Towards an integrative attachment‐based model of relationship functioning

Based on attachment theory, this study developed a theory‐based model of heterosexual relationship functioning that examined both proximal and distal factors and both actor and partner effects. A particular focus was on the underexplored issue of double‐mediated effects between attachment orientation and relationship satisfaction. Data were collected from a community sample of 95 cohabiting and married couples with a mean age of 39.30 years. Participants completed measures of attachment, commitment, provision of partner support, trust, intimacy, destructive conflict management, and relationship satisfaction. The hypothesized model was largely supported. The association between attachment orientation and relationship satisfaction was mediated through a series of actor and partner variables. No gender differences were found across actor paths; however, differences were found in partner effects for men and women. The model has important implications for relationship researchers and practitioners.     

The development of regret

In two experiments, 4- to 9-year-olds played a game in which they selected one of two boxes to win a prize. On regret trials the unchosen box contained a better prize than the prize children actually won, and on baseline trials the other box contained a prize of the same value. Children rated their feelings about their prize before and after seeing what they could have won if they had chosen the other box and were asked to provide an explanation if their feelings had changed. Patterns of responding suggested that regret was experienced by 6 or 7 years of age; children of this age could also explain why they felt worse in regret trials by referring to the counterfactual situation in which the prize was better. No evidence of regret was found in 4- and 5-year-olds. Additional findings suggested that by 6 or 7 years, children's emotions were determined by a consideration of two different counterfactual scenarios.     

A comparison of passive-aggressive and negativistic personality disorders

Passive-aggressive personality disorder (PAPD) has historically played an important role in clinical theorizing and was diagnosable prior to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), in which the construct was relabeled negativistic (NEGPD), expanded to include negative affective symptoms, and appendicized. In this study we tested the hypothesis that the expansion of PAPD to include content related to negative moods and nonspecific personality pathology compromised its discriminant validity. In an undergraduate sample (N = 1,215), a self-report measure of PAPD was only moderately related to NEGPD and showed less diagnostic overlap with other personality disorders than NEGPD. Furthermore, a conjoint factor analysis yielded a strong first factor (moodiness) that appeared less specific to passive-aggressive behavior than 3 other factors (irresponsibility, inadequacy, and contempt). We conclude that future research on this potentially important clinical construct should focus on core passive-aggressive features and abandon the negativistic content that has been added to it in successive editions of the DSM.     

Interpersonal development, stability, and change in early adulthood

The goal of this research was to explore the development of the interpersonal system mapped by the interpersonal circumplex in early adulthood (ages 18–22). This study uses the Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders sample (N = 250; 53% female). Participants completed the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales (Wiggins, Trapnell, & Phillips, 1988) in their freshman, sophomore, and senior years of college. Estimates of structural, rank‐order, mean, individual, and ipsative stability were calculated for the broad interpersonal dimensions of Dominance and Affiliation and also the lower order octant scales. Additionally, the interpersonal profile parameters of differentiation and prototypicality were calculated at each wave and explored longitudinally and also used as predictors of interpersonal stability. We found excellent structural and high rank‐order and ipsative stability in the interpersonal scales over this time period. Mean increases on the Affiliation axis, but not on the Dominace axis, were found to mask differential rates of change among the octant scales, along with significant individual variation in the rates of change. Interpersonal differentiation and prototypicality were related to higher stability in overall interpersonal style. Results point to evidence of both stability and nuanced change, illuminating some of the features of the structural variables that can be derived from interpersonal circumplex profiles.     

Attachment style as a piedictor of sexual attitudes and behavior in late Adolescence

Abstract

This research applied attachment theory to the study of sexual attitudes and behaviors in a sample of late adolescents. Four hundred and seventy heterosexual undergraduate students completed questionnaires assessing attachment (discomfort with closeness; anxiety over relationships). relationship history, communication about sex. sexual self-efficacy and locus of control, and attitudes to condoms. Eight weeks later, participants reported on sexual behaviors occurring during the eight-week interval. and perceived risk of these activities. Both discomfort with closeness and anxiety over relationships were associated with external locus of control for sexual outcomes, and with use of drugs before sexual contact. Anxiety over relationships was linked to unsafe sex and to negative attitudes to condoms, but discomfort with closeness was associated with a more cautious approach to sexual risk-taking. Some results were qualified by gender differences. and by differences between the full sample and those who were sexually active. The findings arc discussed in terms of attachment style and its links with communication and affect regulation.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This study indicates that attachment dimensions are reliably related to many aspects of sexual attitudes and behaviors among late adolescents. Insecure attachment was linked to increased drug use before sexual contact. Anxiety over relationships was also linked to less safe sexual practice, but discomfort with closeness was associated with a tendency for males to be cautious about sexual risk-taking. The results support the utility of the attachment perspective on adolescent sexuality, but also highlight the complex relations between attachment dimensions and sexual outcomes. Future research would benefit from more detailed investigations of the attitudes, emotions, and cognitions which may mediate the link between attachment style and sexual behavior. For example, those who are highly anxious about their relationships may engage in more risky sexual practices because they fear that non-compliance with partners' wishes will jeopardize their relationship; the tendency to engage in drug use before sexual cpntact may reflect their attempts to boost self-confidence or to manage negative mood states. Research into these issues has the potential to explain how attachment insecurity is played out in patterns of sexual activity.     

A Review of Single-Case Research in Sport Psychology 1997–2012: Research Trends and Future Directions

Single-case research methods are an important facet of applied sport psychology because they provide a framework for researchers and practitioners to outline intervention effects across time with individuals or groups. This paper reviews the research published since Hrycaiko and Martin's (1996) milestone overview of single-case research in sport psychology. Specifically, we examined the literature between 1997 and 2012 and located 66 studies that met our inclusion criteria of assessing interventions in sport psychology. The review summarizes the body of research, outlines trends, considers the limitations of the extant literature, and identifies areas that require further investigation for future single-case research.     

The effects of avoidant instructions on golf putting proficiency and kinematics

ObjectivesAlthough the effects of avoidant or negative instructions on skilled performance in sport has received little research attention, de la Pena, Murray, and Janelle (2008) reported recently that novice golfers who were instructed not to leave a putt short of a circle, overcompensated by leaving their putts significantly longer than at baseline, and vice versa. It is unclear, however, whether athletes' propensity to engage in over-compensatory behaviour is affected by their level of expertise.DesignTo address this unresolved issue, the present study investigated the influence of avoidant instructions on golfers' putting stroke proficiency (i.e., as measured by an index of putting performance and the direction in which putts are missed) and on their putting stroke performance (as measured by motion analysis).Methods14 high-skilled and 14 low-skilled golfers were required to putt from a distance of 2.5 m on a sloped surface which caused the ball to move left-to-right as it approached the hole. All participants performed in a condition in which they were given no instructions and in a condition in which they were instructed not to miss a putt in a specific direction (i.e., left or right of the hole).ResultsHigh-skilled golfers' overall putting proficiency was unaffected by avoidant instructions. In contrast, low-skilled golfers' performance was significantly degraded due to disruption of certain kinematic features of their putting stroke (e.g., putter path and forward-swing times).ConclusionsOver-compensatory behaviour was more prevalent amongst low-skilled than high-skilled golfers. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Transportation Across Media: Repeated Exposure to Print and Film

“Transportation into a narrative world” is a state of immersion into a story (Green & Brock, 2000 Green, M. C. and Brock, T. C. 2000. The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5): 701–721. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Transportation entails imagery, emotional response, and attentional focus. Two studies investigated whether transportation was affected by the medium of story presentation, especially when the narrative was experienced for a second time (e.g., watching the movie version of a previously read story). Study 1 (N = 88) showed that people who read a novel before viewing the film version were more transported into the film compared to nonreaders. In Study 2 (N = 71) participants came to the lab on two separate occasions to either read a passage or watch a movie clip. Reading followed by watching provided the greatest transportation. Furthermore, high need for cognition individuals were more transported when reading, whereas low need for cognition individuals were more transported when watching a narrative.     

Rats know when they remember: transfer of metacognitive responding across odor-based delayed match-to-sample tests

Metamemory entails cognitively assessing the strength of one’s memories. We tested the ability of nine Long-Evans rats to distinguish between remembering and forgetting by presenting a decline option that allowed a four-choice odor-based delayed match to sample (DMTS) tests to be by-passed. Rats performed significantly better on tests they chose to take than on tests they were forced to take, indicating metacognitive responding. However, rather than control by internal mnemonic cues, one alternative explanation is that decline use is based on external test-specific cues that become associated with increased rewards overtime. To examine this possibility, we tested rats on three generalization tests in which external contingencies were inconsistent and therefore could not serve as discriminative cues. Rats transferred adaptive use of the decline response in tests that eliminated memory by presenting no sample, increased memory by presenting multiple samples, and both weakened and strengthened memory by varying the retention interval. Further, subjects chose to take or decline the test before encountering the memory test, providing evidence that rats based their metacognitive responding on internal cues rather than external ones. To our knowledge, this is the first robust evidence for metamemory in rats using the DMTS decline-test paradigm in which several possible sources of external stimulus control can be ruled out.