ENGAGING THE NON-ATTENDING SPOUSE IN MARITAL THERAPY THROUGH THE USE OF THERAPIST-INITIATED WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

There is currently rather widespread acceptance among clinicians that conjoint marital therapy is the preferred format for treating marital difficulties. However, more often than not, it seems that the marital referral or inquiry for therapy stems from the efforts of one spouse, with the other spouse remaining uninvolved or resistant. Consequently, engaging the non-attending spouse in therapy is an important issue for professionals working with married couples.     

Nonverbal cues to deception among intimates,friends, and strangers

Buller and Burgoon (in press) propose that deceivers attempt to encode strategically nonverbal cues which indicate nonimmediacy and project a positive image. At the same time, deceivers leak arousal and negative affect via their nonverbal display. This experiment tested these predictions, while examining the influence of relational history on deception cues and the stability of deception cues within deceptive conversations. The nonverbal behavior of 130 strangers, friends, and intimates was measured. Results indicated that deceivers signalled nonimmediacy, arousal, and negative affect, but they did not appear to project a positive image. Deception cues were mediated by relational history and showed considerable temporal variation. Strangers leaked more arousal and negative affect than friends and intimates. Further, deceivers, particularly deceiving friends and intimates, seemed to monitor and control their nonverbal behavior during deception by suppressing arousal and negative affect cues and moderating nonimmediate behavior.     

The interpretation of maximum-likelihood estimation

Maximum-likelihood estimation is interpreted as a procedure for generating approximate pivotal quantities, that is, functions u(X;θ) of the data X and parameter θ that have distributions not involving θ. Further, these pivotals should be efficient in the sense of reproducing approximately the likelihood function of θ based on X, and they should be approximately linear in θ. To this end the effect of replacing θ by a parameter ϕ = ϕ(θ) is examined. The relationship of maximum-likelihood estimation interpreted in this way to conditional inference is discussed. Examples illustrating this use of maximum-likelihood estimation on small samples are given.     

Rent Control: its Costly Repercussions

This article examines the theory and practice of rent control in the UK and elsewhere in order to contribute to the important debate on the future of the private rental sector in the UK. Our opposition to rent and eviction controls is unequivocal. We shall show that wherever rent control has been imposed the effects have been, at best, adverse and at worst, appalling. The effects on the quantity and quality of a housing stock can be so devastating that one Swedish socialist economist, Assar Lindbeck (1967) concluded: “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing.” Controls which lead to an excess demand for housing foster unfortunate practices such a discrimination on various grounds other than willingness and ability to pay rent, and the creation of a black market. Rent and eviction controls also have a major impact on the mobility of labour. The encouragement to immobility can lead to the perpetuation of structural imbalances in an economy prompting rigidities which can have considerable economic and social costs.     

THREE WAYS OF HELPING MARRIED COUPLES

Today, marriage has changed from a one-vote to a two-vote system. This offers a better relationship, but it is more difficult to manage, and, consequently, there are many failures. Two solutions are currently being offered: (a) education as information-giving, which is often not acted upon; and (b) therapy, which can come too late to be effective. Both systems must be retained. But a third process, marriage enrichment, applies our new knowledge preventively, promises to be more effective, and needs to be more widely understood and applied.