The informational and facilitative effects of an audience upon expression and the evaluation of humorous stimuli

A study was conducted to investigate the facilitative and informational effects of an audience upon a subject's expressive behavior (i.e., smiling and laughing) and his rating of cartoon stimuli. Forty-eight male and 48 female subjects were shown single frame cartoons accompanied by audience laughter and were asked to rate the cartoons for funniness and liking. Two aspects of the audience were varied: the appropriateness of the audience setting for the expression of laughter (the audience was identified as viewing the cartoons in a classroom or party condition) and the consistency of the audience's laughter (either consistently high for both good and poor quality cartoons, or varied, high for good cartoons and low for poor cartoons). The findings show that male subjects discriminated most between good and poor cartoons when the audience laughter was in an appropriate (party) setting and was varied with cartoon quality. They discriminated least (gave similar ratings to good and poor cartoons) to a party audience that expressed consistently high laughter. No convergence in rating of good and poor cartoons was found in the inappropriate classroom conditions. These results support the hypothesis that male subjects use the audience laughter as information about cartoon quality either averaging or discounting the audience laughter with the perceived quality of the cartoon. For female subjects, on the other hand, the party audience and consistently high laughter elevated observed expressions of mirth and elevated cartoon ratings. The fact that variables which increased expressive behavior also increased ratings is consistent with the two-part hypothesis that female subjects base their cartoon ratings on their feeling states, and that these feelings states reflect the pooled impact of the quality of the cartoons and the subject's expressive behavior. There was no overall difference in amount of audience influence for male and female subjects. Thus, male and female subjects differ in the way they are influenced by an audience rather than in how much they are influenced.     

The influence of an interpolated experience upon recognition

It was demonstrated in a previous experiment that an experience interpolated between an original experience and its recall may bring about changes in the points of emphasis in the recall of the original experience. Moreover, details of the interpolated experience may be recalled as if they had formed part of the original experience. These results were taken to mean that two experiences of a related kind may become merged in memory into something akin to Bartlett's notion of an organized mass of past experiences. In the experiment here reported, the original experience was the hearing of a story, and the interpolated experience the seeing of a picture which illustrated part of the story. When in a recognition test subjects were asked to select from three alternatives (including the original) the one version which was “most like the original story,” a proportion of them preferred to the original story a version which differed from the original by including a number of details from the picture. Asked about details, all the subjects tended to place details from the picture in the story, even if they had not been mentioned there. The results of the two experiments are thought to show that irreversible changes are brought about in the memory of an experience by subsequent experiences of a related kind.     

The perception of filmed violence by aggressive individuals with high or low self-concept of aggression

An experiment was devised which tested the classical theory of projection. Subjects completed a Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study form (RPFS) also rated themselves for aggressiveness on rating scales. Highly aggressive subjects were classified according to whether they rated themselves as high aggressive or tow aggressive. Subjects watched one of two full-length commercial films, and the ratings which high-aggressive, high-self-rating subjects and high-aggressive, low-self-rating subjects gave to film characters were compared. It was found that aggressive film characters were rated as being more aggressive by the low-self-rating subjects than by the high-self-rating subjects. The possible explanation that this finding could be related to more general differences between subjects was not supported. It was therefore concluded that the results of this experiment were best explained by the predictions of classical projection theory, with the proviso that aggression was only projected onto those film characters whose behaviour provided appropriate cues.     

Bystanders’ reactions to intimate partner violence: an experimental approach

ABSTRACT

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a widespread phenomenon. Despite the prevalence of IPV in Western societies, most cases remain unnoticed or at least unreported to authorities. Social psychologists have been investigating bystanders’ reactions to IPV, to understand which factors may influence the willingness to intervene in support of a female victim of violence. We review a research programme that directly investigated personal and situational factors that make potential bystanders believe a woman victim of IPV deserves and needs (their) help and support, and what, on the contrary, makes them deny any such willingness to help. We present evidence about the situational antecedents of bystander’s reaction, the underlying mechanisms of this intervention, and an extension of such evidence to non-prototypical cases, i.e., to an IPV episode occurring within a same-sex couple. We conclude by discussing future directions, and by highlighting the theoretical and practical contributions of this programme of research to the understanding of IPV for both researchers and practitioners.     

Effect of audience reaction upon fluency rates of six stutterers

Each of six male stutterers spoke to a 14 member audience for 40 min. This speaking time was divided into eight 5-min periods during which several consequence conditions were in operation. Those consequence conditions consisted of various combinations of “good” and “stop” statements delivered by the audience following fluent and disfluent utterances, respectively. In one condition the speaker applied the consequences. It was found that while various combinations of consequences do not alter the total number of words spoken per minute, they affect the number of occasions of disfluences occuring per minute. It could not be determined which condition resulted in optimum rate changes. Suggestions are presented for maintaining fluent speech.     

The influence of silence upon clinet-perceived rapport

The effect of frequency of instances, length and overall amount of silence was investigated during nine trainee counsellors' interviews with a Standardized Client. Data on client-perceived rapport were collected each minute, allowing for comparison of overall interviews as well as during all stages of the inteviews. Results indicated that there were significanly more instances of silence and significantly greater overall amounts of silence in interviews rated as having higher levels of client-perceived rapport. In addition, there were clearly different pattersns of usage of silence during moderate versus very high rapport minutes during interviews. Suggestions are made for the integration of these findings into counsellor training courses where trainees often report anxiety regarding the occurence of silence. Issues for further research are discussed.     

The pernicious influence of mathematics upon philosophy

We shall argue that the attempt carried out by certain philosophers in this century to parrot the language, the method, and the results of mathematics has harmed philosophy. Such an attempt results from a misunderstanding of both mathematics and philosophy, and has harmed both subjects.Portions of the present text have previously appeared inThe Review of Metaphysics 44 (1990), 259–271, are reprinted with permission.     

The influence of theological attitudes upon evangelism

Pastoral Psychology -     

Understanding maladaptive responses to rejection: Aggression with an audience

Logically, responding aggressively to rejection is maladaptive because one is unlikely to seek a relationship with an aggressor. We predict that when concealed, the illogical aggressive response to rejection is more likely, whereas when the rejected individuals’ aggressive responses are perceived as public, the aggressive acts may be reduced. Participants were rejected by others (Experiment 1) or were either accepted or rejected during an online ball-tossing game (Experiment 2) and were then given an opportunity to aggress publicly or privately. Across experiments, when the opportunity to aggress was made public, rejected participants exhibited less aggressive behavior. When concerned about the perception of their public aggressive responses by others, rejected individuals’ aggressive responses diminished compared with those whose actions were private. Crucially, this extended to aggression visible only to neutral others, suggesting that effects cannot solely be due to fear of retribution.     

The influence of interpolated recall upon recognition

An experiment was designed to show how immediate recall may affect recognition. A number of subjects were shown a picture. Some were asked to recall it and were then given a recognition test. Others were given only the recognition test after the same interval. Only 4 of the 16 subjects who had recalled it identified it; whereas 14 of the 16 others did so. A second experiment gave similar results.

Recall was constructed round dominant items of the picture. This distribution of emphasis together with the acceptance of an invented detail as genuine were the common causes of errors in subsequent recognition. Both the dominant and invented items in recall were those which became most obviously merged into an organization of related experiences and in consequence those which militated against subsequent recognition.

The recognition test was applied in two further groups of 16 subjects with a change in one of the dominant details (i.e. the wording). The number of subjects who now correctly identified the remainder of the material was 9 when there was no intermediate recall, and nil when immediate recall of the original material was interposed.