Bridging the gap on Facebook: assessing intergroup contact and its effects for intergroup relations

In line with Allport's contact hypothesis, previous research showed that direct intergroup contact can reduce prejudices. However, establishing face-to-face contact is not always feasible. We postulate that Facebook-groups are a setting where direct and observed intergroup contact can develop, reducing prejudices and increasing mutual acceptance. Analyzing the comments of nine Facebook-groups with the destructive and constructive conflict scale, our results indicated that the expression of prejudices decreased and that of mutual acceptance increased over time, both for in- and outgroup members of the Facebook-groups. Only the expression of less prejudices, but not that of more mutual acceptance was predicted by intergroup contact. The influence of group-based motivations on the engagement in intergroup contact is discussed, and the overall findings are integrated in Steele and Brown's process model of media practices.     

A Preliminary Investigation of Supplemental Computer-Assisted Reading Instruction on the Oral Reading Fluency and Comprehension of First-Grade African American Urban Students

This preliminary investigation examined the effects of a computerized supplemental reading program on the oral reading fluency, reading growth rates, and comprehension of 8 African American first graders. Participants were selected for this study according to scores within risk categories on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) oral reading fluency (ORF) winter benchmark, indicating the potential for reading failure. Participants engaged in a supplemental, computer-based reading program designed to improve reading fluency and comprehension. Treatment sessions were conducted 3–4 times per week, for 14–16 weeks. Following the treatment, each participant received the DIBELS ORF spring benchmark as a post-test measure. A pre-intervention/post-intervention analysis showed that all of the participants increased their reading fluency, 5 of the 8 participants reduced their risk status, and 7 of the 8 students increased their reading rate. All of the students improved their comprehension scores. The results support supplementary interventions and computer-based reading programs. The findings are discussed in the context of reading needs and instruction for African American primary-aged students.     

The role of faith in intuition, need for cognition and method of attitude formation in implicit–explicit brand attitude relationship strength

We tested the hypothesis that Faith in Intuition (FI) would moderate implicit–explicit attitude relationship strength for attitudes formed via associative processes, but not propositional processes. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that FI moderated I–E relationship strength for attitudes formed via evaluative conditioning. High FI people had stronger I–E correlations. Experiment 2 showed that FI did not moderate I–E relationship strength for attitudes formed via propositional reasoning. Those low in Need for Cognition (NC), however, showed stronger I–E correlations than those high in NC. The importance of considering trait variables in combination with the method of attitude formation is discussed.     

Implicit attentional orienting in a target detection task with central cues

Studies using Posner’s spatial cueing paradigm have demonstrated that participants can allocate their attention to specific target locations based on the predictiveness of preceding cues. Four experiments were conducted to investigate attentional orienting processes operating in a high probability condition (cues 75% predictive) as compared to a low probability condition (cues 50% predictive) using various types of centrally-presented cues. Spatially-informative cues (arrows and circles with gaps) resulted in cueing effects (CEs) for both probability conditions, with significantly larger CEs in the high probability conditions than the low probability conditions. Participants in the high probability conditions reported little or no awareness of cue–target probabilities after task completion. Our results provide support for an implicit learning account of the proportion valid effect under experimental conditions involving spatially-informative central cues and relatively short stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs).     

Possible Worlds: A Neo-Fregean Alternative

I outline a neo-Fregean strategy in the debate on the existence of possible worlds. The criterion of identity and the criterion of application are formulated. Special attention is paid to the fact that speakers do not possess proper names for worlds. A broadly Quinean solution is proposed in response to this difficulty.     

Competition between color salience and perceptual load during visual selection can be biased by top-down set

Visual salience and perceptual load may both influence the efficiency of visual selection. Recently, Gibson and Bryant (2008) showed that perceptual load can dominate color salience in a distractor interference paradigm. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the possibility that knowledge (of color or load) may modulate the relative operation of these two mechanisms. Consistent with previous findings, perceptual load dominated color salience, but only in certain contexts in which display load was mixed and high-load displays preceded other high-load displays. More important, color salience dominated perceptual load in other contexts in which display load was mixed and low-load displays preceded high-load displays. In addition, color salience also dominated perceptual load in contexts in which display load was fixed and advance knowledge of load was available. Altogether, the present findings suggest that the competition between color salience and perceptual load can vary as a function of task context, thereby supporting top-down accounts, although the precise aspect of task context remains to be identified.     

Event-related potentials, reaction time, and response selection of skilled and less-skilled cricket batsmen

The differences in P300 latency, P300 amplitude, response selection, and reaction time between skilled and less-skilled cricket batsmen have been investigated. Eight skilled and ten less-skilled right-handed batsmen each viewed 100 in-swing, 100 out-swing, and 40 slower deliveries displayed in random sequence from projected video footage whilst their responses and electroencephalograms were recorded. Logistic regression was used to derive a discriminative function for the P300 data. This was done to determine whether the skilled batsmen differed from the less-skilled batsmen on the basis of pooled P300 amplitude and latency data. All the batsmen were correctly characterised as being skilled or less-skilled. Logistic regression equations with reaction time and correctness of response data indicated that behavioural data do not correctly classify skilled performance. It is suggested that skilled cricket batsmen have a superior perceptual decision-making ability compared with less-skilled cricket batsmen, as measured by P300 latency and amplitude. This appears to be the first study showing a link between skill and cerebral cortical activity during a perceptual cricket batting task and it could pave the way for future studies on mental processing in cricket batsmen.     

Making sense of social research: how useful is the Hawthorne Effect?

‘The Hawthorne Effect’ is a phrase frequently employed in textbooks and other academic discourse. It appears to have been coined over 50 years ago and alludes to the outcome of research undertaken two decades earlier. This paper seeks to elucidate how the term ‘Hawthorne Effect’ has come to be used. A variety of texts will be presented to demonstrate the many different and often contradictory meanings ascribed to the term. A consideration of Guerin's review of research in social facilitation suggests the complexity of issues that seem to be involved in the use of the term ‘Hawthorne Effect’ is such that greater precision is required. Ultimately, we conclude, the term has no useful role in the discussion of research findings. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why did I right that? Factors that influence the production of homophone substitution errors

Despite considerable research on language production errors involving speech, little research exists in the complementary domain of writing. Two experiments investigated the production of homophone substitution errors, which occur when a contextually appropriate word (e.g., beech) is replaced with its homophone (e.g., beach tree). Participants wrote down auditorily presented sentences containing dominant or subordinate homophones. Homophones were preceded by a lexical prime that overlapped in phonology and orthography (e.g., teacher) or only orthography (e.g., headmaster) with the target homophone. Results showed more substitution errors when the context elicited a subordinate homophone than when it elicited a dominant homophone. Furthermore, both types of primes equivalently increased production of homophone errors relative to control words (e.g., lawyer), suggesting that only orthographic overlap between the prime and target was necessary to influence errors. These results are explained within dual-route models of spelling, which postulate an interaction between lexical and sublexical routes when spelling.