The octave illusion revisited again

The octave illusion (D. Deutsch, 1974) occurs when 2 tones separated by an octave are alternated repeatedly, such that when the right ear receives the high tone, the left ear receives the low tone, and vice versa. Most subjects in the original study reported hearing a single tone that alternated from ear to ear, whose pitch also alternated from octave to octave, and D. Deutsch (1975a) proposed an explanation in terms of separate what and where auditory pathways. C. D. Chambers, J. B. Mattingley, and S. A. Moss (2002) argued that the perceived pitch difference generally corresponds more to a semitone and proposed an alternative explanation in terms of diplacusis. This article argues that Chambers et al. used problematic procedures and reports a new experiment on the octave illusion. The findings confirm that an octave difference is generally perceived, and they agree with the model of Deutsch (1975a) but are at variance with the diplacusis hypothesis.     

Avner Baz on the ‘Point’ of a Question

Abstract

Avner Baz claims that questions philosophers ask about hypothetical cases lack the kind of ‘point’ possessed by ‘everyday’ questions. He concludes from this that there is something wrong with the philosophical practice of asking questions about hypothetical cases. This paper defends the practice from Baz’s criticism.     

Blocking the incorrect alley in a two-drive learning situation

This experiment was designed to test the effect of blocking the path to an irrelevant reward on the subject's later performance when motivated for that reward, with a view to clarifying a well-known problem-situation.

An experimental group of 17 hooded rats was run in a two-choice maze, with food in one goal-box and water in the other, being motivated alternately for one or the other. The wrong goal-box was always blocked. Their performance on the first trial of the daily series was significantly poorer than that of a control group of 18 hooded rats, for which both boxes were always open. This difference persisted when, in a second period of training, the rhythm of motivation was altered for both groups.

It is concluded that blocking an irrelevant reward can have a disturbing effect and that this may be relevant to the problem-situation. It is also shown that such a result is to be predicted from Deutsch's (1953, 1956) theory.     

大学二年级学生人际宽恕与报复心理及其与抑郁的关系研究

采用沉思量表、报复动机量表、宽恕倾向量表、宽恕态度量表和流调中心用抑郁量表对236名大二学生进行问卷调查,综合探讨大学生人际宽恕和报复心理及其与抑郁的关系。研究发现:(1)男大学生的报复倾向显著高于女大学生。(2)宽恕倾向与报复倾向及对侵犯的沉思程度显著负相关。沉思程度和抑郁显著正相关。(3)沉思程度和宽恕倾向对抑郁分别具有显著的正向和负向的预测作用。(4)大学生的宽恕倾向和宽恕态度的相互作用以及宽恕倾向和报复倾向之间的交互作用对抑郁均没有显著预测作用。     

The impact of relational demographics on perceived managerial trustworthiness: similarity or norms?

Perceived trustworthiness is a critical antecedent of interpersonal trust, yet researchers have a limited understanding of how such perceptions are generated. The authors used 2 competing perspectives within the relational demography literature--similarity-attraction and relational norms--to empirically examine the effect of demographic differences. Whereas the similarity-attraction account suggests that subordinates will perceive their managers as more trustworthy when managers and staff are similar in demographic attributes, the relational norms account proposes that subordinates will perceive their managers as more trustworthy when their demographic differences follow normative expectations. Data collected from a field study of 178 manager-subordinate dyads in Hong Kong and Macau support the relational norms account in terms of education and organizational rank. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the study.