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In this short response to the papers appearing in this special issue (Technology, AI Bots and Psychotherapy After Covid), psychotherapist and author Aaron Balick draws on the variety of themes that have arisen within the contributed papers to reflect on the wider issue of computer mediated human relations. In it he makes a distinction between the papers that focus on the therapeutic process mediated by technology and those that look more broadly at the paradigm of therapy practice in this context. Framing technology as a tool, the author pulls together both strands to explore what psychotherapy research may say about the broader issues of societies mediated by technology and how therapeutic research may contribute to these larger social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reaction paper traces Maslow's discovery of Daoism, which became a key element in his psychological system of creativity, growth, and interpersonal relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hypothesis is advanced that behavioral and physiologic resilience develops in part from infants' and young children's experience coping with the inherent normal stress of daily life and social interaction. Data on the stress of normal social interactions and perturbated interactions from the Face-to-Face Still-Face Paradigm (FFSF) are presented for young infants. These findings, including behavioral, heart rate and vagal tone, and electrodermal reactivity demonstrate the stress inherent in normal interaction and how coping with normal stress develops infants' coping with more intense environmental and social stressors.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the application of gender perspective in public health papers in four journals published by the Mexican National Health Institutes., Material and Methods: A total of 999 papers published in the four journals between 2000 and 2003 was reviewed. Two levels of analysis were considered: (a) data presented by sex, providing description of differences between women and men, and (b) the analysis of these differences from gender perspective., Results: One quarter (25.4%) of the articles described results by sex. The largest percentage was published in Salud Pública de México (48.8%) and the smallest in Revista de Investigación Clínica (16.1%). Gender perspective was used in only 4.2% of papers; of these, drug addictions, health behaviour and violence were the topics that occurred most frequently., Conclusions: This is the first study to assess the application of gender perspective in Mexican health articles. Similarly to other countries, a very small percentage of authors analyzed sex differences, and a smaller proportion applied gender perspective. Results demonstrate the importance of promoting interdisciplinary research that may promote the elucidation of health inequalities between men and women.

The study aimed to evaluate the Couples' Closeness-Distance Scale (CCDS), an observational assessment reflecting couples' relational dynamics; based on joint-drawing, it offers measurable dimensions. Forty cohabiting Israeli couples participated in the joint-drawing task and answered self-report questionnaires for attachment, differentiation of self, and relationship satisfaction. The paintings were assessed by trained observers on the CCDS scales (too distant, too close, autonomy, engagement) for both the women's and men's experiences. A two-level-dyadic model showed that differentiation and relationship satisfaction predicted the CCDS and revealed a "pursue-withdraw cycle": Women sensed the men as too distant, while men sensed the women as too close. Participants' sense of discomfort from their partners' distance related to less autonomy and engagement during the painting, with a greater effect on the women. The pilot implies that the CCDS enables observing dyadic-systemic aspects of couple dynamics and may enrich clinical evaluation., (© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.)

Multiethnic group countries are distinctive in that ethnic identification/loyalty and national identification/loyalty sometimes contend. In addition, the different ethnic groups that make up these countries though interdependent compete for relevance. Such a mode of social relationship creates uncertainty and heightens the consciousness of group survival. These characteristics make African countries rich sites for the investigation of intergroup relations. Given this context, the need for closure and cultural intelligence were examined in relation to ethnic identification. Data were collected via the use of questionnaires from a sample of undergraduate students drawn from different ethnic groups. Findings show that the need for closure and cultural intelligence are directly related to ethnic identification. Also, cultural intelligence was a significant moderator of the relationship between need for closure and ethnic identification. Findings suggest that cultural intelligence may encourage an open-mindedness which could help promote successful social interactions in multigroup countries. In addition, the results of this study support theoretical and empirical positions that have advanced group interdependence as a potent tool for intergroup cooperation., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

This article extends existing sociological scholarship on doing and displaying family by developing the concept of documenting families. We suggest that documenting is conceptually rich insofar as it showcases the relationship, and tensions, between institutional practices and individual experiences of family display. Drawing on our research with men who became parents without partners, we argue that the process of documenting family is made especially evident in studies of what Finch originally referred to as 'non-conventional' family relationships. We explain that documenting sheds light not only on the official and unofficial means through which families are recognised on paper, but also on family practices as work – in this case paper-work – that involves negotiation between different social actors who are generally unequal in terms of their authority and agency to impose situational meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychopathy is closely related to many negative interpersonal outcomes in daily life, including violence. Therefore, psychopathy intervention in subclinical individuals has significant application value., Objective: Guided by the personality-relationship transaction model and social investment theory, this study examined how marital quality affects self- and partner-rated psychopathy. We also used the actor-partner interdependence mediation model to explore the mediating effect of communication., Methods: We examined self-reports and partner reports of psychopathy, marital quality, and communication among 260 married Chinese couples., Results: The results indicated that marital quality directly influenced couples' self-rated psychopathy, with both actor and partner effects on husbands' psychopathy and actor effects on wives' psychopathy. Moreover, verbal communication had mediating effects at time 2 between marital quality at time 1 and partner-reported psychopathy at time 3. Meanwhile, the mediating effect of nonverbal communication was not significant., Conclusion: Our investigation of relationship effects on psychopathy revealed that the underlying mechanisms differed between self- and partner-rated psychopathy. The findings can highlight directions for exploring potential intervention strategies for subclinical psychopathy., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

This study sought to examine the intermediary roles of different topics of conflict and negative emotions following conflicts in the associations between attachment insecurities and relationship satisfaction in a sample of 253 mixed-gender couples from the community. Results from path analyses based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model showed that attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were associated with the perception, in both partners, of experiencing more conflicts in the relationship. In turn, the more participants perceived conflicts related to major issues and daily annoyances, the more they reported negative emotions following conflicts and lower relationship satisfaction. Participants' report of conflicts related to major issues was also related to their partner's lower relationship satisfaction. Findings highlight the significance of accounting for the topics on which couples argue and of using an attachment-based framework to help couples deal with the negative emotions that they experience following conflicts., (© 2022 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.)

Much work has shown that social isolation has lasting negative effects on adult social interactions, but less is known about precisely how and why isolation alters social behaviour. One way isolation may alter social behaviour is by interfering with the development of effective communication. Here, we test how social isolation influences individual recognition, a key aspect of social communication in Polistes fuscatus paper wasps. Polistes fuscatus reared in a typical social environment learn and remember the unique faces of conspecifics during social interactions. Typical P. fuscatus use individual face recognition to minimize conflict and stabilize social interactions. As wasps are adept face learners, they also readily learn to discriminate between wasp face images during training. Here, we show that social isolation had dramatic effects on recognition. We isolated wasps for 6 days after eclosion from pupation, then tested them for face recognition in social and nonsocial contexts. Isolated wasps did not learn and remember other individuals during social interactions. Furthermore, isolated wasps did not learn to discriminate between wasp face images during training. Therefore, social experience with conspecifics is essential for the development of individual recognition and face learning in paper wasps. Many aspects of wasp behaviour develop rapidly with little experience required. However, complex social interactions like individual recognition require social experience with conspecifics. • Wasps usually excel at using facial patterns to individually identify other wasps. • Social isolation during rearing interfered with individual recognition. • Isolated wasps did not learn unique faces during training or social interactions. • Social isolation interferes with wasp communication and social competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many animal societies, individuals differ consistently in their ability to win agonistic interactions, resulting in dominance hierarchies. These differences arise due to a range of factors that can influence individuals' abilities to win agonistic interactions, spanning from genetically driven traits through to individuals' recent interaction history. Yet, despite a century of study since Schjelderup-Ebbe's seminal paper on social dominance, we still lack a general understanding of how these different factors work together to determine individuals' positions in hierarchies. Here, we first outline five widely studied factors that can influence interaction outcomes: intrinsic attributes, resource value asymmetry, winner-loser effects, dyadic interaction-outcome history and third-party support. A review of the evidence shows that a variety of factors are likely important to interaction outcomes, and thereby individuals' positions in dominance hierarchies, in diverse species. We propose that such factors are unlikely to determine dominance outcomes independently, but rather form part of feedback loops whereby the outcomes of previous agonistic interactions (e.g. access to food) impact factors that might be important in subsequent interactions (e.g. body condition). We provide a conceptual framework that illustrates the multitude potential routes through which such feedbacks can occur, and how the factors that determine the outcomes of dominance interactions are highly intertwined and thus rarely act independently of one another. Further, we generalise our framework to include multi-generational feed-forward mechanisms: how interaction outcomes in one generation can influence the factors determining interaction outcomes in the next generation via a range of parental effects. This general framework describes how interaction outcomes and the factors determining them are linked within generations via feedback loops, and between generations via feed-forward mechanisms. We then highlight methodological approaches that will facilitate the study of feedback loops and dominance dynamics. Lastly, we discuss how our framework could shape future research, including: how feedbacks generate variation in the factors discussed, and how this might be studied experimentally; how the relative importance of different feedback mechanisms varies across timescales; the role of social structure in modulating the effect of feedbacks on hierarchy structure and stability; and the routes of parental influence on the dominance status of offspring. Ultimately, by considering dominance interactions as part of a dynamic feedback system that also feeds forward into subsequent generations, we will understand better the factors that structure dominance hierarchies in animal groups., (© 2022 The Authors. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.)

Dr. Friedman invites the reader "to share the awe I feel before Freud's little book, and to follow that awe into larger wonderings about psychoanalysis and the human condition" (p. 1). (p. 19; emphasis added) Dr. Friedman dispels a misunderstanding created by Freud allegedly recommending anonymity, neutrality, and abstinence. Dr. Friedman's interest in psychoanalytic methodology is exemplary among writers on psychoanalysis, most of whom focus on Freud's theories of disorder. [Extracted from the article]

The following list of criteria for publication of papers are not ranked in order of importance and are based on my personal experiences as an author, reviewer and editor. Occasionally, manuscripts may align with a favoured topic of an editor or reviewer. Editors are responsible for finding the right reviewers and motivating them while drawing accurate conclusions. [Extracted from the article]

Law as Refuge of Anarchy: Societies without Hegemony or State: by Hermann Amborn, translated by Adrian Nathan West, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2019, 280 pp., $19.95T/£14.99 (paper) Late in his exceedingly protracted life, Ernst Jünger introduced the term "anarch" to refine his notion of resistance amid political decay. Jünger's concept of the "anarch" filled in the space for theories of anarchism equivalent to that occupied by the word "monarch" in theories of monarchy and monarchism. [Extracted from the article]

"Loafing, Driving, and 'Messing About in Boats': Kenneth Grahame's Decadence from Pagan Papers to The Wind in the Willows " seeks to highlight the radical queerness and rejection of heteronormative mores within the classic Golden Age children's book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. It does so by tracing its roots within Grahame's involvement in the famously queer Decadent movement in late nineteenth century Britain. This reading challenges the much more common assumption that The Wind in the Willows is a fairly conservative text which reinforces "proper" behavior and traditional values. To develop these claims, the essay focuses on the queer relationships between characters, the rebellious behaviors of Toad, and the imagery and themes the text borrows from the Decadent movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its mission to optimise the quality of patient care and the level of clinician training within the fields of biotherapy, the BioTherapeutics, Education and Research (BTER) Foundation and its Maggot Therapy Competency Committee identified qualities and achievements assessed to be the minimum standards that health care professionals should attain in order to be deemed competent in maggot therapy. The set of six standards were selected to reflect the same high degree of professionalism that is used by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education for assessing other medical specialists, but with an emphasis on the principles and practice of maggot therapy. For each domain in which competency is expected, the rationale has been explained, specific competencies have been articulated, and methods for demonstrating or evaluating those competencies have been suggested. Applicable to any clinician applying maggot dressings professionally, these recommendations should assist those who wish to identify, assess, or achieve competency in maggot therapy. Specifically, these six competencies include: (1) knowledge about wound care in general and maggot therapy in particular; (2) skill in general patient care, to a level commensurate with their professional role; (3) ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, patients, and the general public; (4) professional and ethical behaviour; (5) ability to deliver systems‐based health care; (6) incorporation of continuing education and quality improvement into their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Negative interpersonal interactions are associated with acute increases in ambulatory blood pressure (ABP). Yet, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear., Purpose: This study tested whether negative interpersonal interactions predict higher ABP both in the moment and during subsequent observations, and whether increases in negative mood mediate these relations. These associations were tested among Black and Hispanic urban adults who may be at higher risk for negative interpersonal interactions as a function of discrimination. Race/ethnicity and lifetime discrimination were tested as moderators., Methods: Using a 24-hr ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design, 565 Black and Hispanic participants (aged 23-65, M = 39.06, SD = 9.35; 51.68% men) had their ABP assessed every 20 min during daytime accompanied by an assessment of negative interpersonal interactions and mood. This produced 12,171 paired assessments of ABP and self-reports of participants' interpersonal interactions, including how much the interaction made them feel left out, harassed, and treated unfairly, as well as how angry, nervous, and sad they felt., Results: Multilevel models revealed that more intense negative interpersonal interactions predicted higher momentary ABP. Mediation analyses revealed that increased negative mood explained the relationship between negative interpersonal interactions and ABP in concurrent and lagged analyses. Discrimination was associated with more negative interpersonal interactions, but neither race/ethnicity nor lifetime discrimination moderated findings., Conclusions: Results provide a clearer understanding of the psychobiological mechanisms through which interpersonal interactions influence cardiovascular health and may contribute to health disparities. Implications include the potential for just-in-time interventions to provide mood restoring resources after negative interactions., (© Society of Behavioral Medicine 2023. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Interpersonal relationships undoubtedly have a bidirectional connection with the health of individuals and communities. Relational models based on equity contribute to well-being, while asymmetrical relationships based on hierarchies and differences of power negatively impact mental, physical, and social health., Methods: A conceptual framework for understanding the determinants of interpersonal relational models was developed., Results: Structural determinants were identified as the combined action of systems of oppression, the socio-historical context that normalizes violence, and social stratification and segregation, consequences which included inequitable access to power, resources, and opportunities. Intermediate determinants include individual, psychosocial, behavioral, and community aspects. Structural and intermediate determinants impact health and health inequalities through multiple relational patterns that are simultaneously established and sustained by individuals and communities. The health impact of inequitable relational patterns includes: Reduced self-esteem; anxiety, stress, and depression; acceptance of violence; physical and sexual harm; suicide; and murder., Conclusions: This conceptual framework allows for the modification of relational models by influencing structural and intermediate determinants. Six areas of intervention have been identified: educative policies, school governance, physical and symbolic space, school curriculum, school-community relations, and socio-educative interventions to promote healthy and equitable relationships. Healthy and equitable relationships are associated with improved subjective well-being, health status and protection from violence. Socio-educational interventions that consider the elements of this conceptual framework may be effective in promoting healthy and equitable relational models., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of School Health published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American School Health Association.)

This study examined development of emotional support competence within close friendships across adolescence. A sample of 184 adolescents (53% girls, 47% boys; 58% White, 29% Black, 14% other identity groups) participated in seven waves of multimethod assessments with their best friends and romantic partners from age 13 to 24. Latent change score models identified coupled predictions over time from emotional support competence to increasing friendship quality and decreasing support received from friends. Friend-rated emotional support competence in adolescence predicted supportiveness in adult romantic relationships, over and above supportiveness in adolescent romantic relationships. Teen friendships may set the stage for developing emotional support capacities that progress across time and relationships into adulthood., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Research on Adolescence published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research on Adolescence.)

The authors call for papers for a 2023 special issue of the journal on topics like entrepreneurship, organizational processes, and the organizational conditions for work.

Human beings express affinity (Shinwa-kan in Japanese language) in communicating transactive engagements among healthcare providers, patients and healthcare robots. The appearance of healthcare robots and their language capabilities often feature characteristic and appropriate compassionate dialogical functions in human-robot interactions. Elements of healthcare robot configurations comprising its physiognomy and communication properties are founded on the positivist philosophical perspective of being the summation of composite parts, thereby mimicking human persons. This article reviews Mori's theory of the Uncanny Valley and its consequent debates, and examines "Uncanny" relations with generating healthcare robot conversational content with artificial affective communication (AAC) using natural language processing. With healthcare robots provoking influential physical composition and sensory expressions, the relations in human-healthcare robot transactive engagements are argued as supportive of the design and development in natural language processing. This implies that maintaining human-healthcare robot interaction and assessing the eeriness situations explained in the Uncanny Valley theory are crucial positions for healthcare robot functioning as a valuable commodity in health care. As such, physical features, language capabilities and mobility of healthcare robots establish the primacy of the AAC with natural language processing as integral to healthcare robot-human healthcare practice., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The evidence that social relationships are associated with well-being is so strong that it is taken as a 'fact' (Kushlev et al., 2018, Journal of Research in Personality, 74, 124). The bulk of the existing evidence derives from research examining social relationships with close others, such as family, romantic partners, and friends (Dolan et al., 2008, Journal Economic Psychology, 29, 94; Li & Kanazawa, 2016, British Journal of Psychology, 107, 675). However, less is known about how connecting with strangers is associated with well-being, how such connections are represented by people, and what motivates people's desire to connect with strangers. This study aims to examine representations and motivations for social connectedness with strangers in contemporary British cities. To do this, an interview study of 52 city-dwellers living in Britain's two largest cities, London and Birmingham, was conducted. The Grid Elaboration Method (GEM) (Joffe & Elsey, 2014, Review of General Psychology, 18, 173), a free association and interview technique, was applied. Thematic analysis revealed that representations of strangers vacillate between 'good' and 'bad', are built upon the 'self/other' thema, are shaped by the contextual factors place, time, and technology, and are motivated by a desire to 'matter'. This work makes a key contribution to the study of social connectedness in cities and can inform effective urban policy., (© 2020 The British Psychological Society.)

This inventive collection investigates the uses of paper in European and North American households, individual lives, and institutions. The sample of paper practitioners studied is wide-ranging, encompassing, for example, those who distinguished between the types of paper with which to stock their households. [Extracted from the article]

Enhanced Family Tree reimagines the possibilities of family trees with an evolving series of exhibits. The authors' works combine genealogical data, visualization, 3D technologies and interactivity to explore and display ancient genealogical relationships. Their new approach may reveal questionable relationships in genealogical records. Moreover, the authors' use of an organic metaphor of a "tree" can be further extended to increase public understanding and engagement. The audience's questions arising from this project show increased curiosity and nuanced questioning about their own family origins and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control is theorized as central to intimate partner aggression (IPA). Tools measuring nonphysical "controlling behaviors" in relationships have therefore been developed to identify the latent construct of control. However, the underlying assumption that "controlling behaviors" form a distinct subset of IPA has not been validated. This study investigates the divergent validity of acts considered as "controlling behaviors" against other aggressive acts used in relationships. The IPA and relationship literatures were reviewed to identify 1,397 items involving "controlling," physical, sexual, and psychologically aggressive acts perpetrated and/or experienced by an intimate partner. In total, 101 item pairs were identified and used to measure IPA tactics across these categories. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis in a community sample (N = 561) found no evidence of a distinct factor of "controlling behaviors." Behaviors labeled as "controlling" in existing measures were distributed across other factors, including "eclectic aggression," "direct psychological aggression," and "monitoring acts." In Study 2A (N = 424 students), confirmatory factor analysis replicated the results of Study 1 and established configural measurement invariance (Study 2B), indicating no evidence for psychometric differences between samples. These results indicate that behaviors described as "controlling" in existing measures were not statistically distinguishable from other forms of IPA, and suggest that future research should investigate motivational, rather than behavioral, differences in the use of IPA. The findings challenge research to confirm whether a set of discrete behaviors can be used to accurately identify control in relationships and question the validity of tools that adopt this methodology., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Introduction: Adolescent romantic relationships are developmentally significant, but relatively brief and often disrupted by changes in context. Large individual differences and age-related change make sampling complex. Most adolescents have multiple romantic relationships. Which should we sample? To better understand the issues involved, this study used a simulation - an agent-based computational model - to generate model worlds, each following the relationships formed and dissolved over 5 years. Cross-sectional sample estimates of the number, duration, and type of relationships were compared to population parameters of all relationships formed within the 5 years. Computational models can provide useful insight into sampling bias because (1) the processes producing the results are explicit, (2) results can be replicated to reduce sample idiosyncrasies, and (3) sample statistics can be compared to known population parameters., Methods: 1000 iterations were run of an agent-based model following 1000 individuals interacting for 60 "months." The model included three types of individuals differing in relationship duration. Two sets of 1000 cross-sectional samples were drawn from the 60,000 cross-sectional "months." Sample statistics were compared to the population parameters., Results: Cross-sectional samples systematically over-represented longer relationships. The ability to detect individual differences in the duration and number of partners varied with time. These results suggest that cross-sectional survey and observational studies may be time sensitive and systematically distort our understanding of adolescent romantic relationships by oversampling longer-term relationships. Results also illustrate how computational models can provide insight into complex phenomena., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Adolescence published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Foundation for Professionals in Services to Adolescents.)

Research has rarely considered intermediate variables in the association between attachment insecurities and relationship commitment. Based on attachment theory and Rusbult's Investment Model, we tested whether positive and negative partner behaviors explain this association in 91 distressed couples undergoing therapy. Path analyses based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model revealed that individuals with attachment avoidance reported perceiving fewer positive behaviors from their partner, which was associated with their own higher under-commitment. Partners of individuals with avoidance also reported perceiving fewer positive partner behaviors, which was in turn associated with their own higher under-commitment. Partners of individuals with attachment anxiety perceived more positive behaviors from their partner, which was associated to their own lower under-commitment. Perceived negative partner behaviors were only directly associated with higher under-commitment. These findings imply that perceived positive partner behaviors may be a key aspect to target in relationship therapy in couples who present with high attachment insecurities., (© 2022 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.)

Introduction: Loneliness can have a negative impact on people's physical and psychological well‐being; building social capital is a potential means of addressing this connection. Community initiatives (e.g. groups, clubs, neighbourhood activities) may be a route that enables people to build social capital to tackle loneliness. Understanding what is known, and where gaps in knowledge exist, is important for advancing research on this topic. Methods: A scoping review was undertaken to explore the question – What community initiatives, with a focus on well‐being, have been evaluated in the United Kingdom that include information about social capital and loneliness? Four databases (Medline, CINAHL, ASSIA and Embase) were searched for relevant research papers. References were screened by two researchers to identify if they met the review's inclusion criteria. Data were summarised as a narrative and in tables. Results: Five papers met the review's inclusion criteria. They all used qualitative methods. Findings suggested that social capital could be developed through creating a sense of trust, group cohesion and reciprocity among participants in the community initiatives. This connection enabled people to experience a sense of belonging and to feel they had a meaningful relationship with others, which appeared to alleviate feelings of loneliness. Conclusion: More research is warranted on the review topic, including studies that have employed quantitative or mixed methods. Clarity around definitions of social capital and loneliness in future research is required. Engagement with community initiatives can provide a formalised route to help people develop connections and counteract limitations in their social networks. However, individuals may be wary about attending community initiatives, needing support and encouragement to do so. Social prescribing link workers are one means of motivating people to access groups, events or organisations that could improve their well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]