The rule of seven

From time to time I notice the magic power of the number seven, cropping up in all kinds of contexts where one might think people would have trained themselves to avoid this evidence of their superstitious and magical past.

So I was pleased yesterday to come across this example from the US, from the 1970's.

I read that: '...For the purposes of this paper, we will maintain the distinction between self-concept and inferred self-concept, and focus on the former. Seven features can be identified as critical to the construct definition. Self-concept may be described as: organized, multifaceted, hierarchical, stable, developmental, evaluative, differentiable. Each of these features is considered below...'.

Self-concept being something that can be extracted from subjects on the basis of their filling out a short questionnaire about what they think about themselves.

Another byway being explored as a consequence of reading about awakenings and encephalitis lethargica, as noticed at reference 2.

And I continue to be impressed by the way that the computer readable text of this elderly article can be delivered to my laptop, as a pdf, within seconds of my first learning about it, without payment.

Reference 1: Self concept: Validation of construct interpretations - Shavelson R, Hubner J, Stanton G – 1976.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2018/12/awakenings.html.