ADAPTIVE PATTERNS IN A SERIAL SPIRAL AFTER-EFFECT TEST AS RELATED TO A SYSTEM OF PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

Utilizing a serial technique for measuring and scoring spiral aftereffect (SAE), four types of individual adaptive patterns defined by measures of regression and residual variability are isolated in a sample of 36 students from an introductory course in psychology. These patterns show distinct and plausible relationships with the Sjobring personality dimensions measured by a questionnaire. This indicates that a serial application of SAE may be a promising tool for further personality research.     

What really is turquoise? A note on the evolution of color terms

Summary In order to distinguish between the relativistic and the universalistic sematics in color terms, formal models in the framework of fuzzy-set theory are developed. These models can be used to generate empirically testable hypotheses about response latencies and the distribution of color terms in the visual spectrum.In Experiment I subjects had to name 20 colors in the blue-green area of the spectrum and 20 in the yellow-red area. Although the relative frequency data did not favor either model, the decision time data favored a specific universalistic model.Experiment II was intended to clarify the behavioral effects of basicality by investigating the differences in color naming of users and non-users of derived color terms as turquoise and orange. For users frequency data as well as response latencies from the unrestricted color-naming task conformed well with the predictions derived from the specific universalistic model, whereas the data for the non-users fell in between this model and the MIN-rule model. These results can be accounted for by a continuous model for basicality with a basicality parameter r.I want to thank J. Freyd/Stanford, P. Kay/Berkeley, and C. Freksa/Munich who have read earlier versions of this paper and have made many valuable suggestions concerning the theoretical framework, the readability and the style in general. The discussion about the experimental results in L. Zadeh's seminar in Berkeley has stimulated me to work further on a unified theory of color naming. The motivating critique of two anonymous reviewers has helped me to express the results more clearly and to rethink the arguments more thoroughly     

CHANGE IN AFTERIMAGE AND SPIRAL AFTEREFFECT SERIALS DUE TO ANXIETY CAUSED BY SUBLIMINAL THREAT

Experiments with projected negative afterimages and with the aftereffects of a rotating spiral were performed serially (repeated stimulus presentation). In the middle of the sequences the experimental groups were subjected to subliminal threat by means of a metacontrast technique. The effects of threat on the latter part of the sequences were according to predictions and differed markedly from the results in control groups.     

Conceptualizing Personal Selling for International Business: A Continuum of Exchange Perspective

Abstract

The last twenty years has seen an extensive broadening of the terms “marketing” and “selling”. It is currently fashionable to consider marketing as exchange behavior, and selling to be personal “exchange facilitation” within any context. Justification for such all-encompassing definitions includes the fact that all cultures face certain prerequisites in order to survive: “marketing” and “selling” are means of satisfying them. Such paradigms increase the likelihood that we embrace ethnocentric perspectives and covertly equate various exchange situations which in reality are very different. When discussing selling and marketing, especially in the international arena, we must carefully guard against ethnocentrism and the distortion caused by such homogenizing tendencies.     

Relationship aggression,violence and self‐regulation in Australian newlywed couples

Research in the United States shows that relationship violence occurs in a substantial minority of newlywed couples, and is associated with a range of risk factors such as family‐of‐origin violence. Few of the associated risk factors, however, are potentially modifiable through early intervention to prevent violence. In the current study self‐reported aggression and violence were assessed in 379 Australian newlywed couples. Consistent with US‐based research, >20% of newlywed Australian couples reported at least one incident of relationship violence in the past year. A range of correlates of relationship violence and aggression was assessed, including the construct of relationship self‐regulation, which is the extent that partners report being able to enhance their relationship with their partner. Low relationship self‐regulation was correlated with relationship aggression and violence. It was concluded that the aggression and violence are common problems in Australian newlywed couples, and that enhancing relationship self‐regulation might help reduce the prevalence of aggression.     

Thinking About What Might Have Happened: Counterfactual Thinking and Post‐traumatic Stress in Individuals Directly and Indirectly Exposed to the 2011 Oslo Bombing

Counterfactual thinking (CFT), that is thinking about what might have happened, is linked to post‐traumatic stress. We studied the relationship between type and frequency of CFT and post‐traumatic stress in a sample of directly (n = 50) and indirectly exposed (n = 50) ministerial employees 4 years after the 2011 Oslo bombing. The results showed that frequency of CFT was associated with levels of post‐traumatic stress, among both directly and indirectly exposed participants. In the directly exposed group, self‐reported frequencies of downward counterfactuals were associated with post‐traumatic stress. A similar trend was found for upward counterfactuals. In the indirectly exposed group, self‐reported frequencies of both upward and downward counterfactuals were associated with higher levels of post‐traumatic stress. These results point to the intriguing possibility that people may not only develop post‐traumatic stress disorder as a result of actual experiences, but also via mental simulations of traumatic events that could have happened. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of construal level on predictions of task duration

Construal level theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010) contends that distance to events leads to higher level processing. In a series of studies, we examined the role of construal level in prediction of the time needed to perform a task. Estimates increased when the tasks were distant rather than close in time (Study 1), were hypothetical rather than real (Study 2), and when participants were primed to adopt an abstract rather than a concrete mindset (Study 3). As a possible explanation, it is suggested that time units are perceived as smaller as people move up in abstraction, so that more time units are needed to cover the same amount of work. In line with this, we found that people who were primed to adopt a higher level processing mode visualized an hour as shorter than those in a lower level mode, as indicated by their distance marks on a time-line (Study 4). Finally, the contraction of time units was shown to mediate the relationship between temporal distance and task duration estimates (Study 5).