Recognition of notated melodies by possessors and nonpossessors of absolute pitch

Musically trained listeners compared a notated melody presented visually and a comparison melody presented auditorily, and judged whether they were exactly the same or not, with respect to relative pitch. Listeners who had absolute pitch showed the poorest performance for melodies transposed to different pitch levels from the notated melodies, whereas they exhibited the highest performance for untransposed melodies. By comparison, the performance of melody recognition by listeners who did not have absolute pitch was not influenced by the actual pitch level at which melodies were played. These results suggest that absolute-pitch listeners tend to rely on absolute pitch even in recognizing transposed melodies, for which the absolute-pitch strategy is not useful.     

Erotetic Search Scenarios

The concept of search scenario is explicated in terms of erotetic logic, i.e., the logic of questions. Different kinds of erotetic search scenarios are characterized. The basic logical properties of erotetic search scenarios are analyzed.     

Agency,communion and entitlement

In this study, the relationship between agency, communion, and the active, passive, and revenge forms of entitlement is examined. Results indicate that active entitlement was positively related to agency, negatively to communion (Study 1), and unrelated to unmitigated agency and communion (Study 2). Passive entitlement was positively related to communion (in regular and unmitigated forms) and negatively related to agency (in both forms). Revenge entitlement was positively related to agency (unmitigated and regular), and negatively related to both regular and unmitigated communal orientations. Detected relationships were independent from self‐esteem (Study 1). The findings are discussed in relation to distinctions between narcissistic and healthy entitlement, and within the context of the three‐dimensional model of entitlement.     

Recent Rorschach Literature Rorschach Bibliography No. IV

Abstract

This is a supplement to the Rorschach bibliographies published by Dr. P. E. Vernon; the last of these was published in the January 1937 issue of the Rorachach Research Exchange. All available articles which are not contained in Dr. Vernon's bibliography are included. Those articles which have appeared in the Rorschach Research Exchange but which have not appeared elsewhere are omitted.     

A Very Strong Set Theory?

Studia Logica - Using two distinct membership symbols makes possible to base set theory on one general axiom schema of comprehension. Is the resulting system consistent? Can set theory and...     

Participatory Cues and Program Familiarity Predict Young Children's Learning From Educational Television

The capacity model is designed to predict young children's learning from educational television. It posits that select program features and individual child characteristics can support this learning either by increasing total working memory allocated to the program or altering the allocation of working memory. In this study, the influence of one such program feature (participatory cues) and one such child characteristic (program familiarity) on educational content comprehension was investigated. A total of 187 American preschool-aged children (M = 4.35 years) were randomly assigned to view one of two versions of Dora the Explorer—one version contained participatory cues (i.e., cues that encourage children to respond to queries during the program) while in the other these cues were omitted. All children completed a program familiarity assessment prior to viewing and completed an educational content assessment post-viewing. There was no significant main effect for participatory cues, although, as expected, program familiarity was positively associated with educational content comprehension. In line with expectations, program familiarity was found to moderate the relationship between participatory cues and educational comprehension—the combination of high program familiarity and the presence of participatory cues led to the greatest educational content comprehension. Implications are discussed.     

Measurement invariance of the Belief in a Zero‐Sum Game scale across 36 countries

In this paper, we examined the psychometric properties of cross‐cultural validation and replicability (i.e. measurement invariance) of the Belief in a Zero‐Sum Game (BZSG) scale, measuring antagonistic belief about interpersonal relations over scarce resources. The factorial structure of the BZSG scale was investigated in student samples from 36 countries (N = 9907), using separate confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) for each country. The cross‐cultural validation of the scale was based on multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA). The results confirmed that the scale had a one‐factor structure in all countries, in which configural and metric invariance between countries was confirmed. As a zero‐sum belief about social relations perceived as antagonistic, BZSG is an important factor related to, for example, social and international relations, attitudes toward immigrants, or well‐being. The paper proposes different uses of the BZSG scale for cross‐cultural studies in different fields of psychology: social, political, or economic.     

Values and psychological well-being among adolescents – are some values ‘healthier’ than others?

We analyzed links between psychological well-being (PWB: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, relationships, purpose, self-acceptance) and values among 147 adolescents. Values corresponded with PWB: Openness to change correlated positively with Autonomy and negatively with Purpose in Life; Self-enhancement negatively with Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth and Positive Relationships; Self-transcendence positively with Personal Growth and Positive Relationships; Conservation negatively with Autonomy, but positively with Purpose in Life. We identified four value clusters: ‘Young wolves’ (strong openness and self-enhancement) experienced stronger autonomy but a lower positive relationships; ‘Post-materialists’ (openness and self-transcendence), experienced stronger autonomy and positive relationships; ‘spiritual traditionalists’ (conservation and self-transcendence), had higher sense of personal growth and positive relationships; and the ‘undecided’ (no dominating value set) experienced lower autonomy and personal-growth.     

The Longitudinal Relationship Between Media Violence and Empathy: Was It Sympathy All Along?

Previous research with adolescents has reported a negative relationship between media violence and empathy. There are, however, two important conceptual issues in this earlier literature that deserve further research attention. First, studies often treat empathy as a one-dimensional construct while it consists of both an affective and cognitive component. Second, while aiming to measure empathy, several studies have measured sympathy instead. Driven by these concerns, this study was designed to investigate the longitudinal relationship between media violence, affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and sympathy. Using data from a two-wave panel study with 943 adolescents (10–14 years old), a cross-lagged model tested whether media violence exposure negatively influences empathy and sympathy (desensitization) or whether empathy and sympathy negatively influence media violence exposure (selection). Results were in line with desensitization. However, rather than showing that media violence leads to a decrease in empathy (which previous studies have shown), results indicate a decrease in sympathy instead. These findings provide clarification to existing work as well as offer methodological and practical implications.