Book reviews

Lutman, M. E. and Haggard, M. P. (Eds.). Hearing Science and Hearing Disorders. London: Academic Press. 1983. Pp. 338. ISBN 0-12-460440. £15.00.

Mehler, J., Walker, E. C. T. and Garrett, M. (Eds.). Perspectives on Mental Representation: Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Cognitive Processes and Capacities. Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1982. Pp. xiv+485. ISBN 0-89859-194-5. £27.50.

Schacter, D. L. The Stranger Behind the Engram. Theories of Memory and the Psychology of Science. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1982. Pp. 294. ISBN 0-89859-245-3. £19.95.

Broughton, J. M. and Freeman-Moir, D. J. (Eds.). The Cognitive Developmental Psychology of James Mark Baldwin: Current Theory and Research in Genetic Epistemology. Norwood, N. J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation. 1982. Pp. 460. ISBN 0-89391-043-0. £36.50.

Flammer, A. and Kintsch, W. (Eds.). Discourse Processing (Advances in Psychology, Vol. 8). Amsterdam: North Holland. 1982. Pp. x + 614. ISBN 0-444-86515-2. £33.19.

Beaumont, J. Graham. (Ed.). Divided Visual Field Studies of Cerebral Organisation. London: Academic Press. 1982. Pp. xiii + 305. ISBN 0-12-084080-4. £18.00.

Lloyd-Bostock, S. and Clifford, B. R. (Eds.). Evaluating Witness Evidence: Recent Psychological Research and New Perspectives. Chichester: Wiley. Pp. x - 305. ISBN 0-471-10463-9. £19.95.

Jarvella, R. J. and Klein, W. (Eds.). Speech, Place and Action: Studies in Deixis and Related Topics. Chichester: Wiley. 1982. Pp. 389. ISBN 0-471-10045-5. £22.75.

Bradshaw, J. L. and Nettleton, N. G. Human Cerebral Asymmetry. Englewood Porac, C. and Coren, S. Lateral Preferences and Human Behaviour. New York: Cliffs: Prentice Hall. 1982. Pp. 335. ISBN 0-13-444646-1. £21.00.

Porac, C. and Coren, S. Lateral Preferences and Human Behaviour. New York: Springer-Verlag. 1981. Pp. 283. ISBN 0-387-90596-0. $24.20.

Barlow, H. B. and Mollon, J. D. (Eds.). The Senses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1982. Pp. 490. ISBN 0-521-24474-9. Hardback £30.00; paperback £12.50.

Bronson, G. W. The Scanning Patterns of Human Infants: Implications for Visual Learning. Norwood, N. J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation. 1982. Pp. 152. ISBN 0-89391-114-3. £16.00.

Walk, R. D. and Pick, Jr., H. L. (Eds.). Intersensory Perception and Sensory Integration. New York: Plenum. 1981. Pp. 415. ISBN 0-306-40610-1. $32.50.

Underwood, G. and Stevens, R. (Eds.). Aspects of Consciousness, Vol. 2: Structural Issues. London: Academic Press. 1981. Pp. 246. ISBN 0-12-708802-4. £5.00

Underwood, G. (Ed.). Aspects of Consciousness, Vol. 3: Awareness and Self-Awareness. London: Academicpress. 1982. Pp. 331. ISBN 0-12-708803-2. £9.00.

Lehnert, W. G. and Ringle, M. H. (Eds.). Strategies for Natural Language Processing. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1982. Pp. xxii + 533. ISBN 0-89859-191-0. £ 27.50.     

The interactive evolution of human communication systems

This paper compares two explanations of the process by which human communication systems evolve: iterated learning and social collaboration. It then reports an experiment testing the social collaboration account. Participants engaged in a graphical communication task either as a member of a community, where they interacted with seven different partners drawn from the same pool, or as a member of an isolated pair, where they interacted with the same partner across the same number of games. Participants' horizontal, pair-wise interactions led "bottom up" to the creation of an effective and efficient shared sign system in the community condition. Furthermore, the community-evolved sign systems were as effective and efficient as the local sign systems developed by isolated pairs. Finally, and as predicted by a social collaboration account, and not by an iterated learning account, interaction was critical to the creation of shared sign systems, with different isolated pairs establishing different local sign systems and different communities establishing different global sign systems.     

Playing the Odds: A New Response to Lucretius's Symmetry Argument

Abstract: Most commentators have assumed that Lucretius's symmetry argument against the fear of death is flawed. There remains, however, dispute as to what the flaw is. After establishing what I understand the target of Lucretius's argument to be (a desire for a longer life as such), I argue for a novel interpretation of what the flaw is, namely, that extending one's life into the time before one was actually born would be an uncertain bet for one who wanted to extend his life, whereas extending one's life beyond the time one actually dies is a sure bet. This account of what the flaw is has the particular merit of relying only on simple concepts used in everyday reasoning and thus can explain why Lucretius's argument gains no traction even in the absence of sophisticated philosophical analysis.     

The mediating roles of career self-efficacy and career decidedness in the relationship between contextual support and persistence

Drawing from Social cognitive career theory, we examined how types of contextual support (e.g., parental support and number of career counseling sessions received) influence persistence. In addition, we test the roles of career self-efficacy and career decidedness as mediating mechanisms in the relationship between these types of contextual support and persistence. One hundred forty-six undergraduate students were surveyed over three measurement periods. Data were collected from multiple sources: surveys from students and parents and students' archival data. Results provided support for our hypothesized mediated model. Time 1 student and parent ratings of support and Time 1 number of counseling sessions received were related to greater Time 2 career self-efficacy and Time 2 career decidedness. This in turn was associated with Time 3 persistence (i.e., reduced academic program turnover). Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

The Role of Culture,Workgroup Membership,and Organizational Status on Cooperation and Trust: An Experimental Investigation

We examined how interactions among participants' cultural backgrounds (e.g., Australian vs. Singaporean) and multiple subgroups (e.g., cultural group membership, workgroup membership, organizational status) affect trust and cooperation in the workplace. University students (120 Australians, 120 Singaporeans) responded to hypothetical scenarios of cooperation and trust in the workplace. The results indicated that, for both Australians and Singaporeans, trust and cooperation were more strongly influenced by workgroup membership and organizational status than by cultural group membership. Participants trusted and cooperated more with work in‐group members than with work out‐group members, and trusted and cooperated more with superiors than with peers. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

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