https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/15398 2026-05-14T09:20:43Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146295 Title: Worldviews and the role of social values that underlie them Authors: Mifsud, Rebekah; Sammut, Gordon Abstract: In today’s ideologically diverse world, it is pertinent to have a better understanding of how our beliefs of the social world shape our thinking and behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key social values that underlie particular sets of beliefs, referred to here as worldviews. Worldviews encompass beliefs that shape one’s outlook on life and are, therefore, instrumental in providing meaning to one’s reality and one’s understanding as to how one fits in it. They can be classified into five unique types, namely, Localised, Orthodox, Pragmatist, Reward, and Survivor. In this paper we start by proposing a theoretical relationship between this five-factor typology and social values. Following this, we present findings that show that worldviews may be mapped onto the two higher order value dimensions of Openness to Change versus Conservation, and Self-transcendence versus Self-Enhancement. We conclude by outlining the implications that these findings have on understanding individual cognition and society in general. 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/141011 Title: Perceptie van een anderstalig accent : Een experimentele studie naar de perceptieve aanpassing aan een exogeen geaccentueerd Nederlands klinkercontrast Authors: Verbeke, Gil; Ellen, Simon; Hartsuiker, Robert J.; Mitterer, Holger; De Cuypere, Ludovic Abstract: This study examines whether Dutch L1 listeners adapt to Italian accented Dutch vowels, and how short-term experience with one L2 speaker’s accent might help these listeners to understand novel words and other L2 speakers with a similar accent. 100 Belgian Dutch L1 listeners were exposed to 40 Dutch target words, in which the front vowel had been replaced by an ambiguous sound in between /ɪ/ and /i/. These stimuli were produced by a female Italian speaker of Dutch. To assess perceptual adaptation and generalization, participants were asked to identify the vowel in five Dutch /ɪ/-/i/ minimal pairs across two speaker conditions: stimuli were either produced by the same female speaker or by a digitally generated male-sounding speaker. For neither speaker did we find perceptual adaptation, hence no generalization to novel situations could be observed. The results highlight the importance of stimulus selection and the need for a detailed background questionnaire for listeners, including information on their familiarity with L2 accents. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/138519 Title: Worldviews, attitudes to science and science policy in Kuwait : the engagement and mobilisation effects Authors: Sammut, Gordon; Sartawi, Mohammad; Bauer, Martin W.; Mifsud, Rebekah Abstract: The relevance of policymaking stems from its utility in helping social systems manage the output of their constituent members by shaping behavioural and procedural processes. Whilst policymaking might be well-meaning, it does not always lead to satisfactory outcomes. Policy may fail in generating uptake or establishing intent. For this reason, the study of the psychological characteristics of citizens is pertinent in understanding reactions to policy. In the present study, we analysed policy communication and reception in Kuwait in terms of the worldviews they advance. We also studied media responses and worldview distributions amongst the public (n = 1400). Our findings demonstrate both within and between worldview differences in reactions to science policy. We observed an engagement effect between worldviews and their appreciation of science policy. We also observed a within worldviews mobilisation effect, by which differential reactions to science policy are activated once engaged. Our conclusions suggest that policymakers would benefit from a broader management of worldviews and psychological characteristics beyond traditional sociodemographic influences. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136286 Title: Recognising novel deforming objects Authors: Chuang, Lewis L.; Vuong, Quoc C.; Thornton, Ian M.; Bülthoff, Heinrich H. Abstract: Visual object perception is dynamic as the result of an active observer or movement in the environment. Nonetheless, contemporary theories of object recognition commonly focus on how objects are represented in terms of their static properties, e.g., shape. When the contribution of motion has been considered, it has typically been with regards to how rigid rotation in depth could facilitate the reconstruction of an object’s static 3-D shape (e.g., Ullman, 1979). Here, we propose that human observers represent an object’s dynamic properties as a cue to its identity, independent of its contribution to shape perception. This information may facilitate recognition when shape information is less reliable, e.g., viewpoint variations. 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z