Categorical perception of tonal intervais: Musicians can’t tellsharp fromflat

Six musicians with relative pitch judged 13 tonal intervals in a magnitude estimation task. Stimuli were spaced in .2-semitone increments over a range of three standard musical categories (fourth, tritone, fifth,). The judged magnitude of the intervals did not increase regularly with stimulus magnitude. Rather, the psychophysical functions showed three discrete steps cor-responding to the musically defined intervals. Although all six subjects had identified in-tune intervals with >95% accuracy, all were very poor at differentiating within a musical category— they could not reliably tell “sharp” from “flat.” After the experiment, they judged 63% of the stimuli to be “in tune,” but in fact only 23% were musically accurate. In a subsequent labeling task, subjects produced identification functions with sharply defined boundaries between each of the three musical categories. Our results parallel those associated with the identification and scaling of speech sounds, and we interpret them as evidence for categorical perception of music.     

Speech perception, lexicality, and reading skill

This study examined the interaction between speech perception and lexical information among a group of 7-year-old children, of which 26 were poor readers and 36 were good readers. The children's performance was examined on tasks assessing reading skill, phonological awareness, pseudoword repetition, and phoneme identification. Although good readers showed clearly defined categorical perception in the phoneme identification task for both the /bif/-/pif/ and the /bis/-/pis/ continua, the category boundary for /bif/-/pif/ was at longer VOTs than the boundary for /bis/-/pis/, which characterizes the classic lexicality effect. Poor readers showed less sharply defined categorical perception on both continua. Although poor readers did not show the classic lexicality effect, lexicality did affect the overall rate with which phonemes were identified as /b/ or /p/ at each VOT. These findings suggest that the lexicon may operate as a compensatory mechanism for resolving ambiguities in speech perception. Furthermore, statistical correction for group differences in phoneme identification made group differences in phoneme deletion disappear, suggesting that deficits in speech perception may play a causal role in the phonological core deficit associated with reading failure.     

Experimentally distinguishing elevation from gratitude: Oh,the morality

Elevation has garnered empirical support as the emotional response to witnessing moral beauty. The current studies investigated elevation’s construct validity by experimentally testing whether feelings of elevation are distinct from gratitude, another moral and ‘other-praising’ emotion. Study 1 demonstrated that feelings of elevation are distinct from gratitude, serenity (i.e. a secondary comparison condition), and boredom (i.e. a control condition). Study 2 added a behavioral outcome measure in the form of monetary donations to a moral charity. The third study expanded on Study 2 by randomly assigning participants to an elevation or gratitude mood induction and then randomly assigning them to have the opportunity to donate to either a moral or an amoral charity. Together, these studies support Haidt’s conceptualization of elevation, clarify Algoe and Haidt’s qualitative assessment of the emotional differences between elevation and gratitude, and reveal that elevation results in different behavioral responses than gratitude.     

Are Workplace Friendships a Mixed Blessing? Exploring Tradeoffs of Multiplex Relationships and their Associations with Job Performance

Theory and research note the ubiquity of multiplex workplace friendships—multifaceted relationships that superimpose friendship with work‐focused interactions—but it is unclear how they compel or hinder job performance. In a study of insurance company employees (n = 168), we found that the number of multiplex workplace friendships in one's social network is positively associated with supervisor ratings of job performance. However, we also found that there is a negative indirect effect on job performance through emotional exhaustion, which is offset, in part, through enhanced positive affect. Results of a second study of restaurant and retail sales employees (n = 182) provide greater insight into the positive and negative effects of multiplex workplace friendships. Specifically, these relationships enhanced job performance through trust but detracted from job performance through maintenance difficulty. Collectively, our results illustrate that having a large number of multiplex friendships at work is a mixed blessing. Although the provision and restoration of resources fostered by multiplex relationships benefits employee job performance, these benefits are muted somewhat by the personal resources they deplete.     

Religion and coping with health-related stress

Abstract

The empirical evidence concerning the association between various aspects of religion and adjustment to health-related stressors is reviewed, including examination of whether religion acts as a stress buffer or deterrent. Considerable literature suggests that some aspects of religion are consistently associated with adjustment to illness, and evidence for religion as a stress buffer and as a stress deterrent were found. Potential pathways by which religion may influence adjustment to illness were also delineated, including: (1) providing an interpretive framework or cognitive schema; (2) enhancing coping resources; and (3) facilitating access to social support and promoting social integration. Design, methodological and measurement limitations in the extant literature were noted. Further research is needed to elucidate how religion functions as a natural resource during health-related crises.