The Mutually Facilitating Maturational Matrix

The author discusses several significant points made by Dr. Lewis Aron in his rich discussion of birth fantasies and themes in relation to perinatal familial circumstances. Contributing a wide variety of clinical vignettes, Dr. Willock portrays the possibility (perhaps the necessity) of revisiting and revising these foundational fantasies as the patient’s internal object world is reconfigured. New birth fantasies often first see the light of day in dreams. As the transformative thrust gains momentum, constricted repetition yields to promising renaissance. New hope and enthusiasm begins replacing archaic, limiting, organizing principles. Embracing a comparative-integrative approach, the author considers a year of the analysis described by Dr. Aron from multiple perspectives. Each viewpoint contributes something unique to our understanding. Combined, these diverse frameworks shed valuable light on the nature of the presenting difficulties and the impressive analytic progress achieved by Dr. Aron and his analysand.     

Broadening Horizons: Self‐Expansion in Relational and Non‐Relational Contexts

The self‐expansion model posits that individuals are motivated to broaden their sense of self by acquiring new identities, developing new perspectives, enhancing capabilities, and gaining resources. The self‐expansion motivation is driven by individuals' desire to increase their potential self‐efficacy and ability to accomplish goals. In this article, we discuss two main ways individuals self‐expand – by forming relationships and including the other in the self and through engaging in novel activities that are challenging and/or interesting either on one's own or with a relationship partner. We provide an overview of recent research detailing the numerous interpersonal and intrapersonal benefits and implications of self‐expansion. Additionally, we differentiate self‐expansion from a series of potentially associated constructs.     

Syntax and intentionality: An automatic link between language and theory-of-mind

Three studies provided evidence that syntax influences intentionality judgments. In Experiment 1, participants made either speeded or unspeeded intentionality judgments about ambiguously intentional subjects or objects. Participants were more likely to judge grammatical subjects as acting intentionally in the speeded relative to the reflective condition (thus showing an intentionality bias), but grammatical objects revealed the opposite pattern of results (thus showing an unintentionality bias). In Experiment 2, participants made an intentionality judgment about one of the two actors in a partially symmetric sentence (e.g., “John exchanged products with Susan”). The results revealed a tendency to treat the grammatical subject as acting more intentionally than the grammatical object. In Experiment 3 participants were encouraged to think about the events that such sentences typically refer to, and the tendency was significantly reduced. These results suggest a privileged relationship between language and central theory-of-mind concepts. More specifically, there may be two ways of determining intentionality judgments: (1) an automatic verbal bias to treat grammatical subjects (but not objects) as intentional (2) a deeper, more careful consideration of the events typically described by a sentence.     

Under Pressure: The Effects of Stress on Positive and Negative Relationship Behaviors

This study investigates the effects of acute stress on positive and negative relationship behaviors, specifically assurances and attention to alternatives. A sample of 129 college students were randomly assigned to either a high or low stress condition, then were led to believe they had the opportunity to interact with attractive potential relationship partners and list compliments about their current partner. Results indicated that those in the high stress condition gave their partner fewer assurances and paid more attention to alternatives. These results suggest that when individuals experience acute stress, they may engage in fewer positive relationship behaviors and more behaviors that are potentially harmful to their relationship.     

Consistency and evidence

Williamson (2000) appeals to considerations about when it is natural to say that a hypothesis is consistent with one’s evidence in order to motivate the claim that all and only knowledge is evidence. It is argued here that the relevant considerations do not support this claim, and in fact conflict with it.     

Temporal framing and the hidden‐zero effect: rate‐dependent outcomes on delay discounting

Recent research suggests that presenting time intervals as units (e.g., days) or as specific dates, can modulate the degree to which humans discount delayed outcomes. Another framing effect involves explicitly stating that choosing a smaller–sooner reward is mutually exclusive to receiving a larger–later reward, thus presenting choices as an extended sequence. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 201) recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire in a 2 (delay framing) by 2 (zero framing) design. Regression suggested a main effect of delay, but not zero, framing after accounting for other demographic variables and manipulations. We observed a rate‐dependent effect for the date‐framing group, such that those with initially steep discounting exhibited greater sensitivity to the manipulation than those with initially shallow discounting. Subsequent analyses suggest these effects cannot be explained by regression to the mean. Experiment 2 addressed the possibility that the null effect of zero framing was due to within‐subject exposure to the hidden‐ and explicit‐zero conditions. A new Amazon Mechanical Turk sample completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire in either hidden‐ or explicit‐zero formats. Analyses revealed a main effect of reward magnitude, but not zero framing, suggesting potential limitations to the generality of the hidden‐zero effect.