Magnitudes of numbers influence numerical inequality judgments of people. Do symbols representing numbers also affect numerical inequality judgments? To answer the question, I manipulated digit similarity in two-digit number comparison tasks. During the experiment, the participants took part in two comparison tasks – the judging-larger task and the judging-smaller task. Given pairs of two-digit numbers, the participants were required to make numerical inequality judgments (judging larger or judging smaller). To investigate the effect of digit similarity, two kinds of number pairs were used. Two-digit number pairs consisting of same-digits numbers (e.g., 21 – 12) and two-digit number pairs consisting of different-digits numbers (e.g., 21 – 30) were presented at random. The participants needed more time to compare the same-digits number pairs than the different-digits pairs. The result was independent of the findings in number comparison studies such as the numerical-distance effect (Moyer & Landauer, 1967) and the unit-decade compatibility effect (Nuerk, Weger, & Willmes, 2001). The present study poses challenge to the current theories of two-digit number comparison. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-02 11:59:06.647

The powerful influence of group membership and similarity on perceptions and behaviour is well established; however, questions remain about the developmental trajectory of these patterns and the extent to which similarity bias and ingroup bias are truly distinct. In this thesis, I examined the relative impact of group membership and similarity on matching and non-matching identification, expression of similarity, extension of preferences, transgression attribution, selective helping and resource allocation among 2.5- to 3-year-old children. These findings suggest that early in life, the responses to similarity and group membership are largely overlapping; however, children in the similarity condition were more likely to select the matching puppet in transgression attribution, non-matching identification, and resource allocation. This pattern suggests that children display a stronger approach bias in the similarity condition and that similarity bias shows developmental discontinuity between early and later childhood. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-12 18:08:53.964

Similarity in music is a concept with significant impact on ethnomusicology studies, music recommendation systems, and music information retrieval systems such as Shazam and SoundHound. Various computer-based melody similarity measures have been proposed, but comparison and evaluation of similarity measures is inherently difficult due to the subjective and application-dependent nature of similarity in music. In this thesis, we address the diversity of the problem by defining a set of music transformations that provide the criteria for comparing and evaluating melody similarity measures. This approach provides a flexible and extensible method for characterizing selected facets of melody similarity, because the set of music transformations can be tailored to the user and to the application. We demonstrate this approach using three music transformations (transposition, tempo rescaling, and selected forms of ornamentation) to compare and evaluate several existing similarity measures, including String Edit Distance measures, Geometric measures, and N-Gram based measures. We also evaluate a newly implemented distance measure, the Beat and Direction Distance Measure, which is designed to have greater awareness of the beat hierarchy and better responsiveness to ornamentation. Training and test data is drawn from music incipits from the RISM A/II collection, and ground truth is taken from the MIREX 2005 Symbolic Melodic Similarity task. Our test results show that similarity measures that are responsive to music transformations generally have better agreement with human generated ground truth. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-31 11:03:01.167

No description available.

The purpose of this research is to test the idea that creating a social connection with an outgroup member by thinking about how the self is similar to this outgroup member produces positive intergroup outcomes, whereas creating a sense of connection by thinking about how the outgroup member is similar to the self produces less positive intergroup outcomes. An overview of the literature on connections between the self and outgroup members, and the importance of the framing of such connection is reviewed in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, I examine whether a sense of social connection can be created and whether the nature of this connection is influenced by the way the similarity between the self and the outgroup member is framed. I find non-significant effects, though in an interesting pattern suggesting that a better manipulation may produce stronger effects. In Chapter 3 I examine how framing of the connection to an outgroup member affects stereotyping of, and interest in, the outgroup. I find that participants tend to project their own personality onto an outgroup member when their connection with him or her is framed as how the outgroup member is similar to the self. They thus show decreased stereotyping but also less interest in the other’s culture. In contrast, when participants make a connection to an outgroup member and their connection with him or her is framed as the self is similar to the outgroup member, they display an interest in the outgroup culture and a decrease in stereotyping that is accompanied by more positive outgroup evaluation. In Chapter 4, I extend these findings by demonstrating that when participants make a social connection with an outgroup member and this connection is framed as how the self is similar to the outgroup, then they experience more distress when they learn about a real case of discrimination against a different outgroup member. In Chapter 5, I tried to create a social connection with a member of an outgroup by having them notice that they share a birthday with the outgroup member. Unfortunately, this manipulation did not appear to produce my expected effects, suggesting that sharing interests as opposed to a birthday may be important in creating the type of connection necessary for my effects. In Chapter 6 I examine how the social connection with an outgroup member can effect a social interaction with that outgroup member and openness to cultural activities of the outgroup. Creating a social connection in which similarity to an outgroup member is framed as the self being similar to the outgroup member leads to a more positive online interaction with increased friendliness toward the outgroup members and greater interest in the other’s culture. In Chapter 7, I discuss the theoretical implications for these findings, their weaknesses and directions for future research.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1966. / Bibliography: leaves [43]-45. / vii, 45 l tables

ix, 143 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Statistics, 1972

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Statistics, 1972.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 2003? / Bibliography: p. 209-233.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xviii, 195 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-124).