems. The article also presents a money questionnaire as a useful tool for exploring family-of-origin financial history, affect, and behavior.     

Perceptual difficulty and the right ear advantage for vowels

The results of a series of four dichotic listening experiments confirm that under appropriate conditions vowels show a right ear advantage (REA) comparable to that of consonants. The conditions all cause perceptual difficulty, adversely affecting the accurate registration of both inputs in the auditory system. The addition of noise, shortening of the vowel stimuli, and the use of a more confusable set of vowels, each had the effect of increasing REA. Results are compatible with an explanation of ear advantage in terms of competition at the auditory rather than the phonetic level, in which short-term precategorical acoustic storage (PAS) may play a critical role.