Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Using Cluster Analysis to Examine Husband-Wife Decision Making

  • Published:
The Psychological Record Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cluster analysis has a rich history in many disciplines and although cluster analysis has been used in clinical psychology to identify types of disorders, its use in other areas of psychology has been less popular. The purpose of the current experiments was to use cluster analysis to investigate husband-wife decision making. Cluster analysis was selected to illustrate the point that it can be a beneficial multivariate technique when researching husband-wife decision making by examining similar decision-making strategies used by couples and comparing joint decisions to individual decisions.

For the current experiments, participants (26 couples) watched 6 movie trailers and viewed 6 sample restaurant menus. After viewing each, participants indicated how likely they would be to go to view the movie or to eat at the restaurant. Participants completed the task first independently and then jointly. Cluster analysis was used to provide the desired information by (a) forming clusters of couples in general who used common decision-making strategies and (b) forming clusters to show which spouse’s decision-making strategy independently was more similar to the joint strategy. Results from the cluster analysis are discussed in light of other statistical procedures commonly used to examine husband-wife decision-making strategies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ANDERSON, N. H. (1979). Algebraic rules in psychological measurement. American Scientist, 67, 555–563.

    Google Scholar 

  • ANDERSON, N. H. (1991 ). Family life and personal design. In N. H. Anderson (Ed.), Contributions to information integration theory volume Iii: Developmental (pp. 189–242). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • BEACH, S. T., & TESSER, A. (1993). Decision making power and marital satisfaction: A Self-Evaluation Maintenance perspective. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 12(4), 471–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BEAN, F. D., CLARK, M. P., SWICEGOOD, G., & WILLIAMS, D. (1983). Husband- wife communication, wife’s employment, and the decision for male or female sterilization. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 395–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BLOOD, R. O., & WOLFE, D. M. (1960). Husbands and wives: The dynamics of family living. Oxford, England: Free Press Glencoe.

    Google Scholar 

  • BONDS-RAACKE, J. M. (2001). Going to the movies? Unpublished.

    Google Scholar 

  • BOVE, C. F., SOBAL, J., & RAUSCHENBACH, B. S. (2003). Food choices among newly married couples: Convergence, conflict, individualism, and projects. Appetite, 40, 25–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • CANTOR, J., MARES, M.-L., & HYDE, J. S. (2003). Autobiographical memories of exposure to sexual media content. Media Psychology, 5, 1–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FEILMAYR, W. (2004). Multivariate methods of regional science: Cluster analysis. Retrieved June 2, 2004, from http://www.srf.tuwien.ac.at/feil/clus.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • GODWIN, D., & SCANZONI, J. (1989). Couples consensus during marital joint decision-making: A context, process, outcome model. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 943–956.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HABAR, L. C., & AUSTIN, J. K. (1992). How married couples make decisions. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 14, 322–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HAIR, J. F., & BLACK, W. C. (2000). Cluster analysis. In L. G. Grimm & P. R. Yarnold (Eds.), Reading and understanding more multivariate statistics (pp. 147–206). Washington, DC: Apa.

    Google Scholar 

  • HARRIS, R. J., HOEKSTRA, S. T., SANBORN, F. W., SCOTT, C. L., DODDS, L. A., & BRANDENBURG, J. D. (2004). Autobiographical memories for romantic movies seen on a date. Media Psychology, 6, 257–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HARRIS, R. J., HOEKSTRA, S. J., SCOTT, C. L., SANBORN, F. W., KARAFA, J. A., & BRANDENBURG, J. D. (2000). Young men’s and women’s different autobiographical memories of the experience of seeing frightening movies on a date. Media Psychology, 2, 245–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HARRISON, K., & CANTOR, J. (1999). Tales from the screen: Enduring fright reactions to scary media. Media Psychology, 1, 97–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HOEKSTRA, S. J., HARRIS, R. J., & HELMICH, A. L (1999). Autobiographical memories about the experience of seeing frightening movies in childhood. Media Psychology, 1, 117–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HOULIHAN, M. M., JACKSON, J., & ROGERS, T. R. (1990). Decision making of satisfied and dissatisfied married couples. Journal of Social Psychology, 130, 89–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • KINGSBURY, N. M., & SCANZONI, J. (1989). Process power and decision outcomes among dual-career couples. Journal of Contemporary Family Studies, 20, 231–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • KRAMPF, R. F., BURNS, D. J., & RAYMAN, D. M. (1995). Consumer decision making and the nature of the product: A comparison of husband and wife adoption process location. Psychology and Marketing, 10, 95–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LANGHOLTZ, H. J., BALL, C., SOPCHAK, B., & AUBLE, J. (1997). Resource-allocation behavior in complex but commonplace tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 70, 249–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LAZAR, W., & SMALLWOOD, J. E. (1977). The changing demographics of women. Journal of Marketing, 41, 14–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MADRIGAL, R., & MILLER, C. M. (1996). Construct validity of spouses’ relative influence measures: An application of the direct product model. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24, 157–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MARTINEZ, E., & POLO, Y. (1999). Determining factors in family purchasing behaviour: An empirical investigation. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 16, 461–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MATZKIN, R. G. (1999). Take me out to a movie! In L. L. Schwartz (Ed.), Psychology and the media: A second look (pp. 85–123). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • MEYER, R. J., & LEWIS, R. A. (1976). New wine from old wineskins: Marital power research. Journal of Contemporary Family Studies, 7, 397–407.

    Google Scholar 

  • MILLER, W., & PASTA, D. J. (1996). The relative influence of husbands and wives on the choice and use of oral contraception, a diaphragm, and condoms. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26, 1749–1774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MORRIS, J., SCHNEIDER, D., & MACEY, S. M. (1995). A survey of older Americans to determine frequency and motivations for eating fast food. Journal of Nutrition for the Elderly, 15, 1–12.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • PATIL, R., & SHIVA-KUMAR, C. (1987). Cinema: A basic psychological need of the day. Indian Psychological Review, 32(1), 14–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • RANK, M. R. (1982). Determinants of conjugal influence in wives’ employment decision making. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 44, 591–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • RAPPOPORT, L. (2003). How we eat: Appetite, culture, and the psychology of food. Toronto: E. C. W. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • REEVES, B., & GEIGER, S. (1994). Designing experiments that assess psychological responses to media messages. In A. Lang (Ed.), Measuring psychological responses to media (pp. 165–180). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • ROMESBURG, C. H. (1984). Cluster analysis for researchers. Belmont, CA: Lifetime learning.

    Google Scholar 

  • SPSS (1988). Spss-X introductory statistics guide. Chicago, II: Spss Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • SZYBILLO, G. J., SOSANIE, A. K., & TENEBEIN, A. (1977). Should children be seen but not heard? Journal of Advertising Research, 17, 7–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • TESSER, A., MILLAR, K. U., & WU, C. (1988). On the perceived functions of movies. Journal of Psychology, 122(5), 441–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • TROUTMAN, C. M., & SHANTEAU, J. (1989). Information integration in husband- wife decision making about health-care services. In D. Brinberg & J. Jaccard (Eds.), Micro-sociology theory (pp. 117–151). New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • TRYON, R. (1939). Cluster analysis. Oxford, England: Edwards Bros.

    Google Scholar 

  • WARD, P., & STURROCK, F. (1998). “She knows what she wants…”: Towards a female consumption risk-reducing strategy framework. Marketing, Intelligence, and Planning, 16, 327–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WEAVER, J. B. (1991). Exploring the links between personality and media preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 12(12), 1293–1299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WEAVER, J. B., BROSIUS, H. B., & MUNDORF, N. (1993). Personality and movie preferences: A comparison of American and German audiences. Personality and Individual Differences, 14(2), 307–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WEBSTER, C., & REISS, M. C. (2001). Do established antecedents of purchase decision-making power apply to contemporary couples? Psychology and Marketing, 18, 951–972.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Briar Cliff University, USA

    Jennifer M. Bonds-Raacke

Authors
  1. Jennifer M. Bonds-Raacke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer M. Bonds-Raacke.

Additional information

I thank Richard J. Harris and James Shanteau for their invaluable guidance on this research project.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bonds-Raacke, J.M. Using Cluster Analysis to Examine Husband-Wife Decision Making. Psychol Rec 56, 521–550 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03396032

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03396032

Search

Navigation