THE IMPORTANCE OF NONGENETIC INFLUENCES ON ROMANTIC LOVE STYLES: A Twin-Family Study

Research in several disciplines reveals large individual differences in orientations to romantic love, yet the origins of the differences have been unclear In this first behavior genetic study of romantic love, biometric model fitting reveals that in contrast to other personality and attitude domains, where genetic factors account for approximately 50% of the reliable variance and shared environment has little effect, individual differences in romantic love are due almost exclusively to environment Moreover, the common family environment plays a sizable role in determining love styles, a finding compatible with theories stressing the importance of family interactions in personality development     

College Students' Perceptions of the Relationship Between Fee and Counseling

Fee as a variable that could have an impact on college students' perceptions of counseling was explored because of the authentic concerns about college counseling centers needing to charge direct fees for their services. Participants (N = 350) represented a cross-section of potential consumers of psychological services, not just individuals currently receiving services. On an overt level, fees seemed to be less influential in counseling considerations, but were taken into account on a more covert level. This study supports the psychological literature, which suggests that fee is not the most important factor in clients' decisions to seek counseling. Implications for counselors, administrators, researchers, and program planners are discussed.     

Client Cognitive Responses as a Function of Quality of Counselor Verbal Responses

This study examined the relationship between high and low quality counselor responses in four response modes and client cognitions. Twenty-one university students participated in two sessions of brief counseling that included high and low quality counselor responses in paraphrasing, questioning, reflection of feeling, and self-disclosure. After each counseling session, participants used Kagan's (1975) interpersonal process recall method to report their cognitions in response to these counselor responses. Results indicated that the participants had more favorable cognitions toward the counselor associated with high quality counselor paraphrasing and reflection of feeling responses. Participants' cognitions directed toward themselves did not differ in response to any of the four high and low quality counselor responses. Implications of the results are discussed.     

The Correlation of General Cognitive Ability and Psychomotor Tracking Tests

A study was conducted to investigate the nexus of cognitive and psychomotor tests as might be used for personnel selection and assessment. These two domains are frequently seen as independent. A multiple aptitude cognitive test battery and a psychomotor test battery were administered to 354 United States Air Force recruits. The average multiple correlation of the cognitive tests and each psychomotor score as a criterion was 0.34, corrected for range restriction. Confirmatory factor analyses disclosed general cognitive and general psychomotor factors, three lower-order psychomotor factors, and two lower-order cognitive factors. The general cognitive factor accounted for 39% of the variance and the general psychomotor factor accounted for 29% of the variance. Residualized, the lower-order factors accounted for between 10% and 3% of the variance. The average g saturations (loadings) of the cognitive and psychomotor tests were 0.82 and 0.34 respectively. An implication for personnel selection is that the incremental validity of psychomotor tracking tests beyond the validity of cognitive tests will be small due to the commonality of measurement. A further implication of findings is the need to study the validity of the general and specific psychomotor factors.     

Stress and family support as predictors of distress and rejection in people who care for a relative with schizophrenia

Relatives (N=121) of adult schizophrenia patients were interviewed to investigate predictors of their level of psychological distress and of rejecting attitudes toward the sufferer. The relatives' total stress, particularly that associated with poor communication skills in the sufferer, predicted several measures of their psychological distress, and the same variables plus turbulence of sufferer behavior (i.e., violence and disruptiveness) predicted rejection of the sufferer by the relative. In each case, adequacy of family support moderated the influence of the stressors, although this effect was more marked for distress outcomes than for rejection. The results have important implications for the sorts of professional and peer support which relatives may need to encourage their performance of this potentially burdensome role. In addition, the results fit a classic stress management model and provide a feasible alternative to the Expressed Emotion Model of the relationship between relatives' rejection and patients' illness severity.     

The patient-physician relationship and the allocation of scarce resources: a law and economics approach

Patients with insufficient financial resources place physicians in a conflict of interest between the patients' needs and the financial interests of the physician, other patients, and society. Not only must physicians act ethically, but they must avoid liability for violating their legal duties to their patients. The traditional rules of contract and malpractice law that govern the patient-physician relationship do not provide satisfactory guidelines. Better answers are found in the rules of fiduciary law, but only with regard to direct conflicts between patients and physicians and only at the risk of reducing patient access to care. Certain types of legislative action can resolve these conflicts by altering the traditional legal rules, but care must be taken to preserve patient-physician trust, which the legal rules were designed to enhance.