From Neural Synapses to Culture-Historical Boundaries: An Archaeological Comment on the Plastic Mind

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 415-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Løvschal
Keyword(s):  
Social Perception ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Historical Times ◽  
Cultural Incorporation ◽  
The Mind

This paper contributes with a study of how something that is initially introduced as a ‘technology of spatial distribution’ develops into a ‘technology of the mind’. Boundaries are a phenomenon deeply rooted in social perception and cognitive categorization, which also involves material processes that can sometimes be studied in an archaeological record. In later prehistory, the physical instantiation of this technology offered a solution to a wide range of economic and social problems, posed by an increasingly filled-in and more permanently settled landscape. Important aspects of its initial conceptual and cultural incorporation lasted more than a millennium. However, once this technology attached conceptually as well as culturally, it entailed a quantitative acceleration and became part of a long-term development, the social and juridical consequences of which can be traced far up in historical times. This case is used to discuss the importance of unfolding both the plastic aspects of human cognition and the slow, protracted and long-term aspects involved in cultural changes.

Ornamental Feathers without Mentalism: A Radical Enactive View on Neanderthal Body Adornment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duilio Garofoli
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Perception ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Symbolic Interpretation ◽  
Body Adornment ◽  
Term Maintenance ◽  
Representational Level ◽  
Direct Social Perception

Evidence of feather extraction from scavenging birds by late Neanderthal populations, supposedly for ornamental reasons, has been recently used to bolster the case for Neanderthal symbolism and cognitive equivalence with modern humans. This argument resonates with the idea that the production and long-term maintenance of body ornaments necessarily require a cluster of abilities defined here as the material symbolism package. This implies the construction of abstract meanings, which are then mentally imposed to artifacts and socially shared through full-blown mindreading, assisted by a meta-representational language. However, a set of radical enactive abilities, mainly direct social perception and situated concepts, is sufficient to explain the emergence of ornamental feathers without necessarily involving the material symbolism package. The embodied social structure created by body ornaments, augmented through behavioral-contextual narratives, suffices to explain even the long-term maintenance of this practice without mentalism. Costly neurocentric assumptions conceiving the material symbolism package as a homuncular adaptation are eschewed by applying a non-symbolic interpretation of feathers as cognitive scaffolds. It will be concluded that the presence of body adornment traditions in the Neanderthal archaeological record does not warrant the cognitive equivalence with modern humans, for it does not constrain a meta-representational level of meaning.

The Texture of the Lexicon

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Jackendoff ◽  
Jenny Audring
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Parallel Architecture ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Morphological Theory ◽  
Language Capacity ◽  
The Mind

The Texture of the Lexicon explores three interwoven themes: a morphological theory, the structure of the lexicon, and an integrated account of the language capacity and its place in the mind. These themes together constitute the theory of Relational Morphology (RM), extending the Parallel Architecture of Jackendoff’s groundbreaking Foundations of Language. Part I (chapters 1–3) situates morphology in the architecture of the language faculty, and introduces a novel formalism that unifies the treatment of morphological patterns, from totally productive to highly marginal. Two major points emerge. First, traditional word formation rules and realization rules should be replaced by declarative schemas, formulated in the same terms as words. Hence the grammar should really be thought of as part of the lexicon. Second, the traditional emphasis on productive patterns, to the detriment of nonproductive patterns, is misguided; linguistic theory can and should encompass them both. Part II (chapters 4–6) puts the theory to the test, applying it to a wide range of familiar and less familiar morphological phenomena. Part III (chapters 7–9) connects RM with language processing, language acquisition, and a broad selection of linguistic and nonlinguistic phenomena beyond morphology. The framework is therefore attractive not only for its ability to account insightfully for morphological phenomena, but equally for its contribution to the integration of linguistic theory, psycholinguistics, and human cognition.

scholarly journals Counting Couples: The Marriage Banns Registers of the City of Amsterdam, 1580–1810

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-45
Author(s):  
René van Weeren ◽  
Tine De Moor
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Marriage Patterns ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Citizen Science Project ◽  
The City ◽  
Status Of Women

Abstract Marriage is generally regarded as a decisive moment in the life course of individuals. As the social, but also the legal status of women and men changes as soon as they enter marriage and – by extension – their preceding wedding engagement, registers are and were being kept to record this life event in most societies. The difficulty in studying the long-term development of marriage patterns is the need for, among other things, detailed information about the marriage formation process. Most of the research on marriage patterns is based on a limited amount of data. Data either cover only a limited period (at most several consecutive decades), a limited number of variables, a relatively small number of marriages, and/or a relatively small town or region. The Amsterdam marriage banns registers are an exception to the above, in terms of content, focus area, and volume. In this article, we present the dataset results of the Citizen Science project ‘Ja, ik wil!’ [‘Yes, I do!’], involving over 500 participants retrieving a wide range of socio-economic data on over 94,000 couples from the rich source of the historical Amsterdam marriage banns registers, covering every fifth year between 1580 and 1810.

scholarly journals Epistemological implications of neuroarchitecture

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-156
Author(s):  
Hana Samaržija
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
The Social ◽  
Aesthetic Autonomy ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
The Mind

This article will attempt to explain how the spatial characteristics of built environments affect both the cognitive processes of producing knowledge and the epistemic quality of other doxastic states. Recent discussions in philosophy and the social sciences have been vocal about the changing dynamics of contemporary life. As clouded boundaries between labor and leisure make individuals spend most of their time in built environments, personal experiences of space, buildings, and interiors are becoming a decisive factor in self-perception and cognition. These circumstances have encouraged the advent of a new scientific field: neuro-architecture, a branch of functional design supported by neurological brain scanning technologies and the concept of neuroplasticity, the brain's capacity to change its structure along our behavior and surroundings. After articulating neuro-architecture's ambition to define spaces most suitable for promoting positive emotions, good health, and intellectual agility, the article will critically assess its epistemological implications and its potentially unfavorable impact on architectural aesthetic autonomy. This intrusion of natural sciences into the ostensibly artistic domain of architecture bears certain similarities to the tension between traditional analytic philosophy - which was preoccupied with idealized models of intellectual practices and mental processes - and scientific insights into human cognition, perhaps best illustrated by the mind-brain identity theory.

The rhetorical neuroscience of style: On the primacy of style elements during literary discourse processing

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Burke
Keyword(s):  
Literary Texts ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Storage And Retrieval ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cognitive Neurosciences ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
Behavioural Experiments ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractMuch work has been conducted in the social psychological sciences both modelling and predicting how the storage and retrieval of images and words in the mind operate (e.g. Baddeley 1974, 2000, Damasio 1999, Barsalou 1999). The focus has largely been on the interactions between short-term and long-term regions of memory. Such studies have also on occasion been complemented by behavioural experiments. More recently, a growing body of work has started to emerge from the biological cognitive neurosciences which looks at these same processes with the aid of scanning technologies (e.g. Dehaene 2003, 2009, Ledoux 1998, Eichenbaum 2011). The questions that will be considered in this paper are can these scientific findings be extended to aesthetic objects that are studied in the humanities, and in particular to the style of literary texts, and also can the way literary style figures operate shed light on how the mind and brain might function.

scholarly journals Changing Dynamics Of Gendered Livelihoods Practices In Post Crises Of Swat Northwest Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor Elahi
Keyword(s):  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Social ◽  
Swat Valley

This research attempts to focus on the changing dynamics of livelihoods practices among gender, and how conflict and flood crises (2005-2010) effected the various needs of livelihoods of the social classes in Swat valley of northwest Pakistan. Qualitative methods; formal/informal interviews, focus groups discussion, key informant interviews and participant observation, were used to explore the dynamics of changes in occupations, household dependency and those factors which influenced the changes accessing livelihood resources. The paper revealed that those households depending agriculture, small business and labour in market have been highly affected during conflict and flood crises in comparison to those households who were depending on remittances, public and private jobs and skilled works. The study found that the livelihood dependency of the households in all villages was based on agricultural and natural resources, which has changed to market and jobs based oriented resources. The factors like economic development, migration, conflict and displacement, and post conflict development have created diverse opportunities of livelihood resources for men and women, which brought social and cultural changes in the livelihood practices between genders at household level. The research emphasizes on the long-term livelihoods strategies and gendered equal opportunity policies by government and NGOs after the crises, which may improve the social statuses of the men and women.

School bullying: its nature and ecology

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy L. Espelage ◽  
Lisa De La Rue
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Peer Victimization ◽  
Prevention Programs ◽  
School Bullying ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Short And Long Term

Abstract Background: Recent youth suicides only highlight a persistent problem in schools – bullying and sustained peer victimization. Being a target or victim of bullying has long been recognized has having short- and long-term psychological effects on children and adolescents across the world today. School bullying is one of the most significant public health concerns facing children and adolescents. Objective: Involvement in the social phenomena of school bullying is often explained as emerging from a wide range of risk and protective factors within the social-ecology of youth. The social-ecological model posits that bullying behaviors are shaped by various interrelated contexts including individual characteristics, family, peers and the school environment. Methods: Research is reviewed to highlight the correlates of bullying involvement across these context using social-ecological and social-learning frameworks. Meta-analytic studies are reviewed on the short- and long-term impact of bullying involvement and efficacy of bullying prevention programs. Specific recommendations for prevention planning and future research efforts are provided. Conclusions: Bullying is a multi-faceted issue, which is best understood in the larger social context in which it occurs. Individual characteristics of students contribute to bullying involve­ment when students have families that promote violence, teachers that ignore or dismiss bullying, schools that have negative climates and students who socialize with friends who bully. These social contexts need to be targeted in bully prevention programs to reduce bullying and peer victimization in schools.

scholarly journals Ateizm i dyskryminacja w obliczu współczesnych zmian na świecie

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Urszula Łopuszańska ◽  
Adrianna Zacharska ◽  
Patrycja Gierszon ◽  
Marzena Samardakiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Social Perception ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Challenge ◽  
The Face ◽  
New Social Movement ◽  
New Atheism

The aim of this article is to present the situation of atheists around the world in the face of political and cultural changes in the world due to the increase in religious radicalism, particularly Islamic one, migration and terrorism. The article is of an illustrative character and presents the review of English literature in the scope of the discussed subject matter. Furthermore, the results of the latest global reports on prevalence of atheism in the world and the phenomenon of discrimination against persons not identifying with any faith: atheists, humanists or freethinkers were presented. The results of the selected, recent studies on the social perception of atheists and the phenomena of discrimination against them were shown. Another raised issue was the new social movement called New Atheism widespread mainly in the countries of the Western culture that in the future can constitute a new social and political challenge.

scholarly journals Changing Dynamics Of Gendered Livelihoods Practices In Post Crises Of Swat Northwest Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
Noor Elahi
Keyword(s):  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Social ◽  
Swat Valley

This research attempts to focus on the changing dynamics of livelihoods practices among gender, and how conflict and flood crises (2005-2010) effected the various needs of livelihoods of the social classes in Swat valley of northwest Pakistan. Qualitative methods; formal/informal interviews, focus groups discussion, key informant interviews and participant observation, were used to explore the dynamics of changes in occupations, household dependency and those factors which influenced the changes accessing livelihood resources. The paper revealed that those households depending agriculture, small business and labour in market have been highly affected during conflict and flood crises in comparison to those households who were depending on remittances, public and private jobs and skilled works. The study found that the livelihood dependency of the households in all villages was based on agricultural and natural resources, which has changed to market and jobs based oriented resources. The factors like economic development, migration, conflict and displacement, and post conflict development have created diverse opportunities of livelihood resources for men and women, which brought social and cultural changes in the livelihood practices between genders at household level. The research emphasizes on the long-term livelihoods strategies and gendered equal opportunity policies by government and NGOs after the crises, which may improve the social statuses of the men and women.

Individualising care. The transformation of personal support in old age

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL D. FINE
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
Stable State ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Personal Support ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
Individualised Care ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACTThis paper considers developments in long-term care that are increasingly focused around the individual. Recent decades have seen massive changes in the way that care is understood and provided. Yet in Australia, as in Europe, North America and Asia, we are still a long way from a stable state of agreed services and provisions. Emphasising the social theory behind the shift, it is argued that understanding the individualisation of care cannot be reduced to a simple dichotomy of good or bad. Individualised care promises much, but the concept is applied to a wide range of phenomena, often in ways that conceal rather than reveal the character of the transactions involved. For individualisation to become meaningful it must be developed as a condition of recognition that is equally applicable to those who provide and those who depend on care. It is also important to distinguish individualised care finance arrangements from real attainments in the practice of providing care. These distinctions are necessary if we are to distinguish its use as an ideological justification for welfare cutbacks and the restructuring of care provisions as markets from the liberating potential that the approach can present when care practices are more truly based around the recognition of the individuals concerned: those who receive and depend on assistance as well as those who provide it.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document