Personal Relationships

Engineering love

by Brian Earp

Savulescu, J. and Sandberg, A. (2012). Love machine: Engineering lifelong romance. New Scientist, 2864, 28-29.

Essay partially adapted from Earp, B. D., Sandberg, A., and Savulescu, J. (2012). Natural selection, childrearing, and the ethics of marriage (and divorce): Building a case for the neuroenhancement of human relationships. Philosophy & Technology, forthcoming [see "profile" box in article].

Available at the New Scientist website: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428646.200-love-machine-engineering-lifelong-romance.html

New Scientist BIG IDEA section, May 2012.

With break-up and divorce a major part of modern life, it looks... more New Scientist BIG IDEA section, May 2012.

With break-up and divorce a major part of modern life, it looks like we may be outliving our inborn capacity to love. But there could be a way to outwit evolution and make love last.

Also available at New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428646.200-love-machine-engineering-lifelong-romance.html.

Caring for sharing: How attachment styles modulate communal cues of physical warmth

by Hans IJzerman

Co-authored with Johan Karremans, Lotte Thomsen, and Thomas Schubert. This article has been accepted for publication in Social Psychology, Special Issue on the Fundamental Dimensions of Social Perception. This paper has not yet been published; this copy may thus not reflect the final published copy of the article.

Does physical warmth lead to caring and sharing? Research suggests that it does; physically warm versus cold... more Does physical warmth lead to caring and sharing? Research suggests that it does; physically warm versus cold conditions induce pro-social behaviors and cognitions. Importantly, earlier research has not traced the developmental origins of the association between physical warmth and affection. The association between physical warmth and sharing may be captured in specific cognitive models of close social relations, often referred to as attachment styles. In line with this notion and using a dictator game set-up, the current study demonstrates that children who relate to their friends in the manner of a secure attachment style are more generous toward their peers in warm as compared to cold conditions. This effect was absent for children who relate to friends in the manner of an insecure attachment style, but, notably, these children not just always shared less: They allocated more stickers to a friend than to a stranger. These findings provide an important first step to understand how fundamental embodied relations develop early in life. We discuss broader implications for grounded cognition and person perception.

Gavin, A., Molcho, M., Kelly, C. & Nic Gabhainn, S. (2008). Family, peer and school relationships as predictors of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use in Irish adolescents: differences between sustained and experimental substance use behaviour. National Institute of Health Sciences Research Bulletin, 4(4), s50-s51.

by Saoirse Nic Gabhainn

Androgens and diversity in adult human partnering

by Sari van Anders

Assessment of hierarchical tendencies in an Indian bureaucracy

by madhu ranjan kumar

Media and romantic relationships: An emerging research area.

by Bjarne Holmes

Hands like ants – Ants like hands

by Gudrun Bielz

Dreaming about hands exploring the object body and wandering along sensual pathways on skin, skin being sense number one. If there would be a competition for senses I would give SKIN the prize. ...

Memories

by Gudrun Bielz

THIS IMAGE WAS PART OF A SLIDE SHOW WITH PHOTOS SUPERIMPOSED AND SCRATCHED AND BROKEN DOLLS AND LIGHT INVADING HOMES WITH THIS SHARP OBTRUSIVENESS DAYLIGHT CAN HAVE WHEN IT IS NOT FILTERED OUT OF OUR ROOMS.

DIARY OF (MENTAL) STATES

by Gudrun Bielz

EVERY ARTIST IS A NARCISSIST. PERHAPS ONLY SOME OF US ARE AND OTHERS ARE LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR HOPING TO FIND BEHIND IT AN ABYSS OR JUST THE IDEA OF PARADISE ON EARTH – A DREAMSPACE TO REST AND DANCE OR A WORLD FULL OF PROMISE, DESIRE AND ILLUSION THAT MIGHT BECOME DELUSION. WE ARTISTS LIKE WALKING THROUGH THIS – AS SEEN IN STARGATE –

La divina commedia: I would like to leave this universe and find another one WHERE MEN AND WOMEN DO NOT EXIST

by Gudrun Bielz

I NEARLY DROWNED IN MY MORNING COFFEE AND LOOKED OUT FOR THIS HORRIBLE GREY OVERFED HUNTING CAT WHO IS THREATENING THE LOVELY BIRDS IN OUR WILD GARDEN. AN ENGLISH GARDEN BY THE WAY. LOOKING INTO MY DIARY REASSURED ME THAT WE STILL LIVE IN THE 21ST CENTURY AND IT IS INDEED AUGUST 2011

Man on the moon: Please stay up there

by Gudrun Bielz

So man on the moon you did this long journey exploring the universe and set foot on this dusty area nobody before had touched other than some metal or the remains of ancient universes....

Gobbledygook

by Gudrun Bielz

... THAT IN OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES COULD BE CALLED ESCAPING REALITY OR WITHDRAWAL FROM THE WORLD BUT IN THIS SPECIFIC SCENARIO SHE HAS ENTERED A SPACE FILLED WITH IDEAS OBJECTS AND THINGS TO DO THAT COULD BE CALLED ART AS IT IS ART ALL ALONG. THIS IS STILL A FREE TERRITORY UNOCCUPIED BY RESTRAINTS AND MUSTS THOUGH SO MANY HAVE TRIED TO REGULATE IT AND FAILED TO DO SO.

JOYLESS MEANING – JOYFUL NONSENSE

by Gudrun Bielz

WRITING JOYFUL NONSENSE NOT PERMITTED! SUPERFICIAL IS CONSUMERFICIAL AND NOT FICTIONAL. IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH DOSH YOU ARE IN MY LEAGUE AND CAN SHARE THE ADVENTURE I HAVE BOOKED FOR MYSELF.E AND CAN SHARE THE ADVENTURE I HAVE BOOKED FOR MYSELF.....

MENOHMEN

by Gudrun Bielz

oh là là

La commedia

by Gudrun Bielz

THEY COME IN ALL FLAVOURS LIKE ICE CREAM PISTACHIO AND CHOCOLATE BACON AND LEEK VANILLA AND CINNAMON EARTH AND FIRE. SOME ARE ONE-LINERS, SOME DO NOT SPEAK AND WANT TO TOUCH YOU ONLY SOME HAVE GOT THIS NEED TO SEND 20 TEXT MESSAGES A DAY THOUGH YOU HAVEN’T EVEN MET THEM YET TELLING YOU ABOUT EVERY STEP THEY DO (THEY MIGHT BE THE LONELY ONES).

Making Amends and Moving Forward by Hugo Schwyzer

by Feminism and Religion

cross published at Feminismandreligion.com

Since Clarisse Thorn’s interview with me appeared at Feministe about two weeks ago, there’s been a huge outpouring of... more Since Clarisse Thorn’s interview with me appeared at Feministe about two weeks ago, there’s been a huge outpouring of shock and anger surrounding revelations about my past. I’ve only read some of the posts and the comments at various sites, but I’ve seen enough to recognize that these revelations have understandably touched a deep nerve.

Exactly a year ago, I wrote a post about the last time I used drugs and alcohol, a binge episode that ended with my attempt to kill myself and my ex-girlfriend with gas. The post was written in haste as a response to a friend’s query about forgiving oneself for a terrible error. The example my buddy Bill offered was of neglecting a dog he’d been housesitting. Foolishly, I regrettably offered the most painful example from my own life of a dreadful action – the time I tried to kill another human being and myself. It was grotesquely insensitive of me to compare what Bill had done with a pet to what I did to my ex, and I deeply regret having framed the story in that way. I also am sorry that the post was written so as to frame my feelings alone in a way that eclipsed my ex, the victim of this episode.

I do want to clarify one point from that post for the sake of the record. I never lied to the sheriff’s deputies about a suicide pact, as some bloggers have alleged. I was barely coherent when they kicked down my apartment door, and made no statement to them about what was happening, other than to ask the deputies why they were handcuffing us. After I’d been placed on a hold in a mental hospital, it was a psychiatrist who told me that the deputies had told him that this had been a suicide pact. Filled with remorse, I immediately told him the truth. He then notified the sheriff’s department. My ex and her family declined to press charges, and so no case was filed.

CONTINUE READING: http://feminismandreligion.com/2012/01/11/making-amends-and-moving-forward-by-hugo-schwyzer/

TAGS: Ethics, Feminism, Gender and Power, Men and Feminism, Power relations, Sexual Ethics, drug and alcohol recovery, gender and power, Hugo Schwyzer, making amends, men and feminism, power relationships, professor student relationships

Motivations for Promotion and Prevention and the Role of Trust and Commitment in Interpersonal Forgiveness

by Daniel Molden

Dependence regulation in newlywed couples: A prospective examination

by Jaye Derrick

Music, neuroscience, and the psychology of wellbeing: A précis

by Adam Croom

Croom, A. M. (2012). Music, neuroscience, and the psychology of wellbeing: A précis. Frontiers in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 2, 393.
http://www.frontiersin.org/Theoretical_and_Philosophical_Psychology/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00393/abstract

According to Altmetric this article is in the top 5.94% of articles included in PubMed.
http://www.altmetric.com/details.php?domain=www.frontiersin.org&citation_id=556687

In Flourish, the positive psychologist Martin Seligman (2011) identifies five commonly recognized factors that are... more In Flourish, the positive psychologist Martin Seligman (2011) identifies five commonly recognized factors that are characteristic of human flourishing or wellbeing: (1) “positive emotion,” (2) “relationships,” (3) “engagement,” (4) “achievement,” and (5) “meaning” (p. 24). Although there is no settled set of necessary and sufficient conditions neatly circumscribing the bounds of human flourishing (Seligman, 2011), we would mostly likely consider a person that possessed high levels of these five factors as paradigmatic or prototypical of human flourishing. Accordingly, if we wanted to go about the practical task of actually increasing our level of wellbeing, we ought to do so by focusing on practically increasing the levels of the five factors that are characteristic of wellbeing. If, for instance, an activity such as musical engagement can be shown to positively influence each or all of these five factors, this would be compelling evidence that an activity such as musical engagement can positively contribute to one’s living a flourishing life. I’m of the belief that psychological research can and should be used, not only to identify and diagnose maladaptive psychological states, but identify and promote adaptive psychological states as well. In this article I advance the hypothesis and provide supporting evidence for the claim that musical engagement can positively contribute to one’s living a flourishing life. Since there has not yet been a substantive and up-to-date investigation of the possible role of music in contributing to one’s living a flourishing life, the purpose of this article is to conduct this investigation, thereby bridging the gap and stimulating discussion between the psychology of music and the psychology of wellbeing.

Kissing in marital and cohabiting relationships: Effects on blood lipids, stress, and relationship satisfaction

by Justin Boren

Full Citation:

Floyd, K., Boren, J. P., Hannawa, A., Hesse, C., McEwan, B., & Veksler, A. E. (2009). Kissing in marital and cohabiting relationships: Effects on blood lipids, stress, and relationship satisfaction. Western Journal of Communication, 73, 2, 113-133.

Affection exchange theory and previous research suggest that affectionate behavior has stress-ameliorating effects. On... more Affection exchange theory and previous research suggest that affectionate behavior has stress-ameliorating effects. On this basis, we hypothesized that increasing affectionate behavior would effect improvements in physical and psychological conditions known to be exacerbated by stress. This study tested this proposition by examining the effects of increased romantic kissing on blood lipids, perceived stress, depression, and relationship satisfaction. Fifty-two healthy adults who were in marital or cohabiting romantic relationships provided self-report data for psychological outcomes and blood samples for hematological tests, and were then randomly assigned to experimental and control groups for a 6-week trial. Those in the experimental group were instructed to increase the frequency of romantic kissing in their relationships; those in the control group received no such instructions. After 6 weeks, psychological and hematological tests were repeated. Relative to the control group, the experimental group experienced improvements in perceived stress, relationship satisfaction, and total serum cholesterol.