Conceptual Structure and the Emergence of the Language Faculty: Much Ado about Knotting

Abstract

One perspective in contemporary linguistic theory defends the idea that the language faculty may result from the combinations of diverse systems and principles. As a case study, I critique a recent proposal by Juan Uriagereka and colleagues according to which the evolutionary emergence of the language faculty can be identified through studying the computational structure of knots as present within the fossil record. I here argue that the ability to conceptualize and, thereby, create knots is not parasitic on the ability to conceptualize and create language. On the contrary, these two domains are entirely distinct, unrelatable in terms of their computational complexity, expressive power or, most importantly, in terms of their requisite mental operations and principles. The overall approach defended here can profitably be employed in the study of the relationship between language and thought, as I briefly discuss in the case of the role of language in spatial reorientation.     

Memory for Frequency of Bizarre and Common Stimuli: Limitations of the Automaticity Hypothesis

In 2 experiments, the influence of intention to process frequency on accuracy of memory for frequency of bizarre and common sentences was investigated. The results from multiple regression analyses indicated that intentional processing increased the accuracy of frequency judgments when memory for frequency was tested after a 2-min (Experiment 1) and after a 48-hr (Experiment 2) retention interval. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 indicated that unintentional processors tended to overestimate frequencies of bizarre relative to common items after a delay. The implications of the results are discussed with regard to L. Hasher and R. T. Zacks's (1984) automaticity hypothesis, human performance, and the accuracy of judgments of frequency of occurrence of unusual events.     

Foundations of Educational Psychology: Howard Gardner's Neoclassical Psyche

This article is a theoretical examination of the implications of Howard Gardner's work in developmental and educational psychology (1983, 1993, 1999a, 1999b) for the structure of the psyche. The author accepts as axiomatic, in the context of this article, Gardner's educational manifesto (1999a) that all students should be taught disciplinary understandings of truth, beauty, and goodness. Rational inferences are then made indicating that the psyche that Gardner intends to educate and help develop is in the form of a neoclassical psyche and that it is structured by the capacities to know truth, to love beauty, and to will goodness.     

The factor structure and composite reliability of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale among ex-prisoners

The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure and composite reliability of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) using a sample of 669 ex-prisoners identified in the National Survey of American Life. Six distinct factor models, with uncorrelated measurement error terms, were specified and tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results indicated that the two-factor model consisting of positive and negative latent variables provided a better fit to the data than the alternative models. Moreover, only positive self-esteem was a significant predictor of recidivism. Composite reliability indicated that the two factors were measured with very good reliability. The results consequently provide additional support for a two-dimensional model of the RSES within offender populations.     

The synergetic principles of nonlinear thinking

In order to develop further the methods of scenario building and to facilitate the paths towards a desirable and sustainable future, we cannot do without a nonlinear evolutionary thinking. The theory of self‐organization of complex systems, called also synergetics, is a scientific basis for such a thinking, the main principles of which are under consideration in the paper. Synergetics provides us with the knowledge of constructive principles of coevolution of complex social systems, coevolution of countries and geopolitical regions being at different stages of development, integration of the East and the West, the North and the South.     

Deep structure,cognition and rebirth: Propositions for viability and vitality in human systems

This paper describes systems dynamics related to deep structure and development processes in human systems, to the process of arresting entropy or premature death in these systems and to the relationship between the cognition of deep structure, its outward manifestation and human systems viability and vitality. The paper proposes that inherent forces are present in systems that act to bring about alignment between inner deep structure and a system's manifested outer structures and processes, thereby enhancing viability and vitality. Deep structure is seen as a force toward self‐organization and rebirth.     

Resistance to a dynamic world view

The fact that people think is taken for granted. How we go about the thinking process is seldom reflected upon by the individual. In order to be able to grasp complex phenomena, and changing and interdependent relationships students participating in a systems course are required to become aware of their way of performing the thinking process. In discussions with them and based on ‘soft analysis’ it seems that there is resistance to a dynamic, multilevelled thinking process due to habits acquired at school, or perhaps even at an earlier age. The personality structure, and a coherent experience of a complete ‘self’ seems to enhance mental mobility, and the possibility of developing a dynamic world view.     

Introduction to the Meta-Structures Project: Prospective Applications

This research project proposes the modeling of collective behaviors such as flocks, industrial districts, and markets. Unlike many other approaches, the aim is to identify ways to recognize, change, and maintain the coherence of collective behaviors, as well as inducing their emergence in configurations of elements that only interact without acquiring properties. The basic assumption is that currently collective behavior is not adequately modeled for the purpose described above when intended as given by sequences of states adopted by the same system over time. Here the sequence of states of a collective behavior in time is considered as corresponding to sequences of different states adopted by systems made up of the same elements interacting with different structures. Sequences of structures are considered to establish meta-structures and their properties correspond to the coherence acquired. The project is based on the use of mesoscopic variables to represent such structural dynamics considered in turn to represent the continuous emergence of coherent collective behavior. Mesoscopic variables are specified and their properties considered as meta-structural properties (properties of sequences of structures). The purpose of this research project is to search for meta-structural properties within processes of computational emergence (computer simulated). I discuss the problem of prescribing meta-structural properties to non-coherent, disordered collective behaviors. I introduce possible approaches for applications to social systems.     

Ambivalence,prejudice and negative behavioural tendencies towards out-groups: The moderating role of attitude basis

Two experiments explored the relations between prejudice (suppression), (cognitive) ambivalence and negative behavioural tendencies towards out-groups. The current work argues that expressing out-group ambivalence based on cognitive, but not affective, information is a strategy to justify one's otherwise suppressed prejudice, which may ultimately “cover” the discriminatory nature of out-group-directed negative behavioural tendencies. Two experiments show that (1) participants evaluating the out-group in a normative context inducing prejudice suppression are more likely to self-report ambivalent beliefs rather than ambivalent emotions concerning the out-group as compared with participants whose prejudice expression is induced and (2) high-prejudice participants compared with low-prejudice participants are more prone to out-group-directed negative behavioural tendencies when these latter are self-reported after the expression of ambivalent beliefs but not ambivalent emotions concerning the out-group, and when the expression of their prejudicial evaluations is salient but not when it is not. In light of the extent to which ambivalent attitudes towards out-groups are often seamlessly integrated into public discourse, the implications of the findings are discussed not only for intergroup research but also at the societal level.     

Correcting Big Five Personality Measurements for Acquiescence: An 18‐Country Cross‐Cultural Study

For groups of persons with low or medium levels of education, Big Five personality scales typically yield scores that poorly replicate the idealized Big Five factor pattern. On the basis of representative samples of German adults, Rammstedt et al. have demonstrated that correcting each person's score for acquiescence eliminates this problem. In the present 18‐country study using large samples representative of each country's adult population, we found that, in all cases, correcting for acquiescence did indeed improve the congruence of factor loadings with an idealized Big Five pattern. However, although this correction led to acceptably high correspondence levels in all countries classified as individualistic, this was not always true for non‐individualistic countries. Possible reasons for this finding are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.