Introduction: This project explores the links between shared cultural beliefs in the illness domain, specific to lymphatic filariasis, and a support group program implemented in three Haitian towns. The purpose is to introduce an innovative approach to evaluation, the cultural model evaluation technique (CM Evaluation), as well as gain an understanding of the shifting cognitive belief structure around the cultural domain of lymphatic filariasis in the Haitian setting as associated with a support group intervention. Method: The sample population was comprised of 241 women across three sites in Haiti: Archaie, Cabaret, and La Plaine. Data were collected from longitudinal surveys in 2003, baseline, and 2005, outcome. Descriptive statistics and CM Evaluation were utilized to assess the success of the support group program. CM evaluation is a two-pronged approach, comprised of cultural consensus analysis (CCA) and cultural consonance analysis (CC), that differs from standard evaluation tools in that it measures beliefs and behaviors at the shared community level and is culturally contextualized. Results: At baseline, most participants were not single (59%), Catholic (49%), literate (57%), relatively poor (71%), and engaged in selling at home or the market (46%). In the reduced model longitudinal CM comparisons, intervention and control groups, the intervention group had the highest rate of consensus (ER=4.71), significant changes in the culturally correct answer key (chi-sq=5.1, df=1, p<.02) and cultural competence (t=3.63, p<.0006). Alternately, controls exhibited no significant differences in the culturally correct answer key (Fisher’s Exact two-tailed p<1.00) or cultural competence (t=.62, p<.5407) from baseline to outcome. Conclusion: Evidence suggests that support group participation does significantly impact the shared illness beliefs surrounding lymphatic filariasis, and that this format is appropriate for resource poor settings lacking clinical support. Also, this study suggests that the CM evaluation approach is an appropriate and effective evaluation indicator for assessing changes in shared belief, cultural consensus analysis, resulting from public health interventions while the behavioral piece, cultural consonance, requires further refinement.

Music is a powerful and reliable means to stimulate the percept of both intense pleasantness and unpleasantness in the perceiver. However, everyone’s social experiences with music suggest that the same music piece may elicit a very different valence percept in different individuals. A comparison of music from different historical periods suggests that enculturation modulates the valence percept of intervals and harmonies, and thus possibly also of relatively basic feature extraction processes. Strikingly, it is still largely unknown how much the valence percept is dependent on physical properties of the stimulus and thus mediated by a universal perceptual mechanism, and how much it is dependent on cultural imprinting. The current thesis investigates the neurophysiology of the valence percept, and the modulating influence of culture on several distinguishable sub-processes of music processing, so-called functional modules of music processing, engaged in the mediation of the valence percept. / Musik eignet sich besonders gut, um sowohl intensive Angenehmheit/Lust und Unangenehmheit/Unlust (siehe auch Wundt, 1896), so genannte Valenzperzepte, im Zuhörer hervorzurufen. Jedoch kann derselbe musikalische Stimulus sehr unterschiedliche Valenzperzepte in verschiedenen Zuhörern hervorrufen, was nahe legt, dass das durch Musik vermittelte Valenzperzept zumindest teilweise durch kulturelle Prägung moduliert wird. Ein Vergleich von Musik verschiedener historischer Perioden legt ebenfalls nahe, dass kulturelle Prägung das Valenzperzept des Hörers bei der Wahrnehmung von Intervallen und Harmonien moduliert. Wichtigerweise ist es nach wie vor weitgehend unbekannt, inwiefern das Valenzperzept von physikalischen Eigenschaften des Stimulus (z.B. Rauhigkeit) abhängt - und daher auf einem universellen perzeptiven Mechanismus basiert - oder wie sehr es abhängt von kultureller Prägung. Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht die Neurophysiologie des Valenzperzepts, sowie den modulierenden Einfluss von Kultur auf mehrere funktionelle Module der Musikwahrnehmung (voneinander unterscheidbare Subprozesse der Musikwahrnehmung), die bei der Entstehung des Valenzperzepts beteiligt sind.

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abstract: This study explores the psychophysical and neural processes associated with the perception of sounds as either pleasant or aversive. The underlying psychophysical theory is based on auditory scene analysis, the process through which listeners parse auditory signals into individual acoustic sources. The first experiment tests and confirms that a self-rated pleasantness continuum reliably exists for 20 various stimuli (r = .48). In addition, the pleasantness continuum correlated with the physical acoustic characteristics of consonance/dissonance (r = .78), which can facilitate auditory parsing processes. The second experiment uses an fMRI block design to test blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) changes elicited by a subset of 5 exemplar stimuli chosen from Experiment 1 that are evenly distributed over the pleasantness continuum. Specifically, it tests and confirms that the pleasantness continuum produces systematic changes in brain activity for unpleasant acoustic stimuli beyond what occurs with pleasant auditory stimuli. Results revealed that the combination of two positively and two negatively valenced experimental sounds compared to one neutral baseline control elicited BOLD increases in the primary auditory cortex, specifically the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; the latter being consistent with a frontal decision-making process common in identification tasks. The negatively-valenced stimuli yielded additional BOLD increases in the left insula, which typically indicates processing of visceral emotions. The positively-valenced stimuli did not yield any significant BOLD activation, consistent with consonant, harmonic stimuli being the prototypical acoustic pattern of auditory objects that is optimal for auditory scene analysis. Both the psychophysical findings of Experiment 1 and the neural processing findings of Experiment 2 support that consonance is an important dimension of sound that is processed in a manner that aids auditory parsing and functional representation of acoustic objects and was found to be a principal feature of pleasing auditory stimuli. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2014

A influência da cultura na adaptação individual tem sido uma questão de considerável importância na psicologia, antropologia e em outras ciências sociais; no entanto, dificuldades teóricas e metodológicas têm limitado a possibilidade de investigar diretamente esses processos. A investigação de modelos da vida familiar faz-se importante devido ao papel estrutural da família na sociedade brasileira e sua relação com a saúde mental e desenvolvimento dos indivíduos. Na antropologia cognitiva, modelos culturais servem como uma função diretiva para o comportamento, construindo processos de significação para os indivíduos. O conceito de consenso cultural refere-se ao modo em que os modelos culturais são compartilhados e valorados pelos indivíduos. Enquanto que o conceito de consonância cultural foi proposto para descrever o grau com que o indivíduo, em seu próprio comportamento ou percepção, se aproxima do modelo cultural compartilhado. O presente estudo propôs-se a identificar a presença de modelos culturais na vida familiar, a existência de um consenso cultural acerca desses modelos e analisar a consonância cultural da população urbana estudada em Ribeirão Preto. Este trabalho integrou o Projeto “Cultura e Adaptação Individual” (CADI) e analisou parte dos dados relacionados à vida familiar. Participaram desta pesquisa 295 habitantes de Ribeirão Preto, com idades entre 18 a 67 anos. No método foram empregados técnicas cognitivas (lista livre, agrupamento livre e entrevista de consenso cultural), grupo focal e a Escala de Consonância Cultural da Vida Familiar desenvolvida pela equipe do projeto CADI. Os dados foram analisados utilizando modelos estatísticos apropriados e a análise temática de conteúdo. Nos resultados verificou-se que há um único modelo de vida familiar sendo compartilhado, há um bom compartilhamento desse modelo e uma valorização de elementos afetivos em detrimento de uma dimensão relacionada à estrutura familiar. O modelo cultural da vida familiar foi composto por elementos positivos e negativos aos vínculos familiares. Os elementos positivos puderam ser relacionados à estrutura familiar e ao funcionamento afetivo e qualidade das relações familiares. Os elementos negativos puderam ser distribuídos em um “continuum de poder prejudicial aos vínculos familiares e aos indivíduos”. Sendo que “vício”, “violência” e “irresponsabilidade” foram os elementos relacionados como potencialmente mais destrutivos aos vínculos familiares e às funções protetivas que a família poderia desempenhar. A configuração familiar vem sendo afetada por transformações sociais, relacionadas principalmente à evolução tecnológica, ao desejo por um novo estilo estilo de vida e a entrada da mulher no mercado de trabalho. A consonância cultural da vida familiar não apresentou diferenças significativas entre os quatro bairros estudados o que demonstra que os sujeitos se percebem vivendo a vida familiar independentemente das diferenças sócio-econômicas. O método empregado mostrouse adequado para a investigação dos objetivos do projeto. Espera-se que este trabalho possa contribuir para um melhor entendimento da família no Brasil e assim auxiliar na adequação e efinição de políticas públicas em nossa sociedade. / The influence of culture on individual adaptation has been a question of considerable importance in Psycology, in Anthropology and other social sciences; however, theoretical and methodological difficulties have limited the ability of researchers to directly investigate these processes. The investigation of familiar life models is important due to the structural role of a family in the Brazilian society and its relation with mental health and the development of individuals. In cognitive Anthropology, cultural models construct meaning for individuals and serve as a directive function for individual behavior. The term cultural consensus has been defined as the way cultural models are shared and rated by individuals. Whereas the concept of cultural consonance has been proposed to describe the degree to which an individual, in their own behavior or belief, approximate shared cultural model in some domain. The present work has been proposed to identify the presence of cultural models in familiar life, the existence of a cultural consensus related to these models and analyze the cultural consonance of the urban population studied in Ribeirão Preto. This work integrated the project “Culture and Individual Adaptation” (CADI- in Portuguese) and analyzed part of the data related to familiar life. Two hundred and ninety-five inhabitants from Ribeirão Preto, between 18 and 67 years old, participated in this research. In the methodology, cognitive techniques were used (free list, pile sort and cultural consensus interview), focal group and the Cultural Consonance Scale of Familiar Life developed by the team of the CADI project. The data was analized using appropriate statistical models and the thematic analysis of contents. In the results, it was observed that there is a single model of familiar life being shared, there is a good division of this model and a valorization of affective elements instead of a dimension related to familiar structure. The cultural model of the familiar life was composed by positive and negative elements in terms of family bonds. The positive elements could be related to familiar structure and the affective functioning and the quality of family relations. The negative elements could be divided into a “continuum of power which is harmful to family bonds and individuals”, while “addiction”, “violence” and “irresponsibility” were the elements reported as potentially more harmful to family bonds and the protective functions that a family could perform. The familiar configuration has been affected by social changes, due mainly to technological evolution, the desire of a new life style and the growing role of women in the working market. The cultural consonance of familiar life has not shown significant differences among the four neighborhoods studied, a fact that shows that individuals are aware of familiar life no matter the social and economical differences. The methodology applied has proved to be appropriate for the investigation of the goals of the project. This work is expected to contribute to a better understanding of families in Brazil and then, help to fit and define the public politics in our society.

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Johann Georg Albrechtsberger verfasste 1804 mit der Abhandlung Kurze Regeln des reinsten Satzes einen Nachtrag zu seiner Gründlichen Anweisung zur Composition (1790). Auf nur wenigen Seiten stellt er Überlegungen zu einer völlig dissonanzfreien Satztechnik an. Als Besonderheit schließt Albrechtsberger dabei die Verwendung der wohlklingenden bzw. konsonanten Quarte aus, die im Dreiklang zwischen dem Quint- und Oktavton bzw. im Sextakkord zwischen dem Terz- und Sextton entsteht. 1807 setzte Albrechtsberger seine theoretischen Überlegungen mit der Missa sine dissonantiis auch kompositorisch um. Im vorliegenden Text wird zunächst Albrechtsbergers Idee einer dissonanzlosen Musik genauer untersucht, anschließend werden anhand analytischer Beobachtungen zur Messvertonung satztechnische Konsequenzen für das Komponieren ohne Dissonanzen aufgezeigt. / Johann Georg Albrechtsberger wrote his essay Kurze Regeln des reinsten Satzes (»Short Rules for the Purest Composition«) in 1804 as a supplement to his Gründliche Anweisung zur Composition (»Thorough Guide to Composition«, 1790). In the space of just a few pages, he offered his thoughts on a completely dissonance-free compositional technique. One distinctive feature of this is Albrechtsberger’s exclusion of the euphonious, consonant interval of a fourth that arises in a triad between the fifth and the octave of the tonic and in a sixth chord between the third and the sixth. In 1807, Albrechtsberger put his theoretical considerations into compositional practice with his Missa sine dissonantiis. The present paper first engages in a close investigation of Albrechtsberger’s idea of a dissonance-free music and then uses analytical observations of his mass setting to demonstrate the practical consequences of composing without dissonances.

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