An interactional approach to the study of personality and emotion

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relation between personality and emotional feelings within ecologically valid settings Nineteen subjects rated their emotions in a wide variety of work, recreation, social, and alone situations sampled over a 30-day period They were also administered the Personality Research Form and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Although theoretically predictable relations were found between certain personality traits and specific emotions averaged across situations, it was not until we distinguished chosen from imposed situations that the most meaningful results were obtained Both temperament and nontemperament personality traits were found to be related to specific emotions Implications of the present findings for research on situation selection and the status of personality traits are discussed     

Grading the ‘cultural literacy’ project

The essay examines the argument advanced by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., for instituting ‘cultural literacy’ as a fundamental priority of schools. A number of confusions and equivocations in Hirsch's reasoning are identified, and the propensity of his project to indoctrinate is exposed. Among the features of Hirsch's argument shown to be troubling are his shifting construal of ‘language’, his inconsistency about the requirements of cultural literacy, and his uncritical relation to traditional images of the American past and present. The upshot is to raise the question why Hirsch's project has elicited wide support and praise.     

Referenzsemantik in der Partnermodellierung

How can we explain that an assertion on something perceived can be understood in the same manner by somebody who cannot perceive that scene? This problem bases the interest in computational linguistics in how listener modeling could possibly be harmonized with reference semantics. Mental images substituting real perception appear as a way out. The architecture of the listener model has to be adapted to the creation and use of such pictorial data structures. Furthermore, the relation between the latter and a verbal (i. e., propositional) representation must be understood. The resulting architecture of a listener model with reference semantics can be employed to solve communicational problems from three general classes in a better way, as is demonstrated by an example implementation.     

WHO IS HAPPY?

A flood of new studies explores people's subjective well-being (SWB) Frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect and a global sense of satisfaction with life define high SWB These studies reveal that happiness and life satisfaction are similarly available to the young and the old, women and men, blacks and whites, the rich and the working-class. Better clues to well-being come from knowing about a person's traits, close relationships, work experiences, culture, and religiosity. We present the elements of an appraisal-based theory of happiness that recognizes the importance of adaptation, cultural world view, and personal goals     

MOST PEOPLE ARE HAPPY

Abstract— Myers and Diener (1995) asked "Who is happy?" but examined the question of who is more and who is less happy. In fad, most people report a positive level of subjective well-being (SWB), and say that they are satisfied with domains such as marriage, work, and leisure. People in disadvantages! groups on average report positive well-being, and measurement methods in addition to self-report indicate that most people's affect is primarily pleasant. Cross-national data suggest that there is a positive level of SWB throughout the world, with the possible exception of very poor societies. In 86% of the 43 nations for which nationally representative samples are available the mean SWB response was above neutral. Several hypotheses to explain the positive levels of SWB are discussed.     

An Evaluation of the Jamaican Anticrime Program

A sweeping anticrime package was implemented in Jamaica in 1974. This program included severe penalties for possession of illegal guns, censorhsip of gun scenes from television and the movies, and greatly broadened police powers. The impact of this anticrime package on crime was assessed using quasiexperimental time-series designs with both months and years as the units of analysis. In a one year period there was a 14% reduction in homicides ( p <.05), a 32% reduction in rapes ( p <.01), a 25% reduction in robberies ( p <.05), and a 37% reduction in nonfatal shootings ( p <.01). Data from the second year following the implementation of the anticrime package were not available. The data from the fist year suggest that strict anticrime measures can reduce crime.