Increased hedonic differences despite increases in hedonic range

Viewing hedonically negative paintings increased the hedonic ratings of subsequently viewed test paintings (positive hedonic contrast; Experiment 1) and also increased the degree of preference between the test paintings (Experiments 2 and 3). This result differs from the reduction in hedonic preference (hedonic condensation) that accompanies negative hedonic contrast. It also differs from the reduction in perceived differences that usually accompanies expansion of stimulus range and that is predicted by numerous theories.     

Effects of Performance Context on Processing Speed and Performance Ratings

The present study demonstrated that the presence of evaluatively polarized context performances not only produces contrast and halo effects on judgments of a target performance, but also causes judgments to be made much faster. Processing speed and positive halo were highly correlated, supporting the notion that halo in performance ratings results from raters' recall and use of a single, general impression. Furthermore, regression analyses demonstrated that processing speed mediates the relationship between context and halo. The relationship between these findings, halo, processing speed, and general impressions, as well as implications for performance appraisals, are discussed.     

Reliability and Validity of the Complex Postformal Thought Questionnaire: Assessing Adults’ Cognitive Development

Three studies investigated the psychometric properties of the complex postformal thought (PFT) questionnaire (Sinnott, unpublished scale, 1998; Sinnott and Johnson 1997), which is a measure of adult cognitive development. The scale was found to be moderately reliable (α = .63). To assess construct validity, a comparison of participants’ performance on the PFT scale to their performance on the Need for Cognition scale was conducted, which indicated the PFT scale is valid measure of complex thought. Factor analysis reduced the scale to three factors, which correspond to important components of PFT: Multiple Elements, Subjective Choice, and Underlying Complexities. Implications for understanding the nature of adult cognitive development and the usefulness of this new measure for research in this area are discussed.     

Stereoscopic shape discrimination is well preserved across changes in object size

A single experiment evaluated human observers’ ability to discriminate the shape of solid objects that varied in size and orientation in depth. The object shapes were defined by binocular disparity, Lambertian shading, and texture. The object surfaces were smoothly curved and had naturalistic shapes, resembling those of water-smoothed granite rocks. On any given trial, two objects were presented that were either the same or different in terms of shape. When the “same” objects were presented, they differed in their orientation in depth by 25°, 45°, or 65°. The observers were required to judge whether any given pair of objects was the “same” or “different” in terms of shape. The size of the objects was also varied by amounts up to ±40% relative to the standard size. The observers’ shape discrimination performance was strongly affected by the magnitude of the orientation changes in depth - thus, their performance was viewpoint dependent. In contrast, the observers’ shape discrimination abilities were only slightly affected by changes in the overall size of the objects. It appears that human observers can recognize the three-dimensional shape of objects in a manner that is relatively independent of size.     

Theor of free choice permission

I argue that the conjunctive distribution of permissibility over or, which is a puzzling feature of free-choice permission is just one instance of a more general class of conjunctive occurrences of the word, and that these conjunctive uses are more directly explicable by the consideration that or is a descendant of oper than by reference to the disjunctive occurrences which logicalist prejudices may tempt us to regard as semantically more fundamental. I offer an account of how the disjunctive uses of or may have come about through an intermediate discourse-adverbial use of or, drawing a parallel with but, which, etymologically, is disjunctive rather than conjunctive and whose conjunctive uses seem to represent just such a discourse-adverbial application.     

The preservation of coherence

It is argued that the preservation of truth by an inference relation is of little interest when premiss sets are contradictory. The notion of a level of coherence is introduced and the utility of modal logics in the semantic representation of sets of higher coherence levels is noted. It is shown that this representative role cannot be transferred to first order logic via frame theory since the modal formulae expressing coherence level restrictions are not first order definable. Finally, an inference relation, calledyielding, is introduced which is intermediate between the coherence preservingforcing relation introduced elsewhere by the authors and the coherence destroying, inference relation of classical logic.     

A technique for rapid,reliable assessment of thermal-pain threshold in humans

A simple and reliable method of assessing pain threshold in humans may be useful in a number of research areas, such as in examining acute antinociceptive effects of drugs. We have developed a low-cost, computer-controlled method to reliably assess thermal-pain threshold using radiant heat focused from a slide projector and applied to a small area of skin. An electronic shutter is attached to the projector opening to provide precise onset and offset of heat. A computer keypad allows for subject response at the point of pain onset (i.e., threshold), with latency to threshold determined by computer timer. The details of the apparatus setup, subject preparation, and instructions to subjects are presented. The development of the method is described, and sources of unreliability are identified. Coefficients of variation (CVs) are calculated to provide a measure of variability within subjects across trial exposures and across sessions. Results indicate that the method is reliable for determining pain threshold, especially within sessions, and can be employed with relatively minimal expense and subject preparation.     

Retaliatory equity as a factor in humor appreciation

Squelches depicting a protagonist who is provoked and who then retaliates against his provoker were manipulated to effect a variation in the degree of retaliation achieved: extreme underretaliation, underretaliation, fair retaliation, overretaliation, and extreme overretaliation. It was proposed that retaliatory equity, i.e., a situation in which the negative consequences inflicted upon the provoker by the retaliator are of a similar magnitude to the negative consequences initially inflicted upon the retaliator, constitutes an optimal condition for mirth, and that both types of retaliatory inequity, under- and overretaliation, impair humor appreciation in proportion to the magnitude of the resultant inequity. The findings fully supported these propositions.