A note on temporal relations between language and gestures

The initiation of the spontaneous gestures of Wernicke's aphasics was analyzed in relation to shifts in semantic content between the syntactic boundaries of main clauses and embedded clauses. Gestures proved more likely to arise at the initial boundaries of embedded clauses when these were semantically discontinuous with the main clause than when these were semantically related to the main clause. Spontaneous gestures may signal underlying shifts in semantic intention, thereby reflecting the difficulties encountered by Wernicke's aphasics in maintaining a coherent stream of thought across syntactic boundaries.     

Real and Illusory Control Over Exposure to HIV in College Students and Gay Men1

Reasons for unsafe sex were examined using an illusions of control framework. Heterosexual college students (N= 301) and gay men (N= 248) were surveyed regarding perceived control over exposure to HIV, of vulnerability to HIV, use of illusory control in chance situations, and real and illusory strategies for protection against HIV. As predicted, the use of illusory control in chance situations was associated with more illusory HIV protection in both samples. Illusory protection strategies were associated with feeling less vulnerable to HIV which was mediated by perceptions of control over exposure to HIV. Suggestions for intervention include providing information about the illusory nature of some protective strategies and a focus on failing to protect oneself from STDs.     

Manipulation of familiarity reveals a necessary lexical component of the word-stem completion priming effect

These experiments were motivated by the idea that many types of nondeclarative memory are by-products arising from the plasticity that is inherent in much of the nervous system. We hypothesized that two types of repetition priming, word-stem completion (WSC) priming and perceptual identification (PI) priming, rely on different mechanisms because the WSC task and the PI task engage different cognitive and brain processes. We tested this hypothesis by manipulating word familiarity. The results, impaired WSC priming but intact PI priming with unfamiliar words, indicate that WSC priming relies primarily on a modification mechanism, whereas PI priming relies primarily on an acquisition mechanism. Our conclusions are consistent with component processes theories of nondeclarative memory.     

Mothers of Martyrs: A Palestinian Institution with Judaeo-Islamic Roots

One of the most remarkable heroes to emerge from the revolt of the Maccabees in 167 BCE was the mother who promoted the martyrdom of her seven sons. The influence of this story is exhibited in the great number of written versions of it which are still in existence. But more than that, we can see the actions of this mother, best known as Hannah, being repeated in modern times by Palestinian mothers. The behavior of mothers of martyrs is as powerful a tool as many women have for political action in traditional societies. This essay compares two versions of the story of the Maccabean mother, Fourth Book of the Maccabees and Midrash Rabbah on Lamentations, 1:16,50 with that of the first Islamic mother of martyrs, al-Khansa, to illustrate the characteristics of the role of the mother of martyrs and the roots of the Palestinian institution in Judeo-Muslim antecedents.     

The History of Family Therapy in South Africa

The history of family therapy in South Africa is presented from 1960 up to the present. The early days leading to the establishment of the South African Association of Marital and Family Therapy, national conferences, publications, national and international links are discussed.     

Mementos and the endowment effect

This research provides evidence for a new moderator of the endowment effect: having a memento of the endowed object. Three studies adapting classic endowment effect paradigms and using a variety of endowment objects and mementos demonstrate that having a memento of an endowment increases willingness to trade the endowment and decreases selling prices for the endowment. We provide evidence that mementos attenuate the endowment effect regardless of whether the memento is a separate small gain when facing the loss of the endowment or a small part of the original endowment that is kept. Examining mementos in context of the endowment effect not only provides insight into the psychology underlying the reluctance to part with one's endowment but also other consumer disposition behaviors.     

Measuring the Dimensions of Women's Sexuality: The Women's Sexual Self-Concept Scale

The sexual self-concept is an important component of the self-concept that researchers have rarely examined. The Women's Sexual Self-Concept Scale (WSSCS) is a 39-item measure designed to assess women's sexual self-concept. Women rate the extent to which various behaviors, cognitions, emotions, and adjectives describe their sexuality. In a study with 262 women, the measure was found to be both reliable and valid. Three factors were identified through exploratory Principal Components Analysis. Women rated themselves highest on the Reserved Approach subscale, followed by the Agentic Sexuality subscale, and the Negative Associations subscale. Compared to a stereotype of women's sexuality (obtained with a mixed-gender group of 444 participants), the women in the present study rated themselves higher on the Reserved Approach subscale and lower on the Negative Associations subscale. Group differences in women's sexual self-concepts were identified by past xinvolvement in romantic or sexual relationships, and current sexual involvement.     

Cooperation in Turbulent Times: Strategies of Jews and Muslims in Amsterdam

Relations between Jews and Muslims in Amsterdam grew tense after the conflicts between Gaza and Israel in 2014, the violent attacks on Jewish targets in Brussels (2014), Paris (2015) and Copenhagen (2015) and local incidents of online, verbal and sometimes physical discrimination. Nevertheless, these factors also inspired Jews and Muslims to launch cooperation projects and strengthen the bonds already existing between them. Cooperation in turbulent times is not always easy. The data collected for this research show how Jews and Muslims in cooperation projects use to strategies to solve some of the problems confronting them. The three most widely used strategies that were found are ‘searching for similarities’, ‘decategorizing’ and ‘avoidance’. These strategies do not emerge in a vacuum, however, but at a certain moment in time, in specific fields. Therefore, this article, will describe the usage of the three strategies and explain the interaction between strategies and their contexts.