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Showing papers on "Surprise published in 1999"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors concluded that the structure of self-reported affect includes a bipolar dimension contrasting pleasant with unpleasant feelings, and the central conclusion of their review may surprise readers familiar with the widespread claim that pleasant and unpleasant affect are not bipolar opposites.
Abstract: In their commentary on our review (J. A. Russell & J. M. Carroll, 1999), D. Watson and A. Tellegen (1999) agreed that when various factors, including activation, are taken into account, the structure of self-reported affect includes a bipolar dimension contrasting pleasant with unpleasant feelings. Agreement on this the central conclusion of our review may surprise readers familiar with the widespread claim that pleasant and unpleasant affect are not bipolar opposites but are largely independent of one another.

74 citations


01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the prosodic analysis, modelling and evaluation of the Spanish Emotional Speech Database including four emotions: happiness, sadness, cold anger, and surprise.
Abstract: The importance of speech prosody for conveying emotional information has been extensively underlined in the literature. Major elements such as pitch, tempo and stress are presented as the main acoustic correlates of emotion in human speech. Nevertheless, as several authors have shown, voice quality is also a relevant feature in emotion recognition. In this paper, we present the prosodic analysis, modelling and evaluation of the Spanish Emotional Speech Database including four emotions: happiness, sadness, cold anger and surprise. Our results show that, for Spanish, the contribution of prosody to the recognisability of the uttered emotion greatly varies from one to another, with sadness and surprise being more supra segmental, and happiness and cold anger being rather segmental.

74 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that the notion of false consciousness has been misappropriated by those who construct it simply as a psychological-cognitive phenomenon located in individuals' heads, rather than as a socially emergent product of a capitalist society.
Abstract: Marxist social theory and, in particular, Marxist notions of ideology have never been popular within psychology. Recently, however, the Marxist notion of false consciousness has begun to make appearances in mainstream psychological journals. In this paper I argue that this notion has been misappropriated by those who construct it simply as a psychological-cognitive phenomenon located in individuals' heads, rather than as a socially emergent product of a capitalist society. A cognitive construction of false consciousness by social psychologists is no surprise given the dominance of social cognition as a research tradition within psychology: a tradition which has always emphasized the limited and faulty cognitive capacities of the individual and one which sits comfortably with a highly individualized and psychological account of false consciousness. The inherent epistemological difficulties in maintaining the notion of false consciousness within contemporary social theory are discussed. Despite these diffic...

73 citations


Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the question of the quality of movies produced between 1950 and 1970, and find that the quality assessments made during the Cannes Festival and to a lesser degree, by the U.S. Academy are short-lasting.
Abstract: We address the question of the quality of movies produced between 1950 and 1970. A first outcome of our analysis is that the quality assessments made during the Cannes Festival, and to a lesser degree, by the U.S. Academy are short-lasting. In contrast to this, consumers seem consistent over time. There is, however, one issue on which experts agree as well as consumers: American movies dominate both in terms of commercial success and in terms of quality. There is less agreement, and sometimes there is even dissent concerning other dimensions. This does not come as a surprise and merely indicates that there is hardly a common yardstick along which the quality of a movie can be measured. Therefore, decomposing a work of art into quantifiable characteristics – even in a subjective but possibly unanimous way – would make it possible to explain the divergences between audiences and changes of appreciation over time.

69 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address the question of the quality of movies produced between 1950 and 1970, and find that the quality assessments made during the Cannes Festival and to a lesser degree, by the U.S. Academy are short-lasting.
Abstract: We address the question of the quality of movies produced between 1950 and 1970. A first outcome of our analysis is that the quality assessments made during the Cannes Festival, and to a lesser degree, by the U.S. Academy are short-lasting. In contrast to this, consumers seem consistent over time. There is, however, one issue on which experts agree as well as consumers: American movies dominate both in terms of commercial success and in terms of quality. There is less agreement, and sometimes there is even dissent concerning other dimensions. This does not come as a surprise and merely indicates that there is hardly a common yardstick along which the quality of a movie can be measured. Therefore, decomposing a work of art into quantifiable characteristics – even in a subjective but possibly unanimous way – would make it possible to explain the divergences between audiences and changes of appreciation over time.

67 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a conversation with a twelve-year-old student who had just completed an introduction to algebra, which is not likely to surprise an experienced teacher (I is the interviewer; Gi is the student):
Abstract: While going through the research literature on learning and teaching algebra, one is often reminded of the old story about a person who knew a dozen of languages but remained silent all his life just because he had nothing to say in any of them. Time and time again, researchers tell us about students who, even if quite proficient in manipulating algebraic symbols, do not seem able to use formulas as tools for meaningful communication. In particular, mastery of the rules of syntax is only rarely accompanied by an ability to justify these rules. The following excerpt from a conversation with a twelve-year-old student who had just completed an introduction to algebra is not likely to surprise an experienced teacher (I is the interviewer; Gi is the student):

60 citations


Book
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take a close look inside an employee-owned manufacturing corporation and reveal that therapy, a behaviour or practice normally thought to be confined to the offices of psychiatrists and the wards of mental hospitals, turns out to be the most common way of handling conflict in the postbureaucratic work environment.
Abstract: A growing number of contemporary organizations have management structures that are less centralized and hierarchical than the traditional bureaucratic model. This book takes a close look inside one such organization: an employee-owned manufacturing corporation. It addresses the question of how conflicts are handled when bureaucracy is greatly reduced-and its findings will surprise and enlighten many readers. Therapy, a behaviour or practice normally thought to be confined to the offices of psychiatrists and the wards of mental hospitals, turns out to be the most common way of handling conflict in the postbureaucratic work environment. James Tucker reveals that this therapeutic system of social control contrasts sharply, and tellingly, with the more authoritative-often violent-systems of social control found in more centralized and hierarchical work settings, especially those of the past.

56 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: A teacher's values and personality can be inferred by asking how he or she feels about giving grades as discussed by the authors, and they may even use surprise quizzes for that purpose, keeping their gradebooks at the ready.
Abstract: YOU CAN TELL A LOT ABOUT a teacher’s values and personality just by asking how he or she feels about giving grades. Some defend the practice, claiming that grades are necessary to “motivate” students. Many of these teachers actually seem to enjoy keeping intricate records of students’ marks. Such teachers periodically warn students that they’re “going to have to know this for the test” as a way of compelling them to pay attention or do the assigned readings— and they may even use surprise quizzes for that purpose, keeping their gradebooks at the ready.

49 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article used experimental data to investigate what subjects have learned after participating in an economic experiment for many periods and found that depending on the manner in which subjects are paid, they attempt to learn different aspects of the experimental task and perform differently.

48 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Alesina and Rosenthal as mentioned in this paper showed that the more surprised moderate voters are about the outcome of a presidential election, the lower the probability that they will support the president's party in the following midterm contest.
Abstract: Alberto Alesina and Howard Rosenthal argue that surprise about the outcomes of US presidential elections accounts for two important features of the American political economy: the regular loss of votes experienced by the president's party in midterm congressional elections, and the systematic relationship between the party of the incoming president and macroeconomic performance. Scholars recently have begun conducting rigorous tests of the relationship between surprise and economic performance, but no similar empirical work exists on how surprise affects midterm elections. In this article, we offer the first direct test of the proposition that electoral surprise drives the midterm loss. Our analysis shows that the more surprised moderate voters are about the outcome of a presidential election, the lower the probability that they will support the president's party in the following midterm contest. elections accounts for two important features of the American political economy: the regular loss of votes experienced by the president's party in midterm congressional elections, and the systematic relationship between the party of the incoming president and macroeconomic performance. Scholars recently have begun conducting rigorous tests of the relationship between surprise and economic performance, but no similar empirical work exists on how surprise affects midterm elections. In this article, we offer the first direct test of the proposition that electoral surprise drives the midterm loss. Our analysis shows that the more surprised moderate voters are about the outcome of a presidential election, the lower the probability that they will support the president's party in the following midterm contest. Alberto Alesina and Howard Rosenthal argue that surprise about the outcomes of US presidential elections accounts for two important features of the American political economy: the systematic relationship between the party of the incoming president and macroeconomic performance, and the regular loss of votes experienced by the president's party in midterm congressional elections.1 To establish a link between electoral surprise and the macroeconomy, the authors develop a model in which individuals respond rationally to government policy, given available information. In their model, economic actors know that the Democratic party is more inflation-prone than its Republican counterpart, so they design wage contracts based on their beliefs about each party's chances of winning the White House in the upcoming presidential election. Unless some party is expected to win with a probability of 1, actors hedge by basing their contracts on a rate of inflation somewhere between the ideal levels of the two parties. When a new administration enters office, it enjoys a window of opportunity to manipulate the economy before actors, who now know that inflation will differ from their pre-electoral expectations, re-draft their contracts to reflect the new political reality. Thus, the model predicts short-run expansions at the beginning of Democratic administrations and short-run contractions at the outset of Republican ones. Alberto Alesina and Howard Rosenthal argue that surprise about the outcomes of US presidential elections accounts for two important features of the American political economy: the regular loss of votes experienced by the president's party in midterm congressional elections, and the systematic relationship between the party of the incoming president and macroeconomic performance. Scholars recently have begun conducting rigorous tests of the relationship between surprise and economic performance, but no similar empirical work exists on how surprise affects midterm elections. In this article, we offer the first direct test of the proposition that electoral surprise drives the midterm loss. Our analysis shows that the more surprised moderate voters are about the outcome of a presidential election, the lower the probability that they will support the president's party in the following midterm contest. Alberto Alesina and Howard Rosenthal argue that surprise about the outcomes of US presidential elections accounts for two important features of the American political economy: the systematic relationship between the party of the incoming president and macroeconomic performance, and the regular loss of votes experienced by the president's party in midterm congressional elections.1 To establish a link between electoral surprise and the macroeconomy, the authors develop a model in which individuals respond rationally to government policy, given available information. In their model, economic actors know that the Democratic party is more inflation-prone than its Republican counterpart, so they design wage contracts based on their beliefs about each party's chances of winning the White House in the upcoming presidential election. Unless some party is expected to win with a probability of 1, actors hedge by basing their contracts on a rate of inflation somewhere between the ideal levels of the two parties. When a new administration enters office, it enjoys a window of opportunity to manipulate the economy before actors, who now know that inflation will differ from their pre-electoral expectations, re-draft their contracts to reflect the new political reality. Thus, the model predicts short-run expansions at the beginning of Democratic administrations and short-run contractions at the outset of Republican ones.

48 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The abilities of children to distinguish between facial patterns of fear and surprise were investigated in this article, where 60 children, 5 to 10 years old, were administered a recognition task of facial expression.
Abstract: The abilities of children to distinguish between facial patterns of fear and surprise were investigated. Sixty children, 5 to 10 years old, were administered a recognition task of facial expression...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article investigated age-related differences in the surprise reaction and found that children and seniors showed a more pronounced action delay in response to a simple, hedonically neutral surprising event than young adults that could not be attributed to a general slowing of information processing.
Abstract: Three studies investigated age-related differences in the surprise reaction. Study 1 revealed that children and seniors showed a more pronounced action delay in response to a simple, hedonically neutral surprising event than young adults that could not be attributed to a general slowing of information processing. Studies 2 and 3 provided evidence that these age-related differences in action delay between children and young adults were due to children's greater difficulties to find an explanation for the occurrence of the surprising event and to decide on its relevance for action. These results support the idea that the core mechanism of surprise is evolutionary-based and age-invariant, but its eliciting conditions and consequences depend on developmental changes of knowledge structures.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a political economy model was proposed as an alternative to public opinion polls for forecasting French legislative elections, and the model was used to predict a win for the ruling right party coalition.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors used First Call Corp. earnings surprise data and market-adjusted stock returns for the seven-day period surrounding each of about 22,000 annual earnings announcements from 1992-1997 to address several questions recently posed by SEC officials.
Abstract: This study uses First Call Corp. earnings surprise data and market-adjusted stock returns for the seven-day period surrounding each of about 22,000 annual earnings announcements from 1992-1997 to address several questions recently posed by SEC officials. We find that mean and median stock returns of portfolios ranked on earnings surprise magnitudes typically have the same sign as the surprise, but have the opposite signs for about 45% of observations comprising each portfolio. We also find that for a given absolute surprise magnitude, absolute price response is inversely related to the dispersion of analysts' forecasts.

Book
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: Under The Radar is an adventure story about the surprising rise of Red Hat, Inc. and the open source movement, and how both took the software industry, including industry giant Microsoft, by surprise.
Abstract: From the Publisher: Under The Radar is an adventure story about the surprising rise of Red Hat, Inc. and the open source movement, and how both took the software industry, including industry giant Microsoft, by surprise.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 1999-Mind

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an experiential exercise designed for classroom use is described and used in anticipatory socialization to help abate future business entry shock for students, and the results of several such applications of the exercise are presented.
Abstract: Among university business students today there is much idealism and a strong belief in the rational model of business activity. For those who are headed for initial appointments in corporate structures there will be disillusionment. Whether entering a new organization as a first‐time employee, or entering a new position as an employee of long standing, individuals are likely to experience feelings of anxiety, helplessness, and surprise. This effect is commonly known as “entry shock.” In this paper we (1) review an experiential exercise designed for classroom use, (2) describe implications and use of the exercise in anticipatory socialization to help abate future business entry shock for students, (3) present the results of several such applications of the exercise, and (4) suggest procedures which may be used to facilitate the use of the exercise.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of strategic intelligence in achieving and preempting surprise in the commercial marketplace has been explored in this paper, where the authors draw parallels between military and business planning and explore the role of the strategic intelligence.
Abstract: In war as in business, surprise can be a powerful strategic weapon. This article draws parallels between military and business planning, and explores the role of strategic intelligence in achieving and preempting surprise in the commercial marketplace. Sherman Kent (1949) defined strategic intelligence as the “kind of knowledge a state must possess regarding other states in order to assure itself that its causes will not suffer nor its undertakings fail because its statesmen and soldiers plan and act in ignorance.” With one or two word changes (business/organization for state; executives/managers for statesmen/soldiers), this definition could apply equally well to the world of business. In highly competitive global markets, ignorance of other players' actions or of developments in the wider business environment can prove costly. The chances of achieving, and/or being subjected to, strategic surprise have increased correlatively with the growth of networked, multinational organizations and electronic commerce. In an age of information warfare, strategic surprise has become virtually synonymous with technological surprise, thereby putting a premium on high-grade intelligence and threat assessment. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It has long been a commonplace that pictures say more than words: that a picture is not only worth a thousand words, but also speaks to everyone as mentioned in this paper. But it has proven remarkably tenacious.
Abstract: It has long been a commonplace that pictures say more than words: that a picture is not only worth a thousand words, but also speaks to everyone. While Expressionism has shaken this old assumption, it has nonetheless proved remarkably tenacious. In late seventeenth-century England, John Dryden declared that painting speaks ‘the tongue of ev'ry land.’ In the late twentieth century, a poster published by the International Photography Council says that ‘the world speaks in 1994 languages, but sees in only one: Photography, the universal language.’ It should not be a surprise that professional photographers want us to consider their language universal, but most readers of the poster probably do not even realise that it makes a claim — let alone wondering if the claim is true. For pictures can sometimes ambush the mind, circumventing our logic and verbal defenses. Part of what makes pictorial language seem universal is its seemingly privileged access to the viewer's heart or soul. Quintilian,...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that the conservative view on abortion is based on the natural process of fetal development, not the personhood of the fetus, and that a careful examination of these inconsistencies establishes that personhood analysis is mistaken.
Abstract: The philosophical literature would have us believe that the conservative view on abortion is based on the claim that the fetus is a person from the time of conception. Given the widespread acceptance of this analysis, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that it conflicts with a number of major arguments offered in support of the conservative view. I argue, in the present paper, that a careful examination of these inconsistencies establishes that the personhood analysis is mistaken: the conservative view is based on the natural process of fetal development, not the personhood of the fetus.

Book
31 Jul 1999
TL;DR: The authors provide an excellent overview of early investigations into areas now included in cognitive psychology, including colour and colour theory, sense-perception, speech, memory, reasoning and language, as well as contemporary approaches to Gestalt psychology.
Abstract: This set provides an excellent overview of early investigations into areas now included in cognitive psychology. Titles cover subjects including colour and colour theory, sense-perception, speech, memory, reasoning and language, as well as contemporary approaches to Gestalt psychology.

Journal ArticleDOI
J.L. Casti1
01 May 1999

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The Paradise I am promised after life if I behave well is not the Paradise I was promised in the first place as discussed by the authors, and it is not designed to make women happy either.
Abstract: I decided to take a look at the Paradise I am promised after life if I behave well. I advise you to do the same if you are a Parsi, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, or … you’re in for a big surprise! Parsi, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Moslem paradises are not designed to make women happy! So what are they designed for? Between you and me, we had better organize ourselves to sort this out before we die. Who wants to be faced with problems just when you decide to have a long, peaceful sleep?


Journal Article
TL;DR: The authors argue that any real improvement in evaluation of language teaching and learning is not likely unless students' uses of and experiences with language are taken into consideration, and find out how students work with, select, and organize information and how they account for and justify opinions.
Abstract: Teachers are expected to evaluate teaching and learning. These days, our efforts to reveal what our students have learned are guided more and more by required district or state assessments. Such measures can be said to represent adults' understandings about how to use language in educational settings to work with information, select from it, organize it, argue for its relevance, and justify one's opinions about it (e.g., Mercer, 1995). However, the question asked by the editors of Language Arts in their call for manuscripts, "How do we learn to see students' language in ways that allow for surprise?" suggests that we attend to students' language in educational settings (e.g., finding out how students work with, select, and organize information and how they account for and justify opinions). The premise of this article is that learning to investigate students' language holds great promise as an avenue of assessment.1 Furthermore, any real improvement in evaluation of language teaching and learning is not likely unless students' uses of and experiences with language are taken into consideration. Revealing students' practices with language is critical activity for us as educators if we want to understand what our students learn from our teaching and how to build upon what they know.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper further develops the system of illocutionary logic to accommodate an ‘I believe that’ operator and resolve Moore's Paradox and shows that the logical system can be expanded to resolve the surprise execution paradox puzzle.
Abstract: This paper further develops the system of illocutionary logic presented in ‘Propositional logic of supposition and assertion’ (Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 1997, 38, 325-349) to accommodate an ‘I believe that’ operator and resolve Moore's Paradox. This resolution is accomplished by providing both a truth-conditional and a commitment-based semantics. An important feature of the logical system is that the correctness of some arguments depends on who it is that makes the argument. The paper then shows that the logical system can be expanded to resolve the surprise execution paradox puzzle. The prisoner's argument showing that he can't be executed by surprise is correct but his beliefs are incoherent. The judge's beliefs (and our beliefs) about this situation are not incoherent.

01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In Cervantes?s works there are many cases of women who attempt to exercise freedom of choice, without obtaining paternal consent, consummate a clandestine marriage, which they accomplish thanks to a deft alternation of silence and word: a silence that hides, and a word that comes to represent an irrevocable state of affairs as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In Cervantes?s works there are many cases of women who attempt to exercise ?freedom of choice.? These women, without obtaining paternal consent, consummate a clandestine marriage ?a love match? which they accomplish thanks to a deft alternation of silence and word: a silence that hides, and a word that comes to represent an irrevocable state of affairs. I have reached these conclusions through the analysis of some feminine figures, such as the protagonists of El laberinto de amor, La gran sultana, or some of the characters in Persiles who, even today, surprise the reader with their impressive decisiveness when it comes to choosing a lover and taking pleasure with him. Hence, it is not sufficient to explain these situations by labeling these women varoniles, as has often been done

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a pair of middle school English teachers successfully revised a traditional research project by using HyperStudio, but they had no experience using the technology and certainly no experience teaching it.
Abstract: research project, but we had absolutely no experience using the technology-and certainly no experience teaching it. To our surprise, however, we, a pair of middle school English teachers, successfully revised a traditional research project by using HyperStudio. This article assumes a reader who may be unfamiliar, as we were, with such technology and attempts to provide an encouraging model for how computer technology can be used to enhance research presentation, foster collaboration, and serve multiple learning styles.

Book
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The Novel in Africa as mentioned in this paper is the text of the 1998 Una's Lecture, delivered by South African novelist J.M. Coetzee, where the lecture is embedded in a fiction, and functions as both a lecture and a segment in a short story.
Abstract: Author(s): Coetzee, J M | Abstract: The Novel in Africa is the text of November 1998’s Una’s Lecture, delivered by South African novelist J.M. Coetzee. While a Coetzee text, one critic notes, "typically produces irritation or discomfort," The Novel in Africa produces surprise as well: the lecture is embedded in a fiction, and functions as both a lecture and a segment in a short story.