Haptic detection of sine-wave gratings

We studied human haptic perception of sine-wave gratings. In the first experiment we measured the dependence of amplitude detection thresholds on the number of cycles and on the wavelength of the gratings. In haptic perception of sine-wave gratings, the results are in agreement with neural summation. The rate at which detection thresholds decrease with increasing number of cycles is much higher than can be accounted for by probability summation alone. Further, neural summation mechanisms describe the detection thresholds accurately over the whole spatial range probed in the experiment, that is wavelengths from 14 mm up to 225 mm. Earlier, we found a power-law dependence of thresholds on the spatial width of Gaussian profiles (Louw et al, 2000 Experimental Brain Research 132 369-374). The current results extend these findings; the power-law dependence holds not only for Gaussian profiles, but also for a broad range of sine-wave gratings with the number of cycles varying between 1 and 8. Haptic perception involves tactual scanning combined with an active, dynamic exploration of the environment. We measured characteristics of the velocity and force with which stimuli were scanned while performing a psychophysical task. One particularly surprising finding was that, without being instructed, participants maintained an almost constant scanning velocity during each 45-min session. A constant velocity in successive trials of the experiment might facilitate or even be necessary for discrimination. Further, a large systematic dependence of velocity on scanning length was found. An eightfold increase in scanning length resulted in about a fourfold increase in scanning velocity. A second experiment was conducted to study the influence of scanning velocity on psychophysical detection thresholds. This was done by systematically imposing specific scanning velocities to the participants while the thresholds were measured. The main result of the second experiment was that psychophysical detection thresholds are constant over a relatively broad range of scanning velocities.     

Love: an important dimension in marital research and therapy

How do men and women describe and assess their relationship? What themes are decisive for its quality and stability? To answer such questions, we investigated a random sample of 204 married couples (reference sample), and 31 married couples undergoing psychotherapy (clinical sample) using a newly developed questionnaire. The participating couples were asked to evaluate a total of 19 themes with respect to their importance for the couple's connectedness. Although only rarely directly addressed in couple therapy and in‐vestigated in couple research, the theme “Love” proved to be the decisive factor for quality and stability. The results of the present study, therefore, indicate that “Love” should be investigated more thoroughly in couple research and included more actively in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.     

Being Called a ‘Streber’: The Roles of Personality and Competition in the Labelling of Academically Oriented Students

The current research investigated a phenomenon that has received little attention so far: the labelling of students who are characterised by a strong academic orientation. We analysed whether personality predicts being labelled a ‘Streber’ (literally a person who strives for success; German origin, similar to the English word ‘nerd’) and labelling others as Strebers. Besides individual characteristics, we examined the impact of the classroom context. In Study 1 (N = 317), eighth‐grade students nominated classmates who were considered to be Strebers and provided self‐ratings on how often they had labelled others as Strebers. In Study 2 (N = 358), using a round robin design, we had students rate each of their classmates on the extent to which the students perceived their classmates to be Strebers. Results showed that being labelled was associated with introversion and conscientiousness. Labelling others was related to extraversion, low conscientiousness and low agreeableness. Furthermore, the labelling and the expected relation between individual characteristics and labelling were stronger in high‐achieving than in low‐achieving classes. Results are discussed with respect to personality traits as potential risk factors in peer stigmatisation and the impact of the classroom context. Copyright © 2012 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Achieving success at work: development and validation of the Motivational Climate at Work Questionnaire (MCWQ)

Although work represents an important achievement setting, research on the perceived motivational climate, as defined by the achievement goal theory (AGT), remains limited. Calls have been made for research on the salience of such situational influences based on traditional AGT. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop a scale to measure the motivational climate at work. In a pilot study, participants completed a developed questionnaire and the findings supported psychometric properties of the questionnaire. Two further studies were conducted and the findings provided evidence of content validity, criterion‐related validity, construct validity, and internal consistency. The findings suggest the questionnaire might be used to determine the perception of the extant motivational climate in the workplace.     

A Comparative Study on Storytelling Perceptions of Chinese,Vietnamese, American,and German Education Students

The study compared the perceptions of adults from four countries about storytelling. Americans (N = 153), Germans (N = 163), Chinese (N = 324), and Vietnamese (N = 356) completed a survey. Americans' scores on measures of storytelling experiences were the highest overall. Americans and Germans reported having significantly more childhood experiences of storytelling than the Chinese and Vietnamese. Vietnamese reported that storytelling experiences have impacted their resilience and propensity to use storytelling for teaching more than Chinese and Germans. Practical implications are that educators should investigate their students' stance on storytelling so they may leverage culturally responsive literacy practices.     

Cultural perspectives on the linguistic representation of emotion and emotion events

It is argued that the linguistic representation of emotions and events giving rise to them is influenced by the cultural regulation of the relationship between a person and others. Such cultural variations are expected to be reflected in how emotions and emotion events are represented in language. The two studies provide support for the hypothesis that in a culture where relationships and interdependence are valued emotion terms function as relationship-markers and emotion events are represented by the use of concrete linguistic terms when compared with cultures that emphasise the value of the individual. Moreover, we also found support for the argument that emotion terms function predominantly as self-markers in cultures that value individuality and that they are represented by more abstract terms (adjectives, nouns). The implications of these findings are discussed.