Evaluation and Recall of Valenced Stimuli as a Function of Spatial Positions

<p>Meier and Robinson (2004) had subjects identify pleasant and unpleasant words presented individually either at the top or bottom of a computer screen. Subjects identified pleasant words faster when they appeared at the top of the screen and unpleasant words faster whey they appeared at the bottom of the screen. The authors discussed this finding in terms of metaphors noting that in language good things are often allocated upwards (e.g. “things are looking up for me”) and bad things downwards e.g. (“I’m down in the dumps”). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this relationship between affective stimuli and visual space occurs automatically (implicitly) or whether explicit processing of affective stimuli is required. A second aim was to investigate if memory for affective words is influenced by spatial location. In Experiments 1 and 2 subjects were shown pleasant and unpleasant words presented either at the top or bottom of a computer screen. Half the words were coloured green and half coloured purple. Subjects had to identify the colour as quickly as possible. No significant interaction between stimulus valence and spatial position was found, nor did recall interact with spatial position. In Experiment 3 subjects had to explicitly identify the valence of the words shown either at the top or bottom of the screen. It was predicted that positive stimuli would be explicitly evaluated faster and recalled more accurately when shown at the top of the screen, with the opposite holding true for negative stimuli. Participants were quicker to identify positive words at the top of the screen. Recall did not interact with spatial position. Overall the results of this study were broadly supportive of the hypothesis for explicit evaluation but not so for implicit evaluation or recall.</p>

Evaluation and Recall of Valenced Stimuli as a Function of Spatial Positions

<p>Meier and Robinson (2004) had subjects identify pleasant and unpleasant words presented individually either at the top or bottom of a computer screen. Subjects identified pleasant words faster when they appeared at the top of the screen and unpleasant words faster whey they appeared at the bottom of the screen. The authors discussed this finding in terms of metaphors noting that in language good things are often allocated upwards (e.g. “things are looking up for me”) and bad things downwards e.g. (“I’m down in the dumps”). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this relationship between affective stimuli and visual space occurs automatically (implicitly) or whether explicit processing of affective stimuli is required. A second aim was to investigate if memory for affective words is influenced by spatial location. In Experiments 1 and 2 subjects were shown pleasant and unpleasant words presented either at the top or bottom of a computer screen. Half the words were coloured green and half coloured purple. Subjects had to identify the colour as quickly as possible. No significant interaction between stimulus valence and spatial position was found, nor did recall interact with spatial position. In Experiment 3 subjects had to explicitly identify the valence of the words shown either at the top or bottom of the screen. It was predicted that positive stimuli would be explicitly evaluated faster and recalled more accurately when shown at the top of the screen, with the opposite holding true for negative stimuli. Participants were quicker to identify positive words at the top of the screen. Recall did not interact with spatial position. Overall the results of this study were broadly supportive of the hypothesis for explicit evaluation but not so for implicit evaluation or recall.</p>

Implicit and Explicit Prejudice Are Related to Explicit Support for Politicians Who are Conservative, but not White or Male, Mostly Because They Promote Inequality

Recent studies show that explicit prejudice is related to explicit support for conservative and opposition for liberal politicians, regardless of their demographics such as race and gender. However, it remains unclear how prejudice is associated with evaluation of candidates on the implicit domain. Furthermore, prior theories assume that these associations exist because of the politicians’ preferences for inequality and status quo, but these assumptions have never been empirically tested. Four pre-registered experiments clarify that politicians’ ideology, not race or gender, determines the association between prejudice and explicit evaluation of politicians, regardless of whether prejudice is measured explicitly or implicitly. These preferences are primarily driven by citizens’ preferences for politicians who support inequality, and to a lesser extent, preferences for those who support the status quo. Together, these findings clarify the political consequences of racism and sexism and further our understanding of the psychological function of prejudice.

Spatially Explicit Evaluation and Driving Factor Identification of Land Use Conflict in Yangtze River Economic Belt

Regional land use transitions driven by the adaptive reconciliation of existing land use conflict with socioeconomic development can lead to positive economic effects as well as new land use conflict. Although research on land use transition has progressed considerably, limited studies have explored the spatiotemporal dynamic pattern of land use conflict during the land use transition period. Previous evaluation approaches on land use conflict that mainly focus on status or potential conflict lack conflict intensity evaluation during the land use transition process. A new spatially explicit evaluation framework of land use conflict that directly examines three aspects of conflict, namely, ecological and agricultural (EAC), agricultural and construction (ACC), and ecological and construction (ECC) land conflicts based on ecological quality and agricultural suitability, is proposed in this study. The spatiotemporal dynamic pattern and driving factors of land use conflict in the Yangtze River Economic Belt of China in the period of 2000–2018 are evaluated. The results indicated that comprehensive land use conflict (CLUC) intensity slightly decreased by 9.91% and its barycenter showed a trend toward the west during 2000–2018. ACC is the most drastic conflict among the three aspects of conflict. The mean intensity of ACC reduced remarkably by 38.26%, while EAC increased by 33.15% and ECC increased by 28.28% during the research periods. The barycenter of EAC moved toward the east while the barycenter of ACC and ECC moved toward the west. The changes in the intensity and spreading pattern of land use conflict indices demonstrated the changes in the pattern of territorial space development. Total population, population density, per capita GDP, number of mobile phone users, and road density were strong drivers that influenced the land use conflict of territorial space. Multiple policy recommendations including improving territorial space planning and governance ability, and improving land use efficiency, were proposed to manage and resolve the land use conflict of territorial space. The results and conclusions of this study will help improve future regional land use policies and reduce land use conflict.

EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT MEANS OF REPRESENTING EVALUATION IN CNN.COM PUBLICATIONS ABOUT MIGRATION ISSUES

The article considers the category of evaluation in linguistics and the means of its representation. As an anthropocentric category, evaluation is an important element of a person's cognitive activity and is based on their value attitudes. The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze explicit and implicit means of expressing evaluation in the articles on CNN.com dedicated to the issues of migration to the countries of the European Union and North America. In the experiment, content, definition and component analysis were used to study 84 publications for the period of 2019-2021. As a result, 617 examples of evaluation were identified. Among them, 367 examples were of explicit evaluation and 250 examples were of implicit evaluation. It was found that the evaluation in the analyzed material is mainly explicit in nature and it is expressed by lexical units with evaluative semantics. The implicit evaluation is based on the linguistic and extralinguistic context and is represented by various linguistic means: quotation, metaphor, phraseological units, antithesis, euphemisms. As the analysis has shown, the axiological characteristic is created with a complex of explicit and implicit evaluative means to implement the main function of the media to inform the audience and shape public opinion.

Biblical Seductresses

Within the texts of the Bible, there are seductresses who are portrayed as resisting the patriarchal values of biblical society by employing their feminine wiles to manipulate powerful males. These women sacrifice their own virtue by taking initiative in sexually daring acts and subordinating their victim of seduction to further their pursuits. Numerous female biblical figures are praised after utilizing their feminine weapons to achieve their ends; however, these seducers, some of whom are married, engage in questionable means. Since the Bible does not render an explicit evaluation, I aim to investigate such seductive behavior in an effort to assess the conduct of biblical seductresses and illuminate the role of women depicted in the Bible. A close reading of the texts and an examination of rabbinic interpretations of episodes in which Lot’s daughters, Tamar, Jael, Ruth and Esther each perform seductive acts can be used as a resource to further support contemporary feminist readings which justify biblical female characters’ use of morally dubious means to accomplish noble aims.

Explicit Evaluation of Some Quadratic Euler-Type Sums Containing Double-Index Harmonic Numbers

In this paper a number of new explicit expressions for quadratic Euler-type sums containing double-index harmonic numbers H2n are given. These are obtained using ordinary generating functions containing the square of the harmonic numbers Hn. As a by-product of the generating function approach used new proofs for the remarkable quadratic series of Au-Yeung \sum\limits_{n = 1}^\infty {{{\left( {{{{H_n}} \over n}} \right)}^2} = {{17{\pi ^4}} \over {360}}} together with its closely related alternating cousin are given. New proofs for other closely related quadratic Euler-type sums that are known in the literature are also obtained.

Moving Forward or Holding Back? Creating a Culture of Academic Assessment

This article analyzes data from a survey on faculty perceptions of a newly instituted assessment process at a small liberal arts campus in Canada. The survey results are compared with an analysis of the reports submitted to the assessment committee over a four-year period in order to determine whether a culture of assessment centred on students’ academic skills rather than compliance had been achieved. Although there is evidence of resistance and skepticism from a subset of faculty, we argue that overall a faculty driven process of assessment provided the space for the creation of a culture of assessment based on the explicit evaluation of identified academic skills. Our analysis examines faculty perceptions of assessment and its impact, the materials and methods of assessment used, and the overall impact of assessment on teaching on the campus.