During the first two years of human life a common neural substrate underlies the hierarchical organization of elements in the development of speech as well as the capacity to combine objects manually, including tool use. Subsequent cortical differentiation, beginning at age two, creates distinct, relatively modularized capacities for linguistic grammar and more complex combination of objects. An evolutionary homologue of the neural substrate for language production and manual action is hypothesized to have provided a foundation for the evolution of language (...) before the divergence of the hominids and the great apes. Support comes from the discovery of a Broca's area homologue and related neural circuits in contemporary primates. In addition, chimpanzees have an identical constraint on hierarchical complexity in both tool use and symbol combination. Their performance matches that of the two-year-old child who has not yet developed the neural circuits for complex grammar and complex manual combination of objects. (shrink)

The target article presented a model to stimulate further research and ultimately, a more definitive theory of the ontogeny and phylogeny of hierarchically organized sequential activity. Methodologically, it was intended to stimulate methods for integrating data from different neuropsychological techniques. This response to Givon and Swann focuses on several substantive areas: the role of automaticity in hierarchically organized activity and its neural substrate, the neural ontogeny of planning, cognitive and neural architecture for language functions, and the role of environmental input (...) and interaction in the ontogeny and phylogeny of language, tools, and brain. (shrink)

Ronan Reilly's connectionist simulation both strengthens and advances the theoretical model presented in my 1991 target article, “Language, Tools, and Brain: The Ontogeny and Phylogeny of Hierarchically Organized Sequential Behavior.” Reilly has tested the whole ontogenetic model with a single simulation study explicitly planned for this purpose. His methodology has established that the various components of the theoretical model imply and are compatible with one another. It has also indicated how learning can actualize a pre-established ontogenetic sequence of combining lingusitic (...) symbols and objects. His simulation suggests that the acquisition of linguistic speech may be facilitated by experience with object manipulation, but not vice versa. This hypothesis can and should be empirically tested through research on behavioral development in the two domains. Finally, Reilly has simulated brain architecture, as well as neural learning. His simulation therefore shows how the development of language and object manipulation can result from an interaction between preprogrammed neural architecture (analogous to network architecture) and experience (analogous to the network's training cycles). (shrink)

We propose that some aspects of language evolved to fit the brain, whereas other aspects co-evolved with the brain. Cladistic analysis indicates that common basic structures of both action and grammar arose in phylogeny six million years ago and in ontogeny before age two, with a shared prefrontal neural substrate. In contrast, mirror neurons, found in both humans and monkeys, suggest that the neural basis for intersubjectivity evolved before language. Natural selection acts upon genes controlling the neural substrates of these (...) phenotypic language functions. (shrink)

We approach the issue of holophrasis versus compositionality in the emergence of protolanguage by analyzing the earliest combinatorial constructions in child, bonobo, and chimpanzee: messages consisting of one symbol combined with one gesture. Based on evidence from apes learning an interspecies visual communication system and children acquiring a first language, we conclude that the potential to combine two different kinds of semiotic element — deictic and representational — was fundamental to the protolanguage forming the foundation for the earliest human language. (...) This is a form of compositionality, in that each communicative element stands for a single semantic element. The conclusion that human protolanguage was exclusively holophrastic — containing a proposition in a single word — emerges only if one considers the symbol alone, without taking into account the gesture as a second element comprising the total message. (shrink)

During the past four decades, China has gone through rapid urbanization and modernization. As people adapt to dramatic sociodemographic shifts from rural communities to urban centers and as economic level rises, individualistic cultural values in China have increased. Meanwhile, parent and child behavior in early childhood has also evolved accordingly to match a more individualistic society. This mixed-method study investigated how social change in China may have impacted parenting goals and child development in middle childhood, as seen through the eyes (...) of the current generation of mothers. Thirty mothers of fifth-grade elementary school students from Shenzhen, China were recruited and took part in semi-structured interviews. Participants answered questions and provided examples about their children’s life, their own childhood, and the perceived differences between the two generations. Participating mothers were also asked to rate which generation, themselves or their parents, cared more about the childrearing goals of academic competitiveness and socioemotional well-being. Using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, we expected and found an intergenerational increase in the perceived value mothers placed on individualistic traits: current mothers care more about their children’s academic competitiveness, personal happiness, and social adjustment, compared to their experience of their own mothers’ attitudes during their childhood a generation earlier. They also experience conflict between their children’s academic competitiveness and socioemotional well-being. As a function of both urbanization and increased economic means, children’s collectivistic family responsibilities for essential household chores have declined as the importance of schoolwork has increased. (shrink)

We investigated the role of honour concerns in mediating the effect of nationality and gender on the reported intensity of anger and shame in reaction to insult vignettes. Spain, an honour culture, and The Netherlands, where honour is of less central significance, were selected for comparison. A total of 260 (125 Dutch, 135 Spanish) persons participated in the research. Participants completed a measure of honour concerns and answered questions about emotional reactions of anger and shame to vignettes depicting insults in (...) which type of threat was manipulated. It was found that Spanish participants responded especially intensely to insults that threaten family honour, and that this effect of nationality on emotional reactions to threats to family honour was mediated by individual differences in concern for family honour. (shrink)

The Oxford Handbook of Jane Addams is a selective collection of original analyses offered by an international group of social and political theorists who have contributed to the burgeoning field of Addams Studies. This collection pays particular attention to her contributions to scholarly fields of sociology and philosophy as well as to more professional disciplines of public administration and social work. Furthermore, this volume signifies Addams's globalimpact as scholars from all over the world contribute to the tapestry of her intellectual (...) legacy. (shrink)

The first collection devoted to Merleau-Ponty's contributions to our understanding of architecture and place.

This paper describes the semiotic process by which parents, as attachment figures, enable infants to learn to make meaning. It also applies these ideas to psychotherapy, with the therapist functioning as transitional attachment figures to patients where therapy attempts to change semiotic processes that have led to maladaptive behavior. Three types of semiotic processes are described in attachment terminology and these are offered as possible precursors of a neuro-behavioral nosology tying mental illness to adaptation. Non-conscious biosemiotic processes in infant-parent attachment (...) are the basis for early adaptation as well as adaptation or maladaptation in adulthood. Mother-infant interaction can be described as a series of signs, each interpreted so as to dispose the behavior of the other interactant towards the goal of protecting the infant from danger and distress. Regulating arousal, scaffolding infants’ behavior in the infants’ zone of proximal development, and repairing ruptures in the interaction are crucial to infants’ development and adaptation. In semiotic terms, each person activates multiple interpretants to make meaning of sensory stimulation. Non-verbal semiotic synchrony establishes the relationship whereas shared repair of ruptures promotes change. Attachment strategies, as learned adaptations to threat, are neuro-psychological strategies for making meaning of sensory information so as to dispose protective behavior. Type A privileges cognitive-temporal information, Type C affective information, Type B has no bias. Type A and C limit semiotic freedom by using ‘short-cuts’ in processing that produce quick protective behavior in the short-term. Type B includes more representations, and thus more semiotic freedom, resulting in slower responses and long-term flexibility. Attachment strategies function as meta-interpretants for applying one semiotic process to most incoming information about danger. A, B, and C case examples are analyzed in semiotic terms. Psychotherapy can be considered a helping process embedded in a transitional attachment relationship. For psychotherapy to be successful, both somatic stabilization and a therapeutic relationship are needed. Treatment that uses scaffolded semiotic processes in each patient’s ZPD to repair moment-to-moment ruptures holds the potential to reorganize attachment strategies and transfer that potential to reflective language and relationships outside the therapy. The outcome should be greater semiotic freedom such that the individual can trust their own mental processes and use them to establish safe relationships. Language can speed the process, but premature reliance on verbal transformations of non-conscious information can carry misattributions into a second layer of misconstrued meaning and maladaptive behavior. Even when dangerous family relationships and external danger cannot be changed, patients can come to know their own minds and use information to regulate their behavior. The goal of psychotherapy is to free patients from their past by enabling them to be secure about the functioning of their own minds, so that they can both avoid eliciting harm and also establish supportive relationships. (shrink)

This paper argues the case for a renewed interest in Schutz's work by extending his theory of the conscious subject to the feminist concern with the issue of domination. We present a theoretical analysis of the subjective and intersubjective experiences of individuals relating to each other as dominant and subordinate; as our theoretical point of departure we use Schutz's concepts of the we-relation, the assumption of reciprocity of perspectives, typification, working, taken-for-grantedness, and relevance. Schutz's sociology of the conscious subject is (...) striking in its lack of any extended consideration of power, perhaps one reason why support for his work has diminished since the mid-1970s. Our overlayering of feminist sociological theory's interest in domination with Schutz's concerns about subjectivity and intersubjectivity produces an elaboration and a critique of Schutz and expands feminist understanding of relationships of domination. (shrink)

Recent biological studies have wrought a sea-change in our understanding of our intimate relations with the microbiota dwelling within or upon the human body. Since these microorganisms are imperceptible, we have access to them only indirectly, through data analysis, rather than through experiments or tools that enhance human observation. Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of the human subject and our relations with animals depends upon perception in a dynamic of reversibility. Thus both the scientific method of approach and the extension of subjectivity to (...) microbiota challenge his views. Yet, with Merleau-Ponty’s concepts of intertwining and the anonymous visibility that subtends it, we can redefine the human being as a community in kinship with multiple microbial species, sharing space, metabolic functions, and future.Des études biologiques récentes ont provoqué un bouleversement dans notre compréhension de nos relations intimes avec les microbiotes habitant dans ou à la surface du corps humain. Puisque ces micro-organismes sont imperceptibles, nous n’accédons à eux qu’indirectement, par l’analyses des données, plutôt que par l’expérience ou les outils qui renforcent l’observation humaine. La compréhension merleau-pontienne du sujet humain et de nos relations avec les animaux dépend de la dynamique de la réversibilité. Par conséquent, la méthode de saisie scientifique et l’extension de la subjectivité aux microbiotes interrogent et défient sa conception. Cependant, à partir des concepts d’entrelacement et de visibilité anonyme qui le sous-tend, nous pouvons redéfinir l’être humain comme une communauté d’affinités avec de multiples espèces microbiennes, qui partage un espace, des fonctions métaboliques et même un futur.Studi biologici recenti hanno introdotto una profonda trasformazione nella nostra comprensione dell’intima relazione che intratteniamo con i microbiota che dimorano all’interno o sulla superficie del corpo umano. Poiché questi micro-organismi sono impercettibili, abbiamo accesso ad essi solo indirettamente, attraverso l’analisi di dati, oppure attraverso esperimenti o strumenti che accrescano l’osservazione umana. La comprensione di Merleau-Ponty del soggetto umano e della nostra relazione con gli animali si basa sulla percezione in una dinamica di reversibilità. Una simile prospettiva è messa alla prova se confrontata sia con il metodo dell’approccio scientifico, che con una possibile estensione della soggettività ai microbiota. Allo stesso tempo, attraverso il concetto merleau-pontiano di intreccio, e a partire dall’idea di una visibilità anonima che lo sottende, diviene possibile ridefinire la natura umana come una comunità condivisa dalle diverse specie microbiche, in quanto compartecipano degli stessi spazi, funzioni metaboliche e avvenire. (shrink)

This book uses the analogy of three mountains on the horizon that must be traveled in order to explore ethics in relation to student affairs. It contends there are three major approaches to ethics that represent three major approaches to the moral life: (1) principles-based; (2) case-based; and (3) virtues-based. In order to facilitate a person's experiences in using these approaches, an overview is presented, with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches. The chapters refer to an (...) extended case encapsulating the events of a real situation. Chapter One discusses several major approaches to ethics and student affairs administration. Chapter Two presents a single case in depth. In Chapter Three, a summary of major principles-based approaches to ethics is presented. Chapter Four explains the case-based approach to ethics, and how the guiding rules emerge from the facts of the case itself. Another approach to ethics, the virtues-based approach is discussed in Chapter Five. In the virtues-based approach a person asks "What would be correct for me to do in light of my moral character?" The book concludes with Chapter Six, which presents ethics of responsibility as one way to synthesize the various approaches to ethics. The ethics of responsibility draws on the three ethics methods previously discussed, the expressive-collaborative approach, and the contributions of feminism. This information is presented to help people identify which approaches to ethics reflect their personal values, and to articulate the reasons behind this affinity. (Contains 128 references.) (JDM). (shrink)

The Céli Dé monks as we see them in the texts associated with their monasteries had a reputation for extreme asceticism. Following their leader, MáelRúain, who had an especially stern reputation for rigorous observance, they believed heaven had to be earned by saying many prayers, by penitential practices and by intense personal effort and striving on the part of each individual monk. To this end, they engaged in such practices as rigorous fasting, long vigils, confession of sins, strict Sabbath observance (...) and devotional practices involving many prayers. Their view of humanity and of creation generally was negative and they saw God as a stern judge. However, there was another aspect to Céli Dé monasticism which we see in the Félire Óengusso, the metrical martyrology compiled by Óengus the Culdee, a monk of Tallaght. We see from his Félire that he understood holiness as a gift of God’s grace, both for the saints in heaven, whom he describes as ‘radiant’ and ‘shining like the sun’, and for those still on earth, through the mercy and graciousness of God himself. His Félire was compiled as an act of devotion to Jesus and the saints, whom he addresses in terms of great warmth, tenderness and intimacy, in expressions which prefigure the language of the medieval mystics. So by studying the lives of these two monks, MáelRúain and Óengus, his protégée, as case studies, we can see that for the Céli Dé, holiness was less a matter of ‘either asceticism or mysticism’, but rather ‘both and’. (shrink)

Throughout their history, symbolic interactionism and critical perspective have been viewed as divergent theoretical perspectives with different philosophical underpinnings. A review of their historical and philosophical origins reveals both points of divergence and areas of convergence. Their underlying philosophies of science and views of human freedom are different as is their level of focus with symbolic interactionism having a micro perspective and critical perspective using a macro perspective. This micro/macro difference is reflected in the divergence of their major concepts, goals (...) and basic tenets. While their underlying philosophies are different, however, they are not necessarily contradictory and areas of convergence may include the concepts of reference groups and looking glass self within symbolic interactionism and ideological hegemony within critical perspective. By using a pragmatic approach and combining symbolic interactionism and critical perspectives, both micro and macro levels come into focus and strategies for change across individual and societal levels can be developed and applied. Application of both symbolic interactionism and critical perspective to nursing research and scholarship offers exciting new opportunities for theory development and research methodologies. In nursing education, these two perspectives can give students added insight into patients' and families' problems at the micro level while, at the same time, giving them a lens to see and tools to apply to problems at the macro level in health care. In nursing practice, a combined symbolic interactionism/critical perspective approach assists nurses to give high-quality care at the individual level while also working at the macro level to address the manufacturers of illness. New research questions emerge from this combination of perspectives with new possibilities for theory development, a transformation in nursing education, and the potential for new practice strategies that can address individual client and larger system problems through empowerment of clients and nurses. (shrink)

In The Classrooms All Young Children Need, Patricia M. Cooper takes a synoptic view of Paley’s many books and articles, charting the evolution of Paley’s ...

In Deweyan Inquiry: From Education Theory to Practice, James Scott Johnston sets an ambitious and important goal—applying Deweyan inquiry to the problem of teaching children in K-12. He relies primarily on Dewey's (1938) Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, a work seldom applied to educational settings. For this alone Johnston should be applauded.John Dewey (1938) defines inquiry as "the controlled or directed transformation of an indeterminate situation into one that is so determinate in its constituent distinctions and relations as to convert (...) the elements of the original situation into a unified whole" (p.104). From this passage and several others, Johnston distills the distinguishing features of Deweyan inquiry .. (shrink)

ABSTRACTTwo studies examined anger and shame, and their associated appraisals and behavioral intentions, in response to harm to an in-group's social-image. In Study 1, 37 British Muslims reported incidents in which they were devalued as Muslims. In Study 2, 108 British Muslims were presented with objective evidence of their in-group's devaluation: the controversial cartoons about Prophet Muhammad The appraisal of harm to social-image predicted anger and shame, whereas the appraisal of offense only predicted anger. Anger was a more empowering response (...) than shame, as anger predicted willingness for public confrontation, institutional punishment, and written disapproval. In contrast, shame only predicted written disapproval. Furthermore, independent of individual differences in identification as Muslim, a mediation model showed that individual differences in honor orientation pre... (shrink)

“Character counts at Central High” is the message frequently exhibited on the curbside marquee outside our local secondary school. Its meaning, however, is left to interpretation by those who happen to drive by the electronic display. More than likely, the deceptively simple declaration implies that Central's curriculum and associated activities are value laden, that they somehow address the collective and somewhat ambiguous set of traits we label “character.” It is a hopeful message to those who consider forming the character of (...) the country's future workforce and citizenry to be an important goal of schooling. (shrink)