Timothy J Loving
Biographic Data
| ID | 649565 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Timothy J Loving |
| GIVEN NAMES | Timothy J |
| FAMILY NAME | Loving |
| SIGNATURE | LOVING T J |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 122 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Romantic Relationships and Mental Health: Investigating the Role of Self-Expansion on Depression Symptoms
Close relationships have the potential to fundamentally alter relationship partners' self-concepts and, consequently, can impact individuals' mental health. One type of relationship-induced self-concept change is self-expansion, which describes the cognitive reorganization of the self that can occur when individuals include aspects of their partner into the self, or when they share novel and challenging activities together. In the current researc…
Implicit theories of relationships and self-expansion: Implications for relationship functioning
Individuals hold implicit beliefs about the nature of romantic relationships. Growth beliefs are characterized by thoughts that romantic relationships can be cultivated over time, whereas destiny beliefs are characterized by thoughts that relationships are either meant to be or not. In the current research, we propose that individuals who hold strong growth beliefs (but not destiny beliefs) should be more likely to experience self-expansion, as t…
The Importance of a Few Good Friends: Perceived Network Support Moderates the Association Between Daily Marital Conflict and Diurnal Cortisol
This study examined whether the extent to which spouses feel they have available and satisfying support outside their marriage buffers spouses from the potential negative physiological effects of conflict inside their marriage. Newlywed couples ( N = 214 spouses) reported occurrences of marital conflict in a daily diary and concurrently provided morning and evening saliva samples for the calculation of daily diurnal cortisol slopes. Extending pri…
Does Sex Really Matter? Examining the Connections Between Spouses’ Nonsexual Behaviors, Sexual Frequency, Sexual Satisfaction, and Marital Satisfaction
Falsifiability is not optional
Finkel, Eastwick, and Reis (2016; FER2016) argued the post-2011 methodological reform movement has focused narrowly on replicability, neglecting other essential goals of research. We agree multiple scientific goals are essential, but argue, however, a more fine-grained language, conceptualization, and approach to replication is needed to accomplish these goals. Replication is the general empirical mechanism for testing and falsifying theory. Suff…
Benefits of open and high-powered research outweigh costs
Several researchers recently outlined unacknowledged costs of open science practices, arguing these costs may outweigh benefits and stifle discovery of novel findings. We scrutinize these researchers' (a) statistical concern that heightened stringency with respect to false-positives will increase false-negatives and (b) metascientific concern that larger samples and executing direct replications engender opportunity costs that will decrease the r…
Breaking the Mold: Evaluating a Non-Punitive Domestic Violence Intervention Program
Individual Differences in the Relationship Transition Context: Links to Physiological Outcomes
The identification of relationship‐relevant individual differences is central to elucidating how relationship experiences differentially impact individuals’ health. To this end, we highlight the utility of studying the influence of individual differences on physiological outcomes (e.g., cortisol reactivity and recovery) in the context of normative relationship transitions. We argue that relationship transitions, such as falling in love and the pr…
Enhancing transparency of the research process to increase accuracy of findings: A guide for relationship researchers
The purpose of this paper is to extend to the field of relationship science, recent discussions and suggested changes in open research practises. We demonstrate different ways that greater transparency of the research process in our field will accelerate scientific progress by increasing accuracy of reported research findings. Importantly, we make concrete recommendations for how relationship researchers can transition to greater disclosure of re…
Mind–body connections in personal relationships: What close relationships researchers have to offer
This special issue on “mind–body connections in personal relationships” brings together 8 empirical contributions by researchers from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds. The objectives for this issue were threefold: (a) to highlight research being conducted by close relationships researchers, (b) to foster disciplinary cross‐pollination, and (c) to emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the research in this domain. The quality of the sub…
Missing you maintains us: Missing a romantic partner, commitment, relationship maintenance, and physical infidelity
Working from the perspective of interdependence theory and models of relationship maintenance, this study examined the functional role of missing a romantic partner during a brief geographic separation. Eighty-eight undergraduate students involved in romantic relationships completed a measure of commitment prior to separation, and measures of missing a romantic partner, relationship maintenance, and physical infidelity during their winter break. …
What’s Closeness Got to Do with It? Men’s and Women’s Cortisol Responses When Providing and Receiving Support
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of social support role (i.e., recipient versus provider) and experimentally manipulated closeness on men's and women's cortisol responses during an acute stress paradigm. METHODS: We manipulated psychological closeness (high versus low) between 50 same-sex stranger pairs and subsequently randomly assigned individuals to either prepare a speech (i.e., support recipient) or provide support to the speech presenter (…
Contemporary Methods of Social Introduction: Is the Stigmatisation justified
Historically, individuals in search of a romantic partner have expanded their pool of alternatives by meeting others through their personal social networks. In the last few decades, however, a growing singles population, coupled with advances in technology, has promoted the utilisation and modernization of contemporary marriage market intermediaries (MMIs), including online dating sites, social networking sites, and professional matchmaking servi…
Transition novelty moderates daters' cortisol responses when talking about marriage
Nonmarital couples' salivary cortisol responses during a likelihood of marriage discussion were assessed. Sixty‐eight couple members (34 couples) in the United States independently indicated the extent to which they had experience thinking about and talking about marriage to their current partners (i.e., marriage novelty). Couples subsequently jointly graphed their chance of marriage to each other over the course of their relationship histories. …
Missing a romantic partner: A prototype analysis
In this study, a prototype analysis of romantic missing was conducted. College‐age participants in the United States generated features of missing a partner (Study 1) and rated their centrality (Study 2). In a reaction time task, participants made category judgments for central features more quickly than for noncentral features (Study 3). In recognition and recall tasks, central features were more salient in participants’ memory, and participants…
Predicting dating relationship fate with insiders’ and outsiders’ perspectives: Who and what is asked matters
Two recent studies (C. R. Agnew, T. J. Loving, & S. M. Drigotas, 2001; T. K. MacDonald & M. Ross, 1999) investigated the relative ability of outsiders’ (network members) and daters’ perceptions of the daters’ romance to predict relationship fate. Careful analysis of these studies suggests that the types of network members asked and what is asked significantly impact the prognostic ability of outsiders’ perceptions. The current research replicates…
Hostile Marital Interactions, Proinflammatory Cytokine Production, and Wound Healing
CONTEXT: A growing epidemiological literature has suggested that marital discord is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. In addition, depression and stress are associated with enhanced production of proinflammatory cytokines that influence a spectrum of conditions associated with aging. OBJECTIVE: To assess how hostile marital behaviors modulate wound healing, as well as local and systemic proinflammatory cytokine production. DESIGN AND SET…
Stress Hormone Changes and Marital Conflict: Spouses' Relative Power Makes a Difference
We investigated the impact of relative marital power on 72 newlywed couples' endocrinological responses to marital conflict. Marital power was determined by comparing spouses' reports of dependent love for one another. Less powerful spouses displayed elevated adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) responses to a conflict discussion. Shared power appeared to have a beneficial effect on wives' but not husbands' ACTH responses. Spouses' cortisol levels …
Time pressure and group performance: Exploring underlying processes in the Attentional Focus Model
Substituting the forest for the trees: Social networks and the prediction of romantic relationship state and fate
This research focused on perceptions held by heterosexual couples' friendship network concerning the couple's relationship. In a three-wave longitudinal study, we examined (a) whether these perceptions were similar to the couple's views of the relationship, (b) whether they predicted current relationship state and future fate, and (c) how they compared with the couple's perceptions in predicting fate. Consistent with within-dyad idealization, res…
Socially Desirable Responding in Close Relationships: A Dual-Component Approach and Measure
Five studies were conducted to develop and validate a brief measure of socially desirable responding (SDR) for use in close relationships research, the Inventory of Desirable Responding in Relationships (IDRR). Specifically, a two-component measure of SDR was created to assess individuals' tendencies to: (i) deceive themselves, and (ii) deceive others regarding negative aspects of their close relationship. Study 1 employed exploratory factor anal…
The Role of Social Desirability in Self-Reported Condom Use Attitudes and Intentions
Does Sex Really Matter? Examining the Connections Between Spouses’ Nonsexual Behaviors, Sexual Frequency, Sexual Satisfaction, and Marital Satisfaction
Time pressure and group performance: Exploring underlying processes in the Attentional Focus Model
Implicit theories of relationships and self-expansion: Implications for relationship functioning
Individuals hold implicit beliefs about the nature of romantic relationships. Growth beliefs are characterized by thoughts that romantic relationships can be cultivated over time, whereas destiny beliefs are characterized by thoughts that relationships are either meant to be or not. In the current research, we propose that individuals who hold strong growth beliefs (but not destiny beliefs) should be more likely to experience self-expansion, as t…
Falsifiability is not optional
Finkel, Eastwick, and Reis (2016; FER2016) argued the post-2011 methodological reform movement has focused narrowly on replicability, neglecting other essential goals of research. We agree multiple scientific goals are essential, but argue, however, a more fine-grained language, conceptualization, and approach to replication is needed to accomplish these goals. Replication is the general empirical mechanism for testing and falsifying theory. Suff…
Stress Hormone Changes and Marital Conflict: Spouses' Relative Power Makes a Difference
We investigated the impact of relative marital power on 72 newlywed couples' endocrinological responses to marital conflict. Marital power was determined by comparing spouses' reports of dependent love for one another. Less powerful spouses displayed elevated adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) responses to a conflict discussion. Shared power appeared to have a beneficial effect on wives' but not husbands' ACTH responses. Spouses' cortisol levels …
Missing you maintains us: Missing a romantic partner, commitment, relationship maintenance, and physical infidelity
Working from the perspective of interdependence theory and models of relationship maintenance, this study examined the functional role of missing a romantic partner during a brief geographic separation. Eighty-eight undergraduate students involved in romantic relationships completed a measure of commitment prior to separation, and measures of missing a romantic partner, relationship maintenance, and physical infidelity during their winter break. …
Romantic Relationships and Mental Health: Investigating the Role of Self-Expansion on Depression Symptoms
Close relationships have the potential to fundamentally alter relationship partners' self-concepts and, consequently, can impact individuals' mental health. One type of relationship-induced self-concept change is self-expansion, which describes the cognitive reorganization of the self that can occur when individuals include aspects of their partner into the self, or when they share novel and challenging activities together. In the current researc…
Benefits of open and high-powered research outweigh costs
Several researchers recently outlined unacknowledged costs of open science practices, arguing these costs may outweigh benefits and stifle discovery of novel findings. We scrutinize these researchers' (a) statistical concern that heightened stringency with respect to false-positives will increase false-negatives and (b) metascientific concern that larger samples and executing direct replications engender opportunity costs that will decrease the r…
Socially Desirable Responding in Close Relationships: A Dual-Component Approach and Measure
Five studies were conducted to develop and validate a brief measure of socially desirable responding (SDR) for use in close relationships research, the Inventory of Desirable Responding in Relationships (IDRR). Specifically, a two-component measure of SDR was created to assess individuals' tendencies to: (i) deceive themselves, and (ii) deceive others regarding negative aspects of their close relationship. Study 1 employed exploratory factor anal…
Breaking the Mold: Evaluating a Non-Punitive Domestic Violence Intervention Program
Transition novelty moderates daters' cortisol responses when talking about marriage
Nonmarital couples' salivary cortisol responses during a likelihood of marriage discussion were assessed. Sixty‐eight couple members (34 couples) in the United States independently indicated the extent to which they had experience thinking about and talking about marriage to their current partners (i.e., marriage novelty). Couples subsequently jointly graphed their chance of marriage to each other over the course of their relationship histories. …
Substituting the forest for the trees: Social networks and the prediction of romantic relationship state and fate
This research focused on perceptions held by heterosexual couples' friendship network concerning the couple's relationship. In a three-wave longitudinal study, we examined (a) whether these perceptions were similar to the couple's views of the relationship, (b) whether they predicted current relationship state and future fate, and (c) how they compared with the couple's perceptions in predicting fate. Consistent with within-dyad idealization, res…
Mind–body connections in personal relationships: What close relationships researchers have to offer
This special issue on “mind–body connections in personal relationships” brings together 8 empirical contributions by researchers from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds. The objectives for this issue were threefold: (a) to highlight research being conducted by close relationships researchers, (b) to foster disciplinary cross‐pollination, and (c) to emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the research in this domain. The quality of the sub…
The Role of Social Desirability in Self-Reported Condom Use Attitudes and Intentions
Substituting the forest for the trees: Social networks and the prediction of romantic relationship state and fate
This research focused on perceptions held by heterosexual couples' friendship network concerning the couple's relationship. In a three-wave longitudinal study, we examined (a) whether these perceptions were similar to the couple's views of the relationship, (b) whether they predicted current relationship state and future fate, and (c) how they compared with the couple's perceptions in predicting fate. Consistent with within-dyad idealization, res…
Socially Desirable Responding in Close Relationships: A Dual-Component Approach and Measure
Five studies were conducted to develop and validate a brief measure of socially desirable responding (SDR) for use in close relationships research, the Inventory of Desirable Responding in Relationships (IDRR). Specifically, a two-component measure of SDR was created to assess individuals' tendencies to: (i) deceive themselves, and (ii) deceive others regarding negative aspects of their close relationship. Study 1 employed exploratory factor anal…
Time pressure and group performance: Exploring underlying processes in the Attentional Focus Model
Stress Hormone Changes and Marital Conflict: Spouses' Relative Power Makes a Difference
We investigated the impact of relative marital power on 72 newlywed couples' endocrinological responses to marital conflict. Marital power was determined by comparing spouses' reports of dependent love for one another. Less powerful spouses displayed elevated adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) responses to a conflict discussion. Shared power appeared to have a beneficial effect on wives' but not husbands' ACTH responses. Spouses' cortisol levels …
Hostile Marital Interactions, Proinflammatory Cytokine Production, and Wound Healing
CONTEXT: A growing epidemiological literature has suggested that marital discord is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. In addition, depression and stress are associated with enhanced production of proinflammatory cytokines that influence a spectrum of conditions associated with aging. OBJECTIVE: To assess how hostile marital behaviors modulate wound healing, as well as local and systemic proinflammatory cytokine production. DESIGN AND SET…
Predicting dating relationship fate with insiders’ and outsiders’ perspectives: Who and what is asked matters
Two recent studies (C. R. Agnew, T. J. Loving, & S. M. Drigotas, 2001; T. K. MacDonald & M. Ross, 1999) investigated the relative ability of outsiders’ (network members) and daters’ perceptions of the daters’ romance to predict relationship fate. Careful analysis of these studies suggests that the types of network members asked and what is asked significantly impact the prognostic ability of outsiders’ perceptions. The current research replicates…
Missing a romantic partner: A prototype analysis
In this study, a prototype analysis of romantic missing was conducted. College‐age participants in the United States generated features of missing a partner (Study 1) and rated their centrality (Study 2). In a reaction time task, participants made category judgments for central features more quickly than for noncentral features (Study 3). In recognition and recall tasks, central features were more salient in participants’ memory, and participants…
What’s Closeness Got to Do with It? Men’s and Women’s Cortisol Responses When Providing and Receiving Support
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of social support role (i.e., recipient versus provider) and experimentally manipulated closeness on men's and women's cortisol responses during an acute stress paradigm. METHODS: We manipulated psychological closeness (high versus low) between 50 same-sex stranger pairs and subsequently randomly assigned individuals to either prepare a speech (i.e., support recipient) or provide support to the speech presenter (…
Contemporary Methods of Social Introduction: Is the Stigmatisation justified
Historically, individuals in search of a romantic partner have expanded their pool of alternatives by meeting others through their personal social networks. In the last few decades, however, a growing singles population, coupled with advances in technology, has promoted the utilisation and modernization of contemporary marriage market intermediaries (MMIs), including online dating sites, social networking sites, and professional matchmaking servi…
Transition novelty moderates daters' cortisol responses when talking about marriage
Nonmarital couples' salivary cortisol responses during a likelihood of marriage discussion were assessed. Sixty‐eight couple members (34 couples) in the United States independently indicated the extent to which they had experience thinking about and talking about marriage to their current partners (i.e., marriage novelty). Couples subsequently jointly graphed their chance of marriage to each other over the course of their relationship histories. …
Mind–body connections in personal relationships: What close relationships researchers have to offer
This special issue on “mind–body connections in personal relationships” brings together 8 empirical contributions by researchers from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds. The objectives for this issue were threefold: (a) to highlight research being conducted by close relationships researchers, (b) to foster disciplinary cross‐pollination, and (c) to emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the research in this domain. The quality of the sub…
Missing you maintains us: Missing a romantic partner, commitment, relationship maintenance, and physical infidelity
Working from the perspective of interdependence theory and models of relationship maintenance, this study examined the functional role of missing a romantic partner during a brief geographic separation. Eighty-eight undergraduate students involved in romantic relationships completed a measure of commitment prior to separation, and measures of missing a romantic partner, relationship maintenance, and physical infidelity during their winter break. …
Individual Differences in the Relationship Transition Context: Links to Physiological Outcomes
The identification of relationship‐relevant individual differences is central to elucidating how relationship experiences differentially impact individuals’ health. To this end, we highlight the utility of studying the influence of individual differences on physiological outcomes (e.g., cortisol reactivity and recovery) in the context of normative relationship transitions. We argue that relationship transitions, such as falling in love and the pr…
Enhancing transparency of the research process to increase accuracy of findings: A guide for relationship researchers
The purpose of this paper is to extend to the field of relationship science, recent discussions and suggested changes in open research practises. We demonstrate different ways that greater transparency of the research process in our field will accelerate scientific progress by increasing accuracy of reported research findings. Importantly, we make concrete recommendations for how relationship researchers can transition to greater disclosure of re…
Breaking the Mold: Evaluating a Non-Punitive Domestic Violence Intervention Program
Does Sex Really Matter? Examining the Connections Between Spouses’ Nonsexual Behaviors, Sexual Frequency, Sexual Satisfaction, and Marital Satisfaction
Falsifiability is not optional
Finkel, Eastwick, and Reis (2016; FER2016) argued the post-2011 methodological reform movement has focused narrowly on replicability, neglecting other essential goals of research. We agree multiple scientific goals are essential, but argue, however, a more fine-grained language, conceptualization, and approach to replication is needed to accomplish these goals. Replication is the general empirical mechanism for testing and falsifying theory. Suff…
Benefits of open and high-powered research outweigh costs
Several researchers recently outlined unacknowledged costs of open science practices, arguing these costs may outweigh benefits and stifle discovery of novel findings. We scrutinize these researchers' (a) statistical concern that heightened stringency with respect to false-positives will increase false-negatives and (b) metascientific concern that larger samples and executing direct replications engender opportunity costs that will decrease the r…
The Importance of a Few Good Friends: Perceived Network Support Moderates the Association Between Daily Marital Conflict and Diurnal Cortisol
This study examined whether the extent to which spouses feel they have available and satisfying support outside their marriage buffers spouses from the potential negative physiological effects of conflict inside their marriage. Newlywed couples ( N = 214 spouses) reported occurrences of marital conflict in a daily diary and concurrently provided morning and evening saliva samples for the calculation of daily diurnal cortisol slopes. Extending pri…
Implicit theories of relationships and self-expansion: Implications for relationship functioning
Individuals hold implicit beliefs about the nature of romantic relationships. Growth beliefs are characterized by thoughts that romantic relationships can be cultivated over time, whereas destiny beliefs are characterized by thoughts that relationships are either meant to be or not. In the current research, we propose that individuals who hold strong growth beliefs (but not destiny beliefs) should be more likely to experience self-expansion, as t…
Romantic Relationships and Mental Health: Investigating the Role of Self-Expansion on Depression Symptoms
Close relationships have the potential to fundamentally alter relationship partners' self-concepts and, consequently, can impact individuals' mental health. One type of relationship-induced self-concept change is self-expansion, which describes the cognitive reorganization of the self that can occur when individuals include aspects of their partner into the self, or when they share novel and challenging activities together. In the current researc…
Psychology (22 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (16 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Developmental psychology (13 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (5 works) · Clinical Psychology (5 works) · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior (5 works)