Focus, polarity and framing effects

The experiments reported in this thesis examine a reader's ability to draw inferences about a situation from desires, emotion words and logically equivalent frames. Previous research has provided evidence that listeners (or readers) are able to make inferences about current or presupposed states from the speaker's choice of frame. That is, in experiments involving pronominal reference readers can infer that an expectation has not been reached from the use of a negative natural language quantifier (NLQ) (Moxey, 2006). In experiments on framing effects a listener is able to infer a previous volume of liquid in a glass from the way the glass is now described (Sher & McKenzie, 2006). The experiments reported here aim to take a closer look at how these inferences are made during reading. In the first two experimental chapters character desire and emotion words were used to promote references to the complement set without use of a negative NLQ. Where sentences such as 'The waitress was annoyed by the number of customers who left her a tip' were presented to participants a preference for the complement set was found in sentence continuation and eye-tracking experiments, but not with event related potentials. These results suggest that with such complex inferences to be made participants are able to hold a number of referents in mind during reading. The remainder of the experiments examine reader's interpretation of the logically equivalent frames half full and half empty. In eye-tracking and written experiments it was found that when a character desires a vessel to be full a statement of half full does not fulfil this desire. In contrast when a character desires a vessel to be empty a statement of half empty is satisfactory. It is possible that these results are due to markedness of the terms, where empty is considered marked and full unmarked (Greenberg, 1966). The final two experiments look at two sets of logically equivalent frames in neutral contexts and find that participants find it easier to read about situations which are more familiar or likely to occur. The likelihood of a situation is in turn related to polarity and frequency which is found to be connected to markedness. The thesis as a whole suggests that reader's inferences are affected by their pragmatic knowledge of situations. This is discussed in more detailed with respect to pronominal reference and logically equivalent frames

Embedding a curriculum-based information literacy programme at the University of Bedfordshire

This article describes the development of an information literacy programme that was embedded into the Psychology curriculum during 2007-2008. The programme was a collaboration between a faculty librarian and the Department of Psychology and utilized a blended learning approach along with a variety of teaching and assessment methods. This paper also reports on the initial findings from an ongoing evaluation assessing the impact of the programme on students' learning and information skills development. There had been an acknowledgement within the Department of Psychology and at broader University level of the importance of supporting students' and graduates' employability. Indeed, when the University undertook a curriculum redesign in 2008 (known as CRe8) the University recognized that 'there are four core skills areas at the core of 'graduateness' and employability that the University expects all courses to emphasise: communication; Information literacy; Research and evaluation; and creativity and critical thinking' (University of Bedfordshire, 2009). The development and implementation of an information literacy programme was therefore aligned closely with the University's goals at that time

Outgroup attitudes, personality and support for secessionist movements: IWAH and collective narcissism predict support for Scottish independence

Attitudes toward secession are studied across disciplines yet remain under-researched in the field of personality psychology. The present study (N = 430) examined xenophobia, identification with all humanity (IWAH) and 4 personality traits (universalism-tolerance, openness, right-wing authoritarianism, collective narcissism) in relation to attitudes toward Scottish independence. IWAH was a predictor of support for independence, while xenophobia and right-wing authoritarianism were predictors of less favourable attitudes to independence. These findings complemented previous research linking support for secessionist movements with non-nativist thinking and personality traits such as agreeableness and extraversion. Collective narcissism was the strongest predictor of support for Scottish independence, hinting at a narcissistic distortion in secessionist thinking that invites further research

Complement set reference after implicitly small quantities: An event-related potentials study

An anaphoric reference to the complement-set is a reference to the set which does not fulfil the predicate of the preceding sentence. Preferred reference to the complement-set has been found in eye movements when a character’s implicit desire for a high amount has been denied using a negative emotion. We recorded ERPs to examine if, when a character’s desire is denied with a negative emotion, the complement-set is immediately available for reference. Analysis of the N400 over posterior regions showed that while readers favoured the reference-set following a positive emotion, there was no difference in responses between complement-set and reference-set references following a negative emotion. Processing of a complement-set reference did lead to an overall increase in negativity of the N400, suggesting that interpreting a complement-set reference incurred a general processing cost. This study provides novel data on the range of circumstances under which the complement-set is available

Words from the wizarding world: fictional words, context and domain knowledge

The influence of domain knowledge on reading behavior has received limited investigation compared to the influence of, for example, context and/or word frequency. The current study tested participants with and without domain knowledge of the Harry Potter (HP) universe. Fans and non-fans read sentences containing HP, high-frequency (HF), or low-frequency target-words. Targets were presented in contexts that were supportive or unsupportive within a 2 (group: fans, non-fans) × 3 (context: HP, HF, LF) × 3 (word type: HP, HF, LF) mixed design. Thirty-two fans and 22 non-fans read 72 two-sentence experimental items while eye-movement behavior was recorded: Initial sentences established context; second sentences contained target-words. Fans processed HP words faster than non-fans. No group difference was observed on HF or LF processing durations, suggesting equivalent reading capabilities. In HP contexts, HP and LF targets were processed equivalently. Processing of HF and LF words was facilitated by their supportive context as expected. Non-fans made more regressions into the target region in HP contexts and regressed more into HP targets than other targets; fans regressed into target word regions equivalently across all context and word types. Results suggest that domain knowledge influences early but not immediate lexical access, while the processing effect of novelty was seen in regressive eye movements. These results are more supportive of modular accounts of linguistic processing and serial models of eye movement control. Words without grounding in reality, or true embodiment, were integrated into fans’ mental lexicons