Processing correlates of lexical semantic complexity

This paper explores how verb meanings that differ in semantic complexity are processed and represented. In particular, we compare eventive verbs, which denote causally structured events, with stative verbs, which denote facts without causal structure. We predicted that the conceptually more complex eventive verbs should take longer to process than stative verbs. Two experiments, a lexical decision task and a self-paced reading study, confirmed this prediction. The findings suggest that (a) semantic complexity is reflected in processing time, (b) processing verb meanings involves activating properties of the event structure beyond participants' roles, and (c) more generally, lexical event structures, which subsume thematic roles, may mediate between syntactic knowledge and semantic interpretation.     

The Eye of Suffering: Reflections on <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Passion of the Christ</Emphasis>

This reflection on Mel Gibsons Passion views the movie as myth and takes an archetypal perspective on the role of suffering in the deep transformation of both person and God. My approach is intentionally in contrast to most liberal reviewers who have taken issue with the movie from historical perspectives.     

Semantic representations of word meanings by the cerebral hemispheres

Two priming experiments investigated kind and strength of semantic knowledge underlying known, frontier, and unknown low frequency words. Results from Experiment 1 suggest that known words reflect categorical knowledge, but frontier and unknown words reflect thematic knowledge. Thematic knowledge for frontier words appears to be stronger than that for unknown words. Experiment 2 entailed visual half-field presentation of targets. All facilitory effects were restricted to the lvf/RH, and inhibitory effects to the rvf/LH. Experiment 1 findings were mirrored by the RH. Thematic knowledge appears to precede categorical knowledge for the RH, but the opposite may be true of the LH. Results are also discussed in terms of the RH role in meaning acquisition and metacontrol.     

Indexical and symbolic referencing: what role do they play in children's success on theory of mind tasks?

Numerous measures have been employed in the last 17 years to assess theory of mind (ToM). The literature reports marked variability in the age at which children succeed on these measures. To account for this variability, researchers have provided explanations ranging from cognitive shifts and voids to the inability to understand the language of the tasks or to social/pragmatic considerations, all of which tell us little if anything about the internal mechanism underlying ToM. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive theoretical account of children's success and the discrepancies found across different ToM tasks. We test the hypothesis that children's understanding of ToM is sensitive to the basic elements of language, that is, to whether the language is indexical or symbolic. Support for this account was found in the analysis of selected test protocols in four published studies of ToM, and new data collected from 53 children (4--6 years) which showed that a higher percentage of children succeeded on tasks with a high ratio of indexical to symbolic references than on tasks with a high ratio of symbolic to indexical references. There was also a main effect of age with older children succeeding at higher rates on both tasks than younger children. Our findings suggest that indexical representation can afford ToM understanding in 4-year-olds, but is not sufficient for a more mature ToM. The latter requires symbolic representation that was demonstrated by the majority of 5--6-year-olds.     

How does exposure to masked individuals affect White Americans' attitudes toward Asian American and Pacific Islanders?

Across three studies, conducted between Spring 2020 and Spring 2021, we tested whether exposure to an Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) target person wearing a face mask would increase or decrease White Americans' perceived threat from and positivity toward AAPI individuals. Although results varied by study, a single-paper meta-analysis revealed that the masked (compared to unmasked) AAPI target resulted in greater positivity toward AAPIs, due to reduced perceptions of both symbolic threat to group values and realistic threat to group health. Positivity toward AAPIs did not reliably differ after exposure to a masked versus unmasked White target. Implications for interventions that encourage COVID-safe behaviors and combat anti-AAPI attitudes are discussed.     

Self-compassion at work: A self-regulation perspective on its beneficial effects for work performance and wellbeing

The work environment is fraught with complex demands, hardships, and challenges, highlighting the need to approach work with self-compassion each day. We propose that work self-compassion—a mindset of kindness, gentleness, and care toward oneself as an employee—may generate the resources and motivation needed for self-regulation at work. Drawing from integrated self-control theory (ISCT) and theory on self-compassion, we suggest that on days when employees hold a work self-compassionate mindset, they will exhibit greater work performance and wellbeing via enhanced resource capacity and motivation. In an experimental experience sampling study, we found that a work self-compassionate mindset reduced depletion and increased work self-esteem and thereby heightened daily work engagement and daily resilience. Consequently, employees made greater goal progress at work and experienced higher meaning in life. In a supplemental study, we show that state self-compassion at work is associated with unique variance in work outcomes beyond compassion received from coworkers. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for self-compassion in organizational contexts.     

Meaning and beauty

What place do experiences of beauty have in a meaningful life? A marginal one, at best, it would seem, if one looks at the current literature in analytic philosophy. Treatments of beauty within so-called “analytic existentialism” tend to suffer from four limitations: beauty is neglected, reduced to artistic production, saddled to theology, or taken as a mere application of a broader theoretical framework. These discussions fail to engage with the rich tradition of philosophical aesthetics. In this essay, I begin by responding to the contention that experiences of beauty cannot lend life meaning because they are passive. Drawing on work in philosophical aesthetics, I then argue that encounters with the beautiful count as genuinely meaning-conferring because they have features commonly taken as marks of meaningfulness.     

死亡凸显对消费者体验性消费选择偏好的影响及其作用机制

消费者的决策心理与购买行为会受到周边环境暴露的死亡信息的影响发生变化。本文从意义维持模型出发,通过4个实验探讨了死亡凸显对消费者体验性消费选择偏好的影响及其作用机制。结果发现,死亡凸显情境下消费者更倾向选择体验性消费。进一步分析发现,死亡凸显通过降低消费者的生命意义感提高了其对体验性消费的选择偏好。同时,社会支持对此间接效应起到了缓冲作用。研究结果初步揭示,补偿生命意义感的缺失是死亡凸显增加体验性消费选择的潜在机制,这也为新冠疫情背景下的消费者决策行为干预提供了一定参考。     

Archetypal Identity Development,Meaning in Life,and Life Satisfaction: Differences Among Clinical Mental Health Counselors,School Counselors,and Counselor Educators

Adults pursuing careers in counselor education, clinical mental health counseling, and counselor education (N = 256) participated in a study that examined relationships among archetypal identity development, meaning in life, and life satisfaction. Significant differences between groups existed for 5 archetypal identities, and meaning in life was significantly related to life satisfaction.     

The Development of Symbolic Uses of Objects in Infants in a Triadic Context: A Pragmatic and Semiotic Perspective

In this study, we address the construction of the first symbolic uses of objects in contexts of triadic interaction (adult–child–object). We assume that symbolic productions are based on public rules of the use of objects previously agreed by the community. The first symbols are not rooted in any literal, evident reality, but in shared rules of uses about the material world. We observed six dyads communicating and interacting together with 10 objects in a semi‐structured situation longitudinally from 9 to 15 months of age. We found that the infants gradually constructed symbolic meanings, and we identified five symbolic levels and sublevels. At 9 months, the infants attended and engaged in the symbolic uses produced by an adult even though they themselves were not yet able to produce them. At 12 months, infants began to use objects symbolically to communicate with adults. The highest percentage of these first symbolic uses was of level 1, that is, with a close relation to the conventional use of the object used to perform the symbol. At 15 months, children increased their symbolic uses and performed symbolic uses at all levels, whereas adults reduced such practices. Adult semiotic mediation and the social meanings of objects can be considered important factors in children's symbolic productions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.