The International Association for Relationship Research Mini-Conference October 4 – 6, 2013 Louisville, Kentucky Multi-Level Motivations in Close Relationship Dynamics   Call for Papers
We invite you to submit a proposal for presentation at the 2013 mini-conference to be held in Louisville, KY. The conference will provide an opportunity to present and learn about cutting-edge research in the field of personal relationships. Scholars from different countries representing a broad range of disciplines (e.g., psychology, sociology, communication, family studies, social work, gerontology) will gather at the conference to share their work in various formats (e.g., symposia, papers, posters, round table discussions). Multi-Level Motivations Theme: The mini-conference will focus on relationship dynamics that are influenced by diverse, sometimes contradictory motives. The Multi-Level Motivation perspective is defined as the analyses of behavior as a simultaneous product of both biologically-based and socioculturally-based forces. Sometimes, motives from the two levels work in concert and sometimes they are in conflict. Any need that functions in dialectic with another need could it within such an analysis.   The tension between biological and social motives has been emphasized in areas such as gender differences, sexual behavior and attachment. Yet there are biologically-based tendencies to respond positively to beauty and negatively to strangers and those with illness, to respond to frustration with aggression, to imitate the behavior of other people, to echo warnings, and verbally express pain. The tendencies may be followed, or they may be suppressed, due to other motives arising from social training. Tensions among needs arising within and between different motivational levels occur in such domains as health behavior, financial decision-making, interpersonal conflict, adoption and step-family dynamics, gender role issues, social support and a host of other areas, including impression management on social networking sites. The complex interplay of unconscious biologically-based inclinations, hormones and feelings with socially-based norms that are transmitted through modeling, language, education and religion are important to understand for theoretical, personal insight and public policy goals. Equally important to explicate are how such decisions are framed by the culture, expressed by the partner, and conceptualized by the decision-maker.   Relationship researchers are aware of both biological and social motives, yet the field remains largely divided between investigators who focus on evolutionary variables and explanations, and those who emphasize cultural and cognitive determinants of behavior. The Multi-Level Motivation perspective, by contrast, consistently seeks to explicate the simultaneous influence and interplay of both categories of motives in relationship behavior.    In this conference, we will offer keynote addresses and seek papers, posters and symposia from investigators striving to explicate the multiply motivated nature of relationship behaviors, including the enactment, self-perception and communication of those motives.  Thus, this is a call for investigators who are willing to creatively address a multi-level motivational explanatory framework in explicating their relationship research for this venue.   Potential Topic Areas include but are not limited to: (a) attachment and social support; (b) attraction mate-selection and self-expansion; (c) sexual behavior, life history dynamics and pregnancy; (d) competition, conflict and interpersonal violence; (e) emotion regulation, terror management and health behavior; (f) methodological and measurement challenges involved in assessing multi-level motives (g) dialectics between showing off and maintaining modesty on social network sites, and (h) other topics offered by creative and insightful IARR members. Thus, this theme is meant to be inclusive, and is intended to tie together many traditional topics in the field of personal relationships through the lens of multi-level motivation.    New Scholars Workshop: A workshop for New Scholars (graduate students, post-docs, instructors and assistant professors) will be offered on October 4.  Jennifer Theiss will be coordinating and supplying additional details (Department of Communication, Rutgers University, 4 Huntington St., New Brunswick, NJ 08901 jtheiss@rutgers.edu)   Submissions:  The Program Committee invites proposals for symposia, papers, posters, roundtables, and interest groups on topics relevant to research and practice in social and personal relationships. Detailed information about the conference (e.g., how to submit proposals, how to register for the conference) will be available on the IARR website  (http://www.iarr.org/conferences/).  Submissions should be sent electronically via the conference websit: https://iarr.conference-services.net/authorlogin.asp?conferenceID=3588&language=en-uk The deadline for submissions has been extended to May 15, 2013. Acceptance letters are expected June 30, 2013.   Program and Local Arrangements Committee:  Michael Cunningham and Anita Barbee can answer your questions. Please feel free to contact them via email if you have questions/comments about the Call, the conference program, and conference arrangements (iarr2013@louisville.edu). Others on the Committee include: Becky Antle (Marriage and Family Therapy- U of L), Jesse Owen, (Counseling Psychology- U of L) and more.