Papers by Cynthia Whissell
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Aug 1, 1979
From an introductory course in psychology 40 subjects received credit for their participation in ... more From an introductory course in psychology 40 subjects received credit for their participation in an experiment on delayed auditory feedback. Subjects read two lists, I and 11, under conditions of delayed and non-delayed auditory feedback. The order of lists was reversed for half the subjects, and 10 subjects each were assigned to delay-first or delay-second conditions with each list order. Both delayed feedback and non-delayed conditions were administered via the Allison Model 22 Clinical and Research audiometer. Delay was presented monaurally with a ,266-sec. lapse, and non-delay conditions involved simultaneous sound reproduction, also through earphones. All subjects were pretested with pure tones to ensure that no hearing loss greater than 10 dB was present, and passages were read by subjects with all feedback occurring at 40 dB above threshold. A 2 X 2 X 2 partially repeated analysis of variance was used to evaluate differences in toral reading time according to delayed feedback (present, absent), order of passage (1-11, 11-1) , and order of delay (yes-no, no-yes) . Significant differences appeared for the main effect of delay ( p < .01), and for the interactions of delayed feedback with order of delay and order of passage ( p < .01). Specifically, increased reading time with delayed feedback appeared only when delay was administered in the first position (190.6, 163.1 sec.; p < .01) . A significant decrease of reading time under delayed feedback was associated with the appearance of delay in the second position (183.5, 174.7 sec.; j~ < .05). Errors of blocking, omission, addition, repetition, substitution, and pronunciation were also evaluated. Numbers tended to be small and distributions extremely deviant from the normal for these scores. Applications of the non-parametric sign test both within and across cells yielded suggestive ( p < .25) increases in error associated with delay for blocking and pronunciation. Reliability of rater for the blind identification of all errors from taped material ranged from .85 to 1.00 ( p < .01). For groups with a significant effect of delayed feedback, the time difference (delay minus non-delay) was correlated with scores from Cattell's 16 PF. In one cell, results indicated that effects of delayed feedback were maximized for subjects with a lower intellectual level (B, .42, p < .15) , and greater emotionality (C, .41, p < .15) , trustfulness (L , .61, p < .05) , and apprehension (0, .78, p < .05). For the second group delayed feedback was associated with greater humility (E, .41, fi < .15) , practicality (M, .59, p <, .O5), experimental thinking (41, .54, p < .05) , control (Q3. .GI, p < .05) , and tenslon (Q,, .54, p < .05). Yates ( 2 ) , in his review of early research, notes differences in delayed feedback occurring relative to reading material (where subtle differences may exist), adaptation, and personality. He also cites studies in which delayed feedback provided a "stressful experience" and experiments in which a GSR reaction is associated with performance under delayed feedback. The present experiment utilized a delay slightly greater than the generally optimum .2 sec. ( 1 ) which might explain the extreme adaptation effects associated with order of delay. Correlations of effects, where these occurred, with personaliry variables support the stressful (sympathetic activation, emotional) nature of the experience. Order of passage probably led to significant effects because of the subtle, i.e.. presently unclear!, factors ( 2 ) . In overview, the current experiment may be regarded as a replication of effects of order, passage, and personality which have been reported previously, though not in unison, by various authors.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, Feb 28, 2020
Computerized sentiment analysis based on the Dictionary of Affect in Language (Whissell, 2009) wa... more Computerized sentiment analysis based on the Dictionary of Affect in Language (Whissell, 2009) was employed to assess patterns in the employment of positive (pleasant) language in the journal kept by Sir Walter Scott between 1825 and 1832. The continuous portion of the journal (33 months) was modeled with a polynomial regression. Two major patterns were observed. In the earlier portions of the journal, significant seasonal variations were present, with more positively toned entries in the Spring/Summer and less positive ones in the Fall/Winter. In the later portions of the journal there were discontinuities most likely attributable to ill health; significantly greater emotional variability was noted with some of the least positive entries occurring at about the time when Scott was facing his final illness and just before he stopped making journal entries.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Jun 1, 1982
Psychological Reports, Dec 1, 1996
From 315 abstracts from Psychological s (January 1990-February 1996), the modal current study dea... more From 315 abstracts from Psychological s (January 1990-February 1996), the modal current study dealing with premenstrual syndrome or tension has a within-subjects design and includes 20 to 80 nonpathological subjects. Conclusions based on prospective self-reports are that negative psychological and somatic ratings increase premenstrually or menstrually and that changes are more pronounced (and scores higher) for groups who are identified with symptoms.
Psychological Reports, Feb 1, 2008
More than 500,000 scored words in 83 documents were used to conclude that it is possible to ident... more More than 500,000 scored words in 83 documents were used to conclude that it is possible to identify the source of documents (proto-orthodox Christian versus early Gnostic) on the basis of the emotions underlying the words. Twenty-seven New Testament works and seven Gnostic documents (including the gospels of Thomas, Judas, and Mary [Magdalene]) were scored with the Dictionary of Affect in Language. Patterns of emotional word use focusing on eight types of extreme emotional words were employed in a discriminant function analysis to predict source. Prediction was highly successful (canonical r = .81, 97% correct identification of source). When the discriminant function was tested with more than 30 additional Gnostic and Christian works including a variety of translations and some wisdom books, it correctly classified all of them. The majority of the predictive power of the function (97% of all correct categorizations, 70% of the canonical r2) was associated with the preferential presence of passive and passive/pleasant words in Gnostic documents.
Psychological Reports, Apr 1, 2011
This article disputes the stylometric attribution of an anonymous English 1821 translation of Goe... more This article disputes the stylometric attribution of an anonymous English 1821 translation of Goethe's German verse drama Faust to the poet and critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The translation was compared to four known Coleridgean dramas, two of which were translations from German. Evidence challenging Coleridge's authorship came from words used proportionally more often by Coleridge, words used proportionally more often by the unknown translator, differential employment of parallel word forms ("O" and "hath" for Coleridge, "oh" and "has" for the translator), and differences in the undertones of the two vocabularies, as measured by the Dictionary of Affect in Language (Coleridge's undertones were less pleasant and more abstract). Some problems with the stylometry of the challenged attribution to Coleridge are noted. Researchers engaged in making authorial attributions are predicting the characteristics of an author, including his or her identity, from the characteristics of a text (Juola, 2006, p. 233). Attribution research is central to disciplines in the humanities which deal with unattributed literary texts (Juola, 2006, discusses examples). It is also important to any discipline which includes the study of language, such as forensics or psychology (Juola, 2006, pp. 299-306). The detecfion of plagiarism (e.g., Grüner & Naven, 2005') and the identification of the author of problematic e-mails (e.g., CaUx, Connors, Levy, Manzar, McCabe, & Wescott, 2008' *) involve authorial attributions made on the basis of writing style. The wide availability of computers has led to a boom in authorial attribution research because computers excel at quantifying large samples of text. Computerbased measures brought successfully to bear on questions of authorship have ranged from word length (Juola, 2006, p. 240) through the prefer-'Address reprint requests to C.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Feb 1, 2006
Several thousand cats' and dogs' names were compared with each other and with several tho... more Several thousand cats' and dogs' names were compared with each other and with several thousand men's and women's names in terms of their use of various sounds and the emotional associations of these sounds. Emotional associations were scored according to the system developed by Whissell in 2000. In general, cats' names stood in comparison to dogs' names as women's names stood in comparison to men's names. Names from the first group in each pairing included more pleasant and soft phonemes and fewer unpleasant and sad ones than those in the second group (one-way analyses of variance with post hoc LSD tests, p &lt; .0001). As well, pets' names were longer and more easily pronounced by children than the human names (p &lt; .0001).
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Oct 1, 1984
to February 1983 as instances of the descriptor "emotion" were analyzed in terms of source, type,... more to February 1983 as instances of the descriptor "emotion" were analyzed in terms of source, type, length, and content of the document abstracted. Relatively large numbers of abstracts of dissertations ( 2 2 % ) and foreign-language documents ( 11 % ) were noted. Content was analyzed in 11 categories based on the hlstory of the area (Psychoanalysis, Physiology, Cognition, Learning, Development, Structure, Pathology, Comparative, Communication, Personality, and Attribution). The category of Pathology contained the largest number of documents ( 2 5 % ) and the Comparative category, the smallest ( 2 % ) . Samples of the literamre in each category are presented, and problems inherent in any unique definition of "emotion" are discussed.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Aug 1, 1994
Significant differences among criterion means and among slopes and intercepts of lines predicting... more Significant differences among criterion means and among slopes and intercepts of lines predicting definitional and emotional accuracy on the basis of age suggest that knowledge about the pleasantness of familiar words (pleasantness accuracy) begins early, is high, and asymptotes earlier in comparison to definitional knowledge or to the WISC-R Vocabulary subtest in which knowledge (accuracy) begins to grow at a later age, grows faster, and does nor reach the same over-all mean.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Feb 1, 1990
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Dec 1, 1981
S u n m a r y . 4 9 subjects rated 50 words of affect randomly selected from a dictionary. Factor... more S u n m a r y . 4 9 subjects rated 50 words of affect randomly selected from a dictionary. Factor analyses of the 11 scales used documented the presence of a Pleasure factor and an Activation factor that jointly explained 86% of the variance. With the addition of Personal-ness as a third factor, 92.6% of the variance in mean ratings could be accounted for, and 5 clear clusters of words emerged.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Oct 1, 1994
An SPSS' computer program was used to score 48 100-word text passages from novels written by Erne... more An SPSS' computer program was used to score 48 100-word text passages from novels written by Ernest Hemingway, John Galsworthy, and W i a m Faullcner. The program, c d e d TEXT.NLZ, produced more than 50 objective measures of each passage, including several measures of punctuation, word frequency, and emotionality. Passages written by the three authors were easily discriminable in terms of objective measures, and differences among authors with respect to the objective measures accurately reflected the content of subjective critical comments describing the work of each author.
Psychological Reports, Oct 1, 2009
Comprehensive Psychology, 2012
CitAtion Whissell, C. (2012) emotional consistency as evidence of dynamic equivalence among engli... more CitAtion Whissell, C. (2012) emotional consistency as evidence of dynamic equivalence among english translations of the Bible. Comprehensive Psychology, 1, 15.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Feb 1, 2015
the novel were analyzed in terms of the emotional meanings of their constituent sounds using the ... more the novel were analyzed in terms of the emotional meanings of their constituent sounds using the model developed by Whissell where motor responses involved in enunciating sounds are associated with their emotional meaning. Signifi cant sound-emotion diff erences were identifi ed among and within chapters. "Smiling" pleasant long e (as in "tee") was used at higher rates in successive chapters and "sighing" passive AO (as in "Shaun") was used at especially high rates in Chapters 8 ("Anna Livia Plurabelle") and 12 ("Mamalujo"). Sound emotionality is one of the alternative paths to meaning in the novel.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Aug 1, 1983
100 subjects provided ratings of the "degree to which they would show" 41 bodily reactions (such ... more 100 subjects provided ratings of the "degree to which they would show" 41 bodily reactions (such as "tears," "tense muscles," and "a feeling of coldness") in association with one of 20 emotions. Means of 5 subjects' ratings of each emotion were the dependent variables in 41 2 X 2 analyses of variance, with scaled Pleasantness (high or low) and scaled Arousal (high or low) as the independent variables. Significant main effects were associated with 24 reactions for Pleasantness and G reactions for Arousal. For 5 reactions, the Pleasantness X Arousal interaction was significant. A systematic (though not necessarily exclusive) relationship between affective dimensions and reported bodily reactions is inferred.
Psychological Reports, Feb 1, 2016
Pleasant sounds (phonemes) within Coleridge’s 1798 Rime of the Ancyent Marinere were employed to ... more Pleasant sounds (phonemes) within Coleridge’s 1798 Rime of the Ancyent Marinere were employed to study the poem’s structure in terms of the Aristotelean concepts of fortune (many pleasant emotions/phonemes) and misfortune (few) and to address questions as to how the poem doubled in length shortly before publication. The distribution of emotionally pleasant phonemes such as long e (i), l, v, and th (θ) indicated the presence of a (likely original) poem with a pleasant ending where the albatross drops from the mariner’s neck. Three episodes of threat and escape were probably added to the albatross episode later, along with an unhappy ending. Significant differences in the proportion of pleasant phonemes employed in various sections support these conclusions.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Aug 1, 1980
228 subjects, approximately equally divided according to sex and eye color (brown, blue), rated t... more 228 subjects, approximately equally divided according to sex and eye color (brown, blue), rated the pleasantness of 20 visual shapes in either of two sets. Factor analyses of pleasingness ratings yielded five stable factors explaining at least 75% of the variance in all cases. Shapes grouped according to factor and subjected to analyses of variance yielded sex differences for one set (A) and eye color differences for the other (B). Sets A and B were shown to be incompatible and differences in responding between sets were significantly associated with eye color. For individual shapes in Set B, differences in responding associated with eye color were best predicted by rated complexity and the number of angles per figure and brown-eyed subjects were significantly more responsive to complexity than blue-eyed subjects.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, Feb 1, 1978
S~~mmary.--40 subjects were required to perform rhe task of stroking out the letters 'e' in a typ... more S~~mmary.--40 subjects were required to perform rhe task of stroking out the letters 'e' in a type-written passage for nine minutes under conditions of no noise or continuous 95-dB "white" noise or 95-dB "white" noise presented in a regular time pattern or 95-dB "white" noise presented in an irregular time pattern. The noise conditions made no difference to the performance of the task except during the second 3-min. interval of the 9-min. period when patterned noise had an inhibitory effect on the volume of material scanned but a facilitatory effect on accuracy of performance.
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Papers by Cynthia Whissell