Tracking the line of primary gaze in a walking simulator: Modeling and calibration

This article describes a system for tracking the line of primary gaze (LoPG) of participants as they view a large projection screen. Using a magnetic head tracker and a tracking algorithm, we find the onscreen location at which a participant is pointing a head-mounted crosshair. The algorithm presented for tracking the LoPG uses a polynomial function to correct for distortion in magnetic tracker readings, a geometric model for computing LoPG from corrected tracker measurements, and a method for finding the intersection of the LoPG with the screen. Calibration techniques for the above methods are presented. The results of two experiments validating the algorithm and calibration methods are also reported. Experiments showed an improvement in accuracy of LoPG tracking provided by each of the two presented calibration steps, yielding errors in LoPG measurements of less than 2° over a wide range of head positions. Source code for the described algorithms can be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society Web archive,http://www.psychonomic.org/archive/.     

Self‐Directing Religious Coping: A Deistic God,Abandoning God,or No God at All?

Self-directing religious coping has been correlated with both positive and negative outcome variables in previous research. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential meaning behind these mixed findings by clarifying the nature of the self-directing religious coping construct. A new set of subscales was constructed that operationalized different aspects of the construct. This scale, the original Religious Problem Solving Scale, and mental-health measures were given to 262 undergraduate students at a moderate-sized midwestern university. Two factors were identified with the revised self-directing measure: a deistic and supportive but nonintervening God factor and an abandoning God factor. The Abandoning God Subscale was more highly correlated with the original Self-Directing Scale than was the deistic God measure. The Deistic and Supportive God Subscale was correlated with both positive and negative mental-health outcomes, whereas the abandoning God measure consistently related to poorer outcomes.     

Boredom proneness in anger and aggression: effects of impulsiveness and sensation seeking

The present study was a replication and extension of Rupp and Vodanovich’s (1997) work on the role of boredom proneness in anger expression and aggression. In addition to replicating their primary analyses, impulsiveness and sensation seeking were included to determine the potential impact of these variables on the relationships between boredom proneness and anger and aggression. Two hundred and twenty-four college student volunteers completed measures of boredom proneness, impulsiveness, sensation seeking, anger expression, and aggression. Findings were consistent with Rupp and Vodanovich (1997) but demonstrated more pervasive effects of external boredom proneness on aggression. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the relationships between external boredom proneness and trait anger, anger expression/control, and aggression persisted even after accounting for impulsiveness and sensation seeking. Boredom due to a lack of external stimulation predicted one’s propensity to experience anger, maladaptive anger expression, aggression, and deficits in anger control.     

Metaphor and Thinking in Science and Religion

Excerpts from Chapters 1 and 3 of New Maps for Old: Explorations in Science and Religion (Gerhart and Russell 2001) explore the ramifications of metaphoric process for changes in thinking, especially those changes that lead to a new understanding of our world. Examples are provided from science, from religion, and from science and religion together. In excerpts from Chapter 8, a double analogy—theology is to science as science is to mathematics—is proposed for better understanding the contemporary relationship between science and religion. A conservation of epistemological sufficiency is disclosed as one moves from mathematics to empirical science to theology—a move from one discipline to another that involves a sacrifice of one aspect of thought to gain another.     

Changing Worldviews: Responding to Betty Birner and Robert Masson

Worldviews are changed by higher viewpoints that can develop by metaphoric process, the equating of two formerly disparate known concepts. The equating results in a distortion—a tectonic reformation—of the associated fields of meanings that effects a rearrangement of associated concepts leading to new cognitive relations. We comment on reviews of our books Metaphoric Process (1984) and New Maps for Old (2001) by Robert Masson and Betty Birner. Metaphoric process may further understanding of the formation of diverse worldviews and their reconciliation.     

Constructing a minority group identity out of shared rejection: the case of international students

With a sample of international students, we investigated how perceptions of rejection by the host community are related to a sense of identification with other international students. Based on the rejection‐identification model (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999 ) we predicted that perceiving prejudice from the host university would be negatively related to psychological well‐being. We expected that group identification with international students would mediate a positive effect of perceived discrimination on self‐esteem, thus suppressing the negative effect of perceiving prejudice on self‐esteem. Consistent with predictions, results supported a model in which identification with international students increased in response to perceiving prejudice and suppressed the costs of perceiving oneself as excluded from the host community. Interestingly, identification with participants' home country was not predicted by perceptions of discrimination. Results are discussed in terms of how minority group members construct group identities in response to the intergroup context. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rhetorical representations of masculinities in South Africa: moving towards a material‐discursive understanding of men

A material‐discursive perspective holds advantage in understanding male realities. It seeks to integrate dominant approaches that appear anaemic in their failure to capture the interplay between the material and discursive realms of human existence. Three dominant metaphorical themes in the rhetorical representation of South African masculinities are described in an attempt to illustrate the complexity of embodied masculine experience. In this sense the discussion seeks to reveal the dynamic nature of masculine debate and lived experience across differing contexts. It serves to underline the importance of adopting a material‐discursive perspective in understanding men, which recognizes that they do not exist as a homogeneous social group, and as such experience their masculinities in a variable and changing fashion. The theoretical amalgamation of social representations and rhetoric is argued to provide a useful analytical tool in an endeavour of this nature. It is suggested that the rhetorical approach problematizes an overly consensual view of social reality that social representations theory typically promotes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neighborhood Context and Financial Strain as Predictors of Marital Interaction and Marital Quality in African American Couples

Demographic characteristics, family financial strain, neighborhood-level economic disadvantage, and state of residence were tested as predictors of observed warmth, hostility, and self-reported marital quality. Participants were 202 married African American couples who resided in a range of neighborhood contexts. Neighborhood-level economic disadvantage predicted lower warmth during marital interactions, as did residence in the rural south. Consistent with the family stress model (e.g., Conger & Elder, 1994), family financial strain predicted lower perceived marital quality. Unexpectedly, neighborhood-level economic disadvantage predicted higher marital quality. Social comparison processes and degree of exposure to racially based discrimination are considered as explanations for this unexpected result. The importance of context in relationship outcomes is highlighted.     

The effectiveness of distance learning initiatives in organizations

Today, organizations are increasingly adopting distance learning methods to train and develop their employees. Despite the widespread use of these methods, little research has been done regarding their effectiveness. The present paper reviews current literature on the effectiveness of distance learning methods in terms of employees’ reactions, learning, behavior, and organizational results. Suggestions for future research and practice are also offered.     

Habitual reappraisal in context: peer victimisation moderates its association with physiological reactivity to social stress

Although the emotion regulation strategy of reappraisal has been associated with adaptive outcomes, there is a growing evidence that it may not be adaptive in all contexts. In the present study, adolescents reported their use of habitual reappraisal and their experiences with peer victimisation, a chronic stressor that is associated with reduced well-being in this population. We examined how these variables predicted physiological reactivity (vagal withdrawal and changes in pre-ejection period) during a social stressor (i.e., Trier Social Stress Task). In line with previous research, at high levels of victimisation, habitual reappraisal predicted adaptive physiological reactivity (i.e., greater vagal withdrawal). Conversely, at low levels of victimisation, habitual reappraisal predicted maladaptive physiological reactivity (i.e., blunted vagal withdrawal). These findings were specific to parasympathetic reactivity. They suggest that habitual reappraisal may exert different effects on parasympathetic reactivity depending on the presence of stressors, and highlight the importance of examining the role of contextual factors in determining the adaptiveness of emotion regulation strategies.