L'objectif de cette thèse était d‟étudier les processus d'activation et d'inhibition lexicales sous-tendant la lecture de mots et de déterminer le rôle du système affectif sur ces processus chez l'adulte. Pour cela, nous avons testé les effets de fréquence du voisinage orthographique et de l'émotionalité de ce voisinage dans plusieurs tâches cognitives. Les résultats ont montré un effet de fréquence du voisinage orthographique qui était inhibiteur dans des tâches de reconnaissance visuelle de mots (Expériences 1-4) et facilitateur dans des tâches de catégorisation de couleur de mots (Expériences 6-8). L'inhibition lexicale ralentirait la reconnaissance du mot stimulus et diminuerait ainsi son effet d'interférence dans des tâches de type Stroop. De plus, la valence et le niveau d'arousal du voisin plus fréquent modifiaient également la vitesse de reconnaissance du mot stimulus (Etude préliminaire, Expérience 1-5) et la catégorisation de sa couleur (Expériences 6, 7 et 9). Le système affectif s'activerait lors de la lecture de mots avec un voisin émotionnel et modifierait la propagation d'activation et d'inhibition lexico-émotionnelles. De plus, les résultats indiquaient que ces effets de voisinage orthographique étaient sensibles aux caractéristiques des participants. Une diminution de l'effet de fréquence du voisinage selon l'âge a été montrée et interprétée en termes de déficits conjoints d'activation et d'inhibition lexicales (Expériences 4, 5, 8 et 9). Enfin, l'effet du voisinage émotionnel obtenu suggérait une préservation des processus lexico-émotionnels avec l'avancée en âge (Expériences 4, 5 et 9), mais cet effet était corrélé négativement avec le niveau d'alexithymie des individus (Expériences 2, 4 et 6). Dans l'ensemble, ces données soulignent l‟importance de la prise en compte du système affectif dans les modèles de reconnaissance visuelle des mots. / The aim of this thesis was to study lexical activation and inhibition processes underlying word reading and to determine the role of affective system on these processes in adults. For this, we investigated the effects of orthographic neighbourhood frequency and emotionality of this neighbourhood in several cognitive tasks. Results showed an orthographic neighbourhood frequency effect that was inhibitory in visual word recognition tasks (Experiments 1-4) and facilitatory in colour categorization tasks (Experiments 6-8). Lexical inhibition likely slows down the recognition of the stimulus word as well as diminishing its interference effect in Stroop-like tasks. Moreover, emotional valence and arousal level of the higher-frequency neighbour also modified the speed of stimulus word recognition (Preliminary study, Experiments 1-5) and its colour categorization (Experiments 6, 7 and 9). Thus, the affective system would be activated during reading of words with an emotional neighbour and would modify the spread of lexico-emotional activation and inhibition. Moreover, results indicated that these orthographic neighbourhood effects were sensitive to participants‟ characteristics. A decreaseof the orthographic neighbourhood effect depending on age was shown and interpreted in terms of deficits in both activation and inhibition processes (Experiments 4, 5, 8 and 9). Finally, the emotional neighbourhood effect that was obtained suggested a preservation of lexico-emotional processes with advance in age (Experiments 4, 5, and 9), but this effect was negatively correlated with individuals' level of alexithymia (Experiments 2, 4, and 6). Taken together, thes data underline the importance of taking the affective system into account in models of visual word recognition.

Les stéréotypes négatifs qu’émettent les Musulmans d’Orient à l’égard des Musulmans Tunisiens causent autant de souffrance aux Tunisiens d’avant la révolution et d'aujourd'hui. L’objectif de ce travail est de connaître jusqu’à quel point les jeunes tunisiens sont influencés par les méta-stéréotypes négatifs dans leurs définition de soi Musulman et comment ils réagissent au fait qu’ils appartiennent à un groupe de musulmans socialement dévalorisé. Nous travaillons sur des associations verbales et leurs valences de 208 étudiants pratiquants et non pratiquants, des deux sexes se prononçant sur l’Islam et le Musulman, d'abord en leur nom propre puis au nom du Musulman d’Orient. Dans cette perspective, quatre études comparatives inter et intra-sujets sont menées afin de repérer les prototypes du Musulman et le degré d'affirmation des jeunes interrogés de leur identité musulmane, les méta-stéréotypes du Musulman Tunisien et leur incidence sur l'identité endogroupe et les stratégies de restauration identitaire. Les résultats sont discutés en référence à la théorie du noyau, au modèle prototypique des catégories et à la fonction explicative des stéréotypes. Dans l'ensemble, ils montrent un grand décalage entre les traits prototypiques du Musulman et les traits les plus typiques du Musulman Tunisien, les jeunes définissent l'endogroupe "croyant" mais le décrivent "mécréant". Au niveau des représentations sociales de l'Islam, des biais de contraste de type faux consensus, fausse unicité et stéréotypie sont identifiés. Pour infirmer les méta-stéréotypes négatifs, les jeunes se représentent l'Islam en leur faveur. Le Musulman d'Orient est discriminé, il n'est plus un référent positif. / The negative stereotypes that the Muslim of East emit towards the Tunisian Muslims cause so much suffering to the Tunisian of front the revolution and today. The objective of this work is to know how much the young Tunisians are influenced by the meta negative stereotypes and how they react to the fact they belong a group of Muslims socially depreciated. We work on verbal associations and their valences of 208 students, practicing and non-practicing of both sexes, pronouncing at first on their proper name then in the name of the Muslim of East on the Islam and the Muslim. In this perspective, four comparative studies inter and intra-subjects are led, the spot the prototypes of the Muslim and the degree of attachment of the young to their Muslim identity, the meta-stereotypes of the Tunisian Muslim and their incidence on the identity endogroup; the cognitive and motivational strategies of identity change. The results are discussed in reference to the theory of the core, to the prototypical model of the categories and to justification function of stereotypes. So, altogether, they show a big gap between the prototypical lines of Muslim and the most typical lines of the Tunisian Muslim. the young people define their endogroup believer but describe him unbeliever. In the social representations of the Islam, biases of contrast of type false consensus, false uniqueness and stereotypy are identified to invalid meta negative stereotypes and differentiate positively and distinctively the Tunisian Islam. Muslim of East is not anymore a positive referent.

A escolha por fazer ou por comprar é um problema clássico enfrentado pelas empresas. Essa decisão diz respeito à opção de fazer internamente, optar por uma gestão hibrida (interna e externa ao mesmo tempo) ou terceirizar uma atividade. Por envolver diversos critérios, muitos responsáveis por ela utilizam métodos de decisão multicritério para que se obtenha melhores resultados. O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em desenvolver uma estrutura para a tomada de decisão de fazer ou comprar e utilizar métodos de decisão multicritério para conferir maior confiabilidade à essa decisão. Para isso, os objetivos específicos são: (1) realizar uma pesquisa bibliográfica sobre o tema (decisão de fazer ou comprar auxiliada por métodos de decisão multicritério), (2) propor um processo estruturado de decisão para o problema de fazer ou comprar, (3) propor métodos adequados aos propósitos de categorização ou ordenação nas diferentes etapas do processo, incluindo métodos que contemplem a possibilidade de decisão em grupo e (4) realizar um estudo comparativo de métodos de decisão multicritério para a decisão sobre Fazer ou Comprar. Os objetivos desse trabalho foram plenamente alcançados trazendo contribuições como: uma revisão bibliográfica sistemática sobre métodos de decisão multicritério para o problema de fazer ou comprar; uma estrutura de decisão para dar suporte à decisão de fazer ou comprar; a aplicação de métodos ainda não utilizados para o problema de fazer ou comprar; aplicação de métodos que suportem a problemática da decisão em grupo e; a comparação entre dois métodos para o propósito de categorização e duas para o propósito de ordenação. / The make or buy decision is a classical decision problem in operations management and it is difficult to make because of its very nature (multiple criteria). To better contend with these challenges, many decision makers choose Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques to support their decisions. The aim of this work is to develop a methodology to support the make or buy decision and the use of the multi-criteria decision methods in this context. The specific objectives are: (1) to conduct a literature research about multi-criteria decision making techniques to support the make or buy decision; (2) to propose a structured decision framework to the make or buy problem; (3) to propose appropriate methods for categorization or ordering at different stages of the process, including methods that support group decisions and; (4) to perform a comparative study of multi-criteria decision-making methods for the make or buy problem. The objectives of this work were fully achieved by bringing contributions such as: a systematic literature review on multi-criteria decision-making methods for the make or buy problem; A decision framework to support the make or buy decision; The application of methods that were not found in the systematic literature review for the problem of make or buy problem; Application of methods that support the group decision problem and; The comparison between two techniques for categorization purposes and two for ordering purposes.

Esta pesquisa investiga como as identidades sociais de gênero são construídas na falaem- interação institucional em sala de aula. Os dados foram gerados com cinco turmas de ensino fundamental em uma escola pública municipal de Porto Alegre, mediante procedimentos como a observação participante e o registro em áudio e vídeo de fala-eminteração social em cenários e eventos escolares diversos. As notas de campo foram transformadas em diários de pesquisa, enquanto os excertos de interação foram transcritos após sua segmentação. Conceitos derivados da Análise da Conversa Etnometodológica foram utilizados como referência teórico-metodológica a fim de discutir os métodos empregados pelos participantes na construção de identidades masculinas. Os resultados da pesquisa mostram como os participantes orientam-se uns aos outros através do ajuste ao interlocutor, demonstrando seu conhecimento de senso comum ao projetar uma identidade social específica por meio da indiciação de gênero. Percebeu-se que, quando essa orientação não contraria aquilo que é esperado pela exibição de “um mundo em comum”, gênero tem uso periférico e não se torna relevante seqüencialmente para os participantes no decorrer da interação. Em outros contextos, contudo, quando algumas atividades, ações ou atitudes são associadas a categorias generificadas específicas e contrariam aquilo que é esperado de tais categorias, os participantes engajam-se num trabalho colaborativo a fim de restabelecer uma ordem de gênero. Nessa ordem de gênero local, há a ratificação da heterossexualidade como uma característica desejável das identidades masculinas hegemônicas, bem como a conseqüente rejeição daquilo que é considerado diferente dessa normatividade. A heteronormatividade, portanto, é um produto das relações sociais situadas dos participantes, construída no uso da linguagem, realizada local e rotineiramente num trabalho colaborativo de descrição e categorização identitária. O estudo da construção de masculinidades na escola contribui para a compreensão das práticas pelas quais o gênero pode ser visto mas não destacado ou tornar-se relevante na seqüência da interação. A construção de identidades sociais de gênero é, portanto, entendida através da análise do trabalho de descrição ou de categorização mobilizado pelos participantes de um encontro social. / This research investigates how social identities of gender are built in institutional talkin- interaction in the classroom. The data were generated with five groups of elementary and junior high education in a public school in Porto Alegre, through procedures such as participant observation and audiovisual recording of social talk-in-interaction in several school settings and events. Fieldnotes were transformed in research diaries, and interaction excerpts were transcribed after segmentation. Concepts derived from Conversation Analysis were used as theoretical and methodological reference in order to discuss the methods implemented by participants in the construction of masculine identities. Research results show how participants orient to each other through recipient design, displaying their commonsense knowledge when projecting a particular social identity through gender indexation. It was noted that, when this orientation does not contradict what is expected from the exhibition of a “world in common”, gender has a peripheral use and does not become sequentially relevant for participants during interaction. In other contexts, however, when some activities, actions or attitudes are associated to particular gendered categories and contradict what is expected from such categories, participants engage in a collaborative work in order to reestablish a gender order. In this local gender order, there is the ratification of heterosexuality as a desirable characteristic of hegemonic masculine identities, as well as the consequent denial of what is considered different from this normativity. Therefore, heteronormativity is a product of participants’ social relations, built through language use, locally and ordinarily accomplished in a collaborative work of identity description and categorization. The study of the construction of masculinities within schools contributes to the understanding of the practices through which gender may be either seen but unnoticed or become relevant in the sequence of the interaction. The construction of social identities of gender is, therefore, understood through the analysis of the work of description and categorization implemented by the participants of a social encounter.

Le propos de ce travail de thèse est d’examiner le développement de la formation de catégories de visages, par l’étude des préférences visuelles des nourrissons dans la première année de vie. Nous avons cherché à préciser les mécanismes de formation des préférences visuelles en les intégrant dans le cadre théorique développé par Valentine (1991), le face-space. Nous avons proposé de lier ces préférences à la manière dont l’expérience perceptive des nourrissons avec différentes catégories de visages va structurer l’espace de représentation des visages. De manière générale, nous avons postulé que les nourrissons présenteront des préférences pour les visages proches de la tendance centrale (i.e., prototype) du face-space. Nous avons mis en évidence une tendance des nourrissons de 0 à 6 mois à présenter un biais pour des visages d’adultes par rapport à des visages de nourrissons (Etudes 1 et 2), les premiers correspondant à une catégorie de visages prépondérante de l’environnement des nourrissons, là où les seconds correspondent à une catégorie de visages peu rencontrée. Ce biais pour la familiarité s’est avéré disparaitre à 9 et 12 mois (Etude 3). Ces préférences liées à la familiarité pourraient être liées à une forme de fausse reconnaissance du visage des proches des nourrissons, issue de la surreprésentation de ces visages dans le quotidien des nourrissons. Ce pattern de préférences n’a en revanche pas été retrouvé lorsque des nourrissons de 3 à 12 mois ont été confrontés à des visages d’enfants ou de nourrissons (Etudes 4 et 5), les résultats montrant plutôt une préférence pour les visages les moins familiers, relativement à l’expérience des nourrissons. Nous avons ensuite étudié les capacités de catégorisation de nourrissons de 9 et 12 mois pour des visages de différentes catégories d’âges, i.e., adulte, enfant, nourrisson (Etude 6). Les nourrissons de 12 mois ont formé des catégories discrètes des visages d’adulte et de nourrissons d’une part, et d’enfants et de nourrissons d’autre part. Les nourrissons de 9 mois en revanche ont montré un pattern plus asymétrique en ce qu’ils ont formé une représentation des visages d’enfants excluant un nouveau visage de nourrisson, et une représentation des visages de nourrissons incluant un nouveau visage d’enfant. Les nourrissons ayant tous une expérience de la crèche, donc des visages de nourrissons, cette asymétrie pourrait être liée à une influence de la connaissance de cette catégorie de visage. Dans une dernière étude (Etude 7) nous avons cherché à montrer plus directement le lien entre préférences visuelles et proximité par rapport au prototype, chez des nourrissons humains de 12 mois et des nourrissons macaques de 3 mois (Macaca mulatta). La mise en évidence de préférences liées à la distance par rapport au prototype chez ces deux populations suggère la présence d’un mécanisme commun aux deux espèces conduisant à la formation de préférences visuelles pour les visages. / The purpose of this work is to examine of the development of face category formation using infants’ visual preferences. We investigated the mechanisms leading to differential face preferences by integrating them in the theoretical framework developed by Valentine (1991), the face-space. We proposed that the way perceptual experience shape the structure of the face-space is a determinant of infants’ face preferences. We postulated that faces close to the central tendency of the face-space (i.e., prototype) will be preferred. We first reported a bias to look more toward adult faces than infant faces from birth to 6 month of age (Studies 1 and 2). Adult faces correspond to a frequently encountered category while infant faces represent a less frequently encountered category. We also showed a downturn of this familiarity bias as infants grow older (Study 3). The preferences showed by younger infants might be linked to a form of false recognition of the caregivers’ faces, due to the massive exposure to these faces. This pattern of preferences was not found in 3-to 12-month-olds presented with child and infant faces (Studies 4 and 5). Conversely, infants showed a tendency to prefer the less familiar faces, depending on their perceptual experience. We then studied 9- and 12-month-olds’ abilities to form categories of faces differing by age, i.e., adult, child, and infant faces, (Study 6). Twelve-month-olds formed discrete categories of adult and infant faces in one hand, and of child and infants faces on the other hand. Nine month-olds showed an asymmetric pattern of behavior, forming categories of child faces that exclude a new infant face, and categories of infant faces that include a new child face. All these infants being exposed to infant faces via nursery, the asymmetry might stem from the influence of the knowledge of this category of faces. In the last study (Study 7), we tried to provide more direct evidences of the link between face preferences and the distance from the prototype in two different populations: 12-month-old human infants, and 3-month-old macaque infants (Macaca mulatta). Preferences for faces close to the prototype in both species suggest a common mechanism leading to face preferences.

Un contenu visuel flou peut-il être efficace pour traiter de l’information émotionnelle ? Récemment, les travaux psychologiques en traitement émotionnel de l’information visuelle font état d’un lien particulier avec l’information de basses fréquences spatiales (BFS), grossière et floue mais rapide, qui permettrait la transmission très rapide de signaux au système émotionnel par rapport à une information de hautes fréquences spatiales (HFS) plus complexe et détaillée. En outre, l’information BFS serait primordiale dans la détection d’un danger potentiel de l’environnement et par conséquent envers des émotions à valence négative. Ces deux types d’informations visuelles emprunteraient des voies neuronales différentes conduisant à une segmentation de cette information visuelle dans le cerveau. Au niveau psychopathologique, des troubles neurologiques comme la maladie de Gilles de la Tourette ou encore la dépression majeure résistante sont connues pour entraîner un déficit des interactions sociales pour lesquelles les traitements émotionnels sont indispensables. Les dysfonctionnements neurologiques et psychobiologiques accompagnant ces troubles impliquent des structures spécifiques et localisées en périphéries ou enfouies dans le cerveau liées à la dichotomie fonctionnelle de l’information visuelle. Un des moyens simples pour appréhender ces traitements est la catégorisation des visages émotionnels. Cette recherche a examiné au niveau théorique et appliqué dans quelle mesure l’information visuelle autrement appelée la résolution en fréquences spatiales (FS) jouerait un rôle dans la catégorisation des expressions faciales émotionnelles (EFEs). Ainsi tant au niveau de la détection visuelle de danger qu’au niveau de l’identification des EFEs dans la maladie Gilles de la Tourette et dans la dépression majeure résistante, nous avons étudié les réponses comportementales dans les premières étapes de décryptage de l’information visuelle convoyant des indices émotionnels. Une comparaison avec une population contrôle a permis de cerner plus précisément les effets d’un filtrage en FS dans les processus de catégorisation avec la prédiction d’un bénéfice à traiter des contenus flous (BFS) par rapport à des contenus détaillés (HFS) pour des EFEs problématiques à classer en fonction de la pathologie. Nos résultats ont suggéré une meilleure identification de certaines EFEs filtrées en BFS par rapport à celles filtrées en HFS ou résolues. Nos données empiriques ont été discutées dans la perspective d’une segmentation de l’information visuelle dans le cerveau sollicitant des circuits neuronaux spécifiques favorisant l’accès de l’information visuelle aux centres émotionnels. En regard des structures cérébrales impliquées et des activités neuronales connus dans les troubles étudiées, l’activité dopaminergique des neurones sollicités pourraient expliquées en partie nos données factuelles. / What can be the efficiency of coarse scales in emotional information processing? Recently, psychological findings about emotional processing of visual information reported a particular link with low spatial frequencies (LSF), coarse and blurred but rapid, which might offer a very fast signal to emotional system compared to high spatial frequencies (HSF) more intricate and detailed. Plus, LSF information might be essential in danger detection and consequently in negative emotions classification. These two types of visual information would take different neural pathways driving to visual information segmentation in the brain. In psychopathological view, neurological disorders as Tourette syndrome or treatment-resistant depression are well known to produce social interaction troubles in which emotions are obligatory. Neurological and psychobiological dysfunctions belonging to these diseases implicate specific neural structures located at peripheral or inside the brain that are bind to functional dichotomy of visual information. One of the simplest ways to examine that processing is the categorization of emotion faces. This research has investigated according to theoretical and practical aspects the extent to which visual information or spatial frequency scaling (SF) might be implicated in categorization of emotional facial expressions (EFE). Thus, both in danger detection and EFE classification, among Tourette syndrome and treatment-resistant depression, we have studied behavioural responses during the first steps of visual information interpretation providing emotional cues. A comparison with healthy control population has given more precise effects of FS filtering in categorization processing with the hypothesis of a benefice to process coarse scales (LSF) compared to detailed signals (HSF) for the identification of difficult EFE in respect with the disorder. Our results have suggested a best identification of specific EFE filtered in LFS compared to HSF or intact images called broad spatial frequencies (BSF). Our empirical findings were argued in the perspective of visual information segmentation in the brain requesting specific neuronal circuits favouring visual information access to emotional complex. Given implicated brain areas and neuronal activities regarding studied disorders, dopaminergic innervation might explain our factual data.

A recurring theme in the cognitive development literature is the notion that people restructure their task knowledge as they develop increasingly sophisticated strategies. A large body of empirical literature spanning several domains suggests that in some cases, the process of knowledge restructuring is best characterized by a process of sequentially replacing old strategies with newer ones. In other cases, restructuring appears to be better characterized as a process involving changes in the way partial knowledge elements are selectively applied to a task. Critically, the former, but not the latter position, suggests that it may be quite difficult for people to revert to using an old strategy after restructuring has already occurred. The three experiments reported herein suggest that knowledge restructuring observed in experimental settings is aptly characterized by a process of strategy retention. Specifically, people are shown to readily revert to using an old categorization strategy even after demonstrably having restructured their knowledge, suggesting that knowledge is best conceptualized as having a heterogeneous structure. Formal modeling further supports this interpretation of the empirical results, and highlights the important role of selective attention in determining the manifest response strategy. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of an overarching mixture-of-experts framework of knowledge representation.

This research develops the social psychological study of lay perception of human rights and of rights-based reactions to perceived injustice. The pioneering work by social representation theorists is reviewed. Of particular interest is the use of rights-based responses to perceived relative subgroup disadvantage. It is argued that these responses are shaped by the historical development of the legal concept of unique subgroup rights; rights asserted by a subgroup that cannot be asserted by outgroup members or by members of a broader collective that includes all subgroups. The assertion of unique subgroup rights in contrast to individual rights was studied by presenting participants with scenarios suggestive of human rights violations. These included possible violations of privacy rights of indigenous Australians (Study 1), civil and political rights of indigenous Australians under mandatory sentencing schemes (Study 2), privacy rights of students in comparison to public servants (Study 3), refugee rights (Study 4), and reproductive rights of lesbians and single women in comparison to married women and women in de facto relationships (Study 5). The scenarios were based on real policy issues being debated in Australia at the time of data collection. Human rights activists participated in Studies 4 and 5. In Study 5, these activists participated via an online, web-based experiment. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. A social identity theory perspective is used drawing on concepts from both social identity theory and self-categorization theory. The studies reveal a preference for an equality-driven construal of the purpose of human rights law (i.e. that all Australians be treated equally regardless of subgroup membership) in contrast to minority support for a vulnerable groups construal of the purpose of human rights (i.e. that the purpose of human rights law is to protect vulnerable subgroups within a broader collective). Tajfelian social belief orientations of social mobility and social change are explicitly measured in Studies 3-5. Consistent with the social identity perspective, these ideological beliefs are conceptualised as background knowledge relevant to the subjective structuring of social reality (violation contexts) and to the process of motivated relative perception from the vantage point of the perceiver. There is some indication from these studies that social belief orientation may determine construals of the purpose of human rights. In Study 5 the observed preference for using inclusive human rights rhetoric in response to perceived subgroup injustice is explained as an identity-management strategy of social creativity. In Studies 4 and 5, explicit measurement of activist identification was also made in an attempt to further explain the apparently-dominant preference for an equality-driven construal of the purpose of human rights law and the preferred use of inclusive, individualised rights rhetoric in response to perceived subgroup injustice. Activist identification explained some action preferences, but did not simply translate into preferences for using subgroup interest arguments. In Study 5, metastereotyping measures revealed that inclusive rights-based protest strategies were used in order to create positive impressions of social justice campaigners in the minds of both outgroup and ingroup audiences. Ideas for future social psychological research on human rights is discussed.

<p>The Sound and the Fury is William Faulkner’s story of the Compson family’s downfall in the American South during the early 20th century. The novel illustrates the impact on the cultural identity of the South of strictly defined social roles and the tension they created in the aftermath of slavery and defeat in the Civil War. In my analysis, I have chosen to focus on gender issues, especially in their Southern manifestation. The Compsons’ daughter, Caddy, figures prominently in the sons’ narratives, but is only portrayed through their perceptions and memories. My aim is to determine Caddy’s significance in the novel by exploring her relationships with her brothers, as seen through their eyes, and how she is characterized by them. In Benjy’s narrative, I examine her actions as a little girl in light of the Eve myth and the icon of the virgin mother. Quentin’s obsession with Caddy's sexuality as a teenager reveals the implications of associating female sexuality with death, the role of language in reproducing and combating established gender power structures, and the impact of traditional gender roles on women and men. Jason’s binary categorization of women as virgins or whores turns the few glimpses of Caddy as a mother into that of a woman treated as a commodity of exchange. In each of their narratives, Caddy is a dynamic character whose words, body, and actions expose prevailing social and gender power struggles. By conjuring her presence through her absence, her brothers reveal the depth and destructiveness of the social imperatives that underlie their attempts to control her. I suggest that Caddy’s role in the novel is to disrupt the brothers’ narratives and challenge the underlying Southern social and gender constructs that imbue them.</p>

<p>The inverse base-rate effect is the observation that on certain occasions people classify new objects as belonging to rare base-rate categories rather than common ones (e.g., D. L. Medin & S. M. Edelson, 1988). This finding is inconsistent with normative prescriptions of rationality, and provides an anomaly for current theories of human knowledge representation, such as the exemplar-based models of categorization, which predict a consistent use of base-rates (e.g., D. L. Medin & M. M. Schaffer, 1978). This thesis presents a novel explanation of the inverse base-rate effect. The proposal is that participants sometimes eliminate category options that are inconsistent with well-supported inference rules. These assumptions contrast with those by attentional theory (J. K. Kruschke, in press), according to which the inverse base-rate effect is the outcome of rapid attention shifts operating on cue-category associations. Study I, II, and III verified seven qualitative predictions derived from the eliminative inference idea. None of these phenomena can be explained by attentional theory. The most important of these findings were that elimination of well-known, common categories mediate the inverse base-rate effect rather than the strongest cue-category associations (Study I), that only participants with a rule-based mode of generalization exhibit the inverse base-rate effect (Study II), and that rapid attentional shifts per se do not accelerate learning, but rather decelerate it (Study III). In addition, Study I provided a quantitative implementation of the eliminative inference idea, ELMO, that demonstrated that this high-level reasoning process can produce the basic pattern of base-rate effects in the inverse base-rate design. Taken together, as an account of the inverse base-rate effect the empirical evidence of this thesis suggest that rule-based elimination is a powerful component of the inverse base-rate effect. But previous studies have indicated that attentional shifts affect the inverse base-rate effect, too. Therefore, a complete account of the inverse base-rate effect needs to integrate inductive and eliminative inferences operating on rule-based representations with attentional shifts. The Discussion of this thesis propose a number of suggestions for such integrative work. </p>