The purpose of the present investigation was to replicate and extend what is known about sex differences in conflict management behaviors. In particular, two main questions were addressed in two studies: (1) How do men and women perceive their own and their partner's conflict management behaviors? (2) Is there a relationship between relationship satisfaction and self-partner congruence of perceptions? Consistent with the past literature, the findings indicated that women perceived themselves to be significantly more negative-active in their conflict behaviors than men, whereas men perceived themselves as significantly more positive-passive in their conflict management interactions compared with women. Women showed a greater understanding of their partner's conflict management strategies; their perceptions of men as being more positive-passive, compared with women, were in accord with men's self-perceptions and with the independent judges' ratings of men's conflict behaviors. In addition, consistent with women's self-ratings, the independent judges evaluated women's conflict behaviors as significantly more negative-active when compared with men. The findings also revealed a positive association between understanding of partner's conflict management strategies and satisfaction.

We provide empirical tests of aspects of a theory of love as a story. According to this theory, people develop—as an interaction between their personality and their experiences—stories of what they believe loving relationships should be. Examples of such stories are addiction, mystery, police, and travel stories. They then seek out and find greatest satisfaction with partners whose stories correspond more closely with their own. The data from two studies indicate that the theory and instrument have some promise for understanding people's ways of conceptualizing love. In particular, couples involved in intimate relationships tend to share similar profiles of love stories; the more similar the stories of two members of a couple, the more likely they are to be satisfied with their relationship. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article examined the hypothesis that resilience mediates the relationship between marital satisfaction and a host of relevant variables, including spousal attachment, social support, and affect. Participants were 195 married individuals, who completed online surveys about their marriage. Importantly, the findings indicated that resilience has a direct effect on marital satisfaction. In addition, affect and social support were each shown to indirectly impact satisfaction through resilience. The relationships between spousal attachment, resilience, and satisfaction were more complicated than predicted and are further discussed. Overall, the results demonstrate the importance of resilience in marital satisfaction.

The present investigation explored young adults’ aggressive responses to hypothetical and actual episodes of betrayal. In two studies, we tested the following hypotheses: (a) aggressive responses would be most severe in romantic relationships when compared with friendships; (b) men and women would respond similarly to betrayal; and (c) verbal aggression would be more frequently described than physical and psychological aggressive tactics. Participants endorsed greater use of verbal aggressive tactics in response to hypothetical transgressions committed in romantic relationships when compared with friendships. In response to actual transgressions, betrayals in friendships and romantic relationships elicited similar reactions. As predicted, no sex differences were found in responses to betrayals.

They analyzed ratings provided by reviewers to determine what predictive value, if any, the ratings had for ultimate acceptance or rejection. The authors analyzed the weights of the various criteria through correlation and stepwise multiple-regression analysis. All ratings predicted final decisions, and these ratings were highly intercorrelated. The two strongest predictors were contribution to field reviewed and appropriateness of manuscript for journal. A common factor analysis suggested two factors underlying the ratings: overall appropriateness of a manuscript for the audience of any scientific journal and overall appropriateness of a manuscript for the audience of a particular journal.With the rejection rate for manuscripts submitted to Psychological Bulletin ranging from 80-89% depending on the year, to get published in Psychological Bulletin is a challenge. What do those 11-20% of submitted manuscripts have going for them that puts them on the track to publication? More specifically, what are the variables that lead some manuscripts to be accepted and others to be rejected by this journal of literature reviews?To find out, we decided to look at reviewer feedback and its correlation with final acceptance. Journal editors use assorted criteria in trying to predict which of those manuscripts submitted to a journal ultimately will be of greatest interest to its readers or, even better, will have maximal impact on the field (see Sternberg & Gordeeva, 1996), with the evaluation process usually involving a combination of numerical-based ratings and freestanding prose comments from reviewers. The review process for the journal is no exception. For this article, analysis was limited to the quantified variables-the numerical-based ratings-leading to editorial decisions on almost all Psychological