A PROPOSAL FOR A COMMON DATA EXCHANGE FORMAT FOR REPERTORY GRID DATA

Repertory grid interviews provide information about the psychological space of people in matrix-structured form, providing a basis for the statistical analysis of results. Today there are many software packages available for the elicitation and analysis of repertory grids, most of them with unique features. But access to this wealth of options is restricted because, at present, repertory grid programs store data in different formats. As a result, anyone who has tried to exchange data between programs knows that this is not an easy task, as the exchange typically requires tedious and error-prone reentering of the data. To enable direct and error-free data exchange between repertory grid programs, we propose a common data format for repertory grid software based on the Extended Markup Language (XML). It is important to note that users do not have to learn XML to take advantage of this common data format. Data sets of current analysis programs can be translated into XML by utilities. As a basis for further discussion we have developed sample applications and utilities that are based on this new data format.     

Partner‐AMP and well‐being: Evidence for an implicit secure base script?

The current research presents an adapted Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) to assess the aspects of the relational schema of romantic partners that are difficult to verbalize and tests the prediction that a positive implicit image of the partner constitutes a psychological resource that increases well‐being. In Study 1, the partner‐AMP predicted well‐being in student participants even after controlling for explicit partner attitudes and socially desirable responding. In Study 2, the partner‐AMP was assessed in women with a recent history of physical abuse and a control group. As expected, the partner‐AMP was related to group membership and predicted well‐being over and above explicit partner attitudes and battering experience. The results are compatible with the notion of an implicit secure base schema.     

Seeing the Impossible

I defend the view that it is not impossible to see the impossible. I provide two examples in which one sees the impossible and defend these examples from potential objections. Theories of depiction should make room for impossible depictions.     

Tie strength and family formation: Which personal relationships are influential?

On the basis of the analysis of qualitative interviews in Western Germany, it has been argued that personal relationships have a strong impact on individuals' family formation processes and childbearing intentions. Persons who influence individuals' childbearing choices were identified. Strong ties, such as among core family members (i.e., parents and siblings), are an important contributing factor, but the authors are also able to show that weak ties, such as those among colleagues and acquaintances, need to be considered when examining social influence on family formation processes. Apart from single network partners, influential groups of persons have been identified. Such groups serve as a comparative standard regarding the timing of having one's first child and subsequent children.     

UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS AS A SHARED POLITICAL IDENTITY IMPOSSIBLE? NECESSARY? SUFFICIENT?

Abstract: Would a global commitment to international human rights norms provide enough of a sense of community to sustain a legitimate and sufficiently democratic global order? Sceptics worry that human rights cannot help maintain the mutual trust among citizens required for a legitimate political order, since such rights are now too broadly shared. Thus prominent contributors to democratic theory insist that the members of the citizenry must share some features unique to them, to the exclusion of others—be it a European identity ( Habermas and Derrida 2003 ) or a national public culture generally shared only by the members ( Miller 1995, 2000 ). This essay considers and rejects these arguments. While stable, democratic redistributive arrangements do require trust and institutionalised means of trustworthiness; they need not rely on norms or values that distinguish members from non-members: such exclusion is not required. Thus human rights may be part of a common political identity.