All marriages are not maintained equally: Marital type,marital quality,and the use of maintenance behaviors

Although a growing amount of research has shown that married couples enact behaviors that maintain or preserve the relationship, little attention has examined how maintenance strategies are used in different types of marriages. This study investigated differences in the use of maintenance behaviors and in perceptions of marital quality across various marital types and explored the relationship between maintenance behaviors, marital types and key indicators of marital quality. Data collected from 141 married couples indicated that couples differed in the use of maintenance behaviors among various marital types. Further, the relationship between maintenance behaviors and perceptions of the key indicators of marital quality varied depending upon couples’ideological frameworks. The findings allow for a better picture of the use of maintenance behaviors in different types of marriages.     

When does performance feedback prompt complementarity in romantic relationships?

Two studies addressed five issues concerning complementarity in romantic relationships and suggest that complementarity deserves a new look. Dating couples (N= 28 couples) and married couples (N= 43). were given performance feedback to assess effects on self and perceived partner relevance. We found that comparison with a partner but not comparison with a stranger prompted complementarity (Study 1). Comparison resulted in complementarity and did not merely change self‐image (Studies 1 and 2). Both outperforming the partner and being outperformed by the partner can prompt complementarity (Study 2). Ceding areas to the partner in response to being outperformed was relatively automatic (Study 2). And, degree of development in the relationship influenced response to comparison‐feedback (Studies 1 and 2). Findings suggest that partners in romantic relationships automatically protect their views of the relationship as a “team” by increasing “perceived complementarity” in response to differential performance feedback.     

EFFECTS OF CONSCIENTIOUSNESS AND EXTRAVERSION ON NEW LABOR MARKET ENTRANTS' JOB SEARCH: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF METACOGNITIVE ACTIVITIES AND POSITIVE EMOTIONS

Job seekers' Conscientiousness and Extraversion show consistent relationships with their job search activities and success, although the explanatory mechanisms for these relationships are unclear ( Kanfer, Wanberg, & Kantrowitz, 2001 ). To explore these mechanisms, we developed and tested a model in which both Conscientiousness and Extraversion influenced metacognitive activities whereas Extraversion alone influenced positive emotions; these mediating variables in turn were predicted to influence resumé submissions, first interviews, second interviews, and job offers. Using longitudinal data collected from 232 job applicants, we found support for these predictions. Interestingly, meta-cognitive activities appeared to be more important in predicting resumé submissions and first interviews, whereas positive emotions predicted success in obtaining second interviews and job offers. We discuss the implications of our results and suggest future directions for research.     

Culturally Informed and Flexible Family-Based Treatment for Adolescents: A Tailored and Integrative Treatment for Hispanic Youth

The increasing utilization of evidence-based treatments has highlighted the need for treatment development efforts that can craft interventions that are effective with Hispanic substance abusing youth and their families. The list of evidence-based treatments is extremely limited in its inclusion of interventions that are explicitly responsive to the unique characteristics and treatment needs of young Hispanics and that have been rigorously tested with this population. Some treatments that have been tested with Hispanics do not articulate the manner in which cultural characteristics and therapy processes interact. Other treatments have emphasized the important role of culture but have not been tested rigorously. The value of well designed interventions built upon an appreciation for unique patient characteristics was highlighted by Beutler et al. (1996) when they argued that "psychotherapy is comprised of a set of complex tasks, and practitioners need comprehensive knowledge of how different processes used in psychotherapy interact with patient characteristics in order to make treatment decisions that will maximize and optimize therapeutic power" (p. 30). A focus on how treatment processes interact with patient characteristics is particularly relevant in the Hispanic population because of the considerable heterogeneity beneath the Hispanic umbrella. Our new program of clinical research focuses on articulating how the varied profiles with regard to immigration stressors, acculturation processes, values clashes, sense of belonging to the community, discrimination, and knowledge about issues important to adolescent health can be more effectively addressed by a culturally informed treatment.     

MOTIVATING THE GLOBAL DEMOS

Abstract: Debates about the possibility of global democracy and justice are plagued by a fallacious assumption made by all parties. That assumption is that there is a "naturalness" to relations among fellow nationals to which a global demos could never aspire. In fact, nation builders employed a great many tools that mobilized the psychological and moral susceptibilities of individuals in order to create a sense of solidarity out of initially heterogeneous elements. Two such tools are described and then applied to the global sphere: first, appeals to prudence through the sometimes artificial engineering of Hobbesian situations, and second, uses of philosophically inferior but motivationally optimal moral argument. The applicability of these strategies to the global sphere suggests that cosmopolitans would be well advised to examine further the nation builder's toolbox for other devices through which a global demos might be motivated.     

Two Faces of Representativeness: The Effects of Response Format on Beliefs about Random Sampling

Two beliefs that act in concert have been proposed as the basis for the representativeness heuristic in general, and judgments about random sampling in particular: samples resemble their parent populations (resemblance), and random sampling is a self-correcting process (balancing). Based on the results of a preliminary experiment, we proposed the ‘rule-cuing’ hypothesis, which is that different aspects of sampling problems can invoke these two beliefs separately. We found that when response formats required subjects to estimate themean of a sample, subjects’ responses reflected resemblance beliefs, whereas when subjects estimated the total score in a sample, balancing beliefs were elicited. In additional experiments we eliminated two rival hypotheses: theproblem difficulty hypothesis, and thearithmetic inconsistency hypothesis. Results suggest that beliefs, as well as preferences, may be constructed on-line in response to task characteristics.     

Motivational effects in the mere-exposure paradigm

Three experiments investigated the effects of time-pressure and evaluation apprehension on the mere-exposure phenomenon (Zajonc, 1968). Subjects viewed slides of abstract paintings at different frequencies of exposure and subsequently indicated their liking for the stimuli. Evaluation apprehension during the assessment phase consistently undermined mere-exposure effects. Furthermore, when evaluation apprehension was high, time-pressure magnified those effects. These findings were discussed in terms of the notions that (1) prior exposure may increase the sense of processing fluency associated with a stimulus (Jacoby & Kelley, 1990), (2) fluency may be interpreted as plausibility of a judgmental cue evoked by the stimulus, (3) motivational factors like time-pressure and evaluation apprehension may moderate the impact of plausibility information on judgment, hence, may moderate ‘mere-exposure’ effects.