Sex differences in historical knowledge and school grades: a 26 nation study

Sex differences among ninth grade school students in historical knowledge and grades were examined in 29 samples drawn from 26 countries. Boys obtained higher mean scores on the tests of historical knowledge in all samples, while girls obtained better grades in 22 of the samples.     

Georgii Shakhnazarov and the Soviet Critique of Historical Materialism

The emergence of ideological and political pluralism in the Soviet Union during 1990 led to a growing number of critiques of Marxism-Leninism. The development of the internal Soviet critique of orthodox Soviet Marxism-Leninism culminated in the publication of a two-part article by Georgii Shakhnazarov in Kommunist in 1991. In this article Shakhnazarov outlined a comprehensive critique of orthodox historical materialism, and many of the ideas he developed became a central part of the Draft Party Programme of July/August 1991. This programme amounted to the virtual social-democratisation of Soviet Marxism-Leninism. The collapse of Soviet Marxism-Leninism can in part be explained by the internal critique of its basic tenets which developed in the period after 1988.     

Historical Semantic Chaining and Efficient Communication: The Case of Container Names

Semantic categories in the world's languages often reflect a historical process of chaining: A name for one referent is extended to a conceptually related referent, and from there on to other referents, producing a chain of exemplars that all bear the same name. The beginning and end points of such a chain might in principle be rather dissimilar. There is also evidence supporting a contrasting picture: Languages tend to support efficient, informative communication, often through semantic categories in which all exemplars are similar. Here, we explore this tension through computational analyses of existing cross‐language naming and sorting data from the domain of household containers. We find (a) formal evidence for historical semantic chaining, and (b) evidence that systems of categories in this domain nonetheless support near‐optimally efficient communication. Our results demonstrate that semantic chaining is compatible with efficient communication, and they suggest that chaining may be constrained by the functional need for efficient communication.     

A Systematic Review of Trauma Interventions in Native Communities

American Indian/Alaska Native and First Nations communities suffer from health disparities associated with multiple forms of trauma exposure. Culturally appropriate interventions are needed to heal current and historical trauma wounds. Although there are evidence-based trauma interventions for other populations, few have been implemented or evaluated with Native communities. Understanding the extant research on trauma interventions in Native communities is crucial for advancing science and filling gaps in the evidence base, and for meeting the needs of underserved people. In this systematic review of the literature on trauma interventions in Native communities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, we identified 15 studies representing 10 interventions for historical and/or current trauma. These studies involved the community to some extent in developing or culturally adapting the interventions and suggested positive outcomes with regard to historical and interpersonal trauma symptoms. However, notable limitations in study design and research methods limit both internal validity and external validity of these conclusions. Only one study attempted (but did not achieve) a quasi-experimental design, and small sample sizes were persistent limitations across studies. Recommendations for researchers include working in partnership with Native communities to overcome barriers to trauma intervention research and to increase the rigor of the studies so that ongoing efforts to treat trauma can yield publishable data and communities can secure funding for intervention research.     

From steroids to nation states: An integrated evolutionary approach to violent crime

Most evolutionary psychologists emphasize the individual level of analysis concerning violent crime and other dependent variables. This paper outlines a strategy for evolutionary explanation of societal variation across time as well as space and applies it to crimes of violence. The central idea is that individual adaptations for reproductive competition play out differently depending both on developmental context and societal conditions, including the marriage market. Violent crimes (murders, rapes, and assaults) are substantially higher in countries with a relative scarcity of men according to research using INTERPOL and World Health Organization data [Barber, N. (2000a). The sex ratio as a predictor of cross-national variation in violent crime. Cross-Cultural Research, 34, 264–282, Barber, N. (2009). Countries with fewer males have more violent crime: Marriage markets and mating aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 35, 49–56]. This is an apparent contradiction given that males are more criminally violent and likely reflects increased direct mating competition that evokes increased testosterone production for humans as for other species. The empirical evidence is discussed in terms of direct reproductive competition and various alternative explanations, particularly the “culture of violence” and socialization experiences are considered.     

略述刘逢禄对《左传》的攻毁

在刘逢禄之前只有怀疑、否定《左传》的零星论点,还没有形成系统的思想,但这些论点是刘逢禄否定《左传》的先声。刘逢禄在经学史上首次提出了否定《左传》的系统思想:一是说明《左氏春秋》是与《晏子春秋》等类似的史书,从根本上消除《左传》与《春秋》的关联;二是指斥刘歆的作伪,攻击《春秋左传》是经刘歆作伪的产物。此论不免有牵强附会之说,但在清代经学史与后来的文化史上产生了巨大的影响。     

Combinations of tense and deontic modality: On the approach to temporal logic with historical necessity and conditional obligation

We consider three infinite hierarchies of what I call “two-dimensional temporal logics with explicit realization operators”, viz. (i) one without historical or deontic modalities, (ii) one with historical but without deontic modalities, and (iii) one with historical and with dyadic deontic modalities for conditional obligation and permission. Sound and complete axiomatizations are obtained for all three hierarchies relative to a simplified version of the finite co-ordinate-system semantics given for so-called T × W logic of historical necessity in [L. Åqvist, The logic of historical necessity as founded on two-dimensional modal tense logic, J. Philos. Logic 28 (1999) 329–369].     

中学生考试心理问题及其发展的研究

采用《中学生考试心理和行为问题症状自评量表》对重庆市573名中学生进行调查,结果表明：中学生在家庭压力感、自卑、认知问题、强迫、怯场和自责上的平均分相对较高;各学生群体在考试心理问题上的差异,主要体现在年级和学校类型的交互作用上,表现在年级和性别之问。从发展的角度看,中学生考试心理问题各因素都呈现出大致相同的发展趋势,即：高中阶段显著高于初中阶段;而各阶段内发展相对平稳。     

Danto’s Dialectic

Arthur C. Danto’s Analytical Philosophy of History has a Kantian ambition: to state the conditions that make historical knowledge possible and to show “the unhappy destiny” that attends attempts to extend modes of representation beyond these conditions. Even though Danto’s book fails to achieve this ambition, it succeeds in making a number of important—if neglected—suggestions in the course of its attempt. One concerns the significance of the progressive tense for our thinking about human agency. Another concerns the way agency can impact negatively on the possibility of foreknowledge.