Measuring superstitious belief: why lucky charms matter

A large body of research has attempted to develop theories about the function and origin of superstitious beliefs on the basis of the psychological correlates of such beliefs. Most of this work has measured superstitious belief using the Paranormal Belief Scale (PBS). However, this scale refers solely to negative superstitions (e.g., breaking a mirror will cause bad luck) and omits items referring to positive superstitions (e.g., carrying a lucky charm will bring good luck). The two studies reported here found significant interactions between belief in negative and positive superstitions, and several individual difference measures. These findings have important implications for theory development, demonstrate that the PBS is an incomplete measure of superstitious belief, and highlight the need for future measures to include items referring to positive superstitions.     

Grammatik mit Widersprüchen

This paper presents and discusses important aspects of Optimality Theory, which has become one of the dominant models in theoretical linguistics. Optimality Theory is a system of constraints that are potentially in conflict with each other. Conflicts are resolved by ordering the principles in a strict hierarchy. We show that there are many respects in which Optimality Theory is a much more restrictive model of the language faculty than any of its competitors. Furthermore, the implications of the specific way how OT resolves conflicts seem to be more or less correct for natural language. However, modifications may be called for with respect to graded grammaticality and ineffability.     

When You and I Share Perspectives: Pronouns Modulate Perspective Taking During Narrative Comprehension

ABSTRACT— Readers mentally simulate the objects and events described in narratives. One common assumption is that readers mentally embody an actor's perspective; alternatively, readers might mentally simulate events from an external "onlooker" perspective. Two experiments examined the role of pronouns in modulating a reader's adopted perspective when comprehending simple event sentences. Experiment 1 demonstrated that readers embody an actor's perspective when the pronoun you or I is used, but take an external perspective when he is used. Experiment 2 , however, found that a short discourse context preceding the event sentence led readers to adopt an external perspective with the pronoun I . These experiments demonstrate that pronoun variation and discourse context mediate the degree of embodiment experienced during narrative comprehension: In all cases, readers mentally simulate objects and events, but they embody an actor's perspective only when directly addressed as the subject of a sentence.     

Expert performance in solving word puzzles: From retrieval cues to crossword clues

Crossword enthusiasts were first clasified as expert or intermediate on the basis of their performance with a previously unseen set of clues, and then participated in five laboratory experiments designed to capture different aspects of their skilled performance: experiment 1 required the generation of words from a fixed set of letters; experiment 2 monitored the solution of anagrams; experiment 3 required the comipletion of a word of given meaning with only three letters presented; experiment 4 was a lexical decision task with suffixed and pseudosuffixed words and non-words; and experiment 5 was a synonym judgement task with prefixed and suffixed words Subjects also completed psychometric tests of reasoning and vocabulary. A discriminant function analysis sucessfully predicted the crossword ability of all subjects on the basis of measures of the generation of words from given letters, the number of anagrams solved, sensitivity to a suffix in a non-word (lexical decision task), sensitivity to a pseudosuffix in a word (synonym judgement task), and vocabulary score. Cryptic crossword puzles are solved by a combination of component subskills, including lexical retrieval, clue recognition, and the manipulation of components of words.     

Book reviews

The Psychological Record -     

Instrumentation and software report: Computer-assisted coding of videotape material

The coding system described was originally devised to facilitate the analysis of mother-infant interaction. Our aims were to provide accurate measures of the duration of different activities, to enable identification of particular actions in order to carry out sequential analyses, and to allow systematic assessment and improvement of reliability. At the time recording began, there appeared to be no readily available systems which achieved all of these aims. The system described here enables coded videotape material to be examined with the assistance of a computer. This is implemented through two subsystems, those of record and playback. In the playback subsystem the behaviour units identified by a coder are mapped on to this record. This results in a protocol of behaviour on a highly accurate time base.     

Male-female relationships in the workplace: Perceived motivations in office romance

A survey of 218 recent business school graduates confirmed prior studies of differential evaluation of women involved in workplace romances. The research addressed whether women are still perceived as entering into relationships for motives different from men, particularly in terms of exploiting sexuality for gain. Few instances were found where relationships were formed for personal advancement; however, motivations for personal gain were far more commonly attributed to women. Women were also more likely to be perceived as victims of the office fling. Attributions did not differ between male and female observers. Implications for working women are discussed.