Influence of Behaviourist and Cognitivist Theories in Adult Language Acquisition

Linguistics and psychological schools of thought had a great influence on language acquisition theories It is still under discussion whether second language acquisition is easy or effortless for adults to learn or not. In non-teaching environments, children can learn their native language quickly, whereas adults cannot. Many researchers believe that adults can quickly acquire a second language due to their high level of cognition clear, logical thinking and strong self-observation skills, while some linguistics researchers consider that it is difficult for adults to develop a second-language acquisition. Therefore, this paper explores to what extent the theories of behavioral and cognitive influence adult acquisition in the second language process. This study considered that these theories have highlighted the difference between the way that children and adults learn to the point that adults appear to “lift the bar” unrealistically when they try to learn an additional language. The novelty of this study is in how the analysis gave a new direction for adult language acquisition theorists to guide adults to mimic children’s way of acquisitioning their first language.

Alignment in spatial memory: Encoding of reference frames or of relations?

A common assumption about spatial memory is that it is organized along one or more reference directions such that access to memory is easier along directions aligned with the reference direction(s). This assumption rests to no small part on frequently replicated alignment effects arising in judgment of relative direction. In this contribution, we report an experiment designed to investigate a possible alternative explanation of alignment effects. By contrasting performance in a judgment of relative direction task with performance in an ego perspective taking task, we tested to what extent alignment effects arise from encoding of relations in addition to or instead of from organization along reference directions. Experimental results suggest little if any contribution of relation encoding on alignment effects, thus lending further support to the assumption of reference directions in spatial memory. Data from both tasks yielded the same alignment effects and provided evidence for a single direction being encoded in memory. Moreover, our results shed new light on and raise questions concerning differential sensorimotor and cognitive influence on spatial memory use. While both influence memory use, systematic bias seems to arise solely from reference directions, along which memory is organized.

MEDIA LITERACY TOOLS IN COMBATING DISINFORMATION AND FAKE NEWS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

If mainstream media meant one sender and inordinate receivers, nowadays, new media brought the chance and challenge to have numberless senders and receivers at the same time, in a network of information. Along with polyphonic chunks, inaccurate information penetrates the echo-chambers we create. The danger is that unless timely spotted, it sows disinformation and polarization. The solution resides in media literacy skills, in raising awareness over types of communication products meant for malicious use especially within social media where user generated content contributes to proliferating and spreading the content at incredible speed. The present paper is meant to present ways that help individuals avoid being subject to mal-intended behavioural and cognitive influence.

On Sin and Sacrifice: How Intrinsic Religiosity and Sexual-Guilt Create Support for Martyrdom

The affective, behavioral, and cognitive influence of sexual sin is investigated in this research. In Study 1, we demonstrated that religious people watching erotic (vs. neutral) images reported greater sexual guilt, which in turn increased their willingness to self-sacrifice for a cause. Extending these results, in Study 2 we demonstrated that when recalling a time when they had committed a sexual sin (vs. no sin), people with an intrinsic religious orientation believe in a more punishing view of God (akin to the Old Testament), which in turn predicts the extent to which they engaged in painful sacrificial behavior. Overall, these results suggest that sexual sins motivate self-sacrifice to repent, especially among those with an intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) religious orientation.

Board director disciplinary and cognitive influence on corporate value creation

Purpose This paper aims to investigate board director disciplinary and cognitive influence on corporate value creation. Design/methodology/approach Fixed-effect regressions are used to check whether gender diversity, education, independence and size of the board of directors affect measures of corporate value creation. Findings The empirical results show that corporate value creation is positively influenced by the cross effect of the board independence and the presence of women. They also point out a positive impact of the cross effect of board independence and management education. They reveal that the board of directors contributes significantly to corporate value creation, particularly when there is a mix of independent, female and management-qualified directors. Originality/value The evidence presented and discussed in this paper should be of interest to managers and regulators. The methodological approach and the empirical results extend the existing literature. They enrich the limited empirical research devoted to this theme, especially in a continental European context, i.e. France. They shed light on the effect of board of directors’ disciplinary and cognitive influence on corporate value creation.