The Blind Psychological Scientists and the Elephant: Reply to Sherlock and Zietsch

The Commentary by Sherlock and Zietsch (2018) raises important questions about how the science of human psychological development moves forward as researchers make dramatic strides in understanding the role of genetics. In this response, we return to these larger questions, but we begin by addressing Sherlock and Zietsch’s specific argument that “genetic contributions should almost always be considered when dealing with associations between parents’ behavior and their children’s behavior” (p. 156). In our 60-year study of the association between warmth of the childhood family environment and late-life security of attachment (Waldinger & Schulz, 2016), we did not mention the potential influence of genetic factors, and we regret this omission. Moreover, we acknowledge that in some places in the article, we used causal language that was not justified by the design of the study. Although we explicitly stated that the association between warmth of the childhood family environment and late-life security of attachment is correlational and not causal, we went on to interpret these findings as indications of support for the influence of childhood environment on well-being in adulthood. Although this is a plausible interpretation, Sherlock and Zietsch are justified in arguing that genetic influences could contribute to this link and that our article should have noted this. The editorial review process encourages investigators to highlight the implications of their work, and in our enthusiasm to convey the importance of an association that spans six decades, we did not adequately address possible alternative explanations for this association. Waldinger, R. J., & Schulz, M. S. (2016). The long reach of nurturing family environments: links with midlife emotion-regulatory styles and late-life security in intimate relationships. Psychological Science. 27.11. http://doi.org/10.1177/095679761666155

The Long Reach of Nurturing Family Environments: Links With Midlife Emotion- Regulatory Styles and Late-Life Security in Intimate Relationships

Does the warmth of children’s family environments predict the quality of their intimate relationships at the other end of the life span? Using data collected prospectively on 81 men from adolescence through the eighth and ninth decades of life, this study tested the hypotheses that warmer relationships with parents in childhood predict greater security of attachment to intimate partners in late life, and that this link is mediated in part by the degree to which individuals in midlife rely on emotion-regulatory styles that facilitate or inhibit close relationship connections. Findings supported this mediational model, showing a positive link between more nurturing family environments in childhood and greater security of attachment to spouses more than 60 years later. This link was partially mediated by reliance on more engaging and less distorting styles of emotion regulation in midlife. The findings underscore the far-reaching influence of childhood environment on well-being in adulthood

Facing the music or burying our heads in the sand?: Adaptive emotion regulation in mid- and late-life

Psychological defense theories postulate that keeping threatening information out of awareness brings short-term reduction of anxiety at the cost of longer-term dysfunction. By contrast, Socioemotional Selectivity Theory suggests that preference for positively-valenced information is a manifestation of adaptive emotion regulation in later life. Using six decades of longitudinal data on 61 men, we examined links between emotion regulation indices informed by these distinct conceptualizations: defense patterns in earlier adulthood and selective memory for positively-valenced images in late life. Men who used more avoidant defenses in midlife recognized fewer emotionally-valenced and neutral images in a memory test 35-40 years later. Late-life satisfaction was positively linked with mid-life engaging defenses but negatively linked at the trend level with concurrent positivity bias

What’s Love Got To Do With It?: Social Connections, Perceived Health Stressors, and Daily Mood in Married Octogenarians

This study examined day-to-day links among time spent with others, health stressors, and mood in 47 elderly couples over an 8-day period. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed daily links between time spent with others and mood for men. For both men and women, being in a satisfying relationship was associated with stronger positive daily links between spending time with one’s partner and mood. Women reported lower mood on days when they experienced greater pain and physical limitation, and all participants reported lower mood on days when they experienced other health stressors. Marital satisfaction but not time spent with others buffered day-to-day links between perceived health stressors and mood. Findings are consistent with previous research on younger adults suggesting that the extent to which individuals participate in social relationships is directly linked with emotional well-being regardless of stress levels, and that supportive relationships serve as buffers against the effects of stress

Linking hearts and minds in couple interactions: Intentions, attributions and overriding sentiments

This study examined the role of emotion and relationship satisfaction in shaping attributions about a partner’s intentions in couple interactions. Using video recall, participants (n=156 couples) reported on their own and their partners’ intentions and emotions during affective moments of a discussion about an upsetting event. Links were found between relationship satisfaction and factor-analytically derived intention and attribution scales. Attributions about a partner’s intentions were weakly to moderately correlated with the partner’s self-reported intentions. Relationship satisfaction accounted for part of the discrepancy between self-reported intentions and partner attributions. Emotions mediated the links between relationship satisfaction and attributions, suggesting that clinicians working with distressed couples should pay more attention to the emotional climate in which attributions are made

The Long Reach of Nurturing Family Environments: Links With Midlife Emotion- Regulatory Styles and Late-Life Security in Intimate Relationships

Does the warmth of children’s family environments predict the quality of their intimate relationships at the other end of the life span? Using data collected prospectively on 81 men from adolescence through the eighth and ninth decades of life, this study tested the hypotheses that warmer relationships with parents in childhood predict greater security of attachment to intimate partners in late life, and that this link is mediated in part by the degree to which individuals in midlife rely on emotion-regulatory styles that facilitate or inhibit close relationship connections. Findings supported this mediational model, showing a positive link between more nurturing family environments in childhood and greater security of attachment to spouses more than 60 years later. This link was partially mediated by reliance on more engaging and less distorting styles of emotion regulation in midlife. The findings underscore the far-reaching influence of childhood environment on well-being in adulthood

What’s Love Got To Do With It?: Social Connections, Perceived Health Stressors, and Daily Mood in Married Octogenarians

This study examined day-to-day links among time spent with others, health stressors, and mood in 47 elderly couples over an 8-day period. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed daily links between time spent with others and mood for men. For both men and women, being in a satisfying relationship was associated with stronger positive daily links between spending time with one’s partner and mood. Women reported lower mood on days when they experienced greater pain and physical limitation, and all participants reported lower mood on days when they experienced other health stressors. Marital satisfaction but not time spent with others buffered day-to-day links between perceived health stressors and mood. Findings are consistent with previous research on younger adults suggesting that the extent to which individuals participate in social relationships is directly linked with emotional well-being regardless of stress levels, and that supportive relationships serve as buffers against the effects of stress

Linking hearts and minds in couple interactions: Intentions, attributions and overriding sentiments

This study examined the role of emotion and relationship satisfaction in shaping attributions about a partner’s intentions in couple interactions. Using video recall, participants (n=156 couples) reported on their own and their partners’ intentions and emotions during affective moments of a discussion about an upsetting event. Links were found between relationship satisfaction and factor-analytically derived intention and attribution scales. Attributions about a partner’s intentions were weakly to moderately correlated with the partner’s self-reported intentions. Relationship satisfaction accounted for part of the discrepancy between self-reported intentions and partner attributions. Emotions mediated the links between relationship satisfaction and attributions, suggesting that clinicians working with distressed couples should pay more attention to the emotional climate in which attributions are made

The Value of Pooling “Naive” Expertise

Comments on the article by D. Westen and J. Weinberger, which explored the benefits and limitations of clinical observation and judgment. Westen and Weinberger identify two categories of informants--clinicians and participants--but these categories could be expanded to include other observers who might have particular expertise or experience related to the phenomenon of interest. The type of expert best suited to provide observations depends on the type of expertise required. There are some domains, however, in which those with the greatest expertise are neither specially trained observers nor self-reporters but, rather, lay observers who have a native or learned ability to detect complicated social or psychological phenomena and make subtle discriminations. This type of expertise is often thought of as intuitive because it uses implicit knowledge that is not always accessible to conscious awareness or capable of being fully articulated. One way to harness this intuitive expertise effectively is to pool the judgments of multiple lay observers. Our research has led us to believe that lay observers\u27 intuitive judgments about emotions may in fact capture important information that is lost when coders depend on more commonly used manualized approaches such as the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF; Gottman, McCoy, Coan, & Collier, 1996) and the Facial Action Coding System (Ekman & Friesen, 1978). In our zealousness to reduce variability among coders and to make our methods more exportable to other investigators, researchers risk losing the intuitive expertise that people naturally develop in making judgments about the world

Cumulative Contribution of Child Maltreatment to Emotional Experience and Regulatory Intent in Intimate Adult Interactions

Research and theory suggest that child maltreatment is linked to experiencing heightened levels of negative emotion, greater need to control these emotions, and difficulty in interpersonal relationships as adults. This study examined links between experiencing multiple types of child maltreatment and intentions to control emotion during charged discussions with intimate partners in adulthood, and whether the link is mediated by hostile and sad-anxious emotions. Ninety-seven couples were recruited from the community, with an oversampling of adults with histories of child maltreatment. In addition to reporting on maltreatment history, couples used video recall to rate their level of negative emotions and intention to control emotion during discussions of relationship difficulties with partners. For both genders, number of types of child maltreatment reported was linked with effort to control emotion, and the relationship was partially mediated by the intensity of participants’ feelings of hostility. For men, the link was also partially mediated by self-reported sadness and anxiety. Findings underscore the importance in treatment of attending to abuse survivors’ experiences of and attempts to manage intense emotions, particularly in couples’ therapy