Effects of association and repetition in memory for temporal order

Temporal order recognition memory has been examined previously with tasks involving a recency judgment between a pair of items in a preceding string. Recency judgments are impaired when the earlier item is repeated. The present study employed the comparative recency judgment paradigm, with the lists composed of words. The effect of the inclusion in the list of a high associate of the earlier test item was examined and compared to the effect of repetition. Associative interference was observed, but not in all conditions. Direction of association was a significant factor. The results were interpreted in terms of a model of word recognition proposed by Morton.     

Assumed Similarity of Attitudes About AIDS Among Gay and Heterosexual Physicians

Heterosexual and gay physicians indicated their own attitudes on several issues related to the AIDS epidemic and attributed a position on each issue to the target group "most people." The heterosexual physicians' attitudes were more negative than the gay physicians' attitudes. Both groups judged that "most people" hold attitudes more negative than their own. The distance between own and attributed position as much greater for the gay individuals. This distance effect was due primarily to differences in self-ratings between the two groups. Own and attributed position correlated positively for each group of physiaans. Additionally, the tendency to assume similarity was marginally stronger for heterosexuals with high than low homophobia. Theoretical interpretation is presented.     

Emotional ties that bind: the roles of valence and consistency of group emotion in inferences of cohesiveness and common fate

In three studies, observers based inferences about the cohesiveness and common fate of groups on the emotions expressed by group members. The valence of expressions affected cohesiveness inferences, whereas the consistency of expressions affected inferences of whether members have common fate. These emotion composition effects were stronger than those due to the race or sex composition of the group. Furthermore, the authors show that emotion valence and consistency are differentially involved in judgments about the degree to which the group as a whole was responsible for group performance. Finally, it is demonstrated that valence-cohesiveness effects are mediated by inferences of interpersonal liking and that consistency-common fate effects are mediated by inferences of psychological similarity. These findings have implications for the literature on entitativity and regarding the function of emotions in social contexts.     

The place of the 17th century in Jung's encounter with China

After recounting several dreams and related alchemical interests of Jung's tied to the 17(th) century, a contextualizing look at select scientific and philosophical developments of that century is presented. Several precursors of the contemporary debates on the mind/body relation are noted, with special reference to the work of Antonio Damasio. This in turn leads to a reconsideration of the work of the 17(th) century polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, which Jung read as a major precursor to his formulation of synchronicity (via Leibniz's concept of 'pre-established harmony'). Leibniz was the first philosopher to articulate the mind/body relationship in terms of supervenience, sharing an accord with those contemporary philosophers and scientists who see the mind as being an emergent property of the body-brain. Similarly, these ideas are also consistent with a reformulation of synchronicity in terms of emergence. Tracing Leibniz's interest in China reveals another set of links to Jung and to emergentism. Jung's use of Taoist concepts in developing the synchronicity principle is well known. According to scholars, Leibniz was the first major Western intellect to study the I-Ching, through the assistance of a Jesuit missionary in Beijing, Fr. Joachim Bouvet. Some details of the Leibniz-Bouvet correspondence are discussed here. Despite Helmut Wilhelm's presenting aspects of this correspondence at an Eranos conference, Jung does not appear to have integrated it into his writing on synchronicity--a possible reason for this omission is suggested.     

A warm heart and a clear head. The contingent effects of weather on mood and cognition

Prior studies on the association between weather and psychological changes have produced mixed results. In part, this inconsistency may be because weather's psychological effects are moderated by two important factors: the season and time spent outside. In two correlational studies and an experiment manipulating participants' time outdoors (total N = 605), pleasant weather (higher temperature or barometric pressure) was related to higher mood, better memory, and "broadened" cognitive style during the spring as time spent outside increased. The same relationships between mood and weather were not observed during other times of year, and indeed hotter weather was associated with lower mood in the summer. These results are consistent with findings on seasonal affective disorder, and suggest that pleasant weather improves mood and broadens cognition in the spring because people have been deprived of such weather during the winter.