The Dyadic Relationships Test: Creation and Validation of a Model-Derived,Visual-Verbal Instrument to Evaluate Couples Part I of II

Abstract

In Part I of this article, background and rationale for the construction of a Selfhood model-derived visual-verbal Dyadic Relationships Test (DRT) is presented. Results from studies covering its reliability and verification of its psychometric properties are presented. Construct validity was evaluated through research with competing theoretical models. In Part II, results from studies are reported through discriminant and concurrent validity analyses in adoptive and traditional couples. A revision evaluated its construct validity with measures of negotiation, intimacy, and communication, and through relational and emotional life at different stages of the life cycle, including empty nest and retirement. Results from these studies tend to support the psychometric properties of this instrument and, indirectly, the validity of the Selfhood model underlying its construction.     

The vicissitudes of affect in Horney's theory

Abstract

Karen Horney, a Neo-Freudian analyst who immigrated from Germany to the USA, undertook the difficult task of developing a theory that remained concrete psychology without resorting to biology or to metapsychological entelechies. Although her basic construct, as in Freud, is a conflict between nature and culture, nature for her is the naturally endowed real self, which the neurotic abandons bowing to cultural pressures. This process of desertion is teleological and based on imagination, and is also creative. It entails the pursuit of a god-like idealized image of the self shaped according to narrow and despoiled values. Being interpersonal, Horney's theory avoids third-person objectification which creates a false distance; it thus remains (inter)subjective. A theory of interpersonal affect, it is dramatic before being dynamic. It also abandons claims to universality as it does to the “objectivity” of the natural sciences. Horney's focus on alienation brings her close to Hegel and Marx, a neglected fact, and she pioneered feminist and self-help theories. The difficulty in reading Horney is not her abstruseness, since her theory refuses technicism. It resides rather in that resistance created by what Althusser called interpellation: one feels her finger pointed at oneself as one reads.     

Positive Correlation Between Serum Interleukin‐1β and State Anger in Rugby Athletes

Recently, several studies reported a relationship between immune system activation and anger expression. Consequently, the aim of this study was to explore immunitary molecular mechanisms that potentially underlie anger expression. To this end, we applied the Frustration—Aggression Theory in a contact sport model, utilizing the nearing of sporting events to trigger anger feelings. In parallel, we evaluated the activation of immune system at mRNA levels. We enrolled 20 amateur rugby players (age ± SD, 27.2 ± 4.5) who underwent psychological assessment to evaluate anger, with the State‐Trait Anger Expression Inventory‐2 (STAXI‐2), before rugby matches; at the same time blood samples were taken to analyze the variations of gene expression by microarray. During the 2 hr before each game, a significant increase was verified in the Rage State (RS) score compared to the score ascertained 72 hr before. At the same time, we found modulation in expression profile, in particular increased expression of gene that encodes interleukin l‐β (IL‐1β). In a regression analysis, RS score was related to IL‐1β, and the potential risk factors age, body mass index, smoking, and drinking. The levels of cytokine were positively and independently related to RS score. Our results suggest that the nearing of sporting event can trigger anger state feelings and activate immune system in rugby players. We propose the IL‐1β as a potential biological marker of anger. However, further research is necessary to clarify the correlation between cytokine and anger. Aggr. Behav. 39 :141‐148, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Stress and intraocular pressure in myopes

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the intraocular pressure (IOP) responses in myopes and normally-sighted controls differ when the subjects are exposed to a short-term achievement related stressor. A second aim was to examine to what extent IOP would decrease through relaxation in myopes as compared with the controls. Nineteen short-sighted and 19 normally-sighted adults were subjected to four conditions: (1) baseline I, (2) arithmetical mental operations under time pressure and noise, (3) baseline II, and (4) relaxation. IOP was assessed before and after each experimental condition. Heart rate was measured, and subjective ratings were obtained regarding the level of stress and relaxation subjects experienced. The stressing achievement situation led to significant increases in IOP and to significantly higher increases in myopes than in controls. Relaxation led to significant decreases of IOP in both groups. Heart rate and subjective ratings did not differ between groups under any condition. The present results point to specific intraocular reaction patterns to stress in myopic persons. The potential impact of this finding for a behavioral approach to shortsightedness is high since IOP is considered one of the main variables in the development of myopia.     

Psychoneuroimmunology and male infertility: A possible link between stress,coping and male immunological infertility

Abstract

This current study investigated a link between stress and coping with some male infertility problems via psychoneuroimmunological theories. The study was carried out on 77 males who came to a fertility clinic for sperm diagnosis. Appraisal and coping with stress reaction to negative life events and to infertility were related to non-sperm cells within the seminal plasma. Those men who had felt strained from external events and from problems of infertility, and had used emotional escape coping strategies, were more prone to have an immunosuppressed reaction, indicated by bacteria within their plasma. Those using task focused control strategies were more prone to have an immunostimulatory reaction, indicated by white blood cells, including in some cases, sperm destroying phagocytes suggesting a possible auto-immunity reaction. When the analyses were done separately on patients with known male fertility problems in comparison with those with unexplained infertility, the two opposing psychoneuroimmunological processes became more pronounced.     

Scientific empathy,American buddhism,and the ethnography of religion

This paper examines some of the current ideas and methods that have problematised the study of religion within a globalised community. Religion and culture cannot be considered bounded entities, to be described as unchangeable. However, their constant process of change is not something new. It becomes new due to writing patterns and contemporary ideas on the relevance of religion or the creativity of culture. By analysing some discussions on possession cults, the paper suggests that ritual and performance constitute the moments when culture and religion are mediated. It is through ritual that religious practices are adapted, and it is in a ritual performance where culture is contested and challenged. Religion becomes ‘confused culture’, that once again is re‐organised and made orderly by reflection on ritual practices. Finally, the paper suggests that the agenda for an anthropology of religion for this new century is two‐fold. Firstly, to try to become more conversant with ever changing localised practices of ritual, and secondly, to try to converse about those practices with other practitioners and scholars from different fields and in different fields.     

Can't See the Forest for the Trees? The Effect of Media Multitasking on Cognitive Processing Style

Media multitasking represents an important aspect of the recent evolution in media consumption habits. While some experimental research exists, it has primarily focused on the detrimental effects of multitasking on task performance. We go a step further by examining the impact of media multitasking on information processing style. Study I demonstrates that media multitasking, compared to sequential media consumption, leads to a more local perceptual processing style. Furthermore, the frequency of media switching predicts the level of perceptual processing. Study II extends these findings by showing that media multitasking also affects conceptual processing style. Specifically, media multitasking leads to lower-level (or more concrete) construal of behaviors in a subsequent task. It further shows that conceptual rather than visual switching between media drives the observed differences in conceptual processing. These findings suggest that, as a growing phenomenon, media multitasking behavior may substantially alter the way media viewers process media content.     

The anxiety buffering function of close relationships: mortality salience effects on the readiness to compromise mate selection standards

This research examines the utility of a terror management approach to understanding the motivations and emotional consequences of compromise in mate selection. One hundred and sixty‐eight undergraduates completed a self‐esteem scale and a scale tapping ideal mate characteristics, and were then assigned either to a mortality salience, physical pain salience, or neutral condition. Half of the participants rated their readiness to compromise ideal mate standards and the remaining half completed a neutral scale. Then, participants completed a scale tapping their emotional state. Mortality salience led participants to significantly compromise their mate requirements. This effect seemed to be most pronounced among high self‐esteem participants who also experienced the greatest amount of guilt when compromising under mortality salient conditions. Low self‐esteem participants who compromised under mortality salient conditions reacted with higher levels of shame. The results are discussed in terms of the anxiety buffering functions of close relationships. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Test–Retest Reliability of Ratings of Job Performance Dimensions in Managers

This article examines the test–retest reliability of supervisory ratings for several dimensions of job performance and for overall job performance. We found that the test–retest reliability of overall job performance is .79 (SD = .08), a value very close to the one found by Viswesvaran, Ones and Schmidt (1996), and that the average test–retest reliability for specific dimensions of job performance is .57 (SD = .07). We also found that some dimensions of job performance appear to be easier to rate than others. We suggest some implications of these findings for research and practice of personnel selection.