Common factors in the enhancement of dyadic coping

Stress and coping are important constructs in understanding the dynamics of close relationships. Couple therapy and marital distress prevention approaches have become increasingly focused on these variables to gain knowledge of how stress and coping may impact the quality and stability of close relationships. In this paper, we outline couple's coping enhancement training (CCET) and the coping-oriented couple's therapy (COCT); both, couple interventions derived from stress and coping research. We address specific features of each approach and report data on their efficacy and effectiveness. We also examine both the common and specific factors that may play a role in the effectiveness of these approaches.     

A meta-analysis of the regulatory focus nomological network: Work-related antecedents and consequences

Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998) has received a great deal of recent attention in the organizational behavior literature. Despite the amount of new evidence surrounding regulatory focus and its relationships with other variables, a quantitative summary of this literature is lacking. The authors used meta-analysis to summarize correlations from 77 empirical studies that included self-report measures of promotion and prevention focus. Meta-analytic effect sizes between promotion and prevention focus and work-related variables are reported. In general, results indicated that promotion and prevention focus are orthogonal constructs and each construct is uniquely related to other theoretically relevant constructs. The results also demonstrate the importance of regulatory foci to organizational researchers as well as the need for a unified approach to their measurement.     

A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT AND NONCONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT TO TREAT FOOD SELECTIVITY IN A CHILD WITH AUTISM

We compared differential reinforcement plus escape extinction to noncontingent reinforcement plus escape extinction to treat food selectivity exhibited by a young child with autism. The interventions were equally effective for increasing bite acceptance and decreasing problem behaviors. However, a social validity measure suggested that noncontingent reinforcement was preferred by the child's caregiver.     

More than just a pretty face and a hot body: multiple cues in mate-choice

Mate preferences have been well studied in social and evolutionary psychology. In two studies (N = 490), using two different measurement techniques, we examined mate preferences for the body and the face in the context of other traits. Results replicated prior research on mate preferences across the sex of the participant and mating duration but clarified the nature of preferences for physical attractiveness. Generally, physical attractiveness was a necessity in short-term mating and for men and traits like kindness were a necessity in long-term mating and for women. Men wanted a short-term mate who had a good body, likely because that body advertises fertility whereas both sexes wanted a mate with a nice face for a long-term mate, which is likely because the face is a cue based on structural properties related to health. Sex and mating-duration differences on preferences for attractive faces and bodies were robust to differences in measurement technique.     

Psychopathic personality traits and cognitive dissonance: Individual differences in attitude change

In a study using a classic cognitive dissonance paradigm, 164 undergraduate participants were induced to deceive a fellow student; half were directly instructed to lie whereas the other half were politely requested but not instructed to lie. Participants were assessed for psychopathic traits using the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised: Short Form and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, and for Machiavellianism using the MACH-IV. As predicted, participants low in psychopathic traits exhibited classic cognitive dissonance effects following their lie whereas participants high in psychopathic traits did not. Results for Machiavellianism were nonsignificant. These results indicate that cognitive dissonance effects in an induced compliance paradigm are reduced or eliminated among individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits.     

Adolescent bullying and personality: An adaptive approach

From an evolutionary perspective, bullying behavior may be viewed as adaptive in nature. Moreover, as bullies may utilize both prosocial and aggressive means to achieve desired goals, they likely exhibit specific personality traits that allow for this bistrategic approach to survival. Therefore, after accounting for general aggression levels, bullying should be negatively associated with personality traits such as fairness and modesty (Honesty-Humility), but unrelated to traits such as forgiveness and tolerance (Agreeableness). Additionally, the intentional nature of the behavior suggests that bullying should be positively associated with instrumental, but not reactive, aggression. A sample of 310 adolescents completed measures of bullying, personality, and instrumental/reactive aggression. Results supported the hypotheses and are interpreted from an adaptive perspective.     

Ethnic differences in mother-infant language and gestural communications are associated with specific skills in infants

We examined gestural and verbal interactions in 226 mother-infant pairs from Mexican, Dominican, and African American backgrounds when infants were 14 months and 2 years of age, and related these interactions to infants' emerging skills. At both ages, dyads were video-recorded as they shared a wordless number book, a wordless emotion book, and beads and string. We coded mothers' and infants' gestures and language/vocalizations. Each maternal utterance was coded as referential (e.g. 'That's a bead') or regulatory (e.g. 'Put it there'). Mothers reported on infants' gestural, receptive, and productive vocabularies at 14 months, and infants were assessed on receptive language, expressive language, and action sequencing and imitation at 2 years of age. Mothers of the three ethnicities differed in their gesturing, distributions of the two types of language, and coupling of language and gestures. Mothers' ethnicity, language, and gestures were differentially associated with infants' 2-year skills. Mother-infant communicative interactions are foundational to infant learning and development, and ethnic differences in modes of early communication portend divergent pathways in the development of specific skills.     

Social anxiety and difficulty disengaging threat: evidence from eye-tracking

Theoretical models of social phobia propose that biased attention contributes to the maintenance of symptoms; however these theoretical models make opposing predictions. Specifically, whereas Rapee and Heimberg (1997) suggested the biases are characterised by hypervigilance to threat cues and difficulty disengaging attention from threat, Clark and Wells (1995) suggested that threat cues are largely avoided. Previous research has been limited by the almost exclusive reliance on behavioural response times to experimental tasks to provide an index of attentional biases. The current study evaluated the relationship between the time-course of attention and symptoms of social anxiety and depression. Forty-two young adults completed a dot-probe task with emotional faces while eye-movement data were collected. The results revealed that increased social anxiety was associated with attention to emotional (rather than neutral) faces over time as well as difficulty disengaging attention from angry expressions; some evidence was found for a relationship between heightened depressive symptoms and increased attention to fear faces.     

African American, White and Latino Fathers’ Activities with their Sons and Daughters in Early Childhood

We examined the activities that low-income, ethnically diverse fathers of sons versus daughters engage in with their children in the preschool years. African American, Latino, and White fathers (N?=?426) from research sites across the United States, were interviewed about their caregiving, play, literacy, and visiting activities when their children were 2?years, 3?years, and preschool age. Fathers of boys engaged more frequently in physical play than fathers of girls, whereas fathers of girls engaged more frequently in literacy activities. Moreover, gendered patterns of father engagement were already evident at the 2-year assessment, suggesting that fathers channel their children toward gender-typed activities well before their children have a clear understanding of gender roles. Ethnic differences were also found in fathers’ activities with children, and child gender moderated ethnic patterns of behavior. For example, Black fathers of sons reported the highest levels of engagement in caregiving, play and visiting activities, and both Latino and African American fathers of sons engaged in more visiting activities compared to White fathers of sons. Fathers’ education and marital status were also associated with fathers’ activities. Married fathers and those with a high school diploma more frequently engaged in literacy activities than unmarried fathers without a diploma; moreover, although Latino fathers engaged less in caregiving activities than African American and White fathers, this difference attenuated after controlling for differences in fathers’ education. The activities children share with their fathers vary by child gender, race/ethnicity, and family circumstances and offer insight into early gendered experiences in the family.