Dependency Conflict,Marital Threat,and Alcohol Consumption in a Middle-Aged Sample

The hypothesis that dependency conflict is associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption when dependency needs are threatened or thwarted was tested with a sample of 672 middle-aged, married adults with college-age children. The subjects' current level of alcohol consumption was predicted based on the present level of threat to the marital relationship (assessed by reports from several family members) and on indices of dependency need and inhibition of dependent behavior estimated from sibship size, sibship density, and sibling position. A multiple regression analysis yielded a significant two-way interaction (p < .05) between marital threat and subject sex, and a significant three-way interaction of dependency heed, inhibition of dependent behavior, and marital threat. High marital threat was associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption in men and slightly lower levels of alcohol consumption in women. Additionally, when dependency need was high, alcohol consumption was generally low, except when both inhibition of dependent behavior and marital threat were high. However, when dependency need was low, the highest alcohol consumption score occurred when marital threat was low and inhibition was high.     

A Note on the Possible Clairvoyance of Dreams

In a test of the discrepancy hypothesis of humor, Ss compared 11 comparison weights to a 90 gram standard. The 12th and 13th comparison weights were identical with, much lighter than, or heavier than the standard. More smile and laugh responses were made to the latter weights, and the number of these responses declined during the second presentation of those weights. The results supported the discrepancy hypothesis.     

A Comparison of Forgetting Rates in Older and Younger Adults

Two experiments investigated the rate of forgetting for recently learned information in older and younger adults. Previous research has been inconclusive, with some studies reporting more rapid forgetting in older adults, whereas others have failed to find any age differences. In several different comparisons, older participants consistently forgot recently studied target words more rapidly than younger participants over a 1 hr retention interval. It appears that age-related difficulties in free recall become more pronounced as the interval between study and test increases, at least under some conditions. Results also confirm a powerful effect of prior testing on episodic memory: Both older and younger participants recalled more words after a delay of 1 hr if they had attempted recall shortly after the study session.     

Sensory and meaning features in stimulus recognition and associative retrieval.

Three experiments addressed the problem of isolating the effects of sensory similarity on subprocesses involved in coding paired associates. In the first, the standard recognition-recall procedure was used and stimulus similarity, concreteness, and frequency were varied. However, because of concern with the validity of this recognition procedure as a measure of functional stimulus contact, an alternative was developed. This alternative led to the second study in which only stimulus similarity was manipulated. In the third experiment, similarity was varied, and the pairs were either associatively compatible, unrelated, or incompatible. The results using the new procedure indicated that similarity consistently disrupted functional stimulus contact but not associative retrieval. By contrast, associative relatedness facilitated both subprocesses.     

For richer,for poorer: Financial behaviors,power (im)balance,and relational aggression among different-gender newlyweds in the U.S.

Guided by an intersectional feminism framework, we used three-wave, dyadic survey data from a nationally representative sample of 1625 U.S. different-gender newlywed couples to test three research questions. First, as balanced power is considered a key concept for relational well-being in feminism, we examined developmental trajectories in husbands' and wives' perception of power (im)balance. Second, considering money as a major influence on power and aggression, we examined how financial behaviors relate to power (im)balance and in turn relational aggression—a type of intimate partner violence that is controlling and manipulative in nature. Third, informed by the intersectionality between gender and socioeconomic status (SES), we examined gender differences and SES disparities in the associations among financial behaviors, developmental trajectories of perception of power (im)balance, and relational aggression. Our findings demonstrate that newlywed different-gender couples are experiencing power struggles, where two partners diminish each other's influence over time. We also found that healthy financial behaviors are associated with balanced power and, in turn, less relational aggression (especially for wives and in lower-SES households). Taken collectively, we continue calling for efforts to facilitate money management skills and promote balanced marital power.     

Methodological naturalism and epistemic internalism

Epistemic naturalism holds that the results or methodologies from the cognitive sciences are relevant to epistemology, and some have maintained that scientific methods are more compatible with externalist theories of justification than with internalist theories. But practically all discussions about naturalized epistemology are framed exclusively in terms of cognitive psychology, which is only one of the cognitive sciences. The question addressed in this essay is whether a commitment to naturalism really does favor externalism over internalism, and we offer reasons for thinking that naturalism in epistemology is compatible with both internalist and externalist conceptions of justification. We also argue that there are some distinctively internalist aims that are currently being studied scientifically and these notions, and others, should be studied by scientific methods. This essay is dedicated to Deborah Mayo, who has long advocated using error statistical techniques to analyze and resolve epistemological puzzles in the philosophy of science. This essay follows the same spirit by advocating that computational concepts and techniques be applied within the heart of traditional, analytic epistemology.