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Until now research has concentrated on the immediate effects of romantic conflict, typically in controlled laboratory settings. In one of the first studies to look at the longer term, Professor Angela Hicks investigated the physiological and emotional changes taking place in couples the day after conflict occurred, specifically taking into account the differing styles of emotional attachment between participating partners.
“We are interested in understanding links between romantic relationships and long term emotional and physical well-being”, said Professor Hicks. “Our findings provide a powerful demonstration of how daily interpersonal dealings affect mood and physiology across time.”
Hicks’ study involved a sample of 39 participants in established co-habiting relationships, who were tested for the association between conflict (assessed with end-of-day diaries) and sleep disturbance, next-morning reports of negative affect on mood, and cortisol awakening response. Prior to testing, the emotional attachment styles of all participants were measured according to how anxious they were in their relationship, and to what degree they avoided emotional attachment.
The study found that all participants across the sample as a whole experienced sleep disruption after conflict, bearing out the adage “don’t go to bed angry”. There was however the greatest degree of sleep disruption amongst individuals who were highly anxious in their relationship. The lowest degree of sleep disruption was found amongst individuals who strongly avoided emotional attachment. [continue reading…]
Is stress triggered by your genes or by your lifestyle? Help the BBC investigate the causes of stress, and get personalized tips for improving your mental wellbeing.
Professor Peter Kinderman, who designed the Big Stress Experiment, explains what he’s hoping to learn about the causes and consequences of stress.
Stress is not a simple condition. There is no single cause. A whole variety of factors, from our genes to our childhood experiences, affect our mental well being.
We can easily study each trigger on its own, but that probably wouldn’t give us the whole picture. It comes as no surprise that people who’ve survived childhood traumas are more likely to have problems later in life. But not everyone who’s had a difficult past will feel the same. What we don’t yet understand is how important the different causes are in relation to each other. Are events in your past more important than events in the last year – or than the way you interact with your friends and family today?
The only way we can unravel such a complex web of causes is by surveying a large number of people. And the best way to do that is by using the internet.
Is stress triggered by your genes or by your lifestyle? Help us investigate the causes of stress, and get personalised tips for improving your mental wellbeing.
The stress test
Source: BBC
New research by faculty at Rice University, the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and the University of Minnesota finds that men’s conspicuous spending is driven by the desire to have uncommitted romantic flings. And, gentlemen, women can see right through it.
The series of studies, “Peacocks, Porsches and Thorstein Veblen: Conspicuous Consumption as a Sexual Signaling System,” was conducted with nearly 1,000 test subjects and published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
“This research suggests that conspicuous products, such as Porsches, can serve the same function for some men that large and brilliant feathers serve for peacocks,” said Jill Sundie, assistant professor of marketing at UTSA and lead author of the paper.
Just as peacocks flaunt their tails before potential mates, men may flaunt flashy products to charm potential dates. Notably, not all men favored this strategy — just those men who were interested in short-term sexual relationships with women. [continue reading…]
