Interactive Problem Solving Research Articles

Marital problem-solving behavior in depression and marital distress.

The present study examined the effects of depression and marital distress on behavior during a marital problem-solving interaction. A complete factorial design combined the presence or absence of a depressed wife with the presence or absence of marital distress, to produce four groups of participant couples. An increase in depressive behavior was the sole unique contribution of a depressed wife, occurring regardless of the level of marital distress. Increased aggressive behavior and decreased facilitative behavior were found to characterize the interactions of maritally distressed couples and were not influenced by depression. Resolution-oriented behavior remained unchanged as a result of either depression or marital distress. The results indicate that marital distress, in addition to depression, should be considered as a source of dysfunctional behavior in marital interactions involving depressed individuals.

The Relationship of Relatives’ Attributions to Their Expressed Emotion and to Patients’ Improvement in Treatment for Anxiety Disorders

In a test of Hooley’s (1987) attributional model of expressed emotion (EE), attributions for negative behaviors and events in patients’ lives were examined in relatives of 74 outpatients with panic disorder with agoraphobia or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Attributions were extracted from 10-minute problem-solving interactions between relatives and patients, whereas EE was assessed during a separate interview with the relative. Consistent with prior findings in relatives of individuals with other disorders, relatives who made greater proportions of attributions of patient responsibility demonstrated significantly higher levels of EE-hostility. In addition, nonspousal relatives (mostly parents) who attributed any negative behaviors or events to a patient’s disorder were significantly higher in emotional overinvolvement (EOI); no such relationship was found for spouses. Finally, patients with relatives who made attributions to the patient’s disorder received less benefit from behavior therapy than did those whose relatives made no such attributions, even when EE variables were controlled.

A Problem Solving Environment for interactive modelling of multiway data

AbstractA prototype Problem Solving Environment (PSE) is presented for problems in interactive modelling of multiway data. Multiway data result from measurements as a function of two or more independent variables. The PSE comprises a parameter estimation loop and a model adjustment loop. The model can be specified hierarchically using mathematically described building blocks which encapsulate the model assumptions. A typical case study of three‐way data illustrates the need for interactive model adjustment. Requirements for interactive problem solving are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interactive Problem Solving in Intercommunal Conflicts

Intercommunal conflicts are frequently the subject of third‐party interventions. As used here, intercommunal conflicts refer to large‐scale, expressed struggles between rival nations or groups, whi...

Advances in conversational case-based reasoning

A considerable amount of research in case-based reasoning (CBR) has recently focused on conversational CBR as a means of providing more effective support for interactive problem solving. We review progress made to date and identify challenges that remain to be addressed.

User Toolkits for Innovation: Consumers Support Each Other

User toolkits for innovation were recently proposed as a means to eliminate (costly) exchange of need‐related information between users and manufactures in the product development process. The method transfers certain development tasks to users and thereby empowers them to create their own desired product features. This article examines the implications of different levels of opportunities for consumer involvement (OCI) in product development to learn what happens when firms pass design tasks on to consumers. It explores this issue by studying the relation between the employment of user toolkits and the need for firms to support their consumers. An analysis of 78 computer games products and the amount of support given by firms to the consumers of these products suggests that a share of the costs firms save on information acquisition by letting consumers “do it themselves” may eventually reemerge as costs in consumer support. In other words, an increase in opportunities for consumer involvement seems to increase the need for supporting consumers. A promising solution to the problem of support costs is identified, namely, the establishment of consumer–consumer support interaction. A case study of an outlier in terms of firm support to consumers—Westwood Studios—shows that consumers who use toolkits may be willing to support each other. Such interactive problem solving in a firm‐established user community is advantageous to the firm, because the process reduces the amount of resources that the firm itself needs to dedicate to the support of consumers using toolkits. Generally, consumer‐to‐consumer interaction can facilitate problem‐solving in the consumer domain, can aid the diffusion of toolkit related knowledge, and potentially can enhance the outcomes produced by the toolkit approach.

Marital Quality and Physiological Arousal: How Do I Love Thee? Let My Heartbeat Count the Ways

The current study examines whether a two-dimensional indicator of marital quality advances empirical understanding of the association between marital quality and physiological arousal. Thirty-two married couples completed baseline and problem-solving interactions while both spouses' heart rates and skin conductance were continuously monitored. Each spouse's changes in physiology from the baseline to problem-solving task served as the independent variables. Dependent variables included a single-dimension measure of marital quality (Dyadic Adjustment Scale DAS; Spanier, 1976), and a two-dimensional measure of marital quality (Positive and Negative Quality in Marriage Scale PANQIMS; Fincham & Linfield, 1997). Results indicated that changes in physiological arousal during a problem-solving marital interaction accounted for significant unique variance in wives', but not husbands' ratings of negative marital quality. Discussion focuses on implications for the social psychophysiological model of marriage and the use of two-dimensional measures of marital quality in the study of marriage.

Problem-Solving Skills and Affective Expressions as Predictors of Change in Marital Satisfaction.

Specific skills and affective expressions coded from the problem-solving interactions of 172 newlywed couples were examined in relation to 8-wave, 4-year trajectories of marital satisfaction. Effects varied as a function of whether husbands' versus wives' topics were under discussion and whether husbands' versus wives' satisfaction was predicted, but results indicate that skills, affect, and their statistical interaction account for unique variance in rates of change in marital satisfaction. The interaction between positive affect and negative skills was particularly robust, indicating that (a) low levels of positive affect and high levels of negative skills foreshadowed particularly rapid rates of deterioration and that (b) high levels of positive affect buffered the effects of high levels of negative skills. Findings suggest specific targets for intervention in programs for developing marriages.

OBSERVATIONAL CODING OF RELATIONSHIP‐SCHEMATIC PROCESSING

In this article, we introduce the construct Relationship-Schematic Processing (RSP), which is defined as the degree to which individuals process information in terms of their romantic relationship. We also present an observational coding system that was developed to assess the behavioral manifestations of RSP. The coding system was applied to videotaped problem-solving interactions completed by 55 maritally distressed couples. Findings indicated that wives engaged in more frequent and higher quality RSP than husbands did. Husbands reported greater relationship satisfaction when wives engaged in more frequent and higher quality RSP; wives reported greater satisfaction when husbands engaged in higher quality relationship processing. In addition, we assessed convergent validity with other measures of marital functioning.

The Advantages of Fuzzy Optimization Models in Practical Use

Classical mathematical programming models require well-defined coefficients and right hand sides. In order to avoid a non satisfying modeling usually a broad information gathering and processing is necessary. In case of real problems some model parameters can be only roughly estimated. While in case of classical models the vague data is replaced by "average data", fuzzy models offer the opportunity to model subjective imaginations of the decision maker as precisely as a decision maker will be able to describe it. Thus the risk of applying a wrong model of the reality and selecting solutions which do not reflect the real problem can be clearly reduced. The modeling of real problems by means of deterministic and stochastic models requires extensive information processing. On the other hand we know that an optimum solution is finally defined only by few restrictions. Especially in case of larger systems we notice afterwards that most of the information is useless. The dilemma of data processing is due to the fact that first we have to calculate the solution in order to define, whether the information must be well-defined or whether vague data may be sufficient. Based on multicriteria programming problems it should be demonstrated that the dilemma of data processing in case of real programming problems can be handled adequately by modeling them as fuzzy system combined with an interactive problem-solving. Describing the real problem by means of a fuzzy system first of all only the available information or such information which can be achieved easily will be considered. Then we try to develop an optimum solution. With reference to the cost-benefit relation further information can be gathered in order to describe the solution more precisely. Furthermore it should be pointed out that some interactive fuzzy solution algorithms, e.g. FULPAL provide the opportunity to solve mixed integer multicriteria programming models as well.

Development and validation of an observational coding system for emotional overinvolvement.

The present study investigated the reliability and construct validity of a behavioral observation coding system of emotional overinvolvement (EOI), an index of intrusive, excessively self-sacrificing, or exaggeratedly emotional behavior displayed by the relative of a psychiatric patient. Separate behavioral ratings of relatives' intrusiveness, excessive self-sacrifice, and exaggerated emotional response were generated from 10-min problem-solving interactions between adult outpatients with obsessive-compulsive disorder or panic disorder with agoraphobia and their relatives. The interrater reliability for the 3 scales was adequate to excellent, and the scales appeared to tap related, but distinct, aspects of the EOI construct. Results from a multitrait-multimethod matrix and a confirmatory factor analysis supported the measure's convergent validity but were equivocal with respect to its discriminant validity.

The effects of affective interventions in human–computer interaction

The present study investigated the psychophysiological effects of positive and negative affective interventions in human–computer interaction during and after the interventions. Eighteen subjects were exposed to pre-programmed mouse delays in an interactive problem-solving task. Following the mouse delays three types of conditions were used: positive or negative interventions given via speech synthesizer, and no intervention. Facial electromyographic responses were recorded from the zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii muscle sites. These muscles control smiling and frowning, respectively. Smiling activity was significantly higher during the positive than the other conditions. It was also significantly higher after the positive interventions than the no intervention condition. The frowning activity attenuated significantly more after the positive interventions than the no intervention condition. Following the positive interventions the users' problem solving performance was significantly better than after no intervention. In all, the results suggest that both types of affective intervention had beneficial effects over ignoring the user. The results suggest further that positive intervention may be especially useful.

Affectivity in the problem-solving interactions of schizophrenia patients and their family members

This study sought to examine the relationship between symptomatology and the affect expressed between individuals with schizophrenia and their family members. It was hypothesized that, because of their impact on patient social behavior and potential burden on relatives, greater negative symptoms would be associated with less emotional expression in patients but would be related to the greater expression of negative emotions in their relatives within a problem-solving discussion. Informed by research on the structure of emotion, a broad assessment of affect, including Negativity, Positivity, and Disengagement, was utilized to examine affect expressed by patients with schizophrenic disorders ( N=91) and their family members during videotaped problem-solving discussions. Although individuals with schizophrenia were comparable to their family members in displays of Negativity, patients displayed less Positivity and greater Disengagement. Greater negative symptoms (in particular blunted or flat affect) were related to a general diminution of affective expression in the schizophrenia group. However, negative symptoms were unrelated to the emotional expression of family members. Other symptoms such as thought disorder and mood symptoms of anxiety, depression, and hostility were not related to displays of affect by either patients or their family members. The findings indicate the importance of examining domains of affect other than negativity and demonstrate that negative symptoms are related to interpersonal displays of affect in schizophrenia. Additionally, these results suggest that schizophrenic symptoms, by themselves, may contribute little to the conflict between patients and their family members.

Longitudinal analysis of the presence, efficacy and stability of maternal scaffolding during informal problem‐solving interactions

The use of contingent instruction by parents and a related positive outcome for subsequent child behaviours have been documented in past research. In the current study the scaffolding paradigm was used to investigate patterns of maternal instructional behaviours and related child behaviours during informal problem‐solving interactions and during independent problem‐solving tasks. Forty‐five mother‐child dyads were observed at four time points across a 3‐year period (children aged 16, 26, 44 and 54 months). In general, mothers showed systematic decreases in the amount of support offered and systematic increases in their use of contingent instruction, whereas children became more successful in their behaviours during the parent‐child interactions. Surprisingly, there was little or no stability across time for each mother‐child dyad. Mothers and children became more successful at working together during the problem‐solving tasks, but each parent and each child was not consistent from one period to the next. In addition, when predicting children's success during independent tasks at the earlier ages there was an indirect link between parent behaviours and child success, whereas at 54 months there was a direct effect for both parent behaviours and children's previous abilities.

Preschool Children's Collaborative Problem-Solving Interactions: The Role of Gender, Pair Type, and Task

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills in preschool children. Children between 4 and 5 years of age completed 3 problem-solving tasks with either a same-sex or a different-sex peer. Children's verbal and nonverbal interactions were analyzed. Girls used mitigation more often than did boys. Mixed-sex dyads engaged in controlling verbal interactions more often than same-sex dyads. There were relationships between verbal and nonverbal behaviors and task success; these relationships also differed across pair types. The results of the study demonstrate that the gender differences in types of verbal interactions previously observed in preschool children's free play are also present in their problem-solving interactions and that children are able to alter the types of behaviors they use depending upon both partner gender and the type of task involved.

Collaborative Problem-Solving Interactions in Young and Old Married Couples

The study explores the importance of conversational processes for understanding collaborative cognitive performance by examining the interactions of married couples that facilitate performance on 2 everyday cognitive tasks. Twenty-four adults, 6 young (M age = 29.7 years) and 6 older (M = 70.8 years) married couples, completed a vacation decision-making task and an errand-running task. Couples were asked to talk as they performed the tasks and speech acts were coded as to whether they involved high-affiliation exchanges (between-partner sequences of cooperative and obliging speech acts) or low-affiliation exchanges (between-partner sequences of controlling and withdrawing speech acts). Interactions characterized by high affiliation were associated with greater use of information and the use of feature based search strategies on the decision-making task and shorter routes on the errand-running task. Open-ended interviews revealed the importance of division of labor and delegation when collaborating in daily life. The results illustrate the diversity present in couples' interactive patterns and approaches to collaboration. Further, the results demonstrate the potential of integrating work on collaborative cognition and conversational processes.

Managing complex development projects: arenas, knowledge processes and time

The literature on project management has been dominated by techniques and methods for separating activities and making thought out plans. Closely related to this research stream is the research on product development, which seems to advocate somewhat of a different strategy where managing projects is a matter of enabling the crossing of functions and knowledge bases. This paper attempts to integrate these two lines of research.The paper is based on two in–depth case studies of project management in product development contexts. The projects under study were highly complex and consisted of multiple interrelated parts, which called for ‘tightly coupled’ organizational solutions. From our point of view, much effort by the project management teams was put into establishing a project that was responsive and where participating local units were oriented toward various ‘global’ measures.In our conception, the overall deadline seemed to have played an important role for promoting communal and interactive problem solving. Furthermore, the deadline emphasized the need for global arenas where the interactive problem solving could take place. It is argued that time–based controls set a global time for the project. The paper also demonstrates the importance of various global arenas, such as testing activities and project management forums, in order to keep track of time limits and to trigger global knowledge processes. Furthermore, based on the notion of ‘separation’ and ‘coupling’ of sub–systems and project phases, the paper suggests a model identifying four types of project organizations. The paper contributes to the knowledge on project management in complex product development.

Expectancy Confirmation in Appraisals of Marital Interactions

How do spouses evaluate their interactions with each other? Although spouses’ appraisals of their interactions with their partners influence relationship outcomes, it is not clear how such appraisals are formed. The current study examined the role of expectancy confirmation processes in evaluations of relationship interactions. A sample of 82 newlywed couples engaged in two videotaped problem-solving interactions and reported their marital satisfaction, expectations prior to each interaction, and appraisals after each interaction. Structural equation modeling revealed that (a) spouses’ prior expectations directly affected appraisals of their interactions and completely mediated the indirect effects of marital satisfaction and (b) behavior did not mediate the association between expectations and appraisals but instead influenced appraisals independently. Results suggest that partners’ behaviors may be a pathway through which initially positive beliefs about close relationships can deteriorate, despite expectancy confirmation processes that operate to maintain them.

Assessing secure base behavior in adulthood: Development of a measure, links to adult attachment representations and relations to couples' communication and reports of relationships.

A focus on the secure base phenomenon creates a framework for exploring the function of the attachment system in adulthood. Engaged couples (N = 157) were videotaped in a problem-solving interaction and assessed using the Secure Base Scoring System (SBSS), a system based on Ainsworth's analyses of infant-parent secure base use and support. Study 1 showed behavior was significantly related to representations assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview (M. Main & R. Goldwyn, 1994). In Study 2, the interactions were independently scored with the Rapid Marital Interaction Coding System (RMICS; R. E. Heyman & D. Vivian, 1993), a communication-based system. The SBSS predicted relationship variables beyond the RMICS, especially for women. Results indicate that the secure base phenomenon provides a cogent perspective on adult attachment behavior.

Assessment and instruction of hands-on problem-solving and object interaction skills in children who are deafblind

Assessment and instruction of hands-on problem-solving and object interaction skills in children who are deafblind