Dimensions of Relationship Quality

Four studies examined the dimensions of relationship quality. In Study 1, based on a principal components analysis, four dimensions underlying the prototype of relationship quality were identified: intimacy, agreement, independence, and sexuality. The four–factorial structure was replicated both with a German sample (Study 2) and a Canadian sample (Study 3). Study 4 tested the validity of scales based on the four–factorial structure of relationship quality with German and Canadian samples. Relationship satisfaction was predicted well by the four scales, with intimacy contributing most, and sexuality least, to overall relationship satisfaction. The four scales correlated as predicted with other constructs relevant to close relationships, such as commitment, trust, love, and the like. Consequences for the measurement of relationship quality are discussed.     

The Infectious Diseases Society of America Lyme guidelines: a cautionary tale about the development of clinical practice guidelines

Flawed clinical practice guidelines may compromise patient care. Commercial conflicts of interest on panels that write treatment guidelines are particularly problematic, because panelists may have conflicting agendas that influence guideline recommendations. Historically, there has been no legal remedy for conflicts of interest on guidelines panels. However, in May 2008, the Attorney General of Connecticut concluded a ground-breaking antitrust investigation into the development of Lyme disease treatment guidelines by one of the largest medical societies in the United States, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Although the investigation found significant flaws in the IDSA guidelines development process, the subsequent review of the guidelines mandated by the settlement was compromised by a lack of impartiality at various stages of the IDSA review process. This article will examine the interplay between the recent calls for guidelines reform, the ethical canons of medicine, and due process considerations under antitrust laws as they apply to the formulation of the IDSA Lyme disease treatment guidelines. The article will also discuss pitfalls in the implementation of the IDSA antitrust settlement that should be avoided in the future.     

Are anxiety and depression just as stable as personality during late adolescence? Results from a three-year longitudinal latent variable study

Although considerable evidence shows that affective symptoms and personality traits demonstrate moderate to high relative stabilities during adolescence and early adulthood, there has been little work done to examine differential stability among these constructs or to study the manner in which the stability of these constructs is expressed. The present study used a three-year longitudinal design in an adolescent/young adult sample to examine the stability of depression symptoms, social phobia symptoms, specific phobia symptoms, neuroticism, and extraversion. When considering one-, two-, and three-year durations, anxiety and personality stabilities were generally similar and typically greater than the stability of depression. Comparison of various representations of a latent variable trait-state-occasion (TSO) model revealed that whereas the full TSO model was the best representation for depression, a trait stability model was the most parsimonious of the best-fitting models for the anxiety and personality constructs. Over three years, the percentages of variance explained by the trait component for the anxiety and personality constructs (73-84%) were significantly greater than that explained by the trait component for depression (46%). These findings indicate that symptoms of depression are more episodic in nature, whereas symptoms of anxiety are more similar to personality variables in their expression of stability.     

What does the dominant eye dominate? A brief and somewhat contentious review

We examine a set of implicit and explicit claims about the concept of eye dominance that have been made over the years and note that the new literature on eye dominance does not reflect the old literature from the first half of the last century. We argue that the visual and oculomotor function of the dominant eye--defined by such criteria as asymmetry in acuity, rivalry, or sighting--remains unknown and that the usefulness of the concept for understanding its function is yet to be determined. We suggest that the sighting-dominant eye is the eye used for monocular tasks and has no unique functional role in vision.     

Thawing the 'frozen accidents': the archetypal view in countertransference

Jung's concepts of psyche and psychic energy are relevant in countertransference. Working with Jung's archetypes as 'transconscious' dynamic fields of probabilities helps the analyst, as a clinician and teacher with limited human consciousness, to confront and recognize the unconscious cross-purposes of 'anomalous' countertransference, and to convert it to insightful 'participatory' countertransference-Jung's archetypes will be juxtaposed with William James's fields, Gerald Edelman's qualia, and most particularly with Murray Gell-Mann's 'frozen accidents'. Two vignettes – from A clinical and a training setting – suggest chat from a Jungian perspective, countertransference may be seen at the psychic juncture where ego, the personal shadow, the interpersonal other and the archerype of the collective unconscious meet in the determining images of a life, fantasy, dream, analysis, and seminar. So-called 'parallel process' will be seen as enclosure in the circles of reference emanating from the patient's experiences in those arenas deemed archetypal, i.e., structurally significant. The relativity of unconscious time will be mentioned. Jung's notion that, called or uncalled, the archetypes are present, informs the thesis that we must name archetypal images if we are to know them, and we must know them to be free.     

The weak Borda effect is an unsatisfactory index of plurality/majority disagreement

As an index of the propensity of the plurality voting procedure to produce an outcome which conflicts with the wishes of the majority, the likelihood of the weak Borda effect is flawed and misleading. It is recommended that researchers discontinue using the quantity for this purpose, since it is possible to obtain directly the likelihood of plurality/majority disagreement.     

A FORTRAN 77 program for sample-size determination in replication attempts when effect size is uncertain

A method of sample-size determination for use in attempts to replicate experiments is described. It is appropriate in situations where there is uncertainty about the magnitude of the effect under investigation. The procedure uses information supplied by the original experiment to establish a distribution of probable effect sizes. The sample size to be used in a replication study is that which provides an expected power of the desired amount over the distribution of probable effect sizes A FORTRAN 77 program is presented that permits rapid calculation of sample size in replication attempts employing comparisons of means, correlation coefficients, or proportions.     

Stop-consonant recognition: Release bursts and formant transitions as functionally equivalent,context-dependent cues

Three experiments assessed the roles of release bursts and formant transitions as acoustic cues to place of articulation in syllable-initial voiced stop consonants by systematically removing them from American English /b,d,g/, spoken before nine different vowels by two speakers, and by transposing the bursts across all vowels for each class of stop consonant. The results showed that bursts were largely invariant in their effect, but carried significant perceptual weight in only one syllable out of 27 for Speaker 1, in only 13 syllables out of 27 for Speaker 2. Furthermore, bursts and transitions tended to be reciprocally related: Where the perceptual weight of one increased, the weight of the other declined. They were thus shown to be functionally equivalent, context-dependent cues, each contributing to the rapid spectral changes that follow consonantal release. The results are interpreted as pointing to the possible role of the front-cavity resonance in signaling place of articulation.