In our everyday life, we often need to anticipate the potential occurrence of events and their consequences. In this context, the way we represent contingencies can determine our ability to adapt to the environment. However, it is not clear how agents encode and organize available knowledge about the future to react to possible states of the…

Newcomer adjustment, the process an individual goes through within the first year at a new organization, can be a challenging transition for traditionally aged recent college graduates. Unsuccessful adjustment can have profound negative consequences for young adults, organizations, and undergraduate institutions. Gaps exist in the human resource…

Although descriptive and etiological approaches to psychopathology have made notable advances, they seem to have reached a plateau. After reviewing the six approaches to etiology that now preempt the field--ecological, developmental, learning, genetic, internal environment, and neurophysiological models--a second-order model, vulnerability, is…

Interpersonal interaction in intimate relationships must be viewed as a function of the context within which it occurs. A contextual model of interaction was studied along the dimensions of conflict and intimacy. Subjects were married couples, who individually discussed conflict and nonconflict issues of high-level or low-level intimacy. Patterns…

Provides an overview of research on the biobehavioral antecedents of coronary heart disease, including stressful occupational settings characterized by high demands and little control over the job, and the Type A pattern, particularly hostility and mode of anger expression (anger-in). Discusses research on physiologic responsiveness (reactivity)…

A research-based model is presented that accounts for major patterns of adaptive and maladaptive behavior in terms of underlying psychological processes. It is postulated that as individuals' self-attributes are translated into allied goals, these goals generate corresponding behavior patterns. (SLD)

This paper discusses the concept of stress by drawing from social-psychological, occupational, family, and medical perspectives. A model of stress based on an integration of these perspectives is developed and then applied to the family relationship over time. The components of the model consist of: (1) a stressor stimulus, any situation that may…

A basic tenet of this paper is that, from the time of the ancient Greeks, Western thought has distinguished between rational processes unique to humans and the processes governing animal behavior. A model of motivation, emotion, and the cognitive/physiological interaction that can be applied to both animals and humans is presented. The special…

This paper presents a model or framework of marital adjustment, for both the researcher and the practitioner, which provides description, explanation, and modification, i.e., ways in which the model can be changed that are theoretically connected with the description and the explanation. A typology of relationship processes is proposed which…

Recent developments in family stress and coping research and a review of data and observations of families in a war-induced crisis situation led to an investigation of the relationship between a stressor and family outcomes. The study, based on the Double ABCX Model in which A (the stressor event) interacts with B (the family's crisis-meeting…

This paper presents the "uses of the past" model of personality development, a model in which adult development transforms an individual's history into resources for meeting present demands. The components of the model are delineated in terms of how: (1) neither the past nor the present is fixed in its effects or its contribution to present…

Suggests the need for detailed study of (1) behavior-environment interactions and (2) interdependencies within behavioral repertoires. Examines systems theory as a paradigm for both interpreting dynamic interrelationships and examining the complexities of learning and adaption. Argues for noninterventive studies of individual children's…

Investigated validity of juvenile offender treatment typology utilized within peer treatment programs of youth services agency with 60 male delinquents. Results suggest behavior typology described in peer treatment literature has basis in psychological theory and can provide information for treatment and community reintegration and program…