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Making Connections Within Text: A Review of Anaphor Resolution
In order to be a successful reader, one needs to not only be able to identify individual words, but also to create an ongoing representation of the events described throughout a text. One way this continuity is accomplished is though anaphor resolution. An anaphor is the word that refers to something that was previously introduced within the text. Take the following example: It had been a long day. The builders were exhausted. Eventually a truck arrived to help. They needed the vehicle because the load was so heavy. At last they could start work on the building. The word “vehicle” is the anaphor used to refer to the previously mentioned “truck” in the text.
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Obnoxious Sixth-Graders Grow Up to Become High Earners
A new study suggests that the personality traits we possess as middle schoolers may end up having a major impact on our career choices and lifetime earnings as adults. But, after reviewing data spanning 40 years, researchers were surprised to find that obnoxious, rule-defying behavior in childhood was a predictor of career success in adulthood. As one might expect, students who did well in school – i.e., those who got good grades and positive assessments from their teachers – tended to end up with more successful careers as adults.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: The Evaluative Advantage of Novel Alternatives: An Information-Sampling Account Gaël Le Mens, Yaakov Kareev, and Judith Avrahami People often rate new items more favorably than old items. Why might this be? Theories explaining this phenomenon have suggested that new items may serve a purpose or solve a problem old items could not, or that through imitation of others use of new items, new items come into favor. The authors suggest that adaptive sampling may also account for the favoritism shown to novel alternatives. Specifically, people seek out positive experiences and avoid past negative experiences.
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Leading While Female: Prepare for Backlash
Women leaders who show dominance may face backlash — but data suggest that implicit forms of dominance, such as body language or facial expressions, may not harm women’s status.
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Americans Recognize ‘Past Presidents’ Who Never Were
A memory study suggests that a majority of Americans incorrectly think that Alexander Hamilton was a US president, and many believe the same about Benjamin Franklin, Hubert Humphrey, and John Calhoun.
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The Shape of a Logo Has a Powerful Impact on Consumers
Companies have been known to spend millions of dollars designing their corporate logos – for good reason. A bad logo design can doom a brand. When the clothing retailer the Gap attempted to refresh its logo in 2010, the reaction from the public and the shareholders was harsh. One Harvard Business Review writer declared, “[T]he logo looks like something my pet hamster could cook up in PowerPoint.” But new research suggest that there’s more to a logo than its basic aesthetic appeal. The study, conducted by an international team of researchers, suggests that people make complex assessments of a company or product based merely on the shape of the logo.
