Personality and work motivation

A total of 92 job applicants completed the Eysenck Personality Profiler (EPP) which measures the three primary (superfactor) traits (as well as 21 second-order factors), and the Work Values Questionnaire, which requires subjects to rate how important various work factors were to them when considering applying for a job. These work factors were then categorised into the traditional Herzberg classification of Hygiene and Motivation factors, each with a satisfactory internal reliability. Correlational and regressional analyses showed that extraverts stressed the importance of motivation factors to them, while neurotics rated hygiene factors as more important to them in choosing a particular job. Psychoticism was marginally related to the hygiene factor, as was test-taking style. In view of the fact that personality factors appeared to account for between 20 and 30% of the variance in work performance, it is surprising that they have been neglected, until recently, in the organisational psychology literature.     

Exploring the Landscape of Spiritual Geography: religious education,the environment and the child's sense of identity and place

Exploring the Landscape of Spiritual Geography is an attempt to review recent interest in environmental concern as a key spiritual value within religious education. Using geographical metaphors, the paper will briefly examine this theme on three interrelated levels: with regard to the contours of the curriculum (SCAA Model Syllabuses), the co‐ordinates of inspection (Ofsted), and maps of tradition and implementation (sacred texts and school texts). The paper will then present, as a basis for further discussion and curriculum development, an open conclusion about the value of the landscape of spiritual geography to a child's sense of identity and to a child's sense of place.     

Expectancies generated by melodic intervals: Evaluation of principles of melodic implication in a melody-completion task

Bottom-up principles of melodic implication (Narmour, 1990) were evaluated in a melody-completion task. One hundred subjects (50 low training; 50 high training in music) were presented each of eight melodic intervals. For each interval, the subjects were asked to compose a short melody on a piano keyboard, treating the interval provided as the first two notes of the melody. For each melody, the first response—the note immediately following the initial interval—was analyzed. Multinomial log linear analyses were conducted to assess the extent to which responses could be predicted by Narmour’s (1990, 1992) bottom-up principles. Support was found for all of Narmour’s principles, and two additional predictors based on implied tonal structure. Responses of low- and high-training groups were similar.     

Binocular stimulation and the fragmentation of after-images

Two studies were undertaken to investigate the effects of binocular stimulation on the fragmentation of after-images. Binocular after-images were produced by stimulating simultaneously, with intense flashes of light, homologous areas of the two retinas. The after-images from such stimulation were found to be more stable than those produced by monocular stimulation. A third study examined the fragmentation of after-images observed by individuals who either lacked binocular vision and stereoscopic depth perception or who had a history of difficulty with these aspects of vision. Such individuals reported far lass fragmentation than normal observers. The results are discussed in the light of research on the responses to binocular inputs of single cells in monkey occipital cortex.     

What is Metaphysics? Postmodern Hermeneutics and Religious Education

This paper will be attempting to do three things: (i) briefly identify the metaphysical preoccupations of modern and contemporary postmodern thinking; (ii) clarify the position of metaphysics in relation to issues in religious education, here incorporating spirituality in education; and (Hi) thereby establish a place for metaphysics within current educational debate.     

No Other Life: death and Catholicism in the novels of Brian Moore

There is a critical consensus (Dahlie, 1969, 1981; Flood, 1974; O'Donoghue, 1990; Sullivan, 1996) that one theme predominates in Brian Moore's fiction: the literary portrayal of Roman Catholicism. Yet over the past five decades, Moore's attitude to Catholicism, now more ambivalent than openly antagonistic, has changed and developed just as Roman Catholicism, especially post‐Vatican II, has changed and developed. Refining such a literary consensus, this article argues that the literary examination of a metaphysics and theology of death has been central to Moore's portrayal of Catholicism. A critical examination will be provided here of the portrayal of death in a representative sample of Brian Moore's novels before a more detailed focus upon the novel from which this article takes its main title, No Other Life (1993). By way of open conclusion, literary case study will be highlighted as a means of engaging in that interdisciplinary realm where literature and theology examine similar themes. In particular, such interdisciplinary research will be contextualised as part of an international literary‐theological programme from which one volume has arisen and which the present author is currently editing (Gearon, forthcoming).     

Arousal, Mood, and the Mozart Effect

The "Mozart effect" refers to claims that people perform better on tests of spatial abilities after listening to music composed by Mozart. We examined whether the Mozart effect is a consequence of between-condition differences in arousal and mood. Participants completed a test of spatial abilities after listening to music or sitting in silence. The music was a Mozart sonata (a pleasant and energetic piece) for some participants and an Albinoni adagio (a slow, sad piece) for others. We also measured enjoyment, arousal, and mood. Performance on the spatial task was better following the music than the silence condition, but only for participants who heard Mozart. The two music selections also induced differential responding on the enjoyment, arousal, and mood measures. Moreover, when such differences were held constant by statistical means, the Mozart effect disappeared. These findings provide compelling evidence that the Mozart effect is an artifact of arousal and mood.