Incommensurability and inconsistency of languages

Incommensurable theories are said to be both incompatible and incomparable. This is paradoxical, because, being incompatible, these theories must have the same subject-matter, yet incomparability implies that their subject-matter is different. This paper's proposed resolution of the paradox makes use of the distinction between internal subject-matter and external subject-matter for languages (frameworks) as outlined by W. Sellars. Incommensurability arises when two languages share the same external subject-matter but differ in internal subject-matter. When they share the same external subject-matter, they can be inconsistent (hence incompatible), and yet incomparable (because they are about distinct internal subject-matter). A substantial part of the paper is devoted to the technical development of the notion of inconsistency as a relationship between languages in contrast to the traditional notion of inconsistency between statements.An earlier abridged version of this paper was read to the 1983 Annual Conference of New Zealand Division of the Australasian Association of Philosophy. I owe my gratitude to various people for their criticisms, especially to Andrew Holster.     

中文阅读之句法分析历程初探

该文报告的是香港中文大学心理学系的认知心理实验室中最近完成的两个与句法分析有关的实验。第一个实验探讨阅读中文时词汇、句法以及语意资料之触发和运用的时序问题。第二个实验研究的是中文读者所使用的句法分析策略。在两个实验中,基本的作业是让被试阅读在电脑屏幕上呈现的短文。文中每个字的阅读时间则由电脑记录作为反映阅读理解即时处理历程的指标。文中除了报告实验的结果外,还依据这些结果讨论了读者在阅读中文时所使用的句法分析策略以及句法资料的触发和使用历程。     

Angry Versus Furious: A Comparison Between Valence and Arousal in Dimensional Models of Emotions

The present study compared the roles of valence and arousal, proposed by the dimensional models of emotions, in recognizing emotional expressions. It was hypothesized that the dimension of valence, due to its functional significance, would be more salient in the recognition of emotional expressions than the dimension of arousal would be. The results of the current study supported this hypothesis. The participants in all age groups were more accurate and quicker in recognizing an emotion when the expression was paired up with another emotional expression that was different in the polarity of the valence dimension than with this similar polarity difference in the arousal dimension. The insignificant difference in recognizing the positive and negative emotional expressions in the group of elders also rejected the Socio-Emotional Selectivity Theory.     

Improving Motor Performance During Initial Skills Acquisition Through Regulatory Fit: An Experimental Study Based on Ball Throwing Task and Small Financial Reward

Regulatory focus theory (RFT) suggests that performance will be enhanced when there is a match between individual characteristics and environmental cues. Given that the application of RFT in the context of motor performance has been rarely examined, a ball-throwing task with small financial reward was conducted to test the theory. A total of 51 undergraduate students participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to either the promotion- or prevention-oriented task (which were different in terms of how the reward was instructed to be given). Results indicated that students performed better on ball throwing when the given instruction fit their relatively dominant regulatory focus. This finding supports the expectations of RFT. Implications and limitations were discussed.     

Human values,utilitarian benefits and identification: the case of meat

The present studies explored the associations among food's utilitarian benefits, the human values symbolised by meat, individuals' endorsement of those values, and individuals' meat identification, attitudes and consumption. A preliminary study revealed that participants perceived that meat, particularly red meat, symbolises the endorsement of inequality and hierarchy values more than other basic foods. Studies 1 and 2 found that the endorsement of inequality and hierarchy formed the basis to the meat attitudes and consumption of high meat identifiers. Study 2 found that the meat attitudes of high meat identifiers were also founded, though to a lesser extent, in the endorsement of Conservation and rejection of Openness values. Study 1 also showed that food's nutritional benefits did not form the basis of meat consumption among high meat identifiers. Moreover, Study 3 found that informing individuals (in the treatment group) of the nutritional deficiencies of meat did not alter the meat attitudes of high meat identifiers, meat identification per se, or the meat attitudes of individuals who have a predisposition to attend to the symbolic meanings of products. In contrast, the negative nutritional information did produce unfavourable meat attitudes among low meat identifiers and those who have a predisposition to attend to the utilitarian features of products. The formation of meat identification is discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultural Effects on English Language Teachers’ Judgments of Metaphoric Creativity: A Mixed‐Methods Approach

This study explored cultural influences on English language teachers’ judgments of English metaphors created by Taiwanese learners of English. Based on a mixed‐methods approach, it delved into the rating severity and implicit evaluation criteria of two cultural groups of teachers: Taiwanese and Americans. Ten Taiwanese teachers and 10 American teachers evaluated 120 novel metaphoric expressions using the Consensual Assessment Technique (Amabile, 1996). Creativity in context: Update to the social psychology of creativity. They further filled out a creativity evaluation survey, which was designed to bring to light what qualities within the metaphors influenced their judgments of metaphoric creativity. With the teachers’ ratings being analyzed by means of many‐facet Rasch measurement, this study first indicated that the American teachers were more severe raters than the Taiwanese teachers, but no significant difference was found between them. Analysis of the evaluation survey further demonstrated that both cultural groups shared largely similar evaluation criteria; yet, two contrasts emerged between them. Specifically, the American teachers seemed to favor metaphors that expressed the creator's thoughts; by contrast, the Taiwanese teachers preferred metaphors that relied on readers’ imagination to work out the meanings. These findings shed light on implications for teaching creativity in English L2 classrooms and assessing learners’ creative language artifacts in an English L2 context.     

Framing effects of per‐person versus aggregate prices in group meals

This research draws on regulatory focus theory and applies it to the context of price framing in group meals. Specifically, it examines the possibility that a per‐person framing of price (an aggregate price) may activate a promotion focus (prevention focus) in consumers. The results of five experiments show that participants (a) generated more promotion‐relevant (vs. prevention‐relevant) thoughts, (b) were more inclined to consume the group meal when a persistent focus on promotion (vs. prevention) was exhibited, (c) rated promotion‐focused (vs. prevention‐focused) messages more favorably, and (d) reported a higher intention to opt for an offer where the chance of obtaining a positive goal was enhanced, in response to a per‐person price rather than an aggregate price. Mediation analyses provide additional evidence for the notion that pursuit of promotion goals (prevention goals), which relate to obtaining value (avoiding loss) primed by a per‐person price (an aggregate price), had the effect of regulating one's choices. Managerial implications of the findings are discussed, followed by recommendations for future research.     

Flexible spatial mapping of different notations of numbers in Chinese readers

The spatial component of numerical and ordinal information has been explored in previous research. However, how such mapping emerges and how it is affected by the learning experience are issues still under debate. In the current study, we examined the orientation of the mental number line for different numerical notations (e.g., “1”, “—-”, “”) in Chinese readers. Our data demonstrated that Arabic numbers are mentally aligned horizontally with a left-to-right directionality, while Chinese number words are aligned vertically with a top-to-bottom directionality. These findings indicate that different notations of the same concept have flexible mappings within space, which is plausibly shaped by the dominant context in which the numerical notations appear.     

Perceptions of social changes and social identity: Study focusing on Hong Kong society after reunification

Based on the social identity theory and the need for closure theory, the present study investigates how Hong Kong people's perceptions of social changes after the reunification with China are related to their social identities. A randomly selected sample of 315 Hong Kong residents participated in a telephone survey to report their perceptions of major changes in five social areas, as well as their social identities. A series of logistic regression analyses confirmed, as predicted, that the perceived pace of social change was related to the participants' preference for a single identity ('Hongkonger' or 'Chinese') over dual identities ('Hongkonger and Chinese', or 'Chinese and secondarily Hongkonger') through the mediation of social uncertainty. The results indicate that for individuals with dual social identities, perceptions and evaluations of social change are important factors contributing to social identity preference.