Marital conflict and marital intimacy: an integrative psychodynamic-behavioral-systemic model.

A conceptual model of some of the intrapsychic and interpersonal forces that stimulate and maintain repetitive, nonproductive marital conflict behavior is presented. In this model, concepts derived from psychoanalytic and social-learning theory and integrated within a family systems framework. Implications for conjoint therapy with conflictual couples are discussed.     

Locus of causality and the use of information in the development of causal attributions1

Two studies were conducted to examine whether attributions made about events may be influenced by individual assumptions regarding causation that are age related. In Study 1, 96 subjects at three age levels (four and five years, eight and nine years, and college students) observed a target actor on videotape select an item from an unseen array, and four other actors either agree (high consensus) or disagree (low consensus) with the choice. Subjects were asked to decide why the actor liked the chosen object best—because of something about the actor (person attribution) or because of something about the item (entity attribution). The results showed that perceived locus of causality shifted from entity to person attributions with age. In addition, subjects at all ages were able to utilize the consensus information when they had no opportunity to form their own impressions about the items in the array. In Study 2, 126 subjects at four age levels (five and six years, seven and eight years, nine and ten years, and high school students) chose an item from among an array for themselves and responded to a person (self)/entity attribution question regarding the locus of their own choice. The entity to person shift with age was again found and was supported by additional measures. The results are discussed in terms of children's causal reasoning capacities and social environmental factors affecting developmental change in social judgments.     

THE ROLE OF FEEDBACK IN VOLUNTARY CONTROL OF BLOOD PRESSURE IN INSTRUCTED SUBJECTS1

Forty normal male volunteers were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions and instructed to raise and lower their systolic blood pressure. Subjects received either beat-to-beat feedback contingent on pressure changes, noncontingent beat-to-beat feedback, noncontingent feedback presented randomly with respect to the occurrence of each heart beat, or instructions alone. The order of increase and decrease trial blocks was counterbalanced across groups. Subjects receiving contingent feedback were monetarily rewarded for appropriate pressure changes. Subjects receiving noncontingent feedback received rewards and feedback equal to the mean received by the contingent group. Subjects in the instructions-only condition were also paid this bonus but were informed of their earnings only at the conclusion of the experiment. Results indicated that in the presence of instructions, feedback, whether contingent or noncontingent, added little to subjects' ability to control pressure during a single session. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

An inexpensive 28-V timer circuit using solid state and relay devices

An easily constructed 28-V dc timer circuit is described. The circuit is as precise, reliable, and versatile as some commercially available units, but is much less expensive to construct.     

Depression and marital interaction.

A family-systems model of depression is presented and discussed. In this model, the intrapsychic concept of cognitive schema and the interpersonal concepts of social stimulation and social reingorcement are integrated within a systems-theory perspective. The effects of positive and negative feedback are delineated, and a concept of depression-triggering and depression-maintaining feedback loops is described. A clinical illustration is utilized to exemplify the theoretical model.     

INCREASING EXTENDED CARE FACILITY RESIDENTS' ATTENDANCE AT RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES WITH CONVENIENT LOCATIONS AND PERSONAL INVITATIONS1

Residents of extended care facilities generally exhibit a low level of attendance at recreational and therapeutic activities. Spatial arrangement of rooms, prompting, snacks, and small prizes have been suggested as factors that affect attendance. The present study examined the effects of an extensive system of prompts and the location of activity areas on the attendance of residents at a variety of activities. Twenty-six subjects were randomly selected from the ambulatory population of the facility. The first time each subject entered the activity room during the first 6 min of an activity session their name was recorded. Reliability measures were taken at 10 sessions, with a 95% mean agreement between observers. The variables examined were the amount of individualization of subjects (experimental group I: names announced versus experimental group 2: names not announced), room location (central or peripheral), use of names in announcements (activity only versus activity and group I names), and mode of announcement (PA system only versus PA system and in-person). A counter-balanced group design with repeated measures was used, with a randomly determined order of application of experimental treatments. An analysis of variance split plot 2.222 (Kirk, R. E. Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Science. Belmont, Ca.: Brooks-Cole, 1968.) of the level of subject attendance yielded significant main effects for room location, F(1, 24) = 5.47, p < 0.05, and type of announcement, F(1, 24) = 9.10, p < 0.01, and significant interactions for Individualization × Use of Names in Announcements, F(1, 24) = 5.57, p < 0.05, and Room Location × Mode of Announcement, F(1, 24) = 7.90, p < 0.01. The results indicate that using a centrally located room and announcement of resident names increases attendance at a variety of activities. The increased social and environmental interaction generated by activity attendance has potential therapeutic benefits for the residents involved. Furthermore, the kind of information reported here and by others should be taken into consideration by planners of a variety of group living facilities, ranging from nursing homes to residential treatment cottages.     

Simulation of Preference Information in an Interactive Reference Point‐Based Method for the Bi‐Objective Inventory Routing Problem

In the research area of multiple criteria decision making, very few publications exist that explicitly design the simulation of a decision maker (DM) in an interactive approach. For this reason, we outline some methods widely used in the literature to identify common assumptions of simulating the DM's responses and the required input preference information. Our paper aims at covering the identified gap by introducing experimental concepts. Such concepts are used for theoretical analyses of a combined search‐and‐decision‐making procedure. Simulating the DM is a fruitful idea because the algorithm can be tested without integrating a human decision maker. Finally, we conduct experiments based on the proposed settings for a multiobjective inventory routing problem, which is a relevant and challenging logistic problem. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.