Understanding marriage and marital distress: Do milliseconds matter?

This article addresses concerns raised about F. D. Fincham, P. C. Garnier, S. Gano-Phillips, and L. N. Osborne's (1995) study by placing it in the context of current marital research. Studies of marriage-related cognitions have centered on the content of cognitions and have ignored the cognitive processes that give rise to them. Therefore, little is known about spousal cognitions that are unavailable for self-report or about the role of cognitive processes in initiating, maintaining, or alleviating marital distress. Reaction time has the potential to be one of several variables that can be used to investigate such processes. The challenge faced by marital researchers is to incorporate the information-processing paradigm into their work, thereby integrating it with broader literatures in cognitive psychology and social cognition. Failure to do so will leave marital researchers with an incomplete picture of marriage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)