Two distinct emotional experiences in romantic relationships: effects of perceptions regarding approach of intimacy and avoidance of conflict

This study examined how perceived position and velocity regarding approach and avoidance in romantic relationships relate to affective experiences. The authors hypothesized that perceived progress toward intimacy would predict positive affect and that perceived movement toward conflict would predict anxious affect. Ninety-two romantic couples recorded perceived levels of, and perceived changes in, both intimacy and conflict twice daily throughout 10 consecutive days using electronic palm-top devices. Multilevel modeling demonstrated that perceived increase in intimacy related to positive affect above and beyond perceptions of intimacy, conflict, and changes in conflict, for both male and female partners. Perceived increase in conflict related to anxious affect above and beyond perceptions of conflict, intimacy, and changes in intimacy, but only among male partners. Findings support a dual-process view of these feelings in romantic relationships and suggest that increases in positive feelings in close relationships depend on enhancing intimacy rather than on decreasing conflict.     

Friendship Without Partiality?

Consequentialism involves a kind of strong impartiality which seems incompatible with the sort of partiality manifested in friendships. Consequentialists such as Kagan respond that friendship does not, in fact, require partiality. Against this, I argue that friendship cannot exist without expressions of personal feeling, and that such expressions necessarily involve a kind of partiality. Because her every action is determined by the goal of maximizing the impersonal good, a consequentialist cannot use her actions (including actions of speech) to express her feelings for her fellows. I argue that we should expect this problem to afflict sophisticated as well as straightforward consequentialism. Finally, I consider and reject the suggestion that the consequentialist agent, who has no particular friends, can be considered a friend to everybody.     

Masking T1 difficulty: processing time and the attenional blink

When observers are presented with 2 targets in rapid succession, identification of the 1st is highly accurate, whereas identification of the 2nd is impaired at brief intertarget intervals (i.e., 200-500 ms). This 2nd-target deficit is known as the attentional blink (AB). According to bottleneck models, the AB arises because attending to the 1st target delays allocation of attention to the 2nd target. Thus, these models predict that increasing 1st-target processing time will increase the magnitude of the AB. Previous tests of this prediction have yielded mixed results. The present work suggests that one factor contributing to this uncertainty is masking of the 1st target: When this mask is omitted, processing time and AB magnitude are reliably related. These findings clarify the role of 1st-target masking in the AB and support the validity of the bottleneck account.     

Correlates of Canadian native children's reading performance: From cognitive styles to cognitive processes

Individual differences in reading and cognitive processing among a sample of generally poor readers were studied in order to answer two major questions: Do they have a specific cognitive style that favors global-simultaneous strategies and a weak sequential strategy? If they do not have a distinct cognitive style or strategy, but are merely poor in using sequential (Successive) strategies, then, would the same processes that influence reading performance in the general population determine their performance as well? A sample of 84 Canadian First Nations (FN) children were assessed in word and pseudoword reading, rapid naming speed, and ability to process information using the Planning, Attention, Successive, and Simultaneous (PASS) theory of intelligence. Results confirmed that this sample of children did not exhibit a specific cognitive style. Rather, there was evidence of a weakness in Successive processing only in the subgroup of poor readers. The importance of understanding the role of Successive processing and rapid naming speed relative to reading is further discussed.     

Coping,psychological adjustment,and complementary and alternative medicine use in persons living with hiv and aids

Abstract

Many HIV-positive individuals dissatisfied with allopathic approaches to disease management have turned to complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). Although people use CAM for a variety of reasons (e.g., symptom management, holistic approach towards healthcare, improved immunity), the psychological benefits that these treatments may have are still not fully understood. The present study was designed to further previous research that demonstrated relationships between CAM use, stress appraisals, and coping behaviors. HIV-positive individuals (N= 127) completed measures assessing stress appraisals, coping, psychological adjustment, satisfaction with life, and immune functioning. After controlling for ethnicity and sexual orientation, stress appraisals and coping behaviors were found to be related to CAM use. Further, curvilinear relationships between CAM use and adjustment emerged, suggesting that some CAM use may be adaptive. Self-reported immune measures were unrelated to CAM use. In all, it appears that CAM use may be a complex form of coping that assists individuals in adjusting to a life-threatening illness. The implications of these findings with respect to adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) are also discussed.     

The effect of mortality salience and belief in afterlife on the manifestation of homonegativity

If derogation of out-groups serves the function of bolstering self-esteem, it is possible that this effect can be counteracted by means of existential relief. Two variables were presented in a 2 × 2 factorial to a population of primarily college students: a mortality salience (MS) variable and an afterlife variable, in which participants read “scientific” accounts that either supported or denied the existence of a literal afterlife. Homonegativity was utilised as a dependent measure of out-group derogation. In the predicted manner, mortality salience and afterlife variables interacted to predict significantly different levels of homonegativity. When participants were subconsciously primed with MS, their psychological need to derogate dissimilar others was significantly lowered if they were assured of an afterlife. These results demonstrate that the effects of MS can be attenuated by presenting existential relief through assurance of literal afterlife.     

The Death of a Pet: Implications for Loss and Bereavement Across the Lifespan

Abstract

Companion animals play a distinct role in our lives and for many, they are a part of the family and not simply just a pet. Today, in the United States, there is an increasing emphasis placed on the relationships that we build with our pets. A healthy relationship with our pets also lends to translate into a healthier lifestyle. However, we usually learn at a fairly young age that these beloved creatures do not live as long as we do. The loss of a pet in childhood is frequently our first face-to-face encounter with death and often affects how we will grieve as adults. Particularly within the field of psychology, the way we mourn our animal friends has gained increasing importance. This article looks at the literature concerning bereavement across the adult lifespan and focuses on the similarities between the way we grieve for our loved ones, both human and animal. We address some of the controversies associated with euthanasia and the treatment and support available to those in mourning. Finally, recommendations are offered to address some of the methodological problems in current bereavement research along with suggestions for further work in this area     

Training and the attentional blink: Raising the ceiling does not remove the limits

The attentional blink (AB) is a widely studied deficit in reporting the second of two sequentially presented targets when they occur within 500 milliseconds. The AB often is interpreted to index a structural limit in sequential visual processing. However, this interpretation is challenged by reports that the deficit can be reduced with several hundred trials of specific training (Braun in Nature, 393(6684), 424–425, 1998; Choi et al. in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(30), 12242–12247, 2012; Taatgen et al. in Cognitive Psychology, 59(1), 1–29, 2009) and other reports that some individuals experience very little or no deficit, even without specific training (Martens et al. in Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(9), 1423-1438, 2006). Yet neither of these claims has been studied when the artifact of ceiling effects has been removed. We sent a small number of participants (n = 5) home to practice an AB task on their mobile phones for 3,000-6,000 trials (Experiment 1) and trained a much larger number of participants (n = 48) in a similar way for 1,200-1,800 trials (Experiment 2). Both experiments used adaptive procedures to equate task difficulty throughout training to keep second-target accuracy below ceiling levels. The results showed strong training effects on the rate of processing sequential information. Despite this, there were (a) robust AB effects after training for most participants, (b) no benefit for training on difficult versus easy target tasks, and (c) substantial correlations between the magnitude of the AB before and after extensive training. These findings support the interpretation that the AB is an index of a structural limit in the ability to consciously process rapid visual sequences.     

Pascal’s Wager and the Nature of God

This paper argues that Pascal’s formulation of his famous wager argument licenses an inference about God's nature that ultimately vitiates the claim that wagering for God is in one’s rational self-interest. Specifically, it is argued that if we accept Pascal’s premises, then we can infer that the god for whom Pascal encourages us to wager is irrational. But if God is irrational, then the prudentially rational course of action is to refrain from wagering for him.     

Creating cosmopolitans: the case for literature

A cosmopolitan education must help us identify with those who are unlike us. In Martha Nussbaum’s words, students must learn “enough to recognize common aims, aspirations, and values, and enough about these common ends to see how variously they are instantiated in the many cultures and their histories.” It is commonly thought that reading serious literature will play a significant role in this process. However, this claim is challenged by theorists we call sentimentalists, who claim that the goals of cosmopolitan education are better served by less sophisticated, overtly sentimental texts which take a certain moral framework as given and encourage straightforward emotional responses within the guidelines of that framework. This paper critiques the sentimentalists’ position, arguing that their conception of a ‘sentimental education’ is inadequate to prepare students for the increasingly diverse, complex, cosmopolitan world their fate it is to inhabit.