AFFECT IN MARITAL THERAPY

Affect has been conceptualized in various ways. These conceptualizations have influenced the manner in which emotion is dealt with in marital therapy. Using a network theory of emotion, the role of the evocation of emotion in emotionally focused marital therapy to create intimacy and facilitate conflict resolution is discussed. Accessing underlying primary emotional responses in partners makes available adaptive action tendencies which promote problem solving and helps change self- and relationship definitions. The role of emotion in creating change in cognitions, motivation and communication patterns in marital therapy is discussed.     

Conventional Wisdom on Risk Communication and Evidence from a Field Experiment

A recent comprehensive review of the literature identified a number of facts and principles governing risk communication. This paper evaluates several of these propositions using recent evidence from a field experiment in communicating the risks from radon in homes. At this point in the research, data relates primarily to the response of risk perceptions to different information treatments and different personal characteristics. The effect of various causal factors is sensitive to the particular test of risk perception applied. No information treatment was clearly superior for all tasks. An important implication of these findings is that risk communicators must determine what specific task or tasks the information program should enable people to do.     

Bayesian nonparametric survival analysis for grouped data

A Bayesian nonparametric estimate of the survival distribution is derived under a particular sampling scheme for grouped data that includes the possibility of censoring. The estimate uses the prior information to smooth the data, giving an estimate which is continuous. As special cases survival estimates for life tables are obtained and the estimate of Susarla and Van Ryzin (1976) is derived. As the weight of the prior information tends to zero, the Bayesian estimate reduces to a continuous version of the nonparametric maximum-likelihood estimate. An empirical Bayes modification of the procedure is illustrated on a data set from Cutler and Ederer (1958).     

Children's abilities and strategies in managing the facial display of affect

To examine children's ability to control their affective expression facially, 68 second- and fourth-grade boys and girls were unobtrusively videotaped while discussing six self-chosen activities about which they felt positively, neutrally, or negatively. Children then performed three facial management tasks: (a)inhibition (showing no emotion instead of a felt emotion); (b)simulation (showing an emotion when not feeling anything); and (c)masking (showing an emotion that is different than what is felt). Twelve raters judged the edited tapes of the children's performance for affect positivity and deceptiveness. Repeated measures ANOVAs indicated, in contrast to previous research, that children were highly competent in managing facial displays. To understand children's techniques for managing affective displays, two raters categorized the primary cognitive strategies children used. Results showed that fourth graders used more complex strategies more often than second graders. These results highlight children's skill and strategies in affect management.Funding for this project was provided by a NICHHD grant (#HD22367) to the first author. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Nancy A. Ballard and Michael G. Rakouskas in data collection and preparation. We also thank the children whose participation and cooperation made this research possible.     

Evaluating utility conservation programs: The BPA plan

This paper summarizes a detailed plan for evaluation of the residential energy conservation programs offered by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The major purpose of the evaluation is to determine the energy savings attributable to the programs and to identify differences between program participants and nonparticipants. The focus of this paper is on the sampling issues associated with reliable estimates of energy savings. The methodology attempts to correct for the self-selection bias likely to occur in conservation program evaluation by using intentional nonrandom sampling. In addition, the paper suggests a variety of analytical approaches to analyzing the data with respect to energy savings.The proposed design, using four different groups to estimate program effects, is a comprehensive endeavor. This is appropriate for BPA because of the substantial investment it is making in conservation. However, the design is flexible and allows for use offewer groups to reduce evaluation costs.