Physiognomic properties refer to the nonliteral sensory, perceptual, and affective connotations evoked by an object: a mountain, for example, is big as well as “quiet, looming, and threatening.” In this study (N = 58), the three types of meanings carried by meaningless stimuli were examined. Four equally unfamiliar stimuli, which were either physiognomically evocative (maluma and taketa) or neutral, were rated on 15 perceptual, affective, and sensory scales. Taketa and maluma were distinguished on 21 of the 30 endpoints of the (...) scales, whereas the neutral stimuli were distinguished on only 8. Subjects’ physiognomy and sex did not play a role. The implications of these findings are discussed. (shrink)

This paper distinguishes two conceptions of representation at work in the philosophical literature. On the first, "contentive" conception (found, for example, in Searle and Fodor), something is a representation, roughly, if it has "propositional content". On the second, "indicative" conception (found, for example, in Dretske), representations must not only have content but also have the function of indicating something about the world. Desire is representational on the first view but not on the second. This paper argues that philosophers and psychologists (...) have sometimes conflated these two conceptions, and it examines the consequences of this conflation for the developmental literature on the child's understanding of mind. Specifically, recent research by Gopnik and Perner on the child's understanding of desire is motivated by an argument that equivocates between the two conceptions of representation. Finally, the paper suggests that an examination of when the child understands the possibility of misrepresentation in art would be helpful in charting the child's understanding of indicative representation. (shrink)

In physiognomy, sensory, perceptual, and affective connotations are suggested by an object. For example, a mountain, in addition to being literally big, may also seem “quiet, looming, and threatening.” The capacity of physiognomically endowed but meaningless stimuli (like taketa and maluma) to transfer these meanings to similarly unfamiliar but neutral stimuli was examined on 15 perceptual, affective, and sensory rating scales (N = 118). The meanings of the two neutral stimuli were influenced in 26 instances (vs. 8 cases in which (...) the neutral stimuli followed one other); most changes were affective and sensory rather than perceptual; and the shifts in meanings were noncongruent—taketa’s “aggressiveness,” for example, led to a “peaceful” rating of the two neutral shapes. The implications of these findings are discussed. (shrink)