Can Spouses Provide Knowledge of Each Other's Communication Patterns? A Study of Self‐Reports,Spouses' Reports,and Observational Coding

The purposes of this study were (1) to assess individuals' self-reports of communication and their reports about their spouses' communication in order to examine the congruence of spousal views and (2) to investigate whether each report provided unique information about observed marital interactions. These associations were evaluated in a sample of 119 longtime married couples. The Verbal Aggression and Cooperation subscales from the Conflicts and Problem-Solving Scales were used as measures of negative and positive aspects of communication. The findings indicated that self-reports of both verbal aggression and cooperation were strongly associated with the same individual's report of his or her spouse's verbal aggression and cooperation. Conversely, self-reports were only moderately associated with reports made by spouses (e.g., the husband's report of his wife's communication). Hence, within-reporter agreement was higher than between-reporter agreement about marital communication. When entered into regression models, reports made by spouses, but not self-reports, explained unique variance in observations of marital hostility and affection. There was one exception: Wife self-report of verbal aggression explained unique variance in coders' ratings of wife hostility, controlling for husband report of wife verbal aggression. Findings indicate the importance of assessing partners' views of one another's communication for the most accurate portrayal of marital interactions. Implications for research and clinical work are discussed.     

When debiasing backfires: accessible content and accessibility experiences in debiasing hindsight

Two studies demonstrated that attempts to debias hindsight by thinking about alternative outcomes may backfire and traced this to the influence of subjective accessibility experiences. Participants listed either few (2) or many (10) thoughts about how an event might have turned out otherwise. Listing many counterfactual thoughts was experienced as difficult and consistently increased the hindsight bias, presumably because the experienced difficulty suggested that there were not many ways in which the event might have turned out otherwise. No significant hindsight effects were obtained when participants listed only a few counterfactual thoughts, a task subjectively experienced as easy. The interplay of accessible content and subjective accessibility experiences in the hindsight bias is discussed.     

Changes in children's appraisals of marital discord from childhood through adolescence.

The study examined how children's appraisals of marital conflict (threat and self-blame) changed across development, whether changes in exposure to marital conflict were associated with corresponding changes in appraisals, and whether the appraisal process was different for boys and girls. Data were collected on 112 families (224 children) at 4 time points. At each wave, children (mean ages ranged from 8 to 19) provided information on their appraisals of marital conflict, and parents provided information on children's exposure to marital conflict. Results indicated that appraisals of threat declined rapidly from childhood to adolescence and then declined less rapidly across adolescence; appraisals of self-blame showed little change over time. Second, changes in exposure to marital discord covaried with changes in threat over time, but not with changes in self-blame. Finally, boys experienced more self-blame than girls on average, and gender moderated the association between exposure to marital discord and threat. Results suggest that development, exposure to marital conflict, and gender are important in determining why some children appraise their parents' disputes negatively.     

The time machine in our mind

This article provides the first comprehensive conceptual account for the imagistic mental machinery that allows us to travel through time--for the time machine in our mind. It is argued that language reveals this imagistic machine and how we use it. Findings from a range of cognitive fields are theoretically unified and a recent proposal about spatialized mental time travel is elaborated on. The following novel distinctions are offered: external versus internal viewing of time; 'watching" time versus projective 'travel" through time; optional versus obligatory mental time travel; mental time travel into anteriority or posteriority versus mental time travel into the past or future; single mental time travel versus nested dual mental time travel; mental time travel in episodic memory versus mental time travel in semantic memory; and 'seeing" versus 'sensing" mental imagery. Theoretical, empirical, and applied implications are discussed.     

A comparison of the Probe technique and conventional therapy for young stutterers

This study contrasted the gains made in speech theraphy by 39 stutterers, 15 of whom were treated by conventional methods and 24 by the Probe technique. It was found that the Probe technique yielded substantially greater gains in fluency than did the conventional method, having more influence on final performance than factors such as initial fluency, time since onset of stuttering, or the presence of other unacceptable behaviors.     

Siblings' adjustment in middle childhood: Links with mother-child relationships

Associations between siblings' behavior problems and mother-child relationships were examined when older siblings were approximately 7 years old and 3 years later when younger siblings reached the same age. Children's behavior problems were positively associated with mothers' controlling behavior and negatively associated with mothers' affectionate behavior. Both different-age differential maternal behavior—differences in mother's behavior to siblings assessed at the same point in time when siblings were different ages-and same-age differential maternal behavior—differences in mothers' behavior to siblings assessed across a 3-year interval when siblings were the same age—were associated with children's adjustment. Children who received more maternal control and less maternal affection than their siblings had more behavior problems than other children. The magnitude of difference between siblings in behavior problems was correlated with the extent of maternal differential treatment but was not significantly associated with age or gender differences between siblings.     

Some Problems About Affectivity

Neu's work is splendid. In addition to offering wonderfully illuminating characterizations of various emotions, it helps show that these individual characterizations, rather than an overall characterization of emotions or affectivity, have always been Neu's main concern. Nonetheless he is concerned with specific instances of, and often the general nature of, affectivity: what differentiates mere thoughts, desires, and values from emotions where the complex is affectively charged. I argue that his accounts of affectivity do not succeed — in that they can be satisfied by what is affectless.     

Longitudinal associations between parents' hostility and siblings' externalizing behavior in the context of marital discord.

This study examined longitudinal associations between parents' hostility and siblings' externalizing behavior in the context of interparental discord. The sample included 116 families (mothers, fathers, 2 siblings) assessed in middle childhood, when siblings were, on average, 8 and 10 years old, and in adolescence, at average ages of 14 and 16 years. Parents reported on their hostility toward each child and on each child's externalizing problems. Raters observed interparental hostility, and parents rated their marital quality. Results indicated both within-family and between-families effects. Specifically, the child who received more parental hostility than his or her sibling showed greater increases in externalizing problems than his or her sibling; this association was moderated by marital discord. In addition, the child who exhibited more behavioral problems than his or her sibling received greater increases in hostile mothering than did his or her sibling. Between-families effects were evident, in that children's externalizing problems were associated with increases in mothers' hostility toward both children in the family. Results support transactional models of development and family systems theory.     

Longitudinal associations between hostility in adolescents' family relationships and friendships and hostility in their romantic relationships.

This study examined longitudinal predictors of hostility in adolescents' romantic relationships. The sample included 110 adolescents and their parents from 72 families. Observational measures of parents' marital hostility and parent-child hostility and self-reports of hostility in close friendships were collected when adolescents ranged from 14 to 16 years old. Three years later, when they were 17 to 19 years old, adolescents reported on the hostility in their romantic relationships. Results indicated that hostility in parents' marital relationships and in adolescents' friendships accounted for independent variance in hostility in adolescents' later romantic relationships. Results highlight the importance of both family relationships and friendships for predicting hostility in adolescents' romantic relationships over time.