Will Julia Roberts harm Nicole Kidman? Semantic priming effects during face naming

Three experiments are reported, which examine whether face naming is vulnerable to semantic competition in a similar way to object naming. Previous experiments with object naming have shown that a related prime picture presented 3 trials before a target picture results in an increase in error rate and naming latencies when compared to unrelated prime conditions. The experiments here use the same paradigm, with errors as the main dependent variable. In Experiment 1, the prime and target faces were from the same occupational category (e.g., politicians, actors), and in Experiment 2, the primes and target faces were also associated to each other. In Experiment 3, the prime was presented as a name to be read aloud. Unrelated filler stimuli intervened between prime and target. In all experiments, there was a reduction in target-naming errors in the related conditions, and in Experiment 3 this was shown to be largely a reduction in naming failures. The results suggest that related name representations for famous people are not activated in parallel and in competition, and that there is some evidence for a relatively long lasting facilitatory effect. These results require some modification to any serial account of face naming to differentiate it from the generally well-established serial account of object naming.     

Some Variables in the Blue (Red) Phenomenon

The relation between spontaneous color choices and ratings of the prototypicality, conspicuousness, and pleasantness of colors was studied in a sample of Dutch college students. Pleasantness, not prototypicality or conspicuousness, determined the four most frequent spontaneous choices—red, blue, green, and purple. Subjects considered blue the most pleasant of the 12 colors studied, which suggests a pleasantness explanation for the “blue phenomenon” found in some countries. The predominance of red as a spontaneous choice replicated the results of previous studies in the Netherlands. Red also was rated highest in prototypicality but was not rated higher by red choosers than by choosers of other colors, so that a simple prototypicality explanation was rejected. Further analysis showed that the predominance of red as the spontaneous choice of Dutch subjects can be explained by an interaction between prototypicality and pleasantness: Subjects tended to choose red when they rated it highly on both variables.     

A Dialectic on Validity: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going

It has been suggested that the primary issue in considerations of validity today is the discrepancy between currently accepted theory and the practice of validation. The reason for this discrepancy may be that although considerable discussion has taken place in educational measurement and psychometrics regarding changes in our conceptions of validity, that has not been the case more generally in the social and behavioral sciences. A dialectic on the current status of validity theory for social and behavioral scientists is presented to help bridge this gap.     

Do you see what I see? The effect of members’ cognitive styles on team processes and errors in task execution

This research investigates the effect of members’ cognitive styles on team processes that affect errors in execution tasks. In two laboratory studies, we investigated how a team’s composition (members’ cognitive styles related to object and spatial visualization) affects the team’s strategic focus and strategic consensus, and how those affect the team’s commission of errors. Study 1, conducted with 70 dyads performing a navigation and identification task, established that teams high in spatial visualization are more process-focused than teams high in object visualization. Process focus, which pertains to a team’s attention to the details of conducting a task, is associated with fewer errors. Study 2, conducted with 64 teams performing a building task, established that heterogeneity in cognitive style is negatively associated with the formation of a strategic consensus, which has a direct and mediating relationship with errors.     

On the Margin: Power and Women's HIV Risk Reduction Strategies

HIV risk and prevention research has failed to investigate adequately the effects of gender-related factors such as relationship power, sexual communication, abuse, and gender roles on women's abilities to engage in protective actions. We propose that women's HIV risk from heterosexual transmission is embedded in the context of gender, race/ethnicity, and class oppression. This context has central implications for interpersonal relationship factors relevant to women's HIV risk. We suggest a framework for understanding women's HIV risk within the context of oppression and the role of power in intimate sexual relationships. Three common dynamics of oppression are considered: (1) Silencing, (2) Violence and Fear of Violence, and (3) Internalized Oppression. These dynamics are based on characteristics of oppression discussed in the work of Jean Baker Miller on gender, Hussain Bulhan on race, and Paulo Freire on class. These dynamics are discussed in the context of findings reported in this journal issue and those of other authors. Finally, the discussion identifies common patterns across studies, as well as areas of disagreement and directions for future research and public health prevention efforts.     

Programs and logics

We use the algebraic theory of programs as in Blikle [2], Mazurkiewicz [5] in order to show that the difference between programs with and without recursion is of the same kind as that between cut free Gentzen type formalizations of predicate and prepositional logics.     

Engaging with Buddhism

In his new book, Jay Garfield invites philosophers of all persuasions to engage with Buddhist philosophy. In part I of this paper, I raise some questions on behalf of the philosopher working in the analytic tradition about the way in which Buddhist philosophy understands itself. I then turn, in part II, to look at what Orthodox Buddhism has to say about the self. I examine the debate between the Buddhist position discussed and endorsed by Garfield and that of a lesser-known school that he mentions only briefly, the Pudgalavāda (“Personalists”). I suggest that the views of the Pudgalavādins are strikingly similar to a position held, in the twentieth century analytic philosophy, by Peter Strawson.