scholarly journals Does Cognition Still Matter in Ethnobiology?

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ludwig

Ethnobiology has become increasingly concerned with applied and normative questions about biocultural diversity and the livelihoods of local communities. While this development has created new opportunities for connecting ethnobiological research with ecological and social sciences, it also raises questions about the role of cognitive perspectives in current ethnobiology. In fact, there are clear signs of institutional separation as research on folkbiological cognition has increasingly found its home in the cognitive science community, weakening its ties to institutionalized ethnobiology. Rather than accepting this separation as inevitable disciplinary specialization, this short perspective article argues for a systemic perspective that addresses mutual influences and causal entanglement of cognitive and non-cognitive factors in socio-ecological dynamics. Such an integrative perspective requires a new conversation about cognition in ethnobiology beyond traditional polarization around issues of cognitive universals and cultural relativity.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
Charl Wolhuter ◽  
Oxana Chigisheva

The aim of this research, as part of this Special Issue on the thematic and epistemological foci of social science and humanities research emanating in the BRICS countries, is to investigate and to assess the value of such research— firstly, for the BRICS countries mutually, then for the rest of the Global South as well as for the global humanities and social science community at large. The rationale of this research is that the BRICS countries have come to assume a growing gravitas in the world, not only on strength of geography, demography and economy; but also because of the diversity contained in each of these BRICS countries. These diversities offer opportunities to learn a lot from each other, in addition the rest of the gamut of countries in the Global South as well as the nations of the Global North can benefit much from learning from the experience of the BRICS countries. The research commences with a survey of the most compelling societal trends shaping the 21st Century world, which will form the parameters of the context in which scholarship in the social sciences and humanities are destined to be conducted. The state of scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences and the imperatives of context will be the next topic under discussion. Within this landscape, the potential role of research on BRICS soil is then turned to. The BRICS countries are surveyed, then a conclusion is ventured as to their potential as a fountainhead for social sciences and humanities research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Moullin

The importance of "character" or non-cognitive skills to socio-economic success has received much interest from across the social sciences, and in policy. However, there is little clarity as to what the non-cognitive comprises, or how or for whom it contributes to socio-economic outcomes. I consider a range of measures of children’s self-beliefs and behaviors, and of class reproduction, in the British Cohort Study, a representative sample of Britons born in 1970. Model-based factor analysis finds there is no general non-cognitive dimension to skills. Children’s self-concept and teacher-ratings of their self-control form two distinct factors, with the latter in particular closely related to cognitive skill. Natural effect models find self-concept as well as self-control helps account for social immobility, the lower chances of attaining the middle class, and the (higher) professional-managerial class, for those from working-class, and non-elite backgrounds. Much, but not all, of the mediation role of character reflects its association with performance on cognitive tests. Non-cognitive factors thus matter to socio-economic outcomes, but in a way more consistent with Bourdieusian models of cultural capital than with economic conceptions of human capital.


2012 ◽  
pp. 131-154
Author(s):  
Roberto Vignera

Since the earliest phases of its institutionalization, the sociology of health and medicine has played an increasingly central role within the more general context of sociological thinking. Its prospects are further heightened in the context of the current debate on the interactions between the social sciences and fields of knowledge like cognitive science, behavioral genetics, neurosciences, which are becoming more and more closely engaged with the study of Human Social Behavior. This mediation role, however, finds it difficult to manifest itself due to the various theoretical and epistemological inclinations that sociology has relied on to solidify its own identity and stand apart from the formal criteria used in other scholarly contexts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamen Petrov

This article is devoted to the theoretical problems of regional development in the conditions of post COVID-19 management. The text mphasizes the fundamental nature of regional development as a new scientific field, which has its own accumulation of knowledge, based on social sciences and natural sciences. The article focuses on problems with clarifying the place of regional development in post-crisis management. It is accepted that regional development has an important role in managing territorial problems and achieving a pulling development of individual spatial areas. In this direction, the very functional role of regional development brings to the fore the need for targeted measures and policies of a socio-economic nature. Some aspects of the regional development of scientific research are also presented. Emphasis is placed on the connections of regional development with other scientific directions and its role for effective geo-urban development, local self-government and local communities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Chauvin

This paper presents key models and concepts developed in psychology which help to understand the role of human factors in complex systems. It aims to explain their significance for anyone who wants to analyze the role of human factors in maritime accidents. Reason (1990, 1997, 2000) makes a crucial distinction between “active failures” that are made by first-line operators (captain, officers or members of a crew) and “latent failures” that are deeper causes and upstream factors concerning people who are at a distance from the accident. In agreement with this theoretical framework, this paper proposes examining the role of human factors in maritime accidents at three different levels: i) the level of individual – and namely cognitive – factors of first-line operators, ii) the level of social – and namely interpersonal – factors and iii) the level of systemic or organizational factors which correspond to “latent failures”. For each level, the main and recent contributions of the human and social sciences are presented and then used to analyze an emblematic accident.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Zuber ◽  
Matthias Kliegel

Abstract. Prospective Memory (PM; i.e., the ability to remember to perform planned tasks) represents a key proxy of healthy aging, as it relates to older adults’ everyday functioning, autonomy, and personal well-being. The current review illustrates how PM performance develops across the lifespan and how multiple cognitive and non-cognitive factors influence this trajectory. Further, a new, integrative framework is presented, detailing how those processes interplay in retrieving and executing delayed intentions. Specifically, while most previous models have focused on memory processes, the present model focuses on the role of executive functioning in PM and its development across the lifespan. Finally, a practical outlook is presented, suggesting how the current knowledge can be applied in geriatrics and geropsychology to promote healthy aging by maintaining prospective abilities in the elderly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Vivienne Dunstan

McIntyre, in his seminal work on Scottish franchise courts, argues that these courts were in decline in this period, and of little relevance to their local population. 1 But was that really the case? This paper explores that question, using a particularly rich set of local court records. By analysing the functions and significance of one particular court it assesses the role of this one court within its local area, and considers whether it really was in decline at this time, or if it continued to perform a vital role in its local community. The period studied is the mid to late seventeenth century, a period of considerable upheaval in Scottish life, that has attracted considerable attention from scholars, though often less on the experiences of local communities and people.


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