Comparison in the Development of Categories

Recent research on children's word learning has led to a paradox. Although word learning appears to be a deep source of insight into conceptual knowledge for children, preschoolers often categorize objects on the basis of shallow perceptual features such as shape. The current studies seek to resolve this discrepancy. We suggest that comparing multiple instances of a category enables children to extract deeper relational commonalities among category members. We examine 4-year-olds' categorization behaviors when asked to select a match for a target object (e.g., an apple) between a perceptually similar, out-of-kind object (e.g., a balloon) and a perceptually different category match (e.g., a banana). Children who learn a novel word as a label for multiple instances of the category are more likely to select the category match over the perceptual match. Children who learn a label for only one instance are equally likely to select either alternative. This effect is present even when individual target instances are more perceptually similar to the perceptual choice than to the category choice. We conclude that structural alignment processes may be important in the development of category understanding.     

Does Alternating Between Masculine and Feminine Pronouns Eliminate Perceived Gender Bias in Text?

This study explores whether alternating betweenthe pronouns he and she ina text is an effective way to avoid sexist language.Participants were psychology students at a largemidwestern university and were predominately White and frommiddle-class backgrounds. Students read two versions ofan essay, one that alternated between masculine andfeminine pronouns and one that exclusively used paired, he or she-type pronouns. Readersperceived the alternating version to be biased in favorof females and lower in overall quality than the pairedversion. However, the alternating version appeared to be more effective at combating sexism,suggesting an alternating strategy may be desirable forauthors with this goal. If the author is not primarilyconcerned with increasing readers' awareness of gender issues, techniques such as pluralization or thesingular they may be moreappropriate.     

How international transracial adoptees and immigrants cope with discrimination? The moderating role of ethnic identity in the relation between perceived discrimination and psychological well‐being

Research has consistently shown that discrimination based on ethnic group membership affects the psychological well‐being of ethnic minorities. Recent studies revealed that discrimination is also a relevant experience for international transracial adoptees, who have experienced a unique migration process. Yet, there is still a paucity of studies focused on similarities and differences between how immigrants and international transracial adoptees perceive discrimination and on how perceived discrimination impacts psychological well‐being, also depending on ethnic identity. Our study aimed to fill these gaps by investigating the moderating role of ethnic identity affirmation in the association between perceived discrimination and psychological well‐being, measured in terms of self‐esteem. A comparison between international transracial adoptees and immigrants was carried out in the Italian context. Participants were 119 international transracial adoptees and 90 immigrants, aged between 15 and 24, all categorizing themselves as Latinos. Findings revealed that immigrants perceived more discrimination and showed higher levels of ethnic identity affirmation than did adoptees, but no difference emerged with respect to self‐esteem. Ethnic identity affirmation buffered the detrimental effects of perceived discrimination on self‐esteem among international transracial adoptees but not among immigrants. Results are discussed in relation to practical implications for preventive interventions.     

Toward a Life Course Framework for Studying Vulnerability

Interest in the study of vulnerability has experienced impressive growth across various disciplines. To contribute to this major but scattered development in the study of vulnerability, this article argues for a multidisciplinary life-course framework. This framework promotes a systemic and dynamic perspective focused on three complementary research directions: multidimensional, multilevel, and multidirectional. On the basis of this life course perspective, the authors also propose a definition of vulnerability as a dynamic process of stress and resources across various domains of life (i.e., work, family, health, migration, etc.), levels (i.e., person, group, collective), and time (i.e., long-term processes).     

Effects of Surprisal and Locality on Danish Sentence Processing: An Eye-Tracking Investigation

An eye-tracking experiment in Danish investigates two dominant accounts of sentence processing: locality-based theories that predict a processing advantage for sentences where the distance between the major syntactic heads is minimized, and the surprisal theory which predicts that processing time increases with big changes in the relative entropy of possible parses, sometimes leading to anti-locality effects. We consider both lexicalised surprisal, expressed in conditional trigram probabilities, and syntactic surprisal expressed in the manipulation of the expectedness of the second NP in Danish constructions with two postverbal NP-objects. An eye-tracking experiment showed a clear advantage for local syntactic relations, with only a marginal effect of lexicalised surprisal and no effect of syntactic surprisal. We conclude that surprisal has a relatively marginal effect, which may be clearest for verbs in verb-final languages, while locality is a robust predictor of sentence processing.     

Subcultures,Narratives and Identification: An Empirical Study of BDSM (Bondage,Domination and Submission,Discipline, Sadism and Masochism) Practices in Italy

I present a subcultural analysis of the Italian Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) community based on recent empirical findings. The research involved over 1 year of participant observation into the BDSM community of Milan and 43 interviews with members or key witnesses. Throughout the article, I explore the heuristic value of the category of subculture in highlighting important features of BDSM groups. Subcultures are intended as formed by: (1) norms, behaviours, narratives, and artefacts that circulate in a group, and (2) a sense of identification, or subcultural participation in a community. I then present four ideal types of BDSM practitioners based on the degrees of subcultural identification with the group and of display of BDSM-identification throughout practitioners’ everyday life. Some empirical examples are provided. In addition, I describe the formation of the BDSM subculture in Italy in the last 40 years as recollected by long-term members and key witnesses. Besides, I discuss its most recent developments. A subcultural analysis of BDSM groups allows the identification of group elements like power structures and shifting roles, and the different degrees of emotional and cultural involvement of social actors in the group.