Language and life history: a new perspective on the development and evolution of human language

It has long been claimed that Homo sapiens is the only species that has language, but only recently has it been recognized that humans also have an unusual pattern of growth and development. Social mammals have two stages of pre-adult development: infancy and juvenility. Humans have two additional prolonged and pronounced life history stages: childhood, an interval of four years extending between infancy and the juvenile period that follows, and adolescence, a stage of about eight years that stretches from juvenility to adulthood. We begin by reviewing the primary biological and linguistic changes occurring in each of the four pre-adult ontogenetic stages in human life history. Then we attempt to trace the evolution of childhood and juvenility in our hominin ancestors. We propose that several different forms of selection applied in infancy and childhood; and that, in adolescence, elaborated vocal behaviors played a role in courtship and intrasexual competition, enhancing fitness and ultimately integrating performative and pragmatic skills with linguistic knowledge in a broad faculty of language. A theoretical consequence of our proposal is that fossil evidence of the uniquely human stages may be used, with other findings, to date the emergence of language. If important aspects of language cannot appear until sexual maturity, as we propose, then a second consequence is that the development of language requires the whole of modern human ontogeny. Our life history model thus offers new ways of investigating, and thinking about, the evolution, development, and ultimately the nature of human language.     

Effect of temporal constraints on hemispheric asymmetries during spatial frequency processing

Studies on functional hemispheric asymmetries have suggested that the right vs. left hemisphere should be predominantly involved in low vs. high spatial frequency (SF) analysis, respectively. By manipulating exposure duration of filtered natural scene images, we examined whether the temporal characteristics of SF analysis (i.e., the temporal precedence of low on high spatial frequencies) may interfere with hemispheric specialization. Results showed the classical hemispheric specialization pattern for brief exposure duration and a trend to a right hemisphere advantage irrespective of the SF content for longer exposure duration. The present study suggests that the hemispheric specialization pattern for visual information processing should be considered as a dynamic system, wherein the superiority of one hemisphere over the other could change according to the level of temporal constraints: the higher the temporal constraints of the task, the more the hemispheres are specialized in SF processing.     

Personality characteristics associated with susceptibility to false memories

This study examined whether certain personality characteristics are associated with susceptibility to false memories. Participants first answered questions from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator in order to measure various personality characteristics. They then watched a video excerpt, the simulated eyewitness event. They were next encouraged to lie about the videotaped event during an interview. A week later, some participants recognized confabulated events as being from the video. Two personality characteristics in particular--the introversion-extroversion and thinking-feeling dimensions--were associated with susceptibility to false memories.     

A narratological methodology for identifying archetypal story patterns in autobiographical narratives

Based on Jung's definition of archetype the concept 'archetypal story pattern' is developed as well as a research method drawing on narrative analysis and biographical research to identify these archetypal story patterns in life stories. Jung pointed out that personal myths, archetypal patterns found, e.g., in mythology, can govern the life course of individuals unconsciously. In the Theory of Narrative Identity comparable concepts have been mentioned but were never fully developed. In my research I try to combine Jung's concept of the archetype with the elaborated methodology of narrative analysis. Archetypes can manifest as narratives and the identity construction of a person via narrating the life story can be influenced or even totally structured by archetypal stories which give a specific form as well as a specific meaning to the person's identity. The method of extracting an underlying archetypal pattern from an autobiographical narrative is demonstrated. The results of the research on 20 autobiographical interviews and the inherent archetypal patterns are summarized. The major aim of this paper is to describe in detail the application of a well established method of the social sciences on a key concept of Jungian psychology to show that these concepts can be integrated into recent research frameworks of academic sciences. On the other hand it shows that Jungian concepts can be investigated through established and well defined research methods in empirical research settings.     

Social Work Education in Suicide Intervention and Prevention: An Unmet Need?

Research shows that social work graduate programs offer little education in suicide prevention and intervention, yet social workers' experiences and attitudes regarding suicide education are unknown. This Web-based survey of 598 social workers found that almost all respondents had worked with at least one suicidal client, but most received little, if any, training in suicide prevention or intervention while in graduate school. Respondents largely viewed their social work program's training in suicide prevention and intervention as inadequate. Implications for social work education and practice are discussed.     

New reflections on visual search: Interitem symmetry matters!

A 90 degrees rotation of a display can turn a relatively easy visual search into a more difficult one. A series of experiments examined the possible causes of this effect, including differences in overall item shape and response mapping (Experiment 1), the interpretation of scene lighting (Experiment 2), the axis of internal symmetry of the search items (Experiment 3), and the axes of interitem symmetry between target and distractor items (Experiment 4). Only the elimination of differences in interitem mirror symmetry resulted in equal search efficiency in the upright and rotated displays. This finding is strong support for the view that visual search is guided by an analysis that considers interitem relations.     

Trait and social processes in the link between social support and affect: an experimental, laboratory investigation

This study investigated the extent to which the link between perceived social support and affect reflected support recipients' trait perceived support as well as three distinct social processes: the objective supportiveness of providers, the unique relationships among recipients and providers that were stable over occasions, as well as the unique relationships that varied across occasions. Ten recipients interacted with each of the same four providers on five separate occasions, for a total of 200 interactions. Recipients and independent observers rated recipient affect and provider support. Greater perceived support was related to greater positive affect for recipients' trait perceived support, as well as for relationships that were stable over occasions and relationships that varied across occasions. No social support effects were found for negative affect. Perceived similarity was a consistent predictor of recipients' support perceptions. Implications for social support models and interventions were discussed.     

A Rorschach stability study in a nonpatient adult sample

The objective of this study was to provide new primary data on Rorschach Comprehensive System stability levels. To achieve this, we tested 75 French nonpatient adults twice on the Rorschach with a 3-month interval between the tests. Interrater reliability was in the excellent range for most of the variables studied. The overall stability level in a selected set of previously studied variables was below expectations (median r = .53). Personality, cognitive or self/relational variables yielded higher test-retest correlations than emotional and coping variables. Moderators of stability could be identified: (a) overall level of Task Engagement (TE) in F, m, FM + m, a, FC, Sum C', Sum V, Sum Shd, Fr + rF, INC + FAB, COP, es, Adj es, EGO, and Blends; (b) variations in TE in F, FM, and p; (c) state distress in Zd, m, FM + m, a, C, CF + C, WSumC, FD, and es; (d) variables derived from the number of responses impacted stability in P, Zf, m, FC, CF + C, Sum C', Sum V, MOR, EA, es, and Blends. These results provide further support for the reliability of several measures. Examiner effects as an influence on productivity and TE were identified as an important area for future research.