The Utility and Ubiquity of Taboo Words

ABSTRACT— Taboo words are defined and sanctioned by institutions of power (e.g., religion, media), and prohibitions are reiterated in child-rearing practices. Native speakers acquire folk knowledge of taboo words, but it lacks the complexity that psychological science requires for an understanding of swearing. Misperceptions persist in psychological science and in society at large about how frequently people swear or what it means when they do. Public recordings of taboo words establish the commonplace occurrence of swearing (ubiquity), although frequency data are not always appreciated in laboratory research. A set of 10 words that has remained stable over the past 20 years accounts for 80% of public swearing. Swearing is positively correlated with extraversion and Type A hostility but negatively correlated with agreeableness, conscientiousness, religiosity, and sexual anxiety. The uniquely human facility for swearing evolved and persists because taboo words can communicate emotion information (anger, frustration) more readily than nontaboo words, allowing speakers to achieve a variety of personal and social goals with them (utility). A neuro-psycho-social framework is offered to unify taboo word research. Suggestions for future research are offered.     

Baptist Hymnody in the Northern United States: The Case of E. H. Johnson's Sursum Corda

Abstract : Northern and southern Baptists in the United States differed at the turn of the twentieth century. Through their hymnals, especially Sursum Corda edited by E. H. Johnson, they embraced a form of historicism that attempted to recover an earlier time in the church. Gregorian and Anglican chants served as vehicles of historicist interest as did the parts of the historic Mass and traditional English hymns prevalent in Johnson's book. Northern Baptists also leaned toward an ecclesiology that held the ‘church as sacrament’. Hymn texts in Johnson's Baptist hymnal form a bridge between two ecclesiological outlooks by employing a pastiche of sacramental texts and texts based on a memorialist understanding of the Eucharist. This essay employs an interdisciplinary approach to looking at American hymnody involving theology, history, musicology, and liturgics.     

Conduct Disordered Youth in Group Care: An Examination of Negative Peer Influence

We examined the potential impact of negative peer influence within a treatment-focused residential care setting. Subjects were 712 youth consecutively admitted to a large residential treatment program (9–19 years of age). Based on Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) scores, 247 (35%) of these youth qualified for a Conduct Disorder diagnosis at admission. The dependent measures were the number of DISC Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)/Conduct Disorder (CD) symptoms and the sum of Conduct Problem behaviors observed daily for each youth. Both the Conduct Problem Behaviors and the ODD/CD symptoms for both CD and non-CD groups decreased over time. Youth with a CD diagnosis or who were female improved at a faster rate than their peers. The data analyzed in this study do not support a negative peer influence effect for antisocial youth placed in a treatment-focused residential care setting.     

Social and religious controls in pre-revolutionary France: The beginnings of modernity

Focusing on social and religious controls enacted by the kehillotof northeastern France in the ancien régime, this articleexamines the dynamics of social change in the century precedingthe Revolution. At the heart of this study is the propositionthat Metz and Alsace represent two distinct frameworks in whichthe encounter of Jewish tradition and modernity can be observed. The sumptuary laws issued by the Metz community in 1690–1697 and in1769 reflect the efforts of an increasingly powerful urban laityto assert its authority over a declining rabbinate. Sumptuarylegislation was used as a tool to freeze the existing socialhierarchy and exclude from the communal power structure a youngergeneration whose wealth was derived from new commercialopportunities. Acknowledging that certain cultural changes werean inevitable consequence of the expanding mercantile economy,lay leaders endeavored to limit conspicuous consumption, curb theinsubordination of youth, and legislate standards of moral andreligious behavior. An analysis of the takkanot ratified by theprovincial assemblies of Alsace in the 1770s reveals severalimportant differences. The Alsatian legislation reflected moretraditional concerns about the influence of the surroundingvillage culture and the potentially harmful impact of modernityon moral and religious life; neither consumption nor classdivisions were mentioned. In rural Alsace, where the social,cultural, and economic milieu differed sharply from Metz, thecommunal leadership was far more aggressive in its efforts tostrengthen rabbinic authority and religious institutions. Thecomparison between the urban and rural settings suggests thatthere is a correlation between economic condition and religious change, and that modernization, at least in its preliminary stage, wasalready underway well before the advent of civic emancipation.     

The effect of the physical characteristics of cues and targets on facilitation and inhibition

The present experiment was conducted in order to examine the role of cue—target discriminability on early occurring attentional cuing effects and late occurring inhibition of return (IOR). The experiment used a single target stimulus in conjunction with three different cue stimuli. The cues were the same as the target, different in color, shape, and luminance to the target, or did not spatially overlap with the target. At shorter stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs; 100 and 200 msec), attentional cuing effects were only found with the nonoverlapping cues. However, at longer SOAs (400 and 800 msec), approximately equal IOR effects were found with all three types of cues. The results indicated that the physical characteristics of the cues and targets affected the pattern of reaction times at the shorter SOAs but not at the longer SOAs. The conclusion is that the biphasic pattern of early facilitation and late inhibition following a peripheral cue should not be considered the definitive signature of the peripheral cuing paradigm.     

A randomized trial of skin cancer prevention in aquatics settings: the Pool Cool program.

Skin cancer is increasing, and prevention programs are essential. This study evaluated the impact of a skin cancer prevention program on sun-protection habits and swimming pool environments. The intervention included staff training; sun-safety lessons; interactive activities; providing sunscreen, shade, and signage; and promoting sun-safe environments. A randomized trial at 28 swimming pools in Hawaii and Massachusetts tested the efficacy of this program (Pool Cool) compared with an attention-matched injury-prevention control program. Results showed significant positive changes in children's use of sunscreen and shade, overall sun-protection habits, and number of sunburns and improvements in parents' hat use, sun-protection habits, and reported sun-protection policies and environments. Observations corroborated the positive findings. Pool Cool had significant positive effects at swimming pools in diverse audiences.     

ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF TASK PREFERENCES,TASK DEMANDS,AND ADULT ATTENTION ON CHILD BEHAVIOR IN OUTPATIENT AND CLASSROOM SETTINGS

Two studies were conducted with children who displayed behavior problems to evaluate the effects of task preference, task demands, and adult attention on child behavior. In Study 1, we conducted brief functional analyses in an outpatient clinic to identify variables that facilitated appropriate behavior. For 8 of 10 children, distinct patterns of performance occurred; 3 children displayed improved behavior with changes in task demands, 1 child displayed improved behavior with a preferred task, and 4 children displayed improved behavior with changes in adult attention. In most cases, the children's parents carried out the assessments with adequate procedural integrity. In Study 2, we applied similar assessment methods to a classroom setting over an extended period of time. We identified independent variables controlling appropriate, on-task, and academic behavior for 2 children on two tasks, with slightly different treatment procedures across tasks for both children. In addition, the results of brief functional analyses for both children corresponded to the extended classroom assessments.     

Commentary on high-performance computing and neural and physiological processes: Focusing on the problem-solving process

The presentations by James A. Anderson (Anderson & Sutton, 1997) and Samuel Williamson (Gençer & Williamson, 1997) were indicative of a research effort focused on the real life psychological processes as opposed to the outcomes. The mental twists and turns in solving problems, often hidden from a learner, if shared, may demystify the learning process. This process-oriented psychological research should receive continued encouragement.