Assessment, Statistics, and Research

Can you measure love? Robert Sternberg thinks so. Early clinical perspectives on love can be found in the works of Freud and Maslow. But scientific approaches have looked at the many dimensions of love in the last few decades. One popular theory is the Triangular Theory of Love presented by Robert J. Sternberg . As the name implies, there are three constructs in this theory of interpersonal love: Intimacy, passion, and commitment/decision (see Sternberg, 1986, for an explanation). Sternberg referred to each with a "temperature" rating from hot to cool--see the parentheses below. Intimacy refers to lovers’ emotional investment in their relationship (feeling close, connected, bonded, a measure of "warmth"). Passion refers to lovers’ motivational involvement in their relationship (romance, attraction, sex, a measure of "hot"). Commitment/decision refer to lovers’ thoughts about their relationship in terms of decision (I lo

Parents sometimes feel inadequate to parent. Although many enjoy parenting and delight in their children, few can deny that parenting is often a challenge. Some feel unprepared. Some enjoy their children but feel frustrated. Some feel they are less capable than other parents. The Parenting Sense of Competence scale (PSOC) consists of 17 or 16 items depending on the version. The items are rated on a scale of 1 to 6 with anchors of 1 = strongly disagree to 6 = strongly agree. Authors: Gibaud-Wallston & Wandersman (1978) Internal consistency estimates of reliability range from the mid .70s to .80s in previous studies. Research suggests that the items can be grouped into two subscales: Satisfaction with Parenting and Efficacy. Early wording of some scale items used only the word “mother,” but these items have been revised by other researchers to refer to either mother or father (e.g., see Ohan, Leung, & Johnston, 2000). Scoring: Several items are re

Following a painful experience like those reported by women in the “me too” movement, many may work to forgive their offender to free themselves from the ongoing internal struggle caused by rehearsing the event and nursing anger. Forgiveness, of course, should not be construed as excusing, pardoning, or tolerating abuse. Neither should survivors' forgiveness of their offenders reduce the responsibility of government and business leaders to act justly and provide safeguards against future offenses. When people begin to work on forgiveness toward offenders for particularly horrific offenses like rape and murder, they may find strong emotions like anger and the desire for revenge make it seem impossible to overcome. Ev Worthington (Virginia Commonwealth University) and his colleagues have published two measures of forgiveness that divide forgiveness into two parts: Emotional and Decisional. This makes sense to me as a clinician, a scientist, and a person who, like many,