FROM LABORATORIES TO COLLABORATORIES:

Abstract— This article explores the potential impact of collaboratories on psychology. A collaboratory is a computer-supported system that allows scientists to work with each other, facilities, and databases without regard to geographical location. The impact of collaboratories is discussed in terms of changes in the organization and practice of scientific work as this work moves from physical to virtual settings. Examination of prototype collaboratories in the physical sciences shows that use of collaboratotries produces changes through improved access to scarce resources, support for joint work among distant colleagues, and opportunities for broader participation in research by students. Similar results in psychology are predicted if psychologists exploit collaboratories' capabilities to design new ways of conducting research, rather than adopting collaboratory technology as an extension of the status quo.     

Telling Jokes That Disparage Social Groups: Effects on the Joke Teller's Stereotypes1

An experiment tested whether or not reciting disparaging humor about a disadvantaged group affects joke tellers' stereotypes of the group. In this experiment, we manipulated whether participants recited humor that disparaged Newfoundlanders, who are a relatively disadvantaged group in Canada, or nondisparaging humor. We then asked participants to complete a measure of their stereotypes and attitudes toward Newfoundlanders. Results indicated that participants who recited disparaging humor subsequently reported more negative stereotypes of Newfoundlanders than did participants who recited nondisparaging humor. Attitudes toward Newfoundlanders were not affected by the manipulation. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Source credibility,attitudes, and the recall of past behaviours

The hypothesis that individuals' memory for their past behaviours may be biased toward apparent consistency with their current attitudes was tested by exposing subjects to a message that argued against frequent toothbrushing. Some subjects believed that the source of this message was an expert (high credibility condition), whereas other subjects learned after the message that the speaker was misinformed (low credibility condition). Subjects in the high credibility condition expressed less favourable attitudes toward toothbrushing and reported that they had brushed their teeth less often in the preceding four weeks than did subjects in the low credibility condition. A three-week follow-up showed that the attitudinal difference was still significant but that estimates of past toothbrushing did not differ reliably between the two conditions. The results suggest that when attitudes are very salient, they increase the accessibility of consistent behaviours in memory.     

Reduction and calibration of eye monitor data

The present paper presents FORTRAN programs for reducing eye monitor output to fixations and for mapping these fixations to locations in the stimulus space. Flexible parameters of the fixations program allow for determination of the beginning and end of fixations under different resolution criteria and for indicating loss of accurate measurement. The calibration program is based on a rectangular 9-point fixation grid. Each fixation is rescaled within this grid by solving for a quadratic equation. The rescaled values are output in a flexibly determined rectangular coordinate system that is related to the stimulus space, such as character position on the screen. The programs were developed for the 60-Hz Applied Sciences corneal reflection eye monitor, but they may be used with a number of other systems.     

Children''s Representational Theory of Language:The Problem of Opaque Contexts

Around four years of age, children recognize that action is less a consequence of the way the world is than the way it is represented by the actor. This understanding is characterized as a “theory of mind.” This study examines the possibility of the development of a parallel theory of language; specifically, the understanding that, in opaque contexts, terms do not simply map on to the referent of the expression, but rather indicate how that object is to be represented. 120 3- to 7-year-olds were tested on their theory of mind (using false belief tasks) and sensitivity to opaque contexts. Children who passed false belief tasks performed more successfully on the opacity measure than those who did not, even when age was partialled out (r (117) = .2453, p < .01). It is concluded that children come to realize that language does not refer to the world directly, but rather via one's representation of it. The results are consistent with the view that both abilities are manifestations of a more general understanding of representation, and that children's theories of mind and language follow similar developmental paths.     

Rationality and madness: The post‐modern embrace of Dionysus and the neo‐vedānta response of Radhakrishnan

Following the lead of Nietzsche, several post‐modern philosophers challenge the Western notion of rationality and its representational model of thought and embrace the Dionysian element in Nietzsche's philosophy, which can take the form of embracing madness (Foucault), desire (Deleuze and Guattari), or carnival (Kristeva). This paper will place Radhakrishnan into the context of a hermeneutical dialogue with these figures from post‐modern philosophy, and it will attempt to address the issue of the post‐modem attack on rationality by these post‐modern philosophers by comparing their concept of rationality with that espoused by Radhakrishnan. It will also be demonstrated that for Radhakrishnan reason supplies conceptual clarity, is subordinate to intuition, and justifies the validity of intuition which transcends reason. It will be argued that Radhakrishnan agrees with the post‐modernist that reason is not universal, but he does not share their radical scepticism as his philosophy seeks wholeness, unity, order, and rationality in conjunction with intuition in contrast to the choice of these post‐modernist for diversity, difference, and chaos, and madness.     

Training phonological awareness with and without explicit attention to articulation

One hundred twenty-two second- to fifth-grade (7- to 11-year-old) children with reading difficulties studied phonological awareness with or without explicit attention to articulation and with or without manipulation of sounds. They all studied identical phonics and read stories on the computer with speech and decoding support for difficult words. Regular-instruction controls received regularly scheduled language-arts or reading activities. After 40 h of training, children in all three trained conditions outperformed controls on all tests except math. Conditions that manipulated sounds showed advantages over the condition without explicit practice manipulating sounds, but only on the two measures of phonological awareness. Articulatory awareness training yielded no unique benefits during this training period. Individual differences in response to treatment related to initial levels of phonological awareness, naming speed, IQ, and grade. The similar outcomes of the three conditions suggest that specific variations in good phonological training may be less important than once thought for most children with reading difficulties.     

Three-dimensional (3-D) Circumplex Model and revised scoring of FACES III

FACES III can, however, continue to be a useful scale now that the Circumplex Model has been expanded into a three-dimensional design. Past and future studies would benefit from using FACES III as a linear dimension with high scores representing Balanced types and low scores representing Extreme types. This approach means that many past studies with FACES III need to be re-analyzed and/or re-interpreted in light of this 3-D Model. This revised scoring will significantly increase the number of studies that support the basic hypotheses of the Circumplex model, that Balanced families tend to function in more effective ways. It is clear from more recent work with the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) that the lack of support for the curvilinear hypotheses of the Circumplex Model is due to the limitations of the FACES instrument and not the underlying theoretical model. The CRS clearly demonstrated the curvilinear pattern that has been hypothesized. It is important that future studies using FACES III analyze data in a linear way that fits with the three-dimensional model. In this way, there is a better match conceptually and methodologically between FACES III and the Circumplex Model. It is also highly recommended that future studies use both the self-report of FACES and the observational approaches to family assessment of the Clinical Rating Scale. This combined approach will help advance the field conceptually, methodologically, and clinically.