Context, Cognition, and Communication: Understanding how the Psychology of Location Affects Health and Medical Communication

Prior research reveals that cognition – or how the mind processes information – often guides human behavior in familiar settings (St.Amant, 2018). Such factors can affect the communication practices persons use to convey information about health concepts or medical processes (Hamm, 2003; St.Amant, 2021). The challenge becomes anticipating such connections in order to create texts and visuals audiences can understand and use to meet healthcare needs. This article presents an approach to meeting this need by applying the concept of cognitive scripts to understand and address the communication expectations audiences often associated with health and medical settings. In presenting these ideas, the article begins with an explanation of how cognitive scripts can affect communication processes. From there, the author advocates applying script dynamics to health and medical communication practices. To do so, the author expands upon ideas in the literature on cognitive scripts to create a script-based approach for researching an audience’s expectations of healthcare situations. The author then describes how to apply the information collected from this research to create communication materials audiences can more easily use in healthcare contexts. The result is a three-factor method that focuses on applying cognitive scripts to identify and address an audience’s expectations for healthcare communication in a given context. Readers can then use this approach to design healthcare communication materials that audiences can easily and effectively use.

A Game of Covid: Strategic Thoughts About a Ludified Pandemic

Many aspects of handling the COVID-19 pandemic bear a resemblance to patterns found in games. We observe point displays and leader boards, the visible assumption of roles, classic archetypes, the collection of resources, and spatial awareness. We argue that these patterns manifest spontaneously as a form of analogical reasoning, because people lack cultural and individual norms as well as cognitive scripts for a pandemic. Trying to find systematic similarities between a novel and a familiar situation is an essential cognitive strategy and a cultural tool, resulting in a spontaneous ludification of this crisis. Unfortunately, most institutions, the media and policymakers focus on attributes that are easy to communicate, not on relations and causal chains. This results in shallow analogies, where the mechanisms and dynamics of COVID-19 are not addressed. This can cause a sense of helplessness, where many people remain passive viewers. A pandemic, however, calls for cooperative action of people who understand the relations between different factors and stakeholders in order to mitigate several negative effects linked to such a crisis. We propose a psychologically founded “Strategic gamification” (here in the context of a pandemic), a form of sense-making that builds on spontaneously emerging ludic elements. By extending upon those elements through the lens of game design, we can shape the mechanics, dynamics and esthetics of a serious context in a more meaningful way. The resulting analogies have better predictive power and are suited to utilize positive aspects of gamification like engagement, elaboration and collaboration.

The role of prejudicial stereotypes in the formation of suspicion: An examination of operational procedures in stop and search practices

One of the current and visible controversies in UK policing that challenges the heart and foundation of the principle of law is arguably the apparent disproportionate use of stop and search powers involving ethnic minority communities. Prior research found that differential exposure by the police to certain types of suspected offenders led to the development of cognitive scripts that operate as stereotypes and which may play a role in informing suspicions concerning police stops and searches. Focusing on whether police officers use negative stereotypes to inform suspicions when conducting stops and searches, this study examined more than 2,100 stop and search records held by a police force in England, in addition to conducting 20 semi-structured interviews with frontline serving police officers from the same force. It was found that the use of stop and search powers is consistent with: (a) the use of stereotypes with respect to age, appearance, and social class; and (b) the disproportionate recorded use of stop and search powers involving Black, Asian and Mixed communities. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Before the summit: News media framing, scripts and the flag-raising at Iwo Jima

Drawing upon media framing theory and the concept of cognitive scripts, this article provides a new interpretation of the context in which the famous World War II photograph ‘Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima’ appeared. This interpretation is based primarily on an examination of American newspaper and newsreel coverage from the Pacific island battles prior to Iwo Jima. The coverage – especially the pictorial coverage – often followed a three-step sequence that showed US forces proceeding from a landing to a series of skirmishes, then culminating with a flag-raising image. This created a predictable cognitive script. That script, combined with other framing devices found in the news coverage (such as metaphors and catchphrases), conveyed the misleading message that the Allies’ final victory over Japan was imminent in early 1945. The Iwo Jima photo drove home that message more emphatically than anything else. This circumstance had profound implications for government policy at the time and, in retrospect, it illustrates the potency of media framing – particularly in times of crisis or war.

Cognitive script experiment In the worldview of literary text (based on Douglas Adams’ novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy”)

The article analyses the cognitive mechanisms of interpretation of the literary text viewed in the context of discourse interaction. As the article shows, being the elements of discourse, the cognitive structures determine the procedures of interpretation of the literary text. Viewed from the cognitive aspect, such interpretation consists in constituting new cognitive images in the reader’s mind on the basis of various discourse markers (scientific terms, syntactic patterns, etc.). The article demonstrates on the material of the English language the role of cognitive scripts, belonging to the scientific worldview, in arranging the plot of the literary text. The phenomenon of interpretation finds its manifestation in filling in the slots of the cognitive script in the process of reading the text. Considering the semantic potential of scientific discourse markers, the author reveals the influence of the scientific worldview on the literary world picture. The analysis of text fragments enables the author to conclude that the study of discourse interaction can prove useful in text analysis as it may help revealing the specificity of an author’s idiostyle and a reader’s interpretation of the text.

AXIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVIZATION AS A TOOL OF DISCOURSE CONSTRUCTION

Statement of the problem. The problem of discourse construction with the emphasis on linguistic interactions as tools for solving communicative tasks is in the mainstream of modern linguistics. It involves elaborating methodological concepts that reveal the nature and principles of cognitive management in the discourse space built to reach a communicative goal through creating communicative solidarity. Since discourse construction processes are motivated and shaped primarily by value concepts it is logical to model them in terms of axiological perspectivization. The purpose of the article is to substantiate and exemplify the role of axiological perspectivization as a cognitive operation aimed at winning the addressee’s empathy by activating value concepts that are relevant both culturally and personally. The methodology of the research bases on findings in the spheres of axiology, cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis, pragmatics, strategic communication. The interdisciplinary approach to the study of axiological perspectivization is motivated by the complex nature of the processes involved in discourse construction. Research results. Within the framework of discourse construction, the notions of axiological perspective and axiological perspectivization have been elaborated. The role of these notions as methodological tools for shaping linguistic interactions in view of the communicative goal set by the sender of the message has been substantiated. The axiological perspectivization is modelled as the process of creating an image that activates culture-based value concepts and involves the addressee in the activities planned by the addresser. The contribution of cognitive mechanisms (foregrounding, modalization, positivization, reframing) to the formation and realization of the axiological perspective has been exemplified Conclusions. This study presents a research into the problem of axiological foundations and support systems of discourse construction. Increasingly, the use of value concepts as bulding blocks of axiological perspectivization is a critical factor for positive feedback and, therefore, effective communication. The study widens the range of methodological tools for discourse construction by elaborating the notions of axiological perspective and axiological perspectivization and specifying cognitive mechanisms involved in producing a value-charged effect on the addressee. The process of axiological perspectivization is constituted by cognitive scripts of foregrounding, modalization, positivization and reframing that are represented by functionally appropriate language means including axiologemes, i.e. linguistic signs that incode key values of the society and cultural groups within the society.

The relationship between entrepreneurial cognitions and sustainability orientation: the case of an emerging market

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the cognitive drivers that push entrepreneurs toward sustainable venture creation using entrepreneurial cognitive scripts. In particular, this study tests the relationship between entrepreneurial cognitive scripts and sustainability orientation among entrepreneurs in an emerging economy to understand whether entrepreneurial cognitive scripts act as a driver toward sustainability. Design/methodology/approach A primary research study was conducted using a structured questionnaire among 351 sample respondents, of which 54% labeled themselves as entrepreneurs and 46% labeled themselves as traditional business people, business students or non-entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs represented more than ten different industries such as agriculture, food and beverage, education, technology and entertainment. Findings The findings of this study highlighted a negative relationship between entrepreneurial cognitions and sustainability orientation as hypothesized. Additionally, non-entrepreneurs were found to be more sustainability-oriented, whereas entrepreneurs with high levels of cognitive scripts were found less concerned about sustainability issues. Research limitations/implications This study has a geographic limitation as it has been conducted in a developing country, which is Egypt. Accordingly, the results should be generalized with caution to other developing nations. Practical implications This study shows the importance of sustainable entrepreneurship education as an important part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The study sheds the light on the different stakeholders that are responsible for raising awareness about the importance of sustainability in developing countries. Originality/value This study empirically validates the relationship between entrepreneurial cognitive scripts and sustainability orientation among several industries in a developing country. The study has also a novel contribution in validating that non-entrepreneurs can enjoy entrepreneurial cognitive scripts without the necessity of starting their ventures.

A Game of COVID. Ludification as a Way to Make Sense of a Pandemic

Many aspects of handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Western countries bear resemblance to game-design patterns like point displays and leader boards, the visible assumption of roles, classic archetypes, collection and hoarding of resources, and spatial awareness. We argue that these patterns emerge as people lack cultural and individual norms and cognitive scripts to handle a pandemic, in contrast to other catastrophic events like wars and major economic crises. Understanding this spontaneous ludification of a serious and complex situation in terms of Johan Huizinga's homo ludens can raise awareness for possible failings in dealing with COVID-19. It also has the potential to strengthen people's motivation for cooperative effort.