Psychosocial vulnerability from adolescence to adulthood: a prospective study of attachment style differences in relationship functioning and partner choice

Using a prospective research design, this study explored whether attachment style during adolescence forecasts the nature and quality of romantic relationships in early adulthood and investigated two general pathways for explaining these effects. Black and White community residents were first interviewed in adolescence at which time they completed a self-report measure of attachment style. Approximately 6 years later, they participated in a follow-up interview along with their current romantic partners (N = 224 couples). Results revealed that insecure attachment in adolescence was a risk factor for adverse relationship outcomes in adulthood, although the effects were most consistent for avoidant attachment. Avoidant adolescents were involved in relationships that they (and their partners) rated as less satisfying overall; they also engaged in fewer pro-relationship behaviors, and perceived that their partners engaged in fewer pro-relationship behaviors. In addition, avoidant adolescents were involved with partners who had less healthy personality profiles. Results for anxious-ambivalent and secure attachment were weaker, more complex, and moderated by gender. This study provides the first prospective evidence that avoidant attachment places individuals at risk for adverse relationship outcomes and highlights potential pathways through which this occurs.     

Word frequency and receiver operating characteristic curves in recognition memory: evidence for a dual-process interpretation

Dual-process models of the word-frequency mirror effect posit that low-frequency words are recollected more often than high-frequency words, producing the hit rate differences in the word-frequency effect, whereas high-frequency words are more familiar, producing the false-alarm-rate differences. In this pair of experiments, the authors demonstrate that the analysis of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves provides critical information in support of this interpretation. Specifically, when participants were required to discriminate between studied nouns and their plurality reversed complements, the ROC curve was accurately described by a threshold model that is consistent with recollection-based recognition. Further, the plurality discrimination ROC curves showed characteristics consistent with the interpretation that participants recollected low-frequency items more than high-frequency items.     

Conflict across organizational boundaries: managed care organizations versus health care providers

This research examined conflicts that occur across organizational boundaries, specifically between managed care organizations and health care providers. Using boundary spanning theory as a framework, the authors identified 3 factors in the 1st study (30 interviews) that influence this conflict: (a) organizational power, (b) personal status differences of the individuals handling the conflict, and (c) their previous interactions. These factors affected the individuals' behavioral responses or emotions, specifically anger. After developing hypotheses, the authors tested them in a 2nd study using 109 conflict incidents drawn from 9 different managed care organizations. The results revealed that organizational power affects behavioral responses, whereas status differences and previous negative interactions affect emotions.     

Philosophy in Mediis Rebus

Philosophy should begin in the middle of things. I distinguish two ways in which I think that philosophy should begin in the middle of things, and then I describe the two dominant approaches to analytic philosophy today: scientific pragmatism and conceptual analysis (or, more broadly, "a priorism"). After giving reasons for dissatisfaction with both of these dominant approaches, I set out my own view – Practical Realism – and argue for the merits of its methodological and metaphysical components.     

Children's Testimony: A Review of Research on Memory for Past Experiences

This review of children's testimony focuses on research related to memory for past experiences. The aspects of the memory system that are involved in testimony are discussed and the development of autobiographical memory is examined. Relevant research findings are summarized in the context of an information-processing model of memory and the implications of this work for clinical practice are outlined. We conclude that (1) under certain conditions, even very young children can remember and report past experiences with some accuracy over very long periods of time; (2) substantial and significant developmental differences have been demonstrated in children's abilities to provide eyewitness testimony; (3) children can be influenced in a variety of ways to provide complete and elaborated reports of events that never occurred; and (4) even experts cannot always tell the difference between true and false reports.     

The Spiritual,Moral, Social and Cultural Values of Students in a Jewish and a Catholic Secondary School

What do students who have attended a Jewish or a Catholic secondary school have to say about the influences on their development, the values they hold and their future goals? Based on responses from more than a hundred students, in two faith-based schools, the article shows that there is no strong commitment to institutional religion or school worship but many refer to the impact on their lives of shared time away together and are willing to be of service to others. Students from both schools value diversity and openness to others. Some of the similarities and the differences between the two schools are explored, comparisons are made with relevant international research, and four possible implications of the findings are indicated.     

Belief in a Just World and Condom Use in a Sample of Gay and Bisexual Men1

Research has shown that, under certain conditions, people with a strong belief in a just world (BJW) perceive themselves to be less at risk for serious negative events (e.g., contracting AIDS). We extended this work by investigating the relation between BJW and high‐risk sexual behavior Gay and bisexual men (N= 102) responded to a questionnaire that measured individual differences in BJW, personality characteristics related to perceived relationship threat (e.g., interpersonal control), and frequency of condom use and anal intercourse. Results generally supported predictions. For example, among respondents low in interpersonal control, a strong BJW was associated with less frequent condom use. These results have implications for research on BJW, as well as research on the predictors of high‐risk sexual behavior.     

An Evaluation of Two Mediation Techniques,Negotiator Power,and Culture in Negotiation1

This study examines the effects of 4 factors in a mediated transfer‐pricing negotiation: (a) the mediator's suggestion that negotiators have concern for the other (opposing) negotiator; (b) the mediator's proposal of moderate goals; (c) negotiator power; and (d) culture. In the simulated negotiations that were mediated by a corporate official, participants were 374 subjects from Hong Kong and the United States. Negotiators obtained lower joint outcomes when urged by the mediator to show concern for the other than when not given this admonition. When the mediator proposed moderate (vs. high) goals, the negotiators received lower joint outcomes but had a higher opinion of the mediator. While we expected negotiator power (equal vs. unequal) to interact with suggested concern for the other, it did so only for the negotiators' individual outcomes. Finally, culture produced a main effect: Hong Kong negotiators obtained higher joint outcomes than did their U. S. counterparts.     

Investigating the link between validation seeking and lay dispositionism

In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between validation seeking (VS; Dykman, 1998) and lay dispositionism, the use of personality traits as the basis for social inference (Chiu, Hong, & Dweck, 1997). Specifically, the authors sought to empirically address three questions: (a) Does VS predict the tendency to make dispositional inferences and, if so, do social comparison tendencies mediate this relationship? (b) Does VS mediate the association between implicit person theories and lay dispositionism? and (c) Does contingent parental regard indirectly predict lay dispositionism via its effects on VS and/or implicit person theories? Results suggest that both VS and entity person theories facilitate lay dispositionism, yet do so via distinct processes. Both processes are driven at least partly by contingent parental regard; however, their effects on lay dispositionism differ in scope and in the extent to which they entail social comparison.