Previewing the neighborhood: the role of orthographic neighbors as parafoveal previews in reading

In 2 experiments, a boundary technique was used with parafoveal previews that were identical to a target (e.g., sleet), a word orthographic neighbor (sweet), or an orthographically matched nonword (speet). In Experiment 1, low-frequency words in orthographic pairs were targets, and high-frequency words were previews. In Experiment 2, the roles were reversed. In Experiment 1, neighbor words provided as much preview benefit as identical words and greater benefit than nonwords, whereas in Experiment 2, neighbor words provided no greater preview benefit than nonwords. These results indicate that the frequency of a preview influences the extraction of letter information without setting up appreciable competition between previews and targets. This is consistent with a model of word recognition in which early stages largely depend on excitation of letter information, and competition between lexical candidates becomes important only in later stages.     

The effect of word frequency, word predictability, and font difficulty on the eye movements of young and older readers

Young adult and older readers' eye movements were recorded as they read sentences containing target words that varied in frequency or predictability. In addition, half of the sentences were printed in a font that was easy to read (Times New Roman) and the other half were printed in a font that was more difficult to read (Old English). Word frequency, word predictability, and font difficulty effects were apparent in the eye movement data of both groups of readers. In the fixation time data, the pattern of results was the same, but the older readers had larger frequency and predictability effects than the younger readers. The older readers skipped words more often than the younger readers (as indicated by their skipping rate on selected target words), but they made more regressions back to the target words and more regressions overall. The E-Z Reader model was used as a platform to evaluate the results, and simulations using the model suggest that lexical processing is slowed in older readers and that, possibly as a result of this, they adopt a more risky reading strategy.     

Distinctions Between Hostile and Nonhostile Forms of Perceived Criticism From Others

Criticism and hostility from others are related to fluctuations in symptom severity across many disorders, including depression and anxiety. Objective coding systems typically allow for distinctions between criticism and hostility, but the primary self-report measure of perceptions of criticism (the Perceived Criticism Measure) contains no such distinction. This report presents results from two samples regarding the assessment of specific perceptions of hostile and nonhostile criticism. In addition to these specific perceptions, we assessed relationship satisfaction, perceptions of overall criticism, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Perceptions of hostile criticism were similar to ratings of overall criticism, as indicated by a positive correlation between these two and similar correlations with related variables. In contrast, perceptions of nonhostile criticism demonstrated more complex patterns of associations, showing a positive correlation with relationship satisfaction, a negative correlation with perceptions of hostile criticism, and a positive association with general perceptions of criticism only in the context of low depressive symptoms (as depressive symptoms increased, this association became significantly weaker). These results suggest that respondents do distinguish between perceptions of hostile and nonhostile criticism, and these perceptions are not simply different points on the same continuum. Moreover, they suggest that individuals with higher levels of depression may be less likely to incorporate nonhostile criticism into their overall perceptions of criticism from others.     

REJOINDER: Picasso's Guernica Creativity as a Darwinian Process: Definitions,Clarifications, Misconceptions,and Applications

The author responds to four commentaries on Simonton (this issue). The response deals with two sets of issues. First are criticisms of the Darwinian theory of creativity, especially as applied to Picasso's sketches for the Guernica. These criticisms range from the presumed role of associative processes to the essential nature of any Darwinian model. The second set of issues pertains to diverse methodological objections with respect to measurement and data analysis. The author responds to each and every point. The author concludes not only that Picasso's creative process is best described as Darwinian, but also that the Darwinian theory of creativity has been notably strengthened by the current exchange.     

Taking the U.S. Patent Office Criteria Seriously: A Quantitative Three-Criterion Creativity Definition and Its Implications

Although creativity has recently attracted considerable theoretical and empirical research, researchers have yet to reach a consensus on how best to define the phenomenon. To help establish a consensus, a definition is proposed that is based on the three criteria used by the United States Patent Office to evaluate applications for patent protection. The modified version uses the criteria of novelty, utility, and surprise. Moreover, creativity assessments based on these three criteria are quantitative and multiplicative rather than qualitative or additive. This three-criterion definition then leads to four implications regarding (a) the limitations to domain-specific expertise, (b) the varieties of comparable creativities, (c) the contrast between subjective and objective evaluations, and (d) the place of blind variation and selective retention in the creative process. These implications prove that adding the third criterion has critical consequences for understanding the phenomenon. Creativity is not only treated with superior sophistication, but also paradoxes that appear using the most common two-criterion definition readily disappear when the third criterion is included in the analysis. Hence, the conceptual differences between two- and three-criterion definitions are not trivial.     

Opening the Closed Mind: The Effect of Exposure to Literature on the Need for Closure

The need for cognitive closure has been found to be associated with a variety of suboptimal information processing strategies, leading to decreased creativity and rationality. This experiment tested the hypothesis that exposure to fictional short stories, as compared with exposure to nonfictional essays, will reduce need for cognitive closure. One hundred participants were assigned to read either an essay or a short story (out of a set of 8 essays and 8 short stories matched for length, reading difficulty, and interest). After reading, their need for cognitive closure was assessed. As hypothesized, when compared to participants in the essay condition, participants in the short story condition experienced a significant decrease in self-reported need for cognitive closure. The effect was particularly strong for participants who were habitual readers (of either fiction or non-fiction). These findings suggest that reading fictional literature could lead to better procedures of processing information generally, including those of creativity.     

The Hierarchical Personality Structure of Aspiring Creative Writers

Empirical studies of personality traits in creative writers have demonstrated mixed findings, perhaps due to issues of sampling, measurement, and the reporting of statistical information. The goal of this study is to quantify the personality structure of aspiring creative writers according to a modern hierarchal model of trait personality. A sample of aspiring writers (n = 93) and nonwriters (n = 114) completed the Big Five inventory. Correlations with personality were carried out at three levels: the Big Five traits, the two higher-order factors (stability and plasticity), and the more detailed facet-level. Consistent with past research, creative writers scored higher on trait openness. Extending past work, the hierarchical analysis also revealed novel correlates for the higher-order meta-traits (stability and plasticity) and some of the lower-order facets (aesthetics, ideas, activity, assertiveness, and depression). Individuals with higher scores on agreeableness, stability, and assertiveness were less likely to be aspiring writers. The likelihood of being a writer also decreased with age. Taken together, these findings indicate that aspiring creative writers differ from nonwriters in trait personality, with differences emerging at all levels of the personality hierarchy.     

Controlling competitive anger among male soccer players

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of anger awareness training (i.e., self-monitoring) and role-playing (i.e., modeling and behavioral rehearsal) in reducing participants’ angry behavior and angry feelings. Male participants (N = 57) from intact soccer teams were randomly assigned to a role-playing, an anger awareness, or a control group. Pretreatment anger scores indicated that all three groups exhibited similar anger dispositions before the study began. Following pretreatment assessment, angry behavior and self-reported anger were observed and measured during a 15-game round-robin soccer season. Analyses revealed that although angry feelings remained consistent across the duration of the study, the role-playing group was more effective than both the anger awareness and control groups in controlling angry behavior. Findings indicate that although the use of anger awareness and role-playing interventions can reduce angry behavior, the role-playing intervention was a more effective method.