Other Psychology Commons^™

Does Monogamy Harm Women? Deconstructing Monogamy With A Feminist Lens, Ali Ziegler, Jes L. Matsick, Amy C. Moors, Jennifer D. Rubin, Terri D. Conley

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In this paper, we utilize a critical feminist lens to analyze the advantages and disadvantages found within two different romantic relationship configurations: monogamy and polyamory. While visibility of polyamorous relationships has increased in recent years, there is still a lack of information and a plethora of misinformation concerning non-monogamous romantic relationship dynamics (Conley, Moors, Matsick, & Ziegler, 2012; Conley, Ziegler, Moors, Matsick, & Valentine, 2012). One such notion is that polyamory is differentially damaging to women vis-à-vis men. From a phenomenological perspective, sociocultural values dictate that women, unlike men, are prescribed to be dependent upon monogamy in order to define …

Emotional Inertia: A Key To Understanding Psychotherapy Process And Outcome, Xavier Bornas, Miquel Noguera, David Pincus, Gualberto Buela-Casal

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The processes underlying psychotherapeutic change have increasingly been emphasized in both research and clinical practice. Nonlinear dynamical systems theory (NDS) offers a transdisciplinary scientific approach to the study of these processes. This paper introduces the NDS concept of "emotional inertia", the property of human emotion by which it retains its course so long as it is not acted upon by an external force, as a key to understanding moment-by-moment and also longer-term change processes within psychotherapy. A testable mathematical model of emotional inertia is presented that represents specific impacts of psychotherapeutic processes on emotional dynamics over time. Emotional trajectories in …

Factor Structure And Validity Of The Body Parts Satisfaction Scale: Results From The 1972 Psychology Today Survey, David Frederick, Elaine Hatfield, George W. Bohrnstedt, Ellen Berscheid

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In 1972, the first major national study on body image was conducted under the auspices of Psychology Today. Body image was assessed with the Body Parts Satisfaction Scale, which examined the dissatisfaction people experienced with 24 aspects of their bodies. Despite the continued reliance on this scale and reference to the study, data on the factor structure of this measure in a sample of adults have never been published, and citations of the original scale have relied on an unpublished manuscript (Bohrnstedt, 1977). An exploratory factor analysis conducted on 2,013 adults revealed factors for men (Face, Sex Organ, Height, Lower …

It’S Not Just A Gay Male Thing: Sexual Minority Women And Men Are Equally Attracted To Consensual Non-Monogamy, Amy C. Moors, Jennifer D. Rubin, Jes L. Matsick, Ali Ziegler, Terri D. Conley

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Concerned with the invisibility of non-gay male interests in alternatives to monogamy, the present study empirically examines three questions: Are there differences between female and male sexual minorities in a) attitudes toward consensual non-monogamy, and b) desire to engage in different types of consensual non-monogamy (e.g., sexual and romantic/polyamory versus sexual only/swinging), and c) schemas for love? An online community sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals (n = 111) were recruited for a study about attitudes toward relationships. Results show that sexual minority men and women hold similar attitudes toward CNM and similar levels of desire to engage in …

On The Margins: Considering Diversity Among Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships, Jennifer D. Rubin, Amy C. Moors, Jes L. Matsick, Ali Ziegler, Terri D. Conley

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Consensual non-monogamy (CNM) encompasses romantic relationships in which all partners agree that engaging in sexual and/or romantic relationships with other people is allowed and part of their relationship arrangement (Conley, Moors, Matsick & Ziegler, 2012). Previous research indicates that individuals who participate in CNM relationships are demographically homogenous (Sheff & Hammers, 2010; Sheff, 2005); however, we argue that this may be an artifact of community-based recruitment strategies that have created an inaccurate reflection of people who engage in CNM. To achieve a more nuanced understanding of the identities of individuals engaged in departures from monogamy, the present study provides a …

Randomized Clinical Trial Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Cbt) Versus Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (Act) For Mixed Anxiety Disorders, Joanna Arch, Georg Eifert, Carolyn Davies, Jennifer C. Plumb Vilardaga, Raphael D. Rose, Michael G. Craske

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective—Randomized comparisons of acceptance-based treatments with traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders are lacking. To address this research gap, we compared acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to CBT for heterogeneous anxiety disorders.

Method—One hundred twenty eight individuals (52% female, mean age = 38, 33% minority) with one or more DSM-IV anxiety disorders began treatment following randomization to 12 sessions of CBT or ACT; both treatments included behavioral exposure. Assessments at pre-treatment, post-treatment, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up measured anxiety specific (principal disorder Clinical Severity Ratings [CSR], Anxiety Sensitivity Index, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Fear Questionnaire avoidance) and …

The Role Of Self‐Injury In The Organisation Of Behaviour, Curt A. Sandman, Aaron S. Kemp, Christopher Mabini, David Pincus, Magnus Magnusson

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background—Self-injuring acts are among the most dramatic behaviours exhibited by human beings. There is no known single cause and there is no universally agreed upon treatment. Sophisticated sequential and temporal analysis of behaviour has provided alternative descriptions of self-injury that provide new insights into its initiation and maintenance.

Method—Forty hours of observations for each of 32 participants were collected in a contiguous two-week period. Twenty categories of behavioural and environmental events were recorded electronically that captured the precise time each observation occurred. Temporal behavioural/ environmental patterns associated with self-injurious events were revealed with a method (tpatterns; THEME) for …

David Grove's Metaphors For Healing, David Pincus, Anees A. Sheikh

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Within the ever-expanding list of approaches to psychotherapy, there is a tendency to overlook deep imagery approaches. The current article reports on one such metaphor-based therapy developed by David Grove (Grove & Panzer, 1989). The approach is analyzed within the context of mainstream contemporary psychotherapy in general, the state of empirical understanding of common processes to psychotherapy, and in relation to other deep imagery-based approaches to therapy. Next, a step-by-step description of the techniques used within metaphor therapy are presented, along with a case example demonstrating the use of these techniques on a case involving pain symptoms. Finally, it is …

“I Would Feel Uncomfortable If My Child’S Teacher Were Gay”: Examining The Role Of Symbolic Homophobia And Political Affiliation, Michael Moore, Amy C. Moors

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Symbolic homophobia is a general negative disposition towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, which is demonstrated in symbolic forms of prejudice rather than overt actions. Stigma towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals has transformed from overt forms of prejudice to slightly less blatant more subtle forms in recent years (Schafer & Shaw, 2009). Based on previous research, it is has also been shown that conservatives will have higher levels of symbolic homophobia. (Linneman, 2004), Thus, in order to assess the more nuanced forms of prejudice in relation to political affiliation, Study 1 created a scale to assess symbolic homophobia. …

Functionality, Parsimony, Discovery, Avoiding Hamartia: How Evolutionary Perspectives Are Changing Psychology, Brooke N. Jenkins, Aaron T. Goetz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Evolutionary psychology offers an important perspective to scientific psychology. Evolutionary psychology, in its short existence, has added an abundance of knowledge to the social sciences, let alone psychology. The study of human cognition and behavior remains incomplete without an evolutionary perspective. Here, we argue that evolutionary psychology uniquely provides a complete understanding of scientific psychology because it explains the functions of our psychological traits, provides us with the most parsimonious explanation of many psychological phenomena, predicts undocumented phenomena, and possibly allows us to avoid the downfalls of some of our contemptible evolved psychological mechanisms.

Female Body Dissatisfaction And Perceptions Of The Attractive Female Body In Ghana, The Ukraine, And The United States, David Frederick, Gordon B. Forbes, Anna Berezovskaya

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In many non-Western societies, moderate to high levels of body fat in women have long been equated with health, physical attractiveness, social status, and fertility. In recent times, however, many Western cultures have emphasized the idea that slender women are most attractive. This emphasis on thinness has led to increased levels of body dissatisfaction and dieting in Western cultures and in cultures that have imported Western media and ideals. The current study examines the body ideals in two cultures that have recently undergone increased contact with Western nations: Ghana and the Ukraine. Body dissatisfaction and perceptions of the attractive female …

Nonlinear Dynamics And Interpersonal Correlates Of Verbal Turn-Taking Patterns In A Group Therapy Session, David Pincus, Stephen J. Guastello

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Interpersonal processes and dynamics are ubiquitous topics in psychotherapy, yet they are difficult to study and are theoretically fragmented across therapeutic subdisciplines. The current study tests an integrative model of interpersonal dynamics in small groups using nonlinear dynamical systems theory. The conversation of one group therapy session (with six adolescent sex offenders) is analyzed using orbital decomposition, which allows for the identification of patterns in categorical time series data. The results show evidence of selforganizing social patterns, based on formal measures of turbulence (Lyapunov dimension), information novelty (Shannon's entropy), and complexity (fractal dimension). The degree of patterning in turn taking …