Mindfulness as a Psychological Attractor: The Effect on Children

Mindfulness ( Langer, 1978, 1989, 1997, 2005 )—a process of actively making novel distinctions about objects in one's awareness—has been shown to have personal, interpersonal, and health benefits. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that mindfulness is (a) perceived and preferred by children; and (b) has positive effects on them. The results indicate that children ages 9 to 12 not only preferred to interact with mindful adults, but devalued themselves following the mindless interaction, despite the fact that only positive content was discussed. Potential implications of adults' mindless responding to children are discussed.     

Why do people sacrifice to approach rewards versus to avoid costs? Insights from attachment theory

This research provides the first empirical investigation of how attachment orientations contribute to approach and avoidance goals for engaging in sacrifice. Study 1 is a cross‐sectional study of individuals in dating relationships, and Study 2 is a 14‐day daily experience study of dating couples. Results showed that attachment anxiety was associated with a greater frequency of sacrifice and more willingness to sacrifice for approach goals (particularly self‐focused goals) and avoidance goals. Attachment avoidance was associated with a lower frequency of sacrifice, less willingness to sacrifice for approach goals (particularly partner‐focused goals), and more willingness to sacrifice for avoidance goals (both self‐ and partner‐focused). Daily sacrifice goals were also associated with the partner's attachment orientation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Attachment and daily sexual goals: A study of dating couples

This research provides the first empirical investigation of how both partners’ attachment orientations contribute to daily sexual goals. Both members of 84 dating couples who attended a large urban university on the West Coast in the United States completed a measure of attachment orientation, and 1 member completed a measure of sexual goals for 14 consecutive days. Analyses showed that attachment anxiety was associated with engaging in sex to please one’s partner and express love, whereas attachment avoidance was associated with engaging in sex to avoid negative relational consequences and was negatively associated with engaging in sex to express love. Daily sexual goals were also associated with the partner’s attachment orientation. Gender moderated many of these associations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Realism and Human Kinds

It is often noted that institutional objects and artifacts depend on human beliefs and intentions and so fail to meet the realist paradigm of mind-independent objects. In this paper I draw out exactly in what ways the thesis of mind-independence fails, and show that it has some surprising consequences. For the specific forms of mind-dependence involved entail that we have certain forms of epistemic privilege with regard to our own institutional and artifactual kinds, protecting us from certain possibilities of ignorance and error; they also demonstrate that not all cases of reference to these kinds can proceed along a purely causal model. As a result, realist views in ontology, epistemology, and semantics that were developed with natural scientific kinds in mind cannot fully apply to the kinds of the social and human sciences. In closing I consider some wider consequences of these results for social science and philosophy.     

Conceptualization and assessment of disengagement in romantic relationships

Research examining relationship distress and dissolution highlights the importance of romantic disengagement. Nevertheless, prior conceptualizations and measures of romantic disengagement have tended to combine disengagement with related but distinct constructs hindering the study of romantic disengagement. The present research used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to clarify the conceptualization of romantic disengagement and to develop a novel measure—the Romantic Disengagement Scale (RDS). The RDS demonstrated adequate fit across samples of dating individuals (n = 203), married couples (n = 77), and women in physically aggressive relationships (n = 42) from the Midwestern United States. The RDS also demonstrated strong divergent and incremental validity. The discussion focuses on implications for enhancing conceptual models, research methodology, and clinical interventions.     

A multimethod investigation of depressive symptoms,perceived understanding,and relationship quality

This research examines whether people who are experiencing more depressive symptoms perceive their partners as less able to understand their thoughts and feelings. Results showed that depressive symptoms (Studies 1 and 3) and depressive mood (Study 2) were negatively associated with perceived understanding in general (Study 1), in daily life (Study 2), and during a conflict conversation (Study 3). Partners of people who were more depressed actually were less empathically accurate during the conflict conversation in Study 3, although they did not recognize that they were being less understanding. Moreover, perceived understanding helped explain the link between depressive symptoms and relationship quality in all three studies, and these effects held when controlling for self‐reported understanding and perceived partner hostility.