Rolf Reber
Encyclopedia
Rolf Reber is professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Bergen in Norway.
Rolf Reber is known for his research on processing fluency
, especially the processing fluency theory of aesthetic pleasure
he developed together with Norbert Schwarz
from the University of Michigan
and Piotr Winkielman from the University of California at San Diego. The core assumption of the theory is that an audience draws aesthetic
pleasure from the fact that an object can be processed easily, especially if a viewer remains unaware of the source of this processing ease. This theory resolves an apparent contradiction between the uniformity of musical preferences in infants and the cultural differences of musical tastes in adults. Infants prefer consonant melodies because newborns share biological mechanisms that make them process consonance in music more easily than dissonance. When children grow up, they are exposed to the music of their culture, explaining why individuals from different cultures have different musical tastes. In addition, research found that processing fluency influences both affect and the judged truth of statements, suggesting that ease of processing is a common underlying experience in both perceived beauty and judged truth. This observation fits anecdotal observations that mathematicians and scientists sometimes use beauty of a theorem as an indication for its truth, an idea that has been explored in more recent work. The processing fluency theory of aesthetic pleasure has influenced work in psychology
, philosophy, marketing, and finance.
More recently, Rolf Reber and his collaborators have developed and explored Example Choice
, an instructional technique designed to increase relevance and student interest in the learning of abstract principles in mathematics and science. Students are given examples from different topics that all address the same underlying principle, and a student has to choose the example that interests him or her most. The chosen example is then used to explain the formal principle. This technique is supposed to connect the formal principle to students’ interest. Research has shown that students become more interested and spend more time learning the principle when they can choose an example than when they are given an example. The principle of example choice has been implemented in ExampleWiki.
Rolf Reber is author of two popular science books in German, among them “Kleine Psychologie des Alltäglichen” (A brief psychology of everyday life) which has been translated into Korean and Chinese.
Rolf Reber is known for his research on processing fluency
Processing fluency
Processing fluency is the ease with which information is processed in the mind. The ease with which perceptual stimuli are processed is perceptual fluency; the ease with which information can be retrieved from memory is retrieval fluency....
, especially the processing fluency theory of aesthetic pleasure
Processing fluency theory of aesthetic pleasure
The processing fluency theory of aesthetic pleasure is a theory in psychological aesthetics on how people experience beauty. Processing fluency is the ease with which information is processed in the human mind. The theory is based on four basic assumptions:...
he developed together with Norbert Schwarz
Norbert Schwarz
Norbert Schwarz is the Charles Horton Cooley Collegiate Professor of Psychology in the Social Psychology program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He also has appointments as Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business, Research Professor in the Program in Survey Methodology and...
from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and Piotr Winkielman from the University of California at San Diego. The core assumption of the theory is that an audience draws aesthetic
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
pleasure from the fact that an object can be processed easily, especially if a viewer remains unaware of the source of this processing ease. This theory resolves an apparent contradiction between the uniformity of musical preferences in infants and the cultural differences of musical tastes in adults. Infants prefer consonant melodies because newborns share biological mechanisms that make them process consonance in music more easily than dissonance. When children grow up, they are exposed to the music of their culture, explaining why individuals from different cultures have different musical tastes. In addition, research found that processing fluency influences both affect and the judged truth of statements, suggesting that ease of processing is a common underlying experience in both perceived beauty and judged truth. This observation fits anecdotal observations that mathematicians and scientists sometimes use beauty of a theorem as an indication for its truth, an idea that has been explored in more recent work. The processing fluency theory of aesthetic pleasure has influenced work in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, philosophy, marketing, and finance.
More recently, Rolf Reber and his collaborators have developed and explored Example Choice
Example Choice
Example choice is a teaching method that has been developed and explored at the University of Bergen. The main objective is to make mathematics and science teaching more interesting and relevant to the daily life of students...
, an instructional technique designed to increase relevance and student interest in the learning of abstract principles in mathematics and science. Students are given examples from different topics that all address the same underlying principle, and a student has to choose the example that interests him or her most. The chosen example is then used to explain the formal principle. This technique is supposed to connect the formal principle to students’ interest. Research has shown that students become more interested and spend more time learning the principle when they can choose an example than when they are given an example. The principle of example choice has been implemented in ExampleWiki.
Rolf Reber is author of two popular science books in German, among them “Kleine Psychologie des Alltäglichen” (A brief psychology of everyday life) which has been translated into Korean and Chinese.