Later stages in Experiential Marital Therapy

This is the second of two papers dealing with symbolic-experiential treatment of marital issues. The first—Early Stages in Experiential Marital Therapy — discussed three early stages. This paper discusses regressive work with couples, including engagement with the family of origin.     

Temporal specificity in cross-modal transfer of the rabbit nictitating membrane response

Two experiments examine cross-modal transfer of response features specific to the interstimulus interval (ISI) between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus. Rabbits were given initial training with a stimulus (CSA) in one modality (e.g., tone) at a designated ISI (e.g., 600 ms). Training was then shifted to a new stimulus (CSB) in another modality (e.g., light) at a new ISI (e.g., 400 ms). The timing of early conditioned responses (CRs) to CSB reflected the ISI of CSA. Ultimately, CRs to CSB shifted to a temporal location conforming to the ISI of CSB. When the ISI of CSB was shorter than that of CSA, CRs to CSA also shifted to a locus conforming to the ISI of CSB. The present results confirmed previous findings that training in one CS modality accelerates CR acquisition to a CS in another modality. The findings are compared with the transfer of response patterns in instrumental learning sets and are discussed regarding their implications for theories of cross-modal transfer.     

In the blink of an eye: Real-time stimulus factors in delay and trace conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response

Since Pavlov, theories of conditioning have assumed that CR evocation is governed by a series of internal stimuli generated by the CS. This hypothesis was tested in conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane (NM) response by attempting to manipulate the internal sequence through truncating a delay CS and extending a trace CS on test trials. These perturbations of CS duration produced large deficits in CR likelihood and smaller alterations in the CR's time course. As predicted by many models of conditioning, the onset of the CS appeared to play a large but not exclusive role compared to CS duration and CS offset in both evocation and timing of the CR. The results are discussed with respect to their implications for real-time models of conditioning.     

Denial of gender discrimination is associated with better subjective well-being among women: A system justification account

Despite the fact that women face socially and politically sanctioned disadvantages every day, a large percentage of women and men report that gender discrimination is no longer a problem. Across three studies, which together include over 20,000 participants from 23 countries, we test the hypothesis that denial (vs. acknowledgement) of gender discrimination is associated with higher subjective well-being among women (Studies 1–3), and this is because denying gender discrimination promotes the view that the system is fair (Study 1). We further show that this happens above and beyond personal experiences with sexism (Study 1) and that the association is stronger in countries where sexism is relatively high (vs. low; Study 3). We argue that denial of discrimination is an individual-level coping mechanism and that, like other self-group distancing strategies, it may perpetuate gender inequality.     

Intraseptal administration of bicuculline produces working memory impairments in the rat.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats, trained to perform a delayed-non-match-to-sample eight-arm radial maze task, were implanted with a single cannula aimed at the medial septal nucleus. A within-subjects design was utilized to examine the effects of intraseptal administration of bicuculline (0.5 micrograms) on performance of this task with 1- and 4-h delay intervals imposed between choices four and five. Administration of bicuculline immediately following the first four choices produced an impairment in maze performance at both a 1- and a 4-h delay interval. This treatment also produced an increase in latency per choice. Bicuculline-induced impairments were not observed when administered 2 h following the predelay session (2 h prior to testing). These data support previous observations that pharmacological manipulation of GABAergic activity within the septum modifies working memory processes.     

System justification and the defense of committed relationship ideology

A consequential ideology in Western society is the uncontested belief that a committed relationship is the most important adult relationship and that almost all people want to marry or seriously couple (DePaulo & Morris, 2005). In the present article, we investigated the extent to which the system justification motive may contribute to the adoption of this ideology. In Studies 1 and 2, we examined whether a heightened motive to maintain the status quo would increase defense of committed relationship values. In Study 3, we examined the reverse association, that is, whether a threat to committed relationship ideology would also affect sociopolitical system endorsement. As past research has found that the justification of political systems depends upon how much these systems are perceived as controlling, in Study 4 we tested whether the defense of the system of committed relationships would also increase when framed as controlling. Results from Studies 1-4 were consistent with our hypotheses, but only for men. In Study 5, using cross-cultural data, we sought to replicate these findings correlationally and probe for a cause of the gender effect. Results from more than 33,000 respondents indicated a relationship (for men) between defense of the sociopolitical system and defense of marriage in countries where the traditional advantages of men over women were most threatened. In Studies 6 and 7, we investigated when this gender difference disappears. Results revealed that when we measured (Study 6) or manipulated (Study 7) personal relationship identity rather than relationship ideology, effects also emerge for women.     

Superheroes for change: Physical safety promotes socially (but not economically) progressive attitudes among conservatives

Across two studies, we find evidence for our prediction that experimentally increasing feelings of physical safety increases conservatives' socially progressive attitudes. Specifically, Republican and conservative participants who imagined being endowed with a superpower that made them invulnerable to physical harm (vs. the ability to fly) were more socially (but not economically) liberal (Study 1) and less resistant to social change (Study 2). Results suggest that socially (but not economically) conservative attitudes are driven, at least in part, by needs for safety and security.     

Mentoring Global Dual-Career Couples: A Social Learning Perspective

This paper explores the dimensions and means to implement a global dual-career expatriate couple mentoring program. The rationale is that learning from an experienced mentor mitigates the complexity of global assignments, leading to more successful completion of overseas assignments. We explored the impact of such mentoring programs on "nontraditional" global managers, along with their trailing spouses. Social learning theory was used as the foundation for the development of such a mentoring program. To add to the contextual understanding of global assignments imposed on global dual-career couples, we explored the effectiveness of mentoring by investigating temporal (before, during, after expatriation) and gender-related dimensions. Further, we analyzed the level of mentor involvement (personal, organizational, and professional) regarding psychosocial and career development.     

Of two minds: The interactive effect of construal level and identity on political polarization

Construal level theory posits that that when people are thinking abstractly (vs. concretely) they rely more on their core and consistent attitudes and values. However, past research has been mixed on whether abstract thinking causes liberals and conservatives to become more or less polarized. In the current research, we examine how identity salience moderates the effect of construal level on political polarization. Results from two studies suggest that identity salience (political vs. national) plays a key role in predicting how construal level affects attitude polarization. When people's political identity was made salient, liberals and conservatives were more polarized about political issues when thinking abstractly (vs. concretely). Conversely, when national identity was salient, liberals and conservatives were less polarized when in an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset. Broadly, this research highlights the importance identity salience has in understanding the role abstract (vs. concrete) thinking has on people's attitudes and values.     

Cultural Differences in Targets of Stigmatization Between Individual- and Group-Oriented Cultures

This research investigated cultural differences in stigmatization of out-groups representing Goffman's distinction between “tribal stigma” and “blemishes of character.” We hypothesized that “group-oriented” (vs. individual-oriented) cultures would be more likely to stigmatize nonnormative groups, including tribal out-groups (people of a different race, immigrants/foreign workers) and out-groups with blemishes of character (homosexuals, heavy drinkers, drug addicts), because of higher value of behavioral conformity and/or lower value of uniqueness. Country-level analyses with nine individual-oriented and four group-oriented countries supported our hypotheses and revealed that the cultural value of uniqueness played a more influential role than behavioral conformity. We discuss implications and directions for future research.