Cognitive accessibility and sentiment override—starting a evolution: Comment on Fincham et al. (1995).

F. D. Fincham, P. C. Garnier, S. Gano-Phillips, and L. N. Osborne (see record 1995-21088-001) present a methodology new to the marital arena (reaction time assessment) and use it to illuminate a classic issue in the marital area, sentiment override. In doing so, they highlight the potential of this new methodology for enhancing marital assessment and allowing for the rigorous test of theory. However, the promise of this specific methodology and its implications for marital assessment may be less important than the broader research agenda implied. Because Fincham et al utilized an information processing approach developed within the robust tradition of social-cognition research, they open the marital area to a broad array of potential assessment techniques and implicitly invite the field to join them in a profound reconceptualization of the role of cognition in shaping each spouse's response to the other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)