You are what you tweet: Personality expression and perception on Twitter

Microblogging services such as Twitter have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, little is known about how personality is manifested and perceived in microblogs. In this study, we measured the Big Five personality traits of 142 participants and collected their tweets over a 1-month period. Extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and neuroticism were associated with specific linguistic markers, suggesting that personality manifests in microblogs. Meanwhile, eight observers rated the participants’ personality on the basis of their tweets. Results showed that observers relied on specific linguistic cues when making judgments, and could only judge agreeableness and neuroticism accurately. This study provides new empirical evidence of personality expression in naturalistic settings, and points to the potential of utilizing social media for personality research.     

The strategic role of language abstraction in achieving symbolic and practical goals

This article addresses the role of linguistic abstraction in the achievement of symbolic and practical goals. Reviewing evidence from laboratory studies, we first elaborate on the power of language as a means of ingroup enhancement or outgroup derogation under different intergroup conditions. We then report several experimental and archival studies that showed how language serves the achievement of different practical goals such as initiating, maintaining, and ending romantic relations, accounting for individual and group decisions, maintaining or obtaining political and gender power, and persuading others. The analysis of open-ended language measures—which represents a methodological thread of the reviewed studies—shows how language is strategically moulded according to individual and group goals in laboratory as well as in real-life contexts. The implications of the interplay among language, cognition, and action are addressed.     

New Nomenclature for Sexually Abusive Youth: Naming and Assessing Sexually Violent and Predatory Offenders

New nomenclature is presented identifying two subsets of sexually abusive youths currently not defined in the literature or in existing models or risk assessment tools: sexually violent youth (YSV) and predatory sexually violent youth (YPSV). Distinctively and qualitatively different, these youths are more dangerous, manifest higher levels of coercion (e.g., threats of bodily injury, use of weapons), or are predatory sexually violent toward strangers or casual acquaintances. Discussed is the innovative, empirically guided risk assessment tool Multiplex Empirically Guided Inventory of Ecological Aggregates for Assessing Sexually Abusive Children and Adolescents (Ages 19 and Under) (MEGA) (Miccio-Fonseca, 2006a Miccio-Fonseca, L. C. August 2006a. Multiplex Empirically Guided Inventory of Ecological Aggregates for Assessing Sexually Abusive Children and Adolescents (Ages 19 and Under)—MEGA, August, San Diego, CA: Author.  [Google Scholar]) for assessing the level of risk for all youths (male and female) under the age of 19 years, including YSVs and YPSVs.     

On the learnability of frequent and infrequent word orders: An artificial language learning study

Most languages have a basic or “canonical” word order, which determines the relative positions of the subject (S), the verb (V), and the object (O) in a typical declarative sentence. The frequency of occurrence of the six possible word orders among world languages is not distributed uniformly. While SVO and SOV represent around 85% of world languages, orders like VSO (9%) or OSV (0.5%) are much less frequent or extremely rare. One possible explanation for this asymmetry is that biological and cognitive constraints for structured sequence processing make some word orders easier to be processed than others. Therefore, the high frequency of these word orders would be related to their higher learnability. The aim of the present study was to compare the learnability of different word orders between groups of adult subjects. Four artificial languages with different word orders were trained: two frequent (SVO, SOV) and two infrequent (VSO, OSV). In a test stage, subjects were asked to discriminate between new correct sentences and syntax or semantic violations. Higher performance rates and faster responses were observed for more frequent word orders. The results support the hypothesis that more frequent word orders are more easily learned.     

Interaction between creation and appreciation: How linguistic art creation impacts the aesthetic evaluation of haiku poetry and ink paintings

In the psychology of aesthetics, compared with appreciation, there are fewer studies on art creation. This study aims to examine the influence of art creation on appreciation using haiku poetry with reference to the Mirror Model—a process model combining creation and appreciation. Although the model has been primarily used to examine visual arts, we examine its applicability to linguistic arts. In addition, we use ink painting to examine whether a generalisation across artistic genres can occur. The 115 participants were divided into two conditions—creation and control. The former created haiku before and after appreciation, while the latter did not create any haiku. The results showed no improvement in evaluation through creation. Additionally, recognising the difficulty related to creation leads to aesthetic evaluation, and this relationship is mediated by awe. These results expand the existing information regarding the Mirror Model in terms of the different art genres.     

Executive functions and achievements in school: Shifting,updating, inhibition,and working memory

Links have recently been established between measures of educational attainment and both verbal and visuo-spatial aspects of working memory. Relationships have also been identified between specific executive functions—shifting, updating, and inhibition—and scholastic achievement. In the present study, scholastic attainment, shifting, updating, inhibition, and verbal and visuo-spatial working memory were assessed in 11- and 12-year-old children. Exploratory factor analysis identified two executive factors: one associated with updating functions and one associated with inhibition. Updating abilities were closely linked with performance on both verbal and visuo-spatial working memory span tasks. Working memory was closely linked with attainment in English and mathematics, and inhibition was associated with achievement in English, mathematics, and science. Domain-specific associations existed between verbal working memory and attainment in English, and between visuo-spatial working memory and attainment in English, mathematics and science. Implications of the findings for the theoretical analysis of executive functioning, working memory and children's learning are discussed.     

Body ownership and beyond: Connections between cognitive neuroscience and linguistic typology

During the past few decades, two disciplines that rarely come together—namely, cognitive neuroscience and linguistic typology—have been generating remarkably similar results regarding the representational domain of personal possessions. Research in cognitive neuroscience indicates that although the core self is grounded in body ownership, the extended self encompasses a variety of noncorporeal possessions, especially those that play a key role in defining one’s identity. And research in linguistic typology indicates that many languages around the world contain a distinct grammatical construction for encoding what is commonly called “inalienable” possession—a category of owned objects that almost always includes body parts, but that also tends to include several other kinds of personally relevant entities. Both of these independent lines of investigation are summarized, and a number of interdisciplinary connections between them are discussed.     

语素意识对学前儿童言语技能发展的预测作用：追踪研究的证据

为探讨词素意识、同形语素意识和形旁意识等不同层面语素意识对汉语儿童口语词汇、汉字识别和阅读理解能力发展的预测作用,本研究对75名学前儿童进行了一年半的追踪,结果发现:(1)学前儿童的语素意识和言语技能随时间均有显著增长。(2)在控制了因变量的自回归效应后,同形语素意识对一年半后的口语词汇成绩仍有显著的预测作用;词素意识能显著预测一年半后的汉字识别成绩;词素意识和形旁意识是儿童一年半后阅读理解成绩变异的重要解释变量。这表明语素意识对于学前儿童语言技能的发展具有重要的预测作用。     

Becoming an adult: A proposed typology of adult status based on a study of Spanish youths

Emerging adulthood is a transitional period which has been examined in relatively few studies in Southern European countries. This study has two aims: (1) to determine the features of emerging adulthood in Spain based on criteria for adulthood and experiential dimensions; and (2) to explore whether variations in these criteria are related to gender and adult status (self‐classification as an adult and adult role adoption). Participants included 347 young Spanish people, aged 18–30, who completed a questionnaire about their conceptions of adulthood. They used similar criteria for adulthood to other Western countries, placing an extremely strong emphasis on psychological maturity criteria in comparison with role transition indicators. Important variations were observed in both the importance and achievement of criteria for adulthood according to gender and adult status. The results likewise suggest there may be different psychosocial profiles associated with each adult status group. The relevance of this classification to future research in the field of emerging adulthood is discussed.