Sense of Competence and Beliefs About Parental Roles in Mothers and Fathers as Predictors of Coparenting and Child Engagement in Mother–Father–Infant Triadic Interactions

The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which a sense of competence and beliefs about parental roles in mothers and fathers influence coparenting and child engagement in triadic interactions during the first 2 years of the child's life, after other influential variables such as marital satisfaction and postpartum depression have been controlled for. The sample constituted 69 mother–father–infant families, whose sense of competence, beliefs in parental roles, postpartum depression, and marital satisfaction were assessed in our laboratory at 3, 9, and 18 months with self‐reported questionnaires. Coparenting support and conflict and child engagement were assessed with the Lausanne Trilogue Play. Results show that (i) predictors of coparenting and child engagement are not the same at each time point; (ii) a sense of competence in mothers is positively linked with coparenting support, particularly at 3 months, whereas in fathers, it is negatively linked with support, particularly at 18 months; (iii) discrepancies between mothers and fathers in beliefs about the importance of the mother's role is the main predictor of coparenting conflict at 18 months; and (iv) paternal beliefs about the importance of the father's and mother's roles are the main predictor of child engagement at 18 months. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Continuity between waking activities and dream activities

Empirical studies largely support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. Despite of previous research efforts, the exact formulation of the continuity hypothesis remains vague. The present paper focuses on two aspects: (1) the differential incorporation rate of different waking-life activities and (2) the magnitude of which interindividual differences in waking-life activities are reflected in corresponding differences in dream content. Using a correlational design, a positive, non-zero correlation coefficient will support the continuity hypothesis. Although many researchers stress the importance of emotional involvement on the incorporation rate of waking-life experiences into dreams, formulated the hypothesis that highly focused cognitive processes such as reading, writing, etc. are rarely found in dreams due to the cholinergic activation of the brain during dreaming. The present findings based on dream diaries and the exact measurement of waking activities replicated two recent questionnaire studies. These findings indicate that it will be necessary to specify the continuity hypothesis more fully and include factors (e.g., type of waking-life experience, emotional involvement) which modulate the incorporation rate of waking-life experiences into dreams. Whether the cholinergic state of the brain during REM sleep or other alterations of brain physiology (e.g., down-regulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) are the underlying factors of the rare occurrence of highly focused cognitive processes in dreaming remains an open question. Although continuity between waking life and dreaming has been demonstrated, i.e., interindividual differences in the amount of time spent with specific waking-life activities are reflected in dream content, methodological issues (averaging over a two-week period, small number of dreams) have limited the capacity for detecting substantial relationships in all areas. Nevertheless, it might be concluded that the continuity hypothesis in its present general form is not valid and should be elaborated and tested in a more specific way.     

Category-bounded emotional enhancement: spillover effects in the valuation of public goods

ABSTRACT

We examined whether enhancing (vs. not enhancing) the emotionality of a referent public good influences the subsequent valuation of a target public good. We predicted that it would and that the directionality of its impact would depend on a fundamental cognitive process – categorisation. If the target and referent goods belong to the same domain, we expected that the effect on the target would be in the same direction as the emotional enhancement of the referent (assimilation effect). However, if the target and referent goods belong to different domains, we expected that the effect on the target would be either negligible or in the opposite direction to that of the emotional enhancement of the referent (null or contrast effect). In Experiment 1 we examined the impact of emotionally enhancing a referent public good on feelings towards a target public good, whereas in Experiment 2 on the willingness to contribute towards a target public good. The results support the predicted interaction, which was driven by an assimilation effect for same-domain goods and a null effect for different-domain goods. In doing so, the present findings highlight the interplay between cognition and emotion in the valuation of public goods. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.     

Transmission of religious beliefs in college students

The aim of the current study was to assess factors contributing to the generational transmission of religious beliefs in a sample of college students. Participants were 92 students from a small Catholic university in the southeastern United States. Students were surveyed in school regarding family relationships, communication, and religious values. Overall, results indicated that children’s and parents’ religious beliefs were significantly correlated. Furthermore, children were fairly accurate reporters of their parents’ religious beliefs. Some gender differences were found in the strength of the correlations between parents’ and children’s beliefs. Additionally, explicit communication, implicit communication, and perception of parents’ beliefs predicted children’s beliefs. The current study holds clinical and developmental significance by examining the manner in which religiosity is expressed within the familial milieu of emerging adults.     

Hope and Dread in Mutuality and Asymmetry Regarding the Analytic Setting: Reply to Commentaries

The challenging commentaries to the discussion on the analytic setting help to clarify the various meanings this concept have to us as analysts, supervisors, theoreticians, and members of the analytic community. This sharing of our thoughts, experiences, and feelings helps refine the dilemmas we share as relational analysts regarding the setting as structure or as process. As I see it, the challenge of being a relational analyst lies in the tension between affording mutuality while retaining the asymmetry that enables a deepening of the mutuality regarding the analytic setting.     

The Therapist,the Patient,and the Therapeutic Setting: Mutual Construction of the Setting as a Therapeutic Factor

The author examines several types of therapeutic action intrinsic to Davies's clinical work. Among these actions was Davies's eventual and careful willingness to ask her patient to hold affective states that the patient had previously been unable to hold; to discover a way to speak to her patient about her own struggles with the patient while risking, and actually knowing, that, inevitably, some of the patient's discovery of what the analyst feels will resonate with painful past experience; to create another countertransference space in which Davies found a way to become a different kind of bad or disappointing object to the patient than the patient's earlier disappointment with parental figures, though one that proved much more helpful and bearable than her previous experience; and eventually, though implicitly, to accept the aggressive and harsh ways in which the patient was already experiencing newness in the context of repetitive disappointment. In each of these types of action, the opportunity for mourning figures prominently.