Effects of Sexual Arousal on Commitment: The Moderating Role of the Arousing Source

Being sexually aroused by one's partner is likely to increase one's commitment to the partner; whereas being aroused by an alternative mate might decrease it. These patterns are conceivably moderated by satisfaction from one's romantic relationship--higher satisfaction is likely to result with higher commitment when sexually aroused, whereas lower satisfaction is likely to result with lower commitment. I tested these predictions in two studies focusing on the sense of relationship commitment after sexual priming. In Study 1, thinking about having sex lead participants high on satisfaction to report higher commitment to their partner regardless of the source of arousal they were exposed to (partner/alternative). Conversely, participants low on satisfaction reported higher commitment after being sexually primed with their partner and lower commitment after being sexually primed with an alternative; however these trends were not significant. When thinking about playing badminton with someone, those high on satisfaction reported higher commitment regardless of relational context (partner/alternative), whereas those low on satisfaction reported higher commitment only when thinking about their partner. Study 2 focused on shame and guilt as underlying mechanisms to explain the Study 1 findings. Results supported my initial prediction about prime, context and satisfaction. However, feeling shame and guilt did not mediate the association between sexual arousal, target of arousal (partner/alternative), and commitment. Implications for sexual activation, commitment, and close relationships in general are discussed

Perceived closeness to multiple social connections and attachment style: A longitudinal examination

Throughout life people form multiple close connections. These connections play an important role, such as social and instrumental support. Despite this, relatively little is known about how and why closeness to multiple others changes over time. To fill this gap, we examined changes in perceived closeness to multiple social connections and used a well-studied relational individual difference—attachment style—to shed light on those changes. Multilevel analysis and different indexes revealed that attachment avoidance was associated with lower mean perceived closeness and greater fluctuations in perceived closeness over time. These associations were moderated by attachment anxiety, such that low levels of avoidance and anxiety (i.e., security) were associated with greater stability of perceived closeness. Our results demonstrate that perceived closeness in one’s social connections tend to change, even over relatively short periods of time, and individual differences such as attachment style are important correlates of these changes

Clathrate Hydrates

The clathrate hydrates represent a distinctive, unusual, scientifically significant, and practically important class of solid state materials. Since their discovery in the early nineteenth century, their widespread distribution in oceans and permafrost regions and their ability to trap atoms and small molecules—particularly methane and other small hydrocarbons—has led to the realization that they are simultaneously a tremendous energy source and, in the face of global warming, a potential greenhouse gas release disaster of unprecedented magnitude just waiting to happen. In the twentieth century, it was realized that solid methane clathrate hydrate could plug natural gas pipelines and disrupt oil drilling processes. On the environmental positive side, clathrate hydrates can store hydrogen and sequester carbon dioxide. A brief historical review of the formation, structure, and uses of clathrate hydrates forms the backdrop for a discussion of modern scientific investigations of these solids employing spectroscopy, structure determination methods, isotopic studies, computational-theoretical modeling, and interrogations of guest-host interactions via special guests. For example, the use of colored halogens in clathrate hydrate hosts enables UV-visible spectroscopic methods to be employed to study clathrate hydrate structure

Effects of self- and partner’s online disclosure on relationship intimacy and satisfaction

Most research on the effects of disclosure on close relationships have been done using offline disclosure. However, disclosure done online has disparate features and thus its effects on relationships may also differ. In five studies and using primes emulating Facebook timelines and messages, we compared the effects of disclosure depth on intimacy and satisfaction in online vs. offline contexts, in romantic vs. friend relationships, and with differing content (self- vs. partner-focused). After demonstrating consistent differences, we examined one mechanism that accounted for the differential effects of online vs. offline disclosure in romantic relationships: perceived inclusivity of the recipients. Results revealed that greater disclosure was associated with higher relational intimacy and satisfaction when done offline (Studies 1 and 4), and lower intimacy and satisfaction when done online (Studies 1–4), in both the discloser (Study 1) and his or her partner (Studies 2–4). The negative association between online disclosure and intimacy was present in romantic relationships, but not in friendships (Study 1). Importantly, this effect only appeared when perceived inclusivity of recipients was high (Study 4). Focusing the online disclosure content on the partner/ relationship dissipated its negative effects (Study 5). Together, these studies extend further knowledge on how the effects of disclosure are contextualized, and suggest that disclosure done publicly online may be detrimental to romantic relationships