Sinusoidal plucks and bows are not categorically perceived,either

Cutting and Rosner (Perception & Psychophysics, 1974,16, 564–570) reported that two acoustic nonspeech continua varying in rise time were categorically perceived. We have already shown (Rosen & Howell,Perception & Psychophysics, 1981,30, 156–168) that the reason their sawtooth continuum was perceived in such a way, and in particular why it exhibited a midcontinuum peak in the discrimination function, was entirely due to the stimuli not having the intended rise times. The other nonspeech continuum that varied in rise time and was reported to be categorically perceived used a sinusoidal carrier. Although the labeling functions obtained were not as sharp as those obtained with sawtooth stimuli, the characteristic midcontinuum discrimination peak was found. We generated such a set of sinusoidal stimuli and found no evidence of categorical perception. Just as we have previously found for sawtooth stimuli, discrimination is best at the short rise-time end of the continuum and decreases monotonically with increasing rise time.     

Secondary attachments and adolescent self concept

This study examined the popular notion that crushes or secondary attachments to celebrity figures are an important aspect of self-concept development during adolescence. In a repeated measures design, 79 male and female 5th, 8th, and 11th graders and college sophomores completed a set of personality scales, first describing themselves and later, describing the favorite celebrity. Repeated measures multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) analysis of self-object congruence revealed no significant main or interaction effects for the type of attachment, gender, or age of subject. Significant within subject effects were obtained for the repeated measures factor (self-object congruence). Overall, students perceived their attachment objects to be more agentic, yet less expressive and emotionally vulnerable than themselves. MANOVA analyses indicated that males and older students perceived their attachment objects to be higher in agency than expressivity, whereas females and younger students perceived their attachment objects to be higher in expressivity than agency. These data indicate that the function served by secondary attachments in the development of self-concept may be quite similar for adolescent males and females.     

Perceptual differences in gender ideals among heterosexual and homosexual males and females

The relationship between sexual oreintation (heterosexuality vs. homosexuality) and perceptions of self, ideal male, and ideal female was investigated. Using the Androgyny scale of the Bex Sex Role Inventory [S. L. Bem, “The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1974, 42(2), 155–162] data were analyzed for 144 male and female subjects. The results indicated that homosexual, compared to heterosexual, subjects were least likely to stereotype their three perceptions, yet showed a significant difference between their perceived self and their same-sex ideals. Moreover, homosexual females were the only group to show a significant difference between their perceptions of the ideal male and ideal female, and to categorize all their perceptions within an androgynous range. Furthermore, they were least likely to utilize traditional sex roles in organizing their perceptions. Finally, the homosexual males, although not as extreme as heterosexual males, still maintain a slight tendency to stereotype their perception of an ideal male.     

Gender and sex-role attributes as predictors of utilization of natural support systems during personal stress events

This study was an empirical investigation of gender and sex-role attributes as they relate to the utilization of natural support systems during personal stress events. Compared to male subjects, female subjects reported significantly higher levels of requested assistance and perceived more help as being available from their natural support systems during the most stressful event encountered during the previous year. Subjects' scores on the femininity dimension of the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire were significantly correlated with amount of support asked for during stress events. Along with the variable of perceived level of stress, gender and femininity score accounted for 36% of the variance of natural support system utilization during a personal crisis. The results of the study are discussed in the context of current research on (a) the utilization of natural support systems and (b) the relationship between person variables and psychophysiological disease.     

Negative Recurrent Thinking as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms

Both perceived stress and negative recurrent thinking (rumination and worry) have been associated with depressive symptoms. However, no research to date has investigated the association between perceived stress and negative recurrent thinking. In the present study we aimed to explore whether perceived stress and negative recurrent thinking are associated and whether negative recurrent thinking moderates the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. A convenience sample of 273 undergraduate students completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Ruminative Responses Scale-10, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale 2 weeks prior to sitting mid-year examinations. Correlation analyses showed that perceived stress, rumination and worry were positively and significantly associated with depressive symptoms and that perceived stress was positively and significantly associated with rumination and worry. A moderation analysis confirmed that negative recurrent thinking moderated the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Waiting for feedback helps if you want to know the answer: the role of curiosity in the delay-of-feedback benefit

When participants answer a test question and then receive feedback of the correct answer, studies have shown that the feedback is more effective when it is delayed by several seconds rather than provided immediately (e.g., Brackbill & Kappy, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 14–18, 1962; Schroth, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 17, 78–82, 1992). Despite several demonstrations of this delay-of-feedback benefit, a theoretical explanation for this finding has not yet been developed. The present study tested the hypothesis that brief delays of feedback are beneficial because they encourage anticipation of the upcoming feedback. In Experiment 1, participants answered obscure trivia questions, and before receiving the answer, they rated their curiosity to know the answer. The answer was then provided either immediately or after a 4-s delay. A later final test over the same questions revealed a significant delay-of-feedback benefit, but only for items that had been rated high in curiosity. Experiment 2 replicated this same effect and showed that the delay-of-feedback benefit only occurs when feedback is provided after a variable, unpredictable time duration (either 2, 4, or 8 s) rather than after a constant duration (always 4 s). These findings demonstrate that the delay-of-feedback effect appears to be greatest under conditions in which participants are curious to know the answer and when the answer is provided after an unpredictable time interval.     

Odor intensity after self-adaptation and cross-adaptation

Psychophysical functions for the odor intensity of n-propanol and n-pentanol were obtained after no adaptation and after self-adaptation and cross-adaptation. Adaptation caused the psychophysical function to become steeper and generally concave downward in log-log coordinates. Increase in the in tensity of a: self-adapting stimulus produced relatively greater increases in the steepness of the functions than did increases in adapting duration. A comparison between the odorants revealed that propanol and pentanol have equal self-adapting effects when their respective adapting concentrations are matched for subjective intensity. Cross-adaptation had approximately the same effect as self-adaptation on the form of the psychophysical function, but a cross-adapting stimulus of a specified subjective intensity was less effective than a self-adapting stimulus of the same intensity. Adaptation to pentanol caused a larger reduction in the perceived intensity of propanol than adaptation to propanol caused in the perceived intensity of pentanol.     

Lexical contribution to nonword-repetition effects: Evidence from event-related potentials

Two experiments investigated the modulation of event-related potentials (ERPs) by the repetition of orthographically legal and illegal nonwords. In Experiment 1, subjects silently counted occasional words against a background of nonwords, a proportion of which were repetitions of an immediately preceding legal or illegal item. ERPs to repeated legal items showed a sustained, topographically diffuse, positive-going shift. In contrast, repeated illegal nonwords gave rise to ERPs showing a smaller and temporally more restricted positive-going modulation. In an attempt to equalize depth of processing across legal and illegal nonwords, subjects in Experiment 2 were required to count items containing a nonalphabetic character against the same background of nonword items. ERPs to repeated legal items showed a modulation similar to, although smaller than, that found in Experiment I, but no effects of repetition were observed in the ERPs to the illegal nonwords. It was concluded that the effects of repeating nonwords, at least as manifested in concurrently recorded ERPs, differ as a consequence of whether items can access lexical memory, and that this is inconsistent with the attribution of such effects solely to the operation of episodic memory processes.     

Plucks and bows are categorically perceived,sometimes

Cutting and Rosner (Perception & Psychophysics, 1974,16, 564–570) reported that sawtooth wavetrains were perceived categorically when an array was varied in linear rise time increments. That is, rapid rise time stimuli were identified as plucked strings and slower rise time stimuli as bowed strings, and pluck-bow comparisons were relatively easy to discriminate but pluck-pluck and bow-bow comparisons were not. Such results indicate the general equivalence of identification and discrimination tasks. Rosen and Howell (Perception & Psychophysics, 1981,30, 156–168), however, report that categorical perception does not occur for these sounds for two reasons. First, the original stimuli did not have the rise times reported by Cutting and Rosner. Second, the perception of these stimuli more closely follows a prediction from a Weber fraction. Acknowledging the first fact to be true, in part due to difficulties in digital-to-analog conversion, I set out to replicate and extend the results of Rosen and Howell. In Experiment 1, I found that stimuli with equal linear increments of rise time are not perceived categorically; but they are not perceived to follow closely a logarithmic relation either. In Experiment 2, I found that stimuli with equal logarithmic increments of rise time were generally perceived categorically. Experiment 3 replicated the results of both experiments. Thus, plucked and bowed music-like sounds can sometimes be found to be perceived in a categorical manner. However, categorical perception is not found with stimuli generated in the manner of Cutting and Rosner (1974) or Rosen and Howell (1981), and the phenomenon generally seems subject to rather stringent, if not curious, stimulus conditions. Moreover, and more deeply, categorical perception seems hardly the bedrock phenomenon it once appeared to be, whether in speech or in any other domain.     

Invalid results from the method of constant stimuli

The Method of Constant Stimuli was shown to produce constant errors in the direction expected by E. In an experiment, 89 Ss compared variable lines with a standard, each S producing a psychometric function and Point of Subjective Equality (PSE). Four groups differed in the particular range of variable stimuli used; whether the stimuli averaged longer or shorter than the standard, and whether they had a wide or narrow range. All sets of variable stimuli encompassed the standard. PSE was consistently between the standard and the mean of the variables, as predicted by Adaptation Level Theory. In many experiments, the set of variables is chosen on the basis of theory or pilot studies; the present study shows that PSE will be spuriously drawn toward the center of the variables, hence toward E’s pre-experimental expectations.     

BMI,age, Mate Value,and Intrasexual Competition in Chilean Women

Attractiveness is the most important component of women intrasexual competition and it certainly has an impact in female’s perceived mate value (i.e., the value of an individual to the opposite sex as a potential mate). In the realm of intrasexual competition women are eager to emphasize their attractiveness and compete with rivals displaying these cues. Accordingly, age is an important feature of women’s appeal to the opposite sex; youth is highly valued by men, and is perceived by women as an important component of their attractiveness. Another trait that is a reliable cue of health and fertility is Body Mass Index (BMI). A large body of literature has associated BMI to female attractiveness. However, more information is necessary about the associations of BMI and age with mate value, and female intrasexual competition. In the present research we report two studies that examined the associations of BMI and age with estimates of self-perceived mate value and intrasexual competition in Chilean women (18–39 years). More specifically, we hypothesized inverse relationships of BMI and age with mate value (N?=?234), and intrasexual competition (N?=?308). We found partial support to our propositions. The results revealed inverse associations between BMI, mate value and mating success, but BMI with intrasexual competition were not related. In contrast, age had a strong and negative effect on intrasexual competition. We discuss our results within the framework of Evolutionary Psychology and consider the central role of attractiveness (estimated from BMI and age) in the mating strategies of women.     

Shepherds and Sheep: Parish Reconfiguration,Authority, and Activism in a Catholic Diocese

This mixed method study describes contention over parish reconfiguration in a northeast Catholic diocese, and a case study of one merged parish. Guided by social movement theories about collective action frames and political opportunities in mobilization, we outline the diocesan frame of reconfiguration and the counter frame developed by activists who organized to oppose the process. While the diocesan frame focused on a shortage of priests that officials believed demanded reconfiguration of financially burdened parishes, the lay counter frame shifted the debate to questions about the role of the laity in the contemporary Catholic Church and what they perceived as failed leadership from their bishop. Our case study of Resurrection Parish shows how the merger process and the activists’ opposition to their diocesan leaders resulted in a parish that works to ensure the involvement of the laity, and continues to publicly dissent from Catholic leaders.     

Personality,Perceived Occupational Stressor,and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Chinese Judges

Personality is hypothesized to have direct and indirect effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) through the mediating role of perceived occupational stressors. This hypothesized model was tested with Chinese judges, individuals characterized by high occupational stress. In this cross-sectional study, 330 judges undergoing professional training at the Shandong Judge Training Institute completed questionnaires assessing their personality (Big Five Inventory, BFI), perceived occupational stressors (Occupational Role Questionnaire, ORQ), and HRQoL (Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey, SF-36). The proposed model was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) approaches. The SEM analysis showed a good fit of the data to the hypothesized model(x ²/df = 1.52, P?P?Neuroticism also had a negative indirect effect (?0.18, P?P?P?相似文献   

Pronoun disambiguation: Accessing potential antecedents

Two general classes of pronoun disambiguation processes are considered. In reading “Jack threw a snowball at Phil, but he missed,” both possible antecedents of “he” (“Jack” and “Phil”) may be accessed initially. Or, the actual antecedent alone may be accessed after sufficient semantic context is encoded. To evaluate these alternatives, a yes-no-probe recognition task was used to measure priming of the potential antecedents in sentence comprehension. Subjects read sentences similar to the example and were presented a test word immediately following each sentence. Response times for the actual antecedent (“Jack”) and nonantecedent (“Phil”) probes were obtained. Results indicated that the nonantecedent as well as the antecedent was activated (accessed) in pronoun disambiguation. This conclusion was not affected by the ordering of the antecedent and nonantecedent in the first clause.     

The personal and marital adjustment of parents as related to observed child deviance and parenting behaviors

The purpose of this study was to document the relationship of parents' personal and marital adjustment to their own behavior as parents and the behavior of their children. A total of 31 families who had been referred for behavioral counseling regarding their male child's behavior problems were given a diagnostic battery which included home observations as well as administration to parents of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the LockeWallace Marital Adjustment Test. Results revealed consistent negative relationships between marital satisfaction and the observed level of child deviance. Similarly, there were consistent negative relationships between marital satisfaction and the level of observed “negativeness” to the child. Analyses using the MMPI indicated that a large number of the fathers ' MMPI scales were related to child deviance, but this finding was not replicated for mothers. Several MMPI scales were related to marital satisfaction for both parents. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for the assessment and treatment of families with a problem child.     

Aristotle and Confucius on the Socioeconomics of Shame

The sociopolitical significance Aristotle and Confucius attribute to possessing a sense of shame serves to emphasize the importance of its development. Aristotle maintains that social class and wealth are prerequisites for its acquisition, while Confucius is optimistic that it can be developed regardless of socioeconomic considerations. The difference between their positions is largely due to competing views of praiseworthy dispositions. While Aristotle conceives of praiseworthy dispositions as “consistent” traits of character, traits that calcifiy as one reaches adulthood, Confucius offers us an alternative picture, one that affords a greater plasticity to praiseworthy dispositions by treating them as situational character traits. I argue that the Confucian conception of praiseworthy dispositions, combined with several strategies for developing a sense of shame discussed in the Analects, renders Confucius’s optimism defensible.     

Personality and conditioning: Factors of classical CR acquisition and extinction and their relationship to personality types

Anumber of psychophysiological, cognitive and personality measures, and classical appetitive and aversive SR acquisition and extinction rates were taken from a sample of 25 male undergraduate volunteers. Principal Components Analysis of the data revealed general acquisition and extinction factors which were indexed by the psychophysiological variables. Regression analyses showed additionally that Eysenck’s E-I dimension predicts both acquisition and extinction rates, and that imagery may be an important mediational variable in CR acquisition.     

Immaturity,delinquency, and the WechslerP > V sign

The classic psychodiagnostic sign for delinquency —Wechsler Performance IQ being higher than Verbal IQ —has shown generally good validity, improvable by a modifier variable (Warren's I -level system). Reasoning from the I-level immaturity theory of delinquency, the present study investigated age as a possible substitute for the I-level in its role as a moderator variable for the Wechsler P> Vsign, within a population of male juvenile delinquents. As hypothesized, young age predicted a high P > Vscore, supporting the immaturity theory of delinquency. Types of immaturity are discussed. Future work should test the P > Vsign as an aid in evaluating delinquency treatment methods.