Hear No Evil,See No Evil,Think No Evil: Ethics and the Appeal to Experience

This essay distinguishes three types of appeals to experience in ethics, identifies problems with appealing to experience, and argues that appeals to experience must be open to critical assessment, if experientially-based arguments are to be useful. Unless competing and potentially irreconcilable experiences can be assessed and adjudicated, experientially-based arguments will be problematic. The paper recommends thinking of the appeal to experience as a kind of story telling to be evaluated as other stories are.     

Attachment and the investment model: Predictors of relationship commitment,maintenance, and persistence

This research examines adult attachment and the investment model. Study 1 tests anxiety and avoidance predicting romantic relationship commitment, mediated by satisfaction, alternatives, and investments. Additional studies added outcomes of relationship maintenance (Study 2) and persistence (Study 3). In all 3 studies, satisfaction, alternatives, and investments mediated the associations between anxiety and avoidance and relationship commitment. A direct effect of avoidance on commitment remained. The investment model variables mediated the effect of anxiety and avoidance on accommodation and willingness to sacrifice (Study 2) and relationship persistence (Study 3). Direct effects remained for avoidance on accommodation and anxiety on persistence. The mediated model was supported for men and women, proximal and long‐distance relationships, and college student and community samples.     

The Role of Attitudes in Reactions Toward Diversity in Workgroups1

The present study examined attitudes toward diversity as a moderator of outcomes of diversity in workgroups. Two studies were conducted that focused on the development of the Attitudes Toward Diverse Workgroups Scale (ADWS) and on the impact of diversity attitudes on task performance and psychological reactions in actual face‐to‐face diverse brainstorming groups. The first study supported the internal consistency and stability of the ADWS and revealed that it was related, in the predicted way, to the Big Five and general prejudice. The second study revealed that high scores on the productive and affective dimensions of the ADWS enhanced brainstorming performance (quality of ideas) in actual diverse groups and positive psychological reactions to the group experiences, respectively.     

Effects of Quantity and Quality Instructions on Brainstorming

One of the basic presumptions of brainstorming is that a focus on generating a large number of ideas enhances both the number of ideas generated and the number of good ideas (original and useful). Prior research has not clearly demonstrated the utility of such a quantity focus in comparison to a condition in which quantity is not emphasized. There have been some comparisons of the impact of quantity and quality focus on the number and quality of ideas, but the results of these comparisons have been mixed. The present study examined brainstorming with four different types of instructions: no specific focus, a quantity goal, a quality goal, or a joint quantity and quality goal. The quantity goal condition was superior to the other three conditions in leading to the generation of more ideas and more good ideas. These findings support Osborn's (1953) assumption that a quantity focus is most beneficial for brainstorming.     

The Relation of Weight Stigmatization to Psychological Adjustment1

This study investigated weight stigmatization as a predictor of adjustment in samples of 100 undergraduates and 99 bariatric patients. Coping strategies (emotion‐focused coping, problem‐focused coping, disengagement coping) were tested as moderators of this relation. Weight stigmatization predicted depression, anxiety, and antisocial behavior when controlling for the effects of stressful life events. Problem‐focused coping weakened the association between weight stigmatization and depression. Emotion‐focused coping augmented the relation between weight stigmatization and antisocial behavior. The results support weight stigmatization as a meaningful predictor of adjustment difficulties. Engendering a problem‐focused coping style over an emotion‐focused coping style might benefit patients reporting weight stigmatization. Further work is necessary to understand what specific elements of these coping styles impact adjustment.