Showing papers on "Context (language use) published in 1974"

A Theory of Social Interactions

Abstract: This essay incorporates a general treatment of social interactions into the modern theory of consumer demand. Section 1 introduces the topic and explores some of the existing perspectives on social interactions and their importance in the basic structure of wants. In Section 2, various characteristics of different persons are assumed to affect the utility functions of some persons, and the behavioral implications are systematically explored. Section 3 develops further implications and applications in the context of analyzing intra-family relations, charitable behavior, merit goods and multi-persons interactions, and envy and hatred. The variety and significance of these applications is persuasive testimony not only to the importance of social interactions, but also to the feasibility of incorporating them into a rigorous analysis.

On being sane in insane places

Abstract: It is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals. The hospital itself imposes a special environment in which the meanings of behavior can easily be misunderstood. The consequences to patients hospitalized in such an environment-the powerlessness, depersonalization, segregation, mortification, and self-labeling-seem undoubtedly countertherapeutic. I do not, even now, understand this problem well enough to perceive solutions. But two matters seem to have some promise. The first concerns the proliferation of community mental health facilities, of crisis intervention centers, of the human potential movement, and of behavior therapies that, for all of their own problems, tend to avoid psychiatric labels, to focus on specific problems and behaviors, and to retain the individual in a relatively non-pejorative environment. Clearly, to the extent that we refrain from sending the distressed to insane places, our impressions of them are less likely to be distorted. (The risk of distorted perceptions, it seems to me, is always present, since we are much more sensitive to an individual's behaviors and verbalizations than we are to the subtle contextual stimuli that often promote them. At issue here is a matter of magnitude. And, as I have shown, the magnitude of distortion is exceedingly high in the extreme context that is a psychiatric hospital.) The second matter that might prove promising speaks to the need to increase the sensitivity of mental health workers and researchers to the Catch 22 position of psychiatric patients. Simply reading materials in this area will be of help to some such workers and researchers. For others, directly experiencing the impact of psychiatric hospitalization will be of enormous use. Clearly, further research into the social psychology of such total institutions will both facilitate treatment and deepen understanding. I and the other pseudopatients in the psychiatric setting had distinctly negative reactions. We do not pretend to describe the subjective experiences of true patients. Theirs may be different from ours, particularly with the passage of time and the necessary process of adaptation to one's environment. But we can and do speak to the relatively more objective indices of treatment within the hospital. It could be a mistake, and a very unfortunate one, to consider that what happened to us derived from malice or stupidity on the part of the staff. Quite the contrary, our overwhelming impression of them was of people who really cared, who were committed and who were uncommonly intelligent. Where they failed, as they sometimes did painfully, it would be more accurate to attribute those failures to the environment in which they, too, found themselves than to personal callousness. Their perceptions and behavior were controlled by the situation, rather than being motivated by a malicious disposition. In a more benign environment, one that was less attached to global diagnosis, their behaviors and judgments might have been more benign and effective.

Modern social politics in Britain and Sweden;: From relief to income maintenance

Abstract: New Introduction to the ECPR Press edition by Hugh Heclo Preface 1 Politics and Social Policy 2 The Context of Social Policy 3 Support for the Unemployed 4 The Struggle for Old Age Pensions 5 From Pensions to Superannuation 6 Social Policy and Political Learning Epilogue: The Rediscovery of Inequality Works Cited Index

On the structure of speaker–auditor interaction during speaking turns

Abstract: The structure of speaker-auditor interaction during speaking turns was explored, using detailed transcriptions of language, paralanguage, and body-motion behaviors displayed by both participants in dyadic, face-toface conversations. On the basis of certain observed regularities in these behaviors, three signals were hypothesized: (a) a speaker within-turn signal, (b) an auditor back-channel signal, and (c) a speaker continuation signal. These signals were composed of various behaviors in language and in body motion. It was further hypothesized that the display of appropriate ordered sequences of these signals by both participants, served to mark 'units of interaction' during speaking turns. (Conversational analysis; speaking turns; back-channel behaviors; interrelations of verbal and nonverbal behavior; American English (Chicago)). It is axiomatic that language is used within a larger communication context. This context typically includes, among other things, both (a) other behaviors (such as those in paralanguage (Trager 1958) and in body motion) displayed conjointly with language behaviors, and (b) one or more other persons with whom the language user is interacting. It is commonplace to consider language (as that term is traditionally used) to be the province of highly structured, rule-governed phenomena. One might inquire, however, as to the possibility that such structured phenomena might be found to extend beyond the bounds of language proper, to include elements of the larger communication context. This paper reports some findings from a program of research designed to discover elements of structure in the broader communication context, not only in paralanguage and body motion, together with language, but also in the respective behaviors of both participants in dyadic, face-to-face conversations.

Optimal Insurance and Generalized Deductibles

Abstract: This report is intended as a contribution to the theory of demand for insurance. In many circumstances, it appears that, given a range of alternative possible insurance policies, the insured would prefer a policy offering complete coverage beyond a deductible. In an earlier paper (Arrow [1]; reprinted in Arrow [3], pp. 212-216), this argument was developed for the case where the risk being insured against was, effectively, loss of income. Recently, Ehrlich and Becker [4] have extended these results considerably, as well as analyzing other responses of the insured to the price of insurance, responses beyond the scope of this study. For some other related work, see Pashigian, Schkade, and Menefee [8], Smith [12], and Gould [6]. However, income is not the only uncertainty, especially in the context of health insurance, and only under special and unrealistic circumstances can it be held that the other uncertainties have income equivalents. Put loosely, the marginal utility of income will in general d...

Ethnic Competition and Modernization in Contemporary Africa

Abstract: It has been argued that modernization promotes potentially disintegrative forces in developing areas, and in particular, often gives rise to powerful ethnic groupings (for example, see Geertz, 1963; Melson and Wolpe, 1970; Huntington, 1968). In this article, we elaborate this hypothesis in the context of the developing nations of black Africa. We note that important competition can and do covary in contemporary Africa (Morrison and Stevenson, 1972). And we attempt to explain why this should be so.

A propositional theory of recognition memory

Abstract: This paper modifies the Anderson and Bower (1972) theory of recognition memory for words. A propositional representation is outlined for the contextual information underlying word recognition. Logical arguments are offered for preferring this representation over the undifferentiated associative representation used earlier. The propositional representation is used to interpret effects of verbal context upon recognition memory. The implications of these context effects are considered for two-process models of recall and recognition.

The Culture-Free Context of Organization Structure: A Tri-National Comparison

Abstract: In data in standard form on seventy manufacturing organizations in three countries, consistent relationships are found between variables of organization context or `task environment' (size, depende...

Context effects in sentence comprehension: A study of the subjective lexicon.

Abstract: These studies explore the role of context in determining what information about the meanings of words is activated in memory at the time a word is encountered in a sentence. Using a color-naming paradigm, it was shown that both meanings of a word that has two distinct meanings are activated in memory at the time the word is heard in a sentence. This activation occurs even when there is sufficient contextual information to indicate which meaning was intended by the speaker. These results support the hypothesis that there exists in memory an isolable subjective lexicon. They suggest that context which is effective in disambiguating lexical ambiguities in the language has its effect only at a relatively late stage in the cognitive processing involved in language comprehension.

Behavioral technology and behavioral ecology.

Abstract: Applied behavior analysis, as a special case of behavioral technology, is discussed from the standpoint of behavioral ecology. The ecological orientation and its emphasis upon system-like interdependencies among environment, organism, and behavior are presented. The widespread possibilities for unintended effects of simple interventions provide the context for evaluating effective behavioral technology and calling for cooperation between the technologist and ecologist. Such cooperation, in the form of mutual and cooperative research efforts, should come naturally for the technologist and ecologist, because they share some fundamental values and assumptions, and each has much to offer the other. Several areas of such cooperative effort are spelled out.

The young child's development of sentence comprehension: influence of event probability, nonverbal context, syntactic form, and strategies.

Abstract: STROHNER, HANS, and NELSON, KEITH E. The Young Child's Development of Sentence Comprehension: Influence of Event Probability, Nonverbal Context, Syntactic Form, and Strategies. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 567-576. Sentence comprehension by children between 2 and 5 years of age was examined in the first of 2 studies. 3-year-olds consistently applied extrasyntactic strategies resulting in many errors of comprehension, but 5-year-olds typically relied on syntactic information and correctly interpreted sentences. The strategies children used were based either upon event probabilities (e.g., cats often chase mice) or upon the order "actor-action-object" that occurs in active sentences. In the second study, the probability of strategy use was modified through training procedures that paired sentences with certain picture-presentation techniques. Further evidence of the effects of nonverbal context on sentence comprehension was provided by task-related differences in the children's performance.

The potency of context in children's cognition: An illustration through conservation.

Abstract: ROSE, SUSAN A., and BLANK, MARION. The Potency of Context in Children's Cognition: An Illustration through Conservation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 499-502. The present research is concerned with the importance of subtle contextual factors in affecting the young child's performance on cognitive problems. To illustrate this phenomenon, the conservation task was altered to include a 1-judgment version in which the child had to comment on the stimuli only after their rearrangement. This condition was devised because it was hypothesized that the request for 2 judgments-i before and 1 after the rearrangement--is taken by the child as a cue that he should alter his first judgment so as to acknowledge the change he has just witnessed. The results indicated that first-grade children made fewer errors not only on the 1-judgment task itself, but also on a subsequent standard conservation task given 1 week later. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that contextual cues which may be deemed insignificant by the adult may have a strong influence on the child's cognitive performance.

The effects of cocaine on depressed patients.

Abstract: Cocaine, administered orally to patients with endogenous depressive illness, did not consistently affect vital signs or depressive symptomatology, but it did decrease rapid eye movement sleep and total sleep time. When administered intravenously in the context of a therapeutic interview, cocaine caused large, rapid increases in pulse and blood pressure concomitant with profound mobilization of affect and tearfulness. Infusions that caused lesser changes in vital signs were associated with milder degrees of affective change and less dysphoria. Thus, while cocaine was capable of eliciting positive affective change (such as calmness and elation) in depressed patients, affective flooding and dysphoric components were often admixed, indicating that cocaine's effect in this context could not be classified simply as antidepressant.

The honoring of accounts

Abstract: An experiment within a questionnaire was designed to isolate factors that would predict the honoring of accounts. Subjects acted as bystanders and read short vignettes describing an interaction containing an offense by one actor, a demand for an account by the other, and an account by the former. The context and offense, the type of account, and the status relationship between demander and accounter were systematically varied. After reading each vignette, subjects rated the offense, the demand, the account, and the accounter on several dimensions. Factors found to affect the prediction of honoring behavior were: the moral worth of the offender, his penitence, his superior status relative to the demander, and the offensiveness of the violation. Honorability was predicted by moral worth, the offender's personal control over the offense, and the appropriateness of the demand. Differences in the prediction of honoring behavior and honorability were discussed.

Introduction: The Structure of the Academic Professions

Abstract: Because the academic profession (as it is called) holds such a central position in higher education, and because higher education in America today influences behavior and ideas throughout the entire structure of the technocratic culture (Habermas, 1970; Jencks & Riesman, 1968:15-25), the academic profession is an important subject for sociological analysis. This special issue was organized to present new research and to assess the maturity of the field. In order to properly introduce this interesting set of articles they should be set in the larger context of the field as a whole. But this cannot be done; for the sociology of academicians suffers from disorganization. We need to develop a framework which will clarify the nature of these new papers and previous research as well.' Two attributes characterize the disorganization found among the numerous studies of faculty. First, the research is uncoordinated. The absence of references to the work of others, not to mention a scientific spirit of directing one's work towards the cumulation of tested knowledge, bespeaks of egocentrism which has hurt this field as it has others. This fragmented quality forces one to read a number of studies asking different questions in order to gain an overview of even one area.2 The second weakness which keeps the sociology of the academic profession from maturing as a science is the lack of good

Polypeptide influences on attention, memory and anxiety in man.

Abstract: The effects of two polypeptides, ACTH 1–24 and ACTH 4–10 on a variety of bioelectric and behavioral measures of attention, memory and anxiety in human subjects were examined within the context of a disjunctive reaction time paradigm. ACTH 1–24 had no effect on any of the measures involved; ACTH 4–10 , however, served to improve visual memory, decrease anxiety, reinstitute a previously habituated alpha blocking response in the occipital EEG, and generally influence the occipital EEG toward a pattern consistent with increased attention. The results were taken to suggest a direct polypeptide influence on CNS attentional mechanisms.

Phonemic restorations based on subsequent context.

Abstract: Earlier experiments have shown that when one or more speech sounds in a sentence are replaced by a noise meeting certain criteria, the listener mislocalizes the extraneous sound and believes he hears the missing phoneme(s) clearly The present study confirms and extends these earlier reports of phonemic restorations under a variety of novel conditions All stimuli had some of the context necessary for the appropriate phonemic restoration following the missing sound, and all sentences had the missing phoneme deliberately mispronounced before electronic deletion (so that the neighboring phonemes could not provide acoustic cues to aid phonemic restorations) The results are interpreted in terms of mechanisms normally aiding veridical perception of speech and nonspeech sounds

Creative Activities for Young Children

Abstract: This sixth edition text is an activity-oriented approach to encouraging creativity in infants, toddlers, and children to age eight. Activities are presented in a developmental context and support instructor participation.All major topics are covered for early childhood programs and early childhood specialist curriculum programs with focus on art and art related areas, as well as the basic subjects such as creativity in math, language arts, science, social studies, environmental education, and many more.ALSO AVAILABLE INSTUCTOR SUPPLEMENTS CALL CUSTOMER SUPPORT TO ORDERInstructor Manual, ISBN: 0-8273-8364-9

Personal correlates of contrasting environments: Student satisfactions in high school classrooms

Abstract: The relationship o f perceived environment o f the high school classroom to student satisfactions and moods was assessed in two matched samples o f 18 classrooms each. A number o f significant and replicated relationships were found between the perceived environment and various satisfactions and moods. The strongest relationships with student satisfactions and positive student mood involved those classrooms emphasizing personal relationship dimensions and clarity o f rules. The study was conceptualized and discussed in the context o f two central aspects o f community psychology." the assessment of environments and the implications o f such assessments for planning and change.

Relation of wait-time and rewards to the development of language, logic, and fate control: Part II-Rewards

Abstract: In Part I it was shown that by varying the duration of pauses in two locations the length of student statements increased, the number of alternative explanations offered multiplied, and the overall probability of receiving a reply increased. It was noted, as well, that in natural situations where there was a high incidence of teacher sanctioning behavior, regardless of whether it was predominantly positively toned, the verbal performance of students engaged in inquiry appeared to be negatively influenced even when there were reasonable wait-times. That is, even in those rare naturally occurring cases where pauses were longer than the mean of one second, and in experiments where pauses and rewards were independently manipulated if sanctioning behaviors were intense, the positive influence on inquiry of the longer pauses appeared to be somewhat mitigated. It became necessary, then, to study reward patterns in the context of inquiry in order to discover whether, in general, overt verbal rewards which we found occurring with tremendous frequency in natural settings, helped or hindered the progress of student inquiry.

Size contrast as a function of figural similarity.

Abstract: Size contrast occurs in numerous configurations where a test figure appears apparently larger when surrounded by small elements and apparently smaller when surrounded by large elements. Using the Ebbinghaus illusion, the magnitude of this effect is shown to vary as a function of apparent similarity between test and inducing element. It has long been known that estimates of perceptual magnitude are never made in isolation, but rather are made relative to all of the other stimuli which form its context. Thus, a S·ft 10-in. sports announcer looks very short when interviewing a team of basketball players, but very tall when interviewing a group of race horse jockeys. This effect was first introduced by Helmholtz (1866), who noted that clearly perceived sensory differences tend to be exaggerated, a general phenomenon which he called contrast. Thus, the apparent size of the sports announcer is affected by size contrast, which exaggerates his relative tallness or shortness against the surrounding context of athletes. Since Helmholtz introduced the concept, it has been elaborated by Wundt (1894) into the law ofrelativity, and given a quantiative formulation by Helson (1964), in terms of adaptation level theory. The notion that we judge the sensory magnitude of stimuli against the magnitude of the surrounding context of stimuli has been used to explain some varieties of visual illusions. Thus, Fig. 1A shows the Ebbinghaus illusion (frequently called Titchner's circles), in which the central circle surrounded by large inducing elements appears smaller than the central circle surrounded by the small elements. Massaro and Anderson (1971) and Girgus, Coren, and Agdern (1972) have shown that the apparent size of the central test elements varies systematically with the size of the context elements. There is good evidence that such size contrast distortions are due to active comparative judgmental processes. Restle

NBSLD, the computer program for heating and cooling loads in buildings

Abstract: In the late 1960s, under the sponsorship of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Tamami Kusuda began to develop a computer program to help architects and engineers predict the thermal performance of a building. Important enough at the time, this work was to balloon in significance in the context of the energy shortages and rapidly escalating energy prices of the 1970s. The computer program was named the National Bureau of Standards Load Determination (NBSLD) program [1,2]. It combined algorithms for transient conduction in the building structure, solar heat gains and radiant transfer, and convection between building surfaces and the room air to allow the prediction of temperatures and heating and cooling loads under dynamic conditions. Moreover, the algorithms employed in NBSLD were adopted by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) as a recommended procedure for computerized energy calculations. They were presented to the Society in a special publication [3] which was sold for many years.

Context for Learning

Abstract: Academic Language Identify students’ strengths & challenges. List learning opportunities offered by the text type. Articulate importance of challenging terms. Assessment Be prepared to assess productive and receptive modalities. Allow students to show depth of understanding or skill. Adapt or modify assessments for students with special needs. Reflection Rubric Think about what theories and research influence your teaching. Central Focus Create a progression of tasks and assessments to build deep understandings. Content Standards Use the standards to help you identify a central focus. Link the standards, objectives, instruction, activities, and assessments. Planning Rubrics Establish a balanced focus. Make content accessible. Design assessments.

Redistribution with growth : policies to improve income distribution in developing countries in the context of economic growth : a joint study [commissioned] by the World Bank's Development Research Center and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Abstract: Policies to improve income distribution in developing countries in the context of economic growth - a joint study by the World Bank's Development Research Center and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.

Head group modulation of membrane fluidity in sonicated phospholipid dispersions.

Abstract: The mobility of the polar head group, as well as of the hydrocarbon region, of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) molecules arranged in sonicated dispersions is markedly dependent on the charge of the ethanolamine head group: there is more molecular motion when PE is negatively charged than at pD levels where it is zwitterionic. At physiological values of pD, the molecular motions of PE are more restricted than are those of phosphatidylcholine (PC). These results were obtained by preparing, at various pD values, sonicated dispersions of PE, of PC, and of equimolar mixtures of PC and PE, and by studying the proton and phosphorus magnetic resonance spectra of these dispersions. At pD levels below the pK of the head group amine of PE the spectra are broader and of a lower intensity than at pD levels above the pK. In addition, we found that the PE and PC molecules are symmetrically distributed between the inner and outer surface of the single-shelled cosonicated PC:PE vesicles buffered at pD 11.0. This finding was obtained by exploiting the effects of the paramagnetic ions Fe(CN)/sub 6//sup 3 -/ and Mn/sup 2 +/ on the proton and phosphorus magnetic resonance spectra. At the concentrations employed, these ions domore » not permeate the vesicles, thus permitting a distinction between the signals of PE and PC which originate on the outer and on the inner surfaces. The observed bilayer symmetry and head group modulation of the fluidity of sonicated PE and cosonicated PC:PE dispersions are discussed in the context of the structure and fluidity of biological membranes.« less