Case study: Examining the relationship between self-initiations of an individual with disabilities and directive behavior of staff persons in a residential setting

This case study examines the relationship between self-initiations of an adult woman with severe disabilities and the directive behavior of staff persons in a community residential setting. Hypotheses generated from functional assessment procedures indicated that (a) Susan's low self-initiations were very likely related to high directive behavior of staff persons, and (b) infrequent problem behaviors during the morning routine were maintained by escape from repeated staff demands. An intervention was implemented to enable Susan to increase self-initiation in choice and sequence of activities and simultaneously decrease staff directives. Results and discussion focus on the need for a contextual approach for addressing problematic situations and an affirmation of the effectiveness of the positive behavioral support technology for increasing adaptive behaviors in individuals with severe disabilities.     

Word Order Typology Interacts With Linguistic Complexity: A Cross-Linguistic Corpus Study

Much previous work has suggested that word order preferences across languages can be explained by the dependency distance minimization constraint (Ferrer-i Cancho, 2008, 2015; Hawkins, 1994). Consistent with this claim, corpus studies have shown that the average distance between a head (e.g., verb) and its dependent (e.g., noun) tends to be short cross-linguistically (Ferrer-i Cancho, 2014; Futrell, Mahowald, & Gibson, 2015; Liu, Xu, & Liang, 2017). This implies that on average languages avoid inefficient or complex structures for simpler structures. But a number of studies in psycholinguistics (Konieczny, 2000; Levy & Keller, 2013; Vasishth, Suckow, Lewis, & Kern, 2010) show that the comprehension system can adapt to the typological properties of a language, for example, verb-final order, leading to more complex structures, for example, having longer linear distance between a head and its dependent. In this paper, we conduct a corpus study for a group of 38 languages, which were either Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) or Subject–Object–Verb (SOV), in order to investigate the role of word order typology in determining syntactic complexity. We present results aggregated across all dependency types, as well as for specific verbal (objects, indirect objects, and adjuncts) and nonverbal (nominal, adjectival, and adverbial) dependencies. The results suggest that dependency distance in a language is determined by the default word order of a language, and crucially, the direction of a dependency (whether the head precedes the dependent or follows it; e.g., whether the noun precedes the verb or follows it). Particularly we show that in SOV languages (e.g., Hindi, Korean) as well as SVO languages (e.g., English, Spanish), longer linear distance (measured as number of words) between head and dependent arises in structures when they mirror the default word order of the language. In addition to showing results on linear distance, we also investigate the influence of word order typology on hierarchical distance (HD; measured as number of heads between head and dependent). The results for HD are similar to that of linear distance. At the same time, in comparison to linear distance, the influence of adaptability on HD seems less strong. In particular, the results show that most languages tend to avoid greater structural depth. Together, these results show evidence for “limited adaptability” to the default word order preferences in a language. Our results support a large body of work in the processing literature that highlights the importance of linguistic exposure and its interaction with working memory constraints in determining sentence complexity. Our results also point to the possible role of other factors such as the morphological richness of a language and a multifactor account of sentence complexity remains a promising area for future investigation.     

The direct and interactive effects of store‐level promotions on impulse purchase: Moderating impact of category familiarity and normative influences

Marketing literature conceptually and empirically establishes the direct effects of different variables on impulse purchase. However, the simultaneous interactions between variables influencing impulse purchase are yet to be studied. This paper measures the direct effects of store‐level promotions, brand equity, and price consciousness and also examines the interactive effects of store‐level promotions and the moderating influence of category familiarity and normative influences. The results demonstrate the importance of simultaneous examination of interplay between different consumer and store‐level variables. Collectively, the results provide substantial segmentation opportunities for manufacturers of branded goods and retailers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An exploration of the Indian mindset

Eight hundred and twenty-nine adults, drawn from 12 locations in all four parts of India, participated in a study that explored the joint effects of Indians’ discrepant mindset, context sensitivity, and quality of environment on their modes of behavior. Respondents also predicted how a person is likely to change his behavior when the conditions in which he works change from disabling to enabling. The findings showed that the two most dominant modes of behavior-self-serving calculative and achieving high positive goal — coexisted, but were differently caused. Context sensitivity facilitated both modes of behavior; but adequate infrastructure and friendly and helpful people in the neighborhood encouraged only achieving high positive goal behavior. On the contrary, duplicity in professing desirable but acting under realistic compulsions, poor quality of environment, and low levels of development were conducive to self-serving calculative behavior. As a situation changed from disabling to enabling, a person was likely to shift towards more positive behavior.     

Free Will as the Implied Negation of Our Conscious Physical Actions

In this paper, I have explained free will (classical libertarian version) as the implied negation of our conscious physical actions (routine actions). What we come across is liberty, which is purposive. The existence of free will, if possible, can only be traced in those states where our consciousness is in least connection with external world (eg. dreams or above). The spontaneity and absurdity of free will ensures that it will never accompany any purposive action. I have pointed out that it is important to proceed in the inverted direction (from determining free will in mind, to non-moral and then to moral conditions), rather than taking it for granted in morality. I have also tried to give an explanation for the illusion of free will during moral conditions. The major principles which I have used during this conversation are Anomalous Monism (Donald Davidson), Benjamin Libet’s ‘Half-second short delay’, Decision-making theories of Antonio Damasio and Daniel Dennett, Patricia Churchland’s notion of ‘Self-control’, Frankfurt’s ‘Theory of the Hierarchy of desires’ and occasional references to Freud’s and Jung’s psychoanalytic concepts, and Advaita Vedanta’s ‘states of consciousness’, etc.

     

Assessing emotional processing difficulties in normotensive individuals with high and isolated blood pressure elevations

This study examined the effect of sense modality (auditory/visual) on emotional dampening (reduced responsiveness to emotions with elevation in blood pressure). Fifty‐six normotensive participants were assessed on tasks requiring labelling and matching of emotions in faces and voices. Based on median split of systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP and DBP, respectively), participants were divided into low BP, high BP and isolated BP groups. On emotion‐labelling tasks, analysis revealed reduced emotion recognition in the high BP than the low BP group. On emotion‐matching tasks, reduced emotion recognition was noted in high and also isolated BP group as compared to low BP group for the task that required matching a visual target with one of the four auditory distractors. Our findings show for the first time that even isolated elevations in either SBP or DBP may result in emotional dampening. Furthermore, the study highlights that the emotional dampening effect generalises to explicit processing (labelling) of emotional information in both faces and voices—and that these effects tentatively occur during more pragmatic and covert (matching) emotion recognition processes too. These findings require replication in clinical hypertensives.