No abstract

According to social comparison theory (Festmger, 1954), in [ the absence of objective standards people will evaluate their \ ability by comparison with others better-off m ability Recent studies of abihty evaluation have shown that given a vague knowledge of one's standmg m a group, people will seek out the score of the other m the group who is best-off in abihty (Friend, 1969, Arrowood & Fnend, 1969 Comparison with better-off others, however, results in placmg oneself m an inferior position with respect to the comparison other, an outcome that vinder certain conditions might be avoided When a person is threatened by prehmmary evaluative information indicatmg low abihty he may be especially motivated to avoid the potentially threatenmg information that another has done much better than himself. Moreover, if the threat is particularly strong, m addition to avoidmg comparison with the bestoff other m the group, the person may be motivated to seek the score of inferior others for self-enhancement and threat reducing purposes Thus Hakmiller (1966) foimd that threatened subjects tended to compare with the worst-off person m the group and suggested that comparison with a dissimilar inferior serves the mstrumental function of reduction of threat to the self-regard by confirmation of the subject's supenor position with respect to the chosen lnfenor. In this study, female subjects in groups of six were told that the study was concerned with cross-vsdidatmg two tests, one of which had already been taken at the beginning of 1 The conduct of this study was facilitated by a grant to the senior author from NIMH (MH-i9853-oi) and by a NIMH predoctoral fellowsh^ (lFoiMH 5015601) to the junior audior. The authors gratefully adcaowledge the able assistance of Nancy Sdineir Requests for reprints should be sent to Rcmald M Fnend, Department of Psychol^y, State Umversity of New York, Stony Btock, NY. 11790

A wind instrument can be described as a closed feedback loop made up of a linear passive element-the resonator-and a lumped nonlinear element-the mouthpiece. A method for measuring the nonlinear characteristics of the mouthpiece-nonlinear flow relationship-in static condition is given. An artificial mouth is used in which the volume flow is deduced from the pressure difference between both sides of a constriction (orifice) which takes place in the resonator. The orifice also plays the role of a nonlinear absorber, thwarting possible reed oscillations. This allows the measurement of the complete characteristics. In addition, the reed opening is measured using an optical device. Results are compared to a model in which the reed is reduced to its stiffness and the flow is governed by the Bernoulli equation. It is shown that the reed stiffness and the ratio of the effective surface of the jet and the reed opening are constant in a large range of openings. Standard range values of embouchure parameters are given.