PERCEPTIONS IN PREDICTING ACTOR AND PARTNER SEXUAL AND RELATIONAL SATISFACTION IN COUPLE RELATIONSHIPS

The present exploration of perceptual accuracy and bias in romantic relationships bridges a gap in the literature on the ability of partners to estimate one another’s level of relational and sexual satisfaction, and its impact on their own and their partner’s level of satisfaction. A sample of 50 couples, recruited internationally, in continuously monogamous relationships of at least six-months in length completed online assessments of their relationship. The degree of accuracy and bias of their perception was established by comparing actor’s estimates of their partner’s satisfaction with the partner’s actual, self-reported satisfaction scores. The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM; Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006) revealed significant partner effects (but no actor effects): the underestimation of perceived partner’s sexual and relational satisfaction predicted an increase in partner’s actual sexual and relational satisfaction. Overestimation of partner’s satisfaction, on the other hand, predicted a decrease in partner’s actual satisfaction. Authors hypothesize that under-perception of partner’s satisfaction motivates corrective relationship behaviors, which, in turn, increases the experience of satisfaction of the relationship partner

“Can you just put your phone away?”: The effects of cell phone use on face-to-face conflict in romantic relationships

Effective conflict management is critical for satisfying close relationships, and communication technology is now a fundamental part of conflict management. One way that communication technology may be central to face-to-face (FtF) conflict interactions is by the presence or use of cell phones during conflict interactions. There is empirical evidence for a “mere presence” effect of cell phones on FtF interactions, such that the presence of cell phones is dissatisfying. Existing perspectives also suggest that individuals may be motivated to multitask with communication technology while carrying out a FtF interaction or meeting, but the effects of multitasking in close relationships is less clear. As such, this dissertation investigates the influence of cell phone usage and presence on conflict interactions. Romantic couples in college (n = 64 dyads) had a 10-minute serial argument conversation. Dyads were randomly assigned into a phone absent, phone present, or phone use condition, and one member of the dyad was randomly selected to act as a confederate. Confederates either received messages on their cell phone, were instructed to use their cell phone while trying to resolve the serial argument with their partner, or did not have a cell phone during the interaction. Results provide evidence that cell phone use during a FtF conflict conversation is dissatisfying. In addition, perceptions of technological interference due to confederate cell phone use elicited dissatisfaction, whereas as global ratings of partner interference increased, perceived resolvability decreased for participants in the multicommunication condition. The results offer theoretical and practical implications for effectively managing conflict when cell phones are present or are in use by a romantic partner

Hierarchical cluster analysis of human value priorities and associations with subjective well-being, subjective general health, social life, and depression across Europe

Human values are a central component in understanding individuals’ choices. Using the Schwartz’s Values instrument, this study aimed to identify patterns of human value priorities of 35,936 participants across 20 European countries and analyse their relations with subjective well-being (SWB), subjective general health (SGH), social life, and depression indices in Europe. A hierarchical cluster analysis of data from the seventh European Social Survey (ESS) round 7, based on the higher order dimensions of the Schwartz values model, allowed identifying four European groups with distinct indicators. Indices of SWB, SGH, social life, and depression showed statistically significant differences among the four different sociodemographic groups. The graphical representation of the monotonic correlations of each of these indices with the value priorities attributed to the ten basic human values was ordered according to the Schwartz circumplex model, yielding quasi-sinusoidal patterns. The differences among the four groups can be explained by their distinct sociodemographic characteristics: social focus, growth focus, strong social focus, and weak growth focus. The results of this study suggest a rehabilitation of the notion of hedonism, raising the distinction between higher and lower pleasures, with the former contributing more to well-being than the latter.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Propaganda : perspectiva linguística e de corpora de uma força poderosa

Mestrado em Estudos InglesesA presente dissertação analisa algumas das Técnicas de Propaganda mais comuns usadas no Discurso Político. O caso da “Guerra ao Terrorismo”, tal como foi definida por George W. Bush Presidente dos Estados Unidos da América, foi escolhido para ilustrar as mesmas. Os discursos serão examinados qualitativa e quantitativamente através de técnicas de Corpora Linguísticos Informatizados e uma comparação com Hitler será feita. A Dissertação apresenta o contexto de ocorrência dos discursos, uma enumeração de algumas das Técnicas de Propagandas mais recorrentes e uma análise detalhada dos factos mencionados anteriormente. Pretendo demonstrar com “casos reais e análises detalhadas” alguns dos aspectos mais ocultos dos Discursos Políticos e as sua intenções “manipuladoras”. ABSTRACT: The following dissertation analyzes some of the most common Propaganda Devices used in political speech. The example of the War on Terrorism was chosen to illustrate these as defined by George W. Bush, President of the United States of America’s administration. The speeches will be examined both qualitatively and quantitatively through examining computer corpora and a comparison will be made with the speeches of Hitler. The dissertation presents the context in which those speeches happened, an enumeration of some of the most common propaganda techniques and a detailed analysis of the facts previously mentioned. I want to show with real cases and detailed analyses, some of the most hidden aspects of political speech and its “manipulative” intentions

Doctoral Students\u27 Relational Communication with their Advisors: A Dyadic Examination using Chickering\u27s Theory of Psychosocial Development

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how psychosocial development affects doctoral students\u27 relationships with their advisor and their success in graduate school. Toward this goal, three objectives were identified. The first objective was to integrate Chickering and Reisser\u27s (1993) vectors of psychosocial development into the doctoral education context to understand how mature students maintain their relationships and address conflict with their advisor. The second objective was to investigate the extent to which doctoral students\u27 psychosocial development and communication behaviors affected satisfaction in the student-advisor relationship. The third objective was to examine the effect of psychosocial development on doctoral students\u27 attrition and indicators of academic success. Self-report surveys were completed by both doctoral students and graduate faculty advisors. The results revealed that students who were further progressed along the vectors of psychosocial development were more likely to use relational maintenance behaviors and handle their conflict with integrative strategies, whereas students who were not as psychosocially developed were more inclined to use distributive and avoidance strategies to handle conflict in the student-advisor relationship. Psychosocial development also positively affected doctoral students\u27 persistence, perceived time to degree, and their general success in graduate school (i.e., academic preparedness, quality of work, research self-efficacy, research productivity). The results also indicated that students\u27 relational maintenance behaviors and conflict strategies played an essential role in explaining the positive effects of psychosocial development on student-advisor relational and communication satisfaction. Taken together, the findings support the importance of psychosocial development in graduate school and provide valuable information that may be used to improve the quality of doctoral programs

Cross-cultural evidence for the influence of positive self-evaluation on cross-cultural differences in well-being

Poster Session F - Well-Being: abstract F197We propose that cultural norms about realism and hedonism contribute to the cross-cultural differences in well-being over and above differences in objective living conditions. To test this hypothesis, we used samples from China and the United States. Results supported the mediating role of positive evaluative bias in cross-cultural differences in well-being.postprin

Values and need satisfaction across 20 world regions

Poster Session F - Motivation/Goals: abstract F78Intrinsic valuing predicts the satisfaction of psychological needs (Niemiec, Ryan, & Deci, 2009). We conceptually replicate and extend this finding across 20 world regions. In multi-level models, Schwartz’s (1992) self-transcendence value was positively related to autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction, even when controlling for the Big Five.postprin