Human affection exchange: V. Attributes of the highly affectionate

The present study examines differences in the individual‐and social‐level characteristics of high‐affection and low‐affection communicators. One hundred nine adults completed extensive questionnaires about their happiness, attachment patterns, susceptibility to depression and stress, mental health, social activity, relationship satisfaction, and other variables. Results revealed that highly affectionate people are advantaged in numerous psychological, mental, emotional, social, and relational characteristics, relative to those who communicate little affection to others.     

Responsible action research for the pursuit of justice

The pursuit of justice has concerned human beings for centuries and, despite its importance, often remains outside the boundaries of our educational systems. This article reports on a study of an action research seminar for a group of teacher leaders in a position to instigate positive change within their educational context, and make their actions occasions for justice. In order to better understand the textual data generated by the teacher leaders, we devised an analytical lens that draws from modern rabbinical scholarship, eco-political (socio-political) studies, and existentialism. We found at this intersection that, despite the teacher leaders recognizing injustice, and at times protesting against it, their ability to act, formulate solutions, and conduct action research – and even their very concept of justice – was heavily influenced and constrained by the dominant political regime of the US educational system. An explanatory framework emerged that sheds light on the dynamic interplay among justice, politics, and beliefs, while also revealing the constraints to pursuing justice from within a leadership structure. We conclude that for action research to be a means for teachers and teacher leaders to begin to modify their practice so they are sensitive to the voices of the marginalized, to see their actions as opportunities for justice, and to provide collaborative experiences that help other teachers develop their ways of thinking, acting, and interacting in pursuit of justice, those who teach action research must be willing to do the very same.     

Knowing when to say “I love you”: An expectancy approach to affectionate communication

While vital for the development and maintenance of healthy interpersonal relationships, the overt communication of affection is fraught with risk. As a result, understanding the nature of affectionate communication is not only a matter of identifying behavioral tendencies, but also of exploring individuals’ normative expectancies for appropriate affectionate behavior. The present study examines the influence of biological sex, dyadic sex composition, and relationship type on people's perceptions of how frequently they engage in affectionate behavior and how appropriate they feel such behavior to be. Predictions regarding the influence of these factors were largely supported; moreover, the congruence between expectations and people's reports of their actual behavior was examined.     

Endocrinology in Communication Research

Endocrinology--the study of hormones and hormonal activity--offers promising new avenues for adjudicating social behavior. This paper introduces its methods and discusses several considerations necessary for researchers who wish to incorporate such methods into their own communication research.     

Human affection exchange: III. discriminative parental solicitude in men's affectionate communication with their biological and nonbiological sons

Although several investigations have addressed the nature of communication in men's relationships with their sons, relatively few have focused on positive interaction patterns, such as the exchange of affection, even though affection is of considerable importance to relational maintenance and satisfaction. According to affection exchange theory, affection is such a valuable relational resource because of the contributions it makes to humans’ long‐term viability and reproductive success. As such a resource, it should, thus, be governed by adaptive motivations, among which is the motivation for parents to invest in their children in ways that maximize their long‐term evolutionary success. Using the theory of discriminative parental solicitude, we predicted differences in the amount of affection men communicate to their biological sons, adopted sons, and step‐sons. We tested our predictions in two studies involving a total of 384 males. We discuss implications of the results for explaining the superordinate evolutionary motivations governing affectionate communication.     

Affectionate expressions as face‐threatening acts: Receiver assessments

Although expressions of affection may be regarded as a form of support between relational partners, affectionate communication has the potential also to be threatening to senders’ and receivers’ face needs, especially in nonromantic relationships. On the premise that a given communicative act can support positive face needs while simultaneously threatening negative face needs, this study applied politeness theory to the task of predicting receivers’ responses to affectionate messages from adult platonic friends. Results indicated that direct, unequivocal affectionate messages were the most supportive of positive face and also the most threatening to negative face, while indirect, equivocal messages supported positive face and threatened negative face the least. A curvilinear relationship emerged between the directness of affectionate messages and receivers’ intentions to reciprocate them, with the most direct and most indirect messages being most likely to be reciprocated. The implications of these findings both for affection research and for politeness theory are discussed.     

Criterion‐Related Validity: Assessing the Value of Subscores

Criterion‐related profile analysis (CPA) can be used to assess whether subscores of a test or test battery account for more criterion variance than does a single total score. Application of CPA to subscore evaluation is described, compared to alternative procedures, and illustrated using SAT data. Considerations other than validity and reliability are discussed, including broad societal goals (e.g., affirmative action), fairness, and ties in expected criterion predictions. In simulation data, CPA results were sensitive to subscore correlations, sample size, and the proportion of criterion‐related variance accounted for by the subscores. CPA can be a useful component in a thorough subscore evaluation encompassing subscore reliability, validity, distinctiveness, fairness, and broader societal goals.     

Affection Deprivation Is Associated With Physical Pain and Poor Sleep Quality

Social bonds are necessary for human survival and affectionate communication is paramount for their formation and maintenance. Consequently, affection deprivation—the condition of receiving less affectionate communication than desired—is associated with social pain, and contemporary research indicates that social pain has substantial neurological overlap with physical pain. Thus, it was proposed that affection deprivation would be associated with the sensation of physical pain as well as with poor-quality sleep. Three studies involving a total of 1,368 adults from nearly all U.S. states and several foreign countries revealed significant associations between affection deprivation, physical pain, and multiple facets of disturbed sleep.