Optimally matching support and perceived spousal sensitivity.

Partner sensitivity is an important antecedent of both intimacy (H. T. Reis & P. Shaver, 1988) and attachment (M. D. S. Ainsworth, 1989). On the basis of the optimal matching model of social support (C. E. Cutrona & D. Russell, 1990), support behaviors that "matched" the support goals of the stressed individual were predicted to lead to the perception of partner sensitivity. Predictions were tested with 59 married couples, who engaged in a videotaped self-disclosure task. Matching support was defined as the disclosure of emotions followed by emotional support or a request for information followed by informational support. Partial evidence was found for the predictions. Matching support following the disclosure of emotions was predictive of perceived partner sensitivity. Mismatched support following the disclosure of emotions predicted lower marital satisfaction, through the mediation of partner sensitivity. Matching support following a request for information was not predictive of perceived partner sensitivity, but negative partner responses (e.g., criticism or sarcasm) following a request for information negatively predicted perceptions of partner sensitivity. The importance of considering the context of support transactions is discussed.     

Ageing and the self-reference effect in memory

The present study investigates potential age differences in the self-reference effect. Young and older adults incidentally encoded adjectives by deciding whether the adjective described them, described another person (Experiments 1 & 2), was a trait they found desirable (Experiment 3), or was presented in upper case. Like young adults, older adults exhibited superior recognition for self-referenced items relative to the items encoded with the alternate orienting tasks, but self-referencing did not restore their memory to the level of young adults. Furthermore, the self-reference effect was more limited for older adults. Amount of cognitive resource influenced how much older adults benefit from self-referencing, and older adults appeared to extend the strategy less flexibly than young adults. Self-referencing improves older adults' memory, but its benefits are circumscribed despite the social and personally relevant nature of the task.     

Mere exposure and the endowment effect on consumer decision making

Previous researchers (e.g., J. A. Bargh, 1992, 2002) demonstrated the importance of nonconscious processes on consumer choice behavior. Using an advertisement, the authors determined the effect of two nonconscious processes--the mere exposure effect, which increases object preference by increasing consumer exposure to an object, and the endowment effect, which increases object valuation by providing consumer possession of an object--on consumer behavior. Although the mere exposure effect and endowment effect did not produce an interaction, they produced independent effects. The endowment effect increased object valuation but not object preference. The mere exposure effect increased object preference but not object valuation. Thus, at the unconscious level, an increase in object preference does not lead to an increase in object valuation, nor does an increase in object valuation lead to an increase in object preference. The authors discuss the importance of developing measures of unconscious process in advertising effectiveness.     

Hospes: The Wabash Center as a Site of Transformative Hospitality

Abstract. The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion is a place of hospitality and its staff the epitome of the “good host.” This essay explores the meaning of hospitality, including its problematic dimensions, drawing on a number of voices and texts: Jacques Derrida's Of Hospitality; Henri M. Nouwen's Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, N. Lynne Westfield's Dear Sisters: A Womanist Practice of Hospitality, Arthur Sutherland's I Was a Stranger: A Christian Theology of Hospitality, and Kathleen Norris's “Hospitality.” Beginning with the claim that hospitality is concerned with power and grace, the essay explores the relationship between hospitality and teaching, and the modes by which the Wabash Center helps teachers both find their identities and heal.     

Object‐based visual processing in children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus: A cognitive neuropsychological analysis

The aim of the study was to use cognitive neuropsychological analysis to investigate object‐based visual processing skills in children with spina bifida myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus (SBH). Fourteen children with SBH (aged 8–12) and 21 age‐, socio‐economic status‐, and Verbal IQ‐matched healthy controls were assessed using the Birmingham Object Recognition Battery. Overall, the performance of the children with SBH on the object‐processing tasks was intact, indicating normal development of the ventral visual processing pathway. While the initial results indicated that the children with SBH performed statistically significantly less accurately on some tasks, these group differences no longer met significance criteria after capacity for sustained attention was statistically controlled.     

The sleep patterns and problems of clinically anxious children

Childhood sleep problems have been associated with a range of adverse cognitive and academic outcomes, as well as increased impulsivity and emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. The aim of the study was to examine subjective reports of sleep-related problems in children with anxiety disorders during school and weekend nights. Thirty-seven children with clinically-diagnosed anxiety disorders and 26 non-clinical children aged 7-12 years completed an on-line sleep diary to track sleep patterns across school nights and weekend nights. Anxious children reported going to bed significantly later (p = 0.03) and had significantly less sleep (p = 0.006) on school nights compared to non-anxious children. No significant differences in sleep onset latency, number of awakenings or time awake during the night, daytime sleepiness, or fatigue were found between the two groups. On the weekends, anxious children fell asleep quicker and were less awake during the night than on weeknights. School-aged anxiety disordered children showed a sleep pattern that differs from their non-anxious peers. Although the mean 30 min less sleep experienced by anxious children may initially seem small, the potential consequences on daytime performance from an accumulation of such a sleep deficit may be significant, and further investigation is warranted.     

Dependency Stereotypes and Aging: The Implications for Getting and Giving Help in Later Life

Older adults are often stereotyped as dependent on others. This study explored how seeing an older adult receiving help triggers the dependency stereotype, by examining perceptions of older and younger adults helping and being helped by others. Participants (183 younger and older adults) read vignettes of young and old people helping others and rated the helpers and helpees on 2 variables: one a composite of dependency and capability; and the other composed of thoughtfulness, generosity, and unselfishness (i.e., considerateness). Participants rated older helpees as dependent, no matter who helped them. Younger helpers and those who helped the elderly rated high on considerateness. Females rated helpers more positively than did males. Implications of these findings for older adults are discussed.     

Understanding the relation between explicitly and implicitly measured political orientation: The moderating role of political sophistication

Researchers have argued that to understand more fully political orientation, non-reactive measures similar to those used in the broader implicit attitudes literature should be explored. Recently, the nature of the relation between explicitly and implicitly measured attitudes has been a topic of considerable discussion, with researchers stressing the importance of when explicit and implicit measures are related and when they are not. In the present research, the relation between explicit and implicit political orientation, and the potential moderating role of political sophistication was investigated. Participants (N = 116) completed an explicit measure of political orientation, a liberal–conservative Implicit Association Test (IAT), and a test of political knowledge. Results showed that explicit and implicit political orientation scores were moderately correlated (r = .48) with each other. Moreover, results from regression analyses showed that the association between explicit and implicit political orientation was moderated by political knowledge scores, such that the positive association was stronger among participants with a greater knowledge of politics.     

Attachment, Marital Satisfaction, and Divorce During the First Fifteen Years of Parenthood

This study examines two overlapping longitudinal samples of U.S. couples with children, covering a period of 15 years after the first child's birth. The first sample extended from the pregnancy with a first child until that child was 5.5 years old; the second from ages 4.5 to 14.5. Growth curve analyses revealed that marital satisfaction declined over 15 years for both husbands and wives. Attachment security measured in the second sample was associated with greater marital satisfaction, but did not buffer against declines in marital satisfaction over time. Husbands' lower initial level of marital satisfaction measured around the first child's transition to school was the only significant predictor of marital dissolution. The discussion emphasizes theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

The Influence of Phonological Context on the Sound Errors of a Speaker with Wernicke's Aphasia

A corpus of phonological errors produced in narrative speech by a Wernicke's aphasic speaker (R.W.B.) was tested for context effects using two new methods for establishing chance baselines. A reliable anticipatory effect was found using the second method, which estimated chance from the distance between phoneme repeats in the speech sample containing the errors. Relative to this baseline, error-source distances were shorter than expected for anticipations, but not perseverations. R.W.B.'s anticipation/perseveration ratio measured intermediate between a nonaphasic error corpus and that of a more severe aphasic speaker (both reported in Schwartz et al., 1994), supporting the view that the anticipatory bias correlates to severity. Finally, R.W.B's anticipations favored word-initial segments, although errors and sources did not consistently share word or syllable position.