Review of General Psychology

A new framework for psychology.
The article presents several new ideas concerning frameworks in psychology. At a general level, this includes proposals for a definition of the term framework and a simple, attribute-based metaframework. There is also a description of the way frameworks can act as bridges, maps, and models. The bulk of the article concerns PsyFrame, a new framework for psychological ideas. Several uses of PsyFrame are described, including PsyBridge (a database format), PsyMap (a graphical way of summarizing a psychological idea), and PsyModel (a way of constructing integrated psychological models). Overall, this article is descriptive rather than prescriptive. Hence, it concerns new ways of approaching and representing psychological ideas, rather than promoting a particular way of doing psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Where science and magic meet: The illusion of a “science of magic”.
Recent articles calling for a scientific study of magic have been the subject of widespread interest. This article considers the topic from a broader perspective and argues that to engage in a science of magic, in any meaningful sense, is misguided. It argues that those who have called for a scientific theory of magic have failed to explain either how or why such a theory might be constructed, that a shift of focus to a neuroscience of magic is simply unwarranted, and that a science of magic is itself an inherently unsound idea. It seeks to provide a more informed view of the relationship between science and magic and suggests a more appropriate way forward for scientists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Two flavors of aesthetic tasting: Rasa and savoring a cross-cultural study with implications for psychology of emotion.
A comparative analysis suggested that two indigenous theories of aesthetic emotions, the Indian rasa and the Chinese notion of savoring, share in common the two defining characteristics of emotion refinement—detachment and self-reflexivity (Frijda & Sundararajan, 2007), but that these two aesthetic traditions differ in ways that correspond to the ontological/epistemological divide between the ancient Greeks (and other Indo-European languages) and the Chinese as predicted by Nisbett (2003). Implications of this investigation for theory and research on emotions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
From stress to learning: Attachment theory meets goal orientation theory.
Few investigators have explored connections between attachment theory and goal orientation theory. Although the theories differ in important ways, we suggest there is a striking similarity in their depiction of an adaptive pathway leading from stress to learning goals and constructive strategies, and a contrasting pathway leading from stress to self-validation goals and defensive strategies. We review evidence from two leading investigators—Mario Mikulincer in adult attachment theory and Carol Dweck in goal orientation theory—to show that, following failure and other setbacks, learning as compared to self-validation goals are more likely to lead to cognitive openness, problem-solving, support-seeking, and adaptive emotion regulation. The theories differ in their understanding of the views underlying learning and self-validation goals, and those differences have led to qualitatively different interventions. We suggest how attachment and goal orientation theory interventions can be integrated to maximize optimal functioning in stressful conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The girl-crisis movement: Evaluating the foundation.
Psychologists played a major role behind the widely publicized and popular idea of a crisis among girls. In this paper, several topics basic to the girl-crisis movement are examined. Suggested by the works of psychologists Carol Gilligan and Mary Pipher, the topics are voice, self-esteem, and psychology’s role in harming girls. Expected sex differences in voice and self-esteem were not found. The girl-crisis notion that contemporary psychology has colluded in harming girls is at odds with the arc of the profession. The wide divergence between the basic claims of the girl-crisis movement and these findings are discussed. Further critique is recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Cues to the imagination in memoir, science, and fiction.
To understand psychological functions of writing, in which words achieve a certain permanency, we discuss Petrarch’s memoir of his ascent of Mont Ventoux, Galileo’s scientific account of the laws governing falling bodies, and Cervantes’s fictional account of Don Quixote’s confrontation with windmills. In each case, written words function as cues, instructions to the reader, to construct scenes in the imagination. We analyze the writing of Jane Austen’s (1813/1980) Pride and Prejudice and find three categories of cues: utterance, thought, and observation. These are essential to fiction, but a comparable range of cues occurs in other genres, which have different purposes and can draw on cues in different proportions. Fiction is, perhaps, distinctive in reaching imaginatively toward psychological laws. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
"Categories of novelty and states of uncertainty": Correction.
Reports an error in "Categories of novelty and states of uncertainty" by Jerome Kagan (Review of General Psychology, 2009[Dec], Vol 13[4], 290-301). In this article, there is a printed error in Table 1. Table 1 should have the label “Expected” over the first set of columns titled Desired and Aversive and the label “Unexpected” over the second pair of columns. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-23090-002.) The concept of novelty has acquired a large number of diverse referents over the past quarter-century as a result of new methods that permit measurement of a variety of biological and behavioral reactions to novel incentives in both humans and animals. As a result, the term has acquired varied meanings. This analysis of novelty makes four claims. First, the specific state of uncertainty that a novel event creates depends on its origin. Second, unexpected events that alter the immediate stimulus surround (called stimulus novelty) should be distinguished from those that are inconsistent with an agent’s long term knowledge (called conceptual novelty). Third, the critical features that render an event novel can vary with the agent’s intention to classify or to act on an object and the balance between these two frames changes with development. Finally, the state of uncertainty created when an agent must choose one response from two or more alternatives differs from the states provoked by stimulus and conceptual novelty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Review of General Psychology - Vol 14, Iss 1