Will Improving My Marriage Improve My Sleep?

An essential component to overall health and well-being is sleep. Likewise, being happily married is associated with better physical, mental, and emotional health. In the present study, we examined links between marital satisfaction (MS) and aspects of sleep quality (SQ) among married individuals (N = 88) aged 39 to 64 years. Data were collected at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Regression analyses showed that MS at baseline was positively associated with overall SQ and sleep disturbance frequency at baseline and was negatively associated with minutes to fall asleep at follow-up. Results suggested that participants with greater MS at baseline reported better overall SQ at baseline and falling asleep faster at follow-up. However, results varied when controlling for other relevant covariates (e.g., age, depression, pain). Additionally, a negative change in MS between baseline and follow-up was a positive predictor of sleep disturbance frequency at follow-up, suggesting that participants whose MS decreased over time were more likely to report more frequent sleep disturbances 6 months later. Findings indicate that MS is linked with various aspects of SQ in married, middle-aged adults. Clinical implications, limitations of the current study, and areas for future research are discussed.     

On the interpersonal regulation of emotions: Emotional reliance across gender,relationships, and cultures

Three studies examine people's willingness to rely on others for emotional support. We propose that emotional reliance (ER) is typically beneficial to well‐being. However, due to differing socialization and norms, ER is also expected to differ across gender and cultures. Further, following a self‐determination theory perspective, we hypothesize that ER is facilitated by social partners who support one's psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Results from the studies supported the view that ER is generally associated with greater well‐being and that it varies significantly across different relationships, cultural groups, and gender. Within‐person variations in ER were systematically related to levels of need satisfaction within specific relationships, over and above between‐person differences. The discussion focuses on the adaptive value and dynamics of ER.     

The More You See It, the More You Know It: Memory Accessibility and Sexual Harassment Judgments

The influence of the availability of personally known and media known sexual harassment victims and harassers on perceptions of social sexual workplace conduct was examined. Male and female full-time workers evaluated two videotapes that depict sexual harassment in the workplace. Results indicated that perceived likelihood of harassment and discrimination increased as participants recalled more examples of harassment victims whom they personally knew. In some instances, recall of victims in the media had a similar influence. As predicted, the influence of availability was stronger for men than for women. Similar findings resulted from the analyses of the unwelcomeness, severity, and pervasiveness of the conduct; however, legal standard, gender, or case often moderated this relationship. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Reducing voluntary, avoidable turnover through selection

The authors investigated the efficacy of several variables used to predict voluntary, organizationally avoidable turnover even before the employee is hired. Analyses conducted on applicant data collected in 2 separate organizations (N = 445) confirmed that biodata, clear-purpose attitudes and intentions, and disguised-purpose dispositional retention scales predicted voluntary, avoidable turnover (rs ranged from -.16 to -.22, R = .37, adjusted R = .33). Results also revealed that biodata scales and disguised-purpose retention scales added incremental validity, whereas clear-purpose retention scales did not explain significant incremental variance in turnover beyond what was explained by biodata and disguised-purpose scales. Furthermore, disparate impact (subgroup differences on race, sex, and age) was consistently small (average d = 0.12 when the majority group scored higher than the minority group).     

Effects of the contingency for homework submission on homework submission and quiz performance in a college course

Effects of the contingency for submission of homework assignments on the probability of assignment submission and on quiz grades were assessed in an undergraduate psychology course. Under an alternating treatments design, each student was assigned to a points condition for 5 of 10 quiz-related homework assignments corresponding to textbook chapters. Points were available for homework submission under this condition; points were not available under the no-points condition. The group-mean percentage of homework assignments submitted and quiz grades were higher for all chapters under the points condition than in the no-points condition. These findings, which were replicated in Experiment 2, demonstrate that homework submission was not maintained when the only consequences were instructor-provided feedback and expectation of improved quiz performance.     

Support for an explanation of the guidance effect in motor skill learning

The authors investigated whether the knowledge of results (KR) schedule influences the extent to which intrinsic feedback is noticed and used. Fifty-six participants received KR that was either delayed over 2 trials (Delay-2) or provided directly after each trial (Delay-0) during 160 trials of an unfamiliar aiming task. No-KR retention tests were given after 80 trials and 1 min and 24 hr after the end of acquisition. After retention, all participants were questioned about their use of intrinsic feedback during practice and whether those sources changed as a function of practice. The Delay-2 group performed significantly less accurately on the 1st and last blocks of acquisition trials but showed a significantly smaller performance decline from acquisition to retention. Moreover, the Delay-2 group noticed and used a greater variety of intrinsic feedback sources and its members were more likely to report that their usage changed with practice.     

Labor supply and consumption of food in a closed economy under a range of fixed- and random-ratio schedules: tests of unit price

The behavioral economic concept of unit price predicts that consumption and response output (labor supply) are determined by the unit price at which a good is available regardless of the value of the cost and benefit components of the unit price ratio. Experiment 1 assessed 4 pigeons' consumption and response output at a range of unit prices. In one condition, food was available according to a range of fixed-ratio schedules, whereas in the other condition, food was available according to a range of random-ratio schedules. Consistent with unit price predictions, consumption and response output were approximately equivalent across schedule types within the lower range of unit prices. However, at Unit Prices 64 (ratio value = 192) and greater, considerably more consumption and response output were observed in the random-ratio condition. Experiment 2 replicated these findings with 4 pigeons using the rapid demand curve assay procedure that is commonly used in the behavioral economics literature. Findings are integrated with two mathematical models of behavior under variable reinforcer delays.     

Distractor familiarity leads to more efficient visual search for complex stimuli

Previous reports suggest that distractor familiarity plays an important role in determining visual search efficiency. However, the specific tasks used in those studies limit the extension of their findings to real-world situations and everyday images. In the present study, subjects engaged in a prolonged period of search experience as a control of their level of familiarity with a large set of target and distractor images. Reaction times and search slopes decreased dramatically over this period, especially for trials with a large target eccentricity and many distractors. Following extended practice, search among familiar distractors was more efficient than search among unfamiliar distractors. Furthermore, we found that familiar targets were located more efficiently than unfamiliar targets and that subjects were faster at locating targets that they had experienced in the majority of the search trials. These results show that prolonged visual experience facilitates processing of both target and distractor items during search.     

An Analysis of Pride Systems and the Dynamics of Faith

Pride, in Western Christianity, has long been recognized as a vice and deadly sin. In this article, individual and communal pride is understood as emerging from, and supported by, a system of hierarchical valuations, which provides a subjective and intersubjective sense of self-worth along with a sense of power and privilege. A pride system is linked to, and supported by, stories and rituals that omnipotently confirm individual and communal status and power. This complex system is accompanied by a particular faith dynamic that benefits its members, yet alienates those deemed to be of lesser value. While positive valuations support a persons (and communitys) sense of self-esteem and are, more often than not, important for a sense of trust, group loyalty, and community, they are also accompanied by negative appraisals that are projected onto an other. This other is alienated from the privileges and power of those who identify with, and own, the positive valuations. Pride systems, then, are good to the extent that they shore up a sense of self and community and bad, or inherently deadly, to the extent that goodness depends on the subtle or overt alienation of a person or group.     

Psychology of learning: a new approach to study behavior of Rhodnius prolixus stal under laboratory conditions

Conditioning methodologies associated with the psychology of learning are suggested as a new strategy to investigate behavior of the assassin bug Rhodnius prolixus, which is the main vector of Chagas disease in Venezuela. Chagas disease is the fourth leading cause of death in Latin America, as it causes severe chronic illness and approximately 43,000 deaths per year. To illustrate this strategy, two preliminary experiments are reported. In the first, Pavlovian conditioning was examined by pairing an olfactory conditioned stimulus with a temperature unconditioned stimulus. A temperature of 42 degrees C elicits a complex behavioral sequence in R. prolixus consisting of proboscis extension and crawling. Over the course of 12 training trials, this behavioral sequence was not elicited by an olfactory conditioned stimulus. In the second experiment, a latent inhibition paradigm was used to pre-expose R. prolixus to an olfactory conditioned stimulus before pairing the odor with temperature. Over the course of training, an effect of pre-exposure was found. Suggestions for research are discussed and potential conditioned and unconditioned stimuli identified.