Effect of intensive training on auditory processing and reading skills

This study assessed the ability of seven children to accurately judge relative durations of auditory and visual stimuli before and after participation in a language remediation program. The goal of the intervention program is to improve the children's ability to detect and identify rapidly changing auditory stimuli, and thereby improve their language-related skills. Children showed improved accuracy on a test of auditory duration judgement following the intervention without analogous improvements in the visual domain, supporting the assertion that intensive training with modified speech improves auditory temporal discrimination. However, these improvements did not generalize to reading skills, as assessed by standard measures of phonological awareness and non-word reading.     

Relationship perceptions and persistence: do fluctuations in perceived partner commitment undermine dating relationships?

The authors propose specific temporal profiles that reflect certainty versus doubt about where a partner stands with respect to a dating relationship over time. Two multiwave longitudinal studies focused on within-participant changes in perceived partner commitment. Results from multilevel modeling indicate that individuals whose perceptions of partner commitment fluctuate over time were more likely to be in a relationship that eventually ended than were individuals whose perceptions remained relatively steady. For individuals in recently initiated relationships, the association of fluctuation in perceived partner commitment with later breakup was significant regardless of the initial level of perceived partner commitment or the trend, and for all participants, it remained significant when initial level, trend over time, and fluctuation over time of other meaningful variables were controlled.     

Substituting the forest for the trees: social networks and the prediction of romantic relationship state and fate.

This research focused on perceptions held by heterosexual couples' friendship network concerning the couple's relationship. In a three-wave longitudinal study, we examined (a) whether these perceptions were similar to the couple's views of the relationship, (b) whether they predicted current relationship state and future fate, and (c) how they compared with the couple's perceptions in predicting fate. Consistent with within-dyad idealization, results from a North American sample indicated that network perceptions of relationship state were significantly more negative than those held by a couple. Although both the couples' and the total networks' perceptions predicted fate, friends of the female couple member were particularly successful at predicting relationship dissolution. An examination of possible mechanisms whereby friends may come to possess particularly predictive perceptions supported the role of couple-disclosure in this process.     

From the interpersonal to the international: understanding commitment to the "war on terror"

Applying constructs from the investment model used traditionally to understand interpersonal commitment, the present investigation seeks to elucidate social cognitive antecedents of commitment to the war on terror waged by the United States. In Study 1, satisfaction with, investments in, and alternatives to the war on terror predict levels of commitment to the war beyond several important control variables. In Study 2, levels of satisfaction with, investments in, and alternatives to the war are experimentally manipulated. The highest levels of commitment to the war are observed among participants exposed to a high satisfaction, high investment, and low alternatives scenario, and the lowest levels are among those exposed to a low satisfaction, low investment, and high alternatives scenario. These results support broadening the targets of commitment normally considered within the context of the investment model and suggest applying relational models to understanding broader societal concerns.     

Needs and Nonviolent Communication in the Religious Studies Classroom

Religious studies classrooms are microcosms of the public square in bringing together individuals of diverse identities and ideological commitments. As such, these classrooms create the necessity and opportunity to foster effective modes of conversation. In this essay, I argue that communication attuned to shared human needs – among them needs for safety, respect, and belonging – offers a transformative response to the potential self‐silencing and peer‐conflict to which religious studies classrooms are prone. I develop this claim with reference to the research on teaching religious studies conducted by Barbara Walvoord and the pedagogy of theologian and Swarthmore University President Rebecca Chopp in formulating an “ethics of conversation” with her students. Building on this foundation, I make a case for developing an “ethos of conversation” in the religious studies classroom based on psychologist and peace activist Marshall Rosenberg's method of “nonviolent communication.” While addressing the roles of conflict and toleration in the classroom through the perspectives of Alasdair MacIntyre and Jeffrey Stout, I argue that Rosenberg's approach to communication is a powerful asset to education that models constructive engagement in the macrocosm of civic life.     

When Criminal Coping is Likely: An Extension of General Strain Theory

General strain theory predicts that several variables influence or condition the effect of strains on crime. The research on such conditioning effects, however, has produced mixed results at best. The larger stress and coping literature suggests why this is the case: a given conditioning variable has a small to modest effect on the choice of coping strategy, since there are hundreds of strategies from which to choose and the choice of strategy is influenced by several factors. Drawing on this insight and several literatures, it is argued that certain factors must converge before criminal coping is likely: individuals must (a) possess a set of characteristics that together create a strong propensity for criminal coping, (b) experience crimiogenic strains, which are perceived as unjust and high in magnitude; and (c) be in circumstances conducive to criminal coping. Qualitative studies provide support for this argument, and guidelines for quantitative testing are provided.     

Commitment and its theorized determinants: A meta–analysis of the Investment Model

We conducted a meta–analysis of Rusbult's Investment Model of commitment. Across 52 studies, including 60 independent samples and 11,582 participants, satisfaction with, alternatives to, and investments in a relationship each correlated significantly with commitment to that relationship. Moreover, these three variables collectively accounted for nearly two–thirds of the variance in commitment. Commitment, in turn, was found to be a significant predictor of relationship breakup. Support for the model was obtained in predicting commitment in both relational domains (e.g., commitment to a romantic partnership) and nonrelational domains (e.g., commitment to one's job), but was significantly stronger in relational domains. Additional moderator analyses suggested that the associations between commitment and its theorized bases vary minimally as a function of demographic (e.g., ethnicity) or relational (e.g., duration) factors. We review theoretical strengths and shortcomings of the Investment Model and identify directions for future research.     

Retrieval savings with nonidentical elements: The case of simple addition and subtraction

The identical elements (IE) theory of fact representation (Rickard, 2005) proposes that memorized facts that are composed of identical elements (e.g., 6 × 8 = 48 and 8 × 6 = 48) share a common representation in memory, whereas facts with nonidentical elements (e.g., 6 × 8 = 48 and 48 ÷ 8 = 6) are represented separately in memory. The IE model has been successfully applied to the transfer of practice in simple multiplication and division, in transition from procedure-based to retrieval-based performance, and in cued episodic recall. In the present article, we examined the effects of practicing simple addition problems (e.g., 3 + 6 = 9) on the performance of corresponding subtraction problems (9 − 6 = 3), and vice versa. According to IE theory, there should be no transfer of retrieval savings between addition and subtraction facts if performance is based on discrete IE fact representations. Cross-operation response time savings were observed, however, for both small, well-memorized problems (e.g., practice 3 + 2, test 5 − 2) and larger problems (6 + 8, 14 − 6), and they were statistically robust when trials that were self-reported as direct retrieval were analyzed. The transfer of retrieval practice savings between facts with nonidentical elements challenges IE theory as a comprehensive model of transfer in memory retrieval.     

Commitment, pro-relationship behavior, and trust in close relationships

The present work advances and tests an interdependence-based model of the associations among commitment, pro-relationship behavior, and trust. Findings from two longitudinal studies revealed good support for model predictions. Commitment-inspired acts such as accommodation and willingness to sacrifice provide diagnostic information regarding a partner's pro-relationship motives. Individuals come to trust their partners when they perceive that their partners have enacted pro-relationship behaviors, departing from their direct self-interest for the good of the relationship. The results of mediation analyses are consistent with a model of mutual cyclical growth in which (a) dependence promotes strong commitment, (b) commitment promotes pro-relationship acts, (c) pro-relationship acts are perceived by the partner, (d) the perception of pro-relationship acts enhances the partner's trust, and (e) trust increases the partner's willingness to become dependent on the relationship. Auxiliary analyses revealed that self-reported attachment style does not account for substantial variance beyond the features of interdependence that form the basis for the present model.