Commitment in romantic relationships as a function of partners’ encoding of important couple-related memories

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how significant couple-related events are encoded in the episodic memory of each partner of a romantic relationship and how they relate to each of these partners’ level of commitment in an independent and additive fashion. Each partner of a couple reported a significant couple-related memory and rated their level of need satisfaction experienced during the event of the memory. In addition, each partner was shown his/her partner’s memory and also rated their own level of need satisfaction for this event. Results showed that partners need satisfaction ratings of their own memory positively predicted their own commitment to the relationship directly (for women) as well as through their need satisfaction generally experienced in the relationship (for men). In addition, men’s need satisfaction ratings of their own memory were associated with women’s commitment while controlling for women’s need satisfaction ratings of men’s memory, but no such cross-partner effects were found for women. Overall, the findings shed light on an initial understanding of how a person’s own memory of an event can impact another person’s attitudes even when taking into account this other person’s memory encoding of that same event.     

What is it to move oneself emotionally? Emotion and affectivity according to Jean-Paul Sartre

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - Emotion is traditionally described as a phenomenon that dominates the subject because one does not choose to be angry, sad, or happy. However, would it be...     

The relation between risk perceptions and physical activity among older adults: a prospective study

Past studies have found that risk perceptions of suffering from diseases play an important role in the development of intentions to perform physical activity (PA). According to the behaviour motivation hypothesis, perceived risk could be positively and directly related to PA, but this possibility has been ignored and/or underestimated. Accounting for recent methodological developments on the importance of study design and risk perception assessment, the purpose of the present study was to examine the risk-perceptions-PA relationship among older adults. Participants (N=143) aged from 61 to 70 years initially underwent measurement of risk perceptions, baseline PA, socio-demographic and health factors. Six months later, they were asked about their PA participation. Multiple regression analyses revealed that perceived risk of suffering from diseases and conditions without regular PA participation was an independent positive predictor of later PA, over and beyond baseline behaviour, socio-demographic and health variables. This study fills a gap in the existing literature on the PAs of older adults and reveals that risk perceptions are directly linked to their participation. In addition, it extends existing knowledge in health psychology on the behaviour motivation hypothesis, and emphasises the necessity of methodological adjustments when assessing the risk-perception-behaviour relationship.     

Economic inequality is linked to biased self-perception

People's self-perception biases often lead them to see themselves as better than the average person (a phenomenon known as self-enhancement). This bias varies across cultures, and variations are typically explained using cultural variables, such as individualism versus collectivism. We propose that socioeconomic differences among societies--specifically, relative levels of economic inequality--play an important but unrecognized role in how people evaluate themselves. Evidence for self-enhancement was found in 15 diverse nations, but the magnitude of the bias varied. Greater self-enhancement was found in societies with more income inequality, and income inequality predicted cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement better than did individualism/collectivism. These results indicate that macrosocial differences in the distribution of economic goods are linked to microsocial processes of perceiving the self.     

Directed forgetting of autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer's disease

Using the autobiographical directed forgetting method (Barnier et al., 2007), the present paper addressed the intentional inhibitory processes of episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Mild AD patients and healthy elderly people were instructed to either forget or to continue remembering previously generated autobiographical events. In a later recall test they were asked to reconstruct the early-generated memories regardless of the forget/remember instruction. Autobiographical reconstruction was further distributed into episodic and semantic memories. Results showed no forget instruction effect on episodic or semantic autobiographical recall with AD patients, whereas healthy elderly people were able to inhibit only episodic autobiographical memories. The findings suggest an impairment of the intentional inhibitory processes in autobiographical memory with AD and a relative preservation of these mechanisms with normal ageing. They also demonstrate an earlier decline in the intentional inhibitory processes compared to the autobiographical deterioration in AD.     

Ethnicity and Homeownership in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver: Measuring Effects of the Spatial Distribution of Ethnic Groups Using Multilevel Modeling in 1996 and 2001

This article presents the results of an empirical study on the relationship between the spatial distribution of ethnic groups and their access to homeownership in the three largest Canadian cities. Firstly, we argue, based on former theoretical work, that ethnicity has partly been misleadingly conceptualized in previous research on housing and neighbourhood dynamics. Consequently, we also argue that ethnic affiliation has wrongly been included as an individual trait in previous research, whereas it is a characteristic that needs to be treated as a collective trait. Multilevel modeling is presented here as a helpful way to avoid the limitation of previous research on this specific issue. Secondly, we attempt to test certain hypotheses about the emergence of an “ethnic capital” in metropolitan regions where immigration and cultural diversity are rising. In order to achieve this goal, we estimate the relationship between various dimensions of ethnic segregation and the mean level of ownership. We also try to determine whether the aggregation of ethnic groups in urban space enhances the probability of their members having access to homeownership. Our study provides mixed results in regards to these hypotheses. The “assimilation theory” seems to be applicable in most cases, while some of our results also lead to the conclusion that when ethnic groups with a higher income level are concentrated in space, this can foster their ability to access homeownership.     

Self-representation in social anxiety disorder: linguistic analysis of autobiographical narratives

Cognitive models of social anxiety disorder (SAD) posit aberrant beliefs about the social self as a key psychological mechanism that maintains fear of negative evaluation in social and performance situations. Consequently, a distorted self-view should be evident when recalling painful autobiographical social memories, as reflected in linguistic expression, negative self-beliefs, and emotion and avoidance. To test this hypothesis, 42 adults diagnosed with SAD and 27 non-psychiatric healthy controls (HC) composed autobiographical narratives of distinct social anxiety related situations, generated negative self-beliefs (NSB), and provided emotion and avoidance ratings. Although narratives were matched for initial emotional intensity and present vividness, linguistic analyses demonstrated that, compared to HC, SAD employed more self-referential, anxiety, and sensory words, and made fewer references to other people. There were no differences in the number of self-referential NSB identified by SAD and HC. Social anxiety symptom severity, however, was associated with greater self-referential NSB in SAD only. SAD reported greater current self-conscious emotions when recalling autobiographical social situations, and greater active avoidance of similar situations than did HC. These findings support cognitive models of SAD, and suggest that autobiographical memory of social situations in SAD may influence current and future thinking, emotion, and behavioral avoidance.     

The neural bases of the constructive nature of autobiographical memories studied with a self-paced fMRI design

In Conway and Pleydell-Pearce's model (2000), autobiographical memories are viewed as transitory mental representations, more often generated in an effortful way. An important claim of the model concerns the dynamic process that evolves over time, from the left prefrontal areas to posterior regions, to retrieve specific memories. The present work aims at investigating, using fMRI, the temporal distribution of effortful autobiographical memory construction. In addition, a self-paced design was implemented to elucidate the question of the timing window required to evoke recollections. The results showed a large pattern of brain regions, which included the two major poles of activation predicted by Conway and Pleydell-Pearce's model. Likewise, we were able to detect the earlier implication of the left dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex, by comparison with posterior structures, which seemed to confirm its involvement in the effortful retrieval process. Finally, the self-paced procedure allowed us to refine the timing window necessary to construct past events.     

Quantifying continuous exercise using the ratio of work completed to endurance limit associated with exercise-induced delayed-onset muscle soreness

This study quantified training load of various exercises using a novel method developed by the authors and based on the ratio of work completed: endurance limit, associated with exercise-induced delayed-onset muscle soreness. Exercises were also quantified using the Training Impulse method. 8 runners performed a marathon and a 60-min. run at marathon velocity, and 9 rowers performed two maximal exercises (500 m and 2000 m) on a rowing ergometer. To examine the validity of the two methods, the relationships between the training loads provided by the Training Impulse and the Authors' methods, the direct comparison of the tasks performed, and the usability of the Authors' method components in regular training were assessed. Authors' method was significantly related to Training Impulse method (r = .83, p < .05) and was higher for running (r = .94, p < .05) but none was observed for rowing. In both methods, the marathon run resulted in high training load compared with the other tasks. When compared with the 60-min. run, the training load of the 2000-m row was slightly higher for the Authors' method, but lower for Training Impulse method. In the Authors' method, the delayed-onset muscle soreness component discriminates the marathon from the other tasks whereas the ration of work completed: endurance limit differentiates the 60-min. run from the 2000-m row. The duration component of the Training Impulse method could lead to overestimation of the training load of prolonged exercises compared with high intensity exercise. The relationship between the Training Impulse and the Authors' methods for prolonged exercises, the training load provided for each task, and the components of the Authors' method supported the validity of this new tool to describe exercise-induced fatigue.