bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Culture and the Evolution of Human Sociality
Authors: Mesoudi Alex , Jensen Keith 
Published: February 2013

AbstractCompared to other species, humans are unusual in both our capacity for extensive and cumulative culture and our large, non-kin-based cooperative societies. In this chapter we review recent theories that draw links between these two unusual traits. Theories of indirect reciprocity posit that language allows cooperation to be maintained in human groups through the formation of reputations, and cooperation can also be maintained through altruistic or third-party punishment of noncooperators. The theory of cultural group selection holds that cooperative tendencies arose as a result of competition between internally cohesive cultural groups in human prehistory. We also discuss the role of social emotions in maintaining cooperative societies. Finally, we review recent work that suggests that population size can set limits on the degree of cultural complexity that can be maintained, suggesting a two-way interaction between culture and sociality.
Evolutionary Perspectives on Violence, Homicide, and War
Authors: Liddle James R. , Shackelford Todd K. , Weekes-Shackelford Viviana A. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractWe review and discuss the evolutionary psychological literature on violence, homicide, and war in humans and nonhumans, and in doing so we argue that an evolutionary perspective can substantially enhance our understanding of these behaviors. We provide a brief primer on evolutionary psychology, describing basic tenets of the field. The theories of sexual selection and parental investment are explained and subsequently used to highlight the evolutionary logic underlying the use of violence by humans and other animals. Our examination of violent behavior begins with a focus on nonhuman animals, reviewing the different contexts in which violence occurs and discussing how an evolutionary perspective can explain why it occurs in these contexts. We then examine violence in humans and illustrate the similarities and differences between human and nonhuman violence. Finally, we summarize what an evolutionary perspective can offer in terms of understanding violence, homicide, and war, and we discuss directions for future research.
Chastity, Fidelity, and Conquest: Biblical Rules for Women and War
Authors: Hartung John 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThe Bible instructs men to take a proactive approach to their problem with paternity – the possibility that a man's putative child may be another man's genetic offspring – by stoning brides who do not bleed on first penetration, by burning women who have become pregnant out of wedlock, by torturing and poisoning wives who are suspected of adultery, by executing women who have committed adultery and by murdering female prisoners of war who are not virgins. In addition to enhancing men's assurance of paternity, control of women reduces conflict between men over women, which enhances male-male solidarity and thus a society's capacity for military conquest. Concomitant to instructions for controlling women, the Bible commands adherents to commit absolute genocide against people whose land they wish to occupy, kill men in surrounding nations unless they agree to be slaves, and take their virgin women and girls as booty.Although some non-Western cultures also sanctify such practices, in other traditional societies women have been “very free and at liberty in doing what they please with themselves” (Barbosa, 1500/1866) and military conquest has not been a religious obligation. It follows that the Bible's dark legacy is not a requirement of human nature.
Siblicide in Humans and Other Species
Authors: Salmon Catherine 
Published: February 2013

AbstractSibling conflict is common across a wide variety of species, including humans. It is an expected process because offspring compete for dominance as well as food resources (most common in nonhuman species) and also for parental attention, money, and other personal resources in the case of human children. While most conflict in humans has no long lasting effects, under some circumstances, sibling conflict can turn violent and even result in death, what is commonly referred to as siblicide. While siblicide is quite rare in humans, from an evolutionary perspective, we would expect it to be influenced by some of the same factors as less intense sibling conflict. Such factors include sex of sibling, resource availability, birth spacing, and relatedness. These factors will be discussed with respect to research on sibling conflict and siblicide in human and nonhuman species.
Animal Abuse and Cruelty
Authors: Patterson-Kane Emily G. , Piper Heather 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThis chapter addresses animal abuse and animal cruelty, along with some of the explanations that a range of disciplines have proffered when seeking to understand and predict such behaviors, with a focus on evolutionary biology. While providing yet another theory from which to explain violence and cruelty is not the main endeavor of this chapter, nevertheless some suggestions are made that may help future consideration of cruelty and violence. In particular, the need for inter/multidisciplinary research on animal abuse and cruelty is highlighted. Also, it is suggested that the study of morally weighted behavior benefits from moving between paradigms to distinguish issues of causality and consequence from issues of social approbation and political agendas.
War Histories in Evolutionary Perspective: Insights From Prehistoric North America
Authors: Lambert Patricia M. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThis chapter takes an evolutionary perspective on the causes of violence and warfare in prehistoric North America. Three culture areas of western North America—the Santa Barbara Channel Area of southern California, the Four Corners region of the American Southwest, and the northeastern Great Plains—provide geographic foci for exploring the relationship between environmental variables and levels and types of violence as indicated by archaeological settlement data and injuries in human skeletal remains. All three regions reveal an association between unpredictable, drought-prone conditions and the escalation of serious warfare during the Late Prehistoric period (ca. ad 1000–1500). In all three areas males emerge as the primary, though not exclusive, targets in violent conflict and to the extent ascertainable, also its primary participants. These data shed light on environmental contexts that may be conducive to war, and they support a multitiered explanatory model of warfare causation ultimately rooted in the evolutionary history of our ancestors.
Ethical Perspectives and Concepts
Authors: Øvreeide Haldor , Matjan Polona 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThis chapter gives an outlook on ethics and provides a discussion of some relevant concepts that may deepen the understanding of the text in ethical codes, and provide assistance in solving ethical dilemmas and challenges. The topics discussed are not discrete, independent entities that add up to a comprehensive ethical theory, or one perspective on ethics. They are to be understood more as ways of looking at similar questions from different social and intellectual positions. Some of the ideas presented have sprung from discussions in the group of European colleagues who developed the text of the Meta-Code of Ethics for European Psychologists (European Federation of Psychologists Associations, 2005).
Global Test Security Issues and Ethical Challenges
Authors: Foster David , Miller Harold L. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThe lack of adequate test security for important exams is a growing worldwide problem. As tests are relied upon globally more and more for critical educational and work-related decisions, there is a corresponding increase in attempts to steal test content or to cheat on tests. These threats to the valid use of tests have led to important ethical issues within the testing community. Five ethical dilemmas are presented, along with specific recommendations for resolving these issues.
North America: Canada and the United States
Authors: Koocher Gerald P. , Hadjistavropoulos Thomas 
Published: February 2013

AbstractProfessional licensing and ethics codes of psychologists in the United States and Canada have very similar roots, but also many distinctive elements that represent regional and national jurisdictional differences and traditions. Each national psychological association has a distinctive ethics code with foundations in a strong national consensus. Both nations require substantial standardized educational and credential requirements as prerequisites for psychological practice. Few psychologists in the United States have any awareness of the International Union of Psychological Science or its relatively recent Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles, although many of the fundamentals of the Canadian code align more homogenously with that document.
Mergers, Acquisitions, and Alliances
Authors: Grabowski Henry G. , Kyle Margaret 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThis article considers the determinants and effects of M&As in the pharmaceutical industry, with a particular focus on innovation and R&D productivity. As is the case in other industries, mergers in the pharmaceutical field are driven by a variety of company motives and conditions. These include defensive responses to industry shocks as well as more proactive rationales, such as economies of scale and scope, access to new technologies, and expansion to new markets. It is important to take account of firms' characteristics and motivations in evaluating merger performance, rather than using a broad aggregate brushstroke. Research to date on pharmaceuticals suggests considerable variation in both motivation and outcomes. From an antitrust policy standpoint, the larger horizontal mergers in pharmaceuticals have run into few challenges from regulatory authorities in the United States and the European Union, given the option to spin off competing therapeutic products to other drug firms.
Why Do Conflicts Become Intractable? The Dynamical Perspective on Malignant Social Relations
Authors: Vallacher Robin R. , Coleman Peter T. , Nowak Andrzej , Bui-Wrzosinska Lan 
Published: February 2013

AbstractConflict is generally a constructive process, but in a small proportion of cases it can degenerate into a self-sustaining pattern of negative interpersonal and intergroup relations that seem impervious to change. We conceptualize these seemingly intractable conflicts within a dynamical systems perspective. Intractable conflict develops when a social system loses its complexity and converges on a narrow range of mental and behavioral states—an attractor—and becomes resistant to external influence that might otherwise promote a different set of states. Beyond its manifest attractor, a system may have a latent attractor representing a different set of mental and behavioral states. A latent attractor creates the potential for a rapid, nonlinear change in the relations between individuals or groups—from destructive to benign or vice versa. Beyond providing insight into the nature of intractable conflict, the dynamical perspective offers 3 general strategies for the transformation of such conflict into positive relations.
Divergent Intergroup Perspectives
Authors: Dovidio John F. , Saguy Tamar , West Tessa V. , Gaertner Samuel L. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractInteractions between members of different groups are substantially more challenging cognitively, emotionally, and socially than are exchanges between members of the same group. This chapter considers how these processes form a psychological basis for divergent intergroup perspectives. In particular, perceptions of membership in different social categories influence evaluations and expectations of others. These processes create initial biases that may systematically be reinforced by the ways people behave (often automatically and unconsciously) toward others, how they interpret others' behaviors, and the different goals they have in intergroup interaction. Efforts to appear unbiased can also sometimes backfire, contributing to miscommunication and increasing tension. Nevertheless, divergent group perspectives and consequent misunderstandings, tension, and conflict are far from inevitable. Structural, contextual, and psychological interventions can promote mutual understanding and coordinated efforts to improve intergroup relations, reduce conflict, and achieve peace.
Interventions Aimed at the Reduction of Prejudice and Conflict
Authors: Paluck Elizabeth Levy 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThis chapter reviews real-world interventions aimed at prejudice and conflict reduction. Which work? How effective are they? How do we know? I pay specific attention to the research methods used to study the impact of prejudice and conflict reduction interventions, to determine whether the methods allow for conclusions about the interventions' causal impact. This chapter also discusses the different theoretical bases of prejudice and conflict reduction interventions. Some theoretically driven strategies focus on individual thought and action that give rise to prejudice and conflict, whereas others focus on the environment in which individuals operate. The combined perspectives of social psychology and peace psychology suggest that interventions would do well to use both perspectives. The chapter concludes with recommendations for evaluating and learning from theoretically driven prejudice and conflict reduction interventions.
Curriculum: Cultural and Communicative Contexts
Authors: Power Des , Leigh Greg 
Published: February 2013

AbstractIn this chapter “curriculum” is taken to refer to all of the arrangements that are made for student learning—planned and unintended—not just the documents that outline content, objectives, and procedures (the syllabus). For students who are deaf or hard of hearing, aspects of the curriculum will be determined by how deafness is defined, what is valued, and perceptions of what a “deaf life” may mean. In particular, issues such as the developers’ perspectives on deafness (“sociocultural” or “medical”), program location (regular or separate school), methods of communication (auditory-oral only, sign language, or some combination), and the likely nature of post-school life for deaf people (engagement with the Deaf community) will be critical in determining curriculum content and outcomes. This chapter considers these issues and argues that the curriculum development process should consider the full range of possible social, cultural, and communicative contexts for deaf learners in establishing objectives and learning experiences for them. The determination of curriculum objectives for deaf and hard hard-of of-hearing students is also influenced by the often-noted difficulties they have with the language of education. The chapter considers “curriculum areas” such as mathematics, science, and social studies and recent developments in the use of multi-media applications from the particular perspective of deaf learners. The role of “Deaf Studies” in school curricula is also canvassed, as are the implications for deaf students of their placement in regular or separate educational settings. Finally, assessment of curriculum outcomes is considered, both within the school setting and for deaf students’ participation in state and national testing regimes.
Early Intervention: Birth to Three
Authors: Sass-Lehrer Marilyn 
Published: February 2013

AbstractResearch and legislative and policy initiatives have greatly facilitated the provision of services for infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. The expansion of newborn hearing screening programs has resulted in more children enrolled in birth-to-three programs at earlier ages. Results from an increasing number of studies that focus on young children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families have contributed to an expanding knowledge base regarding the significance of specific family-involvement variables, the acquisition of language and communication skills, collaboration and partnerships, and program characteristics that impact child and family outcomes. Advances in early identification of hearing loss and improved auditory and visual technologies are challenging the field to provide high quality professionals able to implement comprehensive and effective programs. Expectations for young deaf or hard-of-hearing children and their families have never been higher. Yet challenges remain to ensure that all children achieve linguistic and developmental milestones equal to those of their hearing peers.
Expressing Meaning: From Prelinguistic Communication to Building Vocabulary
Authors: Lederberg Amy R. , Beal-Alvarez Jennifer S. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThis chapter reviews research on communication and vocabulary development of deaf and hard of hearing children with hearing parents from infancy through preschool, as well as features of their language learning environment. Important aspects of early development include the acquisition of complex vocalizations or babbling, intentional communication, joint attention, and the pragmatic function and role of language in communication with others. Vocabulary development is described by exploring changes in vocabulary size, growth rate, lexicon content, and the ability to learn novel words quickly. The final section reviews research on the characteristics of parental input that may affect the rate of vocabulary development. Throughout the chapter, changes in developmental trajectories resulting from early identification and intervention, and improved technologies (i.e., digital hearing aids and cochlear implants) are described.
Origins of Sign Languages
Authors: Armstrong David F. , Wilcox Sherman 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThis chapter maintains that human languages emerge from purposeful human behavior, the most common of which are visible gestural behaviors. We further suggest that sign languages were probably the first human languages. These assertions are based on the observation that gestural communication is exhibited by all of the Hominoidea, the primate superfamily that includes apes and human beings; the fact that iconic and indexic gestures have been identified in the behavior of feral chimpanzees; and by noting that this sort of behavior was probably part of the repertoire of the common ancestors of chimpanzees and humans, thus of the earliest hominids. We propose an evolutionary model for the emergence of language based on semantic phonology and further demonstrate how spoken languages developed subsequently out of vocal gestures. Rationales are provided for the eventual predominance of speech as the primary medium for human language and for the maintenance of sign systems and gestural systems in conjunction with speech by hearing communities. Finally, we discuss evidence for the emergence of full sign languages whenever numbers of deaf people reach critical mass. Key aspects of this discussion include homesigns and sign systems used in small scale societies with significant numbers of deaf members; the earliest evidence for deaf communities with sign languages; the origin of Langue des Signes Française and ASL; and the origin and elaboration of Nicaraguan Sign Language, especially with respect to what the emergence of a new language tells us about the human language faculty.
Sign Language Structures
Authors: Fischer Susan D. , van der Hulst Harry 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThis chapter provides an introduction to the linguistic (i.e. grammatical) structure of sign languages. The main components of sign languages are described in terms both of major research results and of controversies and problem areas. The section on word formation (or morphology) discusses various processes of inflection (agreement, aspect, plurals, and tense) and provides some illustration of derivational processes (change of word class, classifiers, and compounding). The section on phonology deals with the compositional organization of signs in terms of features for handshape, orientation, place, and movement, with specific attention to questions regarding the way that these units are organized in structures of increasing size, ranging from segment, syllables, and prosodic words to phonological and intonation phrases. This section also provides examples of phonological processes and phonotactic restrictions. A third section focuses on syntax and deals with the basic and derived constituent order, and addresses issues such as topicalization, anaphoric relations, the role of nonmanuals (e.g., facial expressions and head and body postures), and complex sentences. Although much of the discussion is based on American Sign Language (ASL), other sign languages are also examined for comparison. Additionally, the relationship between sign languages and spoken languages is addressed.
Modality and the Structure of Language: Sign Languages Versus Signed Systems
Authors: Wilbur Ronnie B. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractSign language research provides an opportunity to evaluate proposed models of natural language from a different perspective—signed instead of spoken, seen instead of heard. This chapter views fully developed sign languages from the perspective of universal grammar (UG) by discussing the “design features” of a model of language that is intended to be universal for all languages. From this perspective, the capacity for language is simultaneously universal to all humans, varied across languages, and individual to each person’s own experience and learned grammar. The study of sign languages has made it clear that natural language is not the same thing as speech. The goal is to provide an explanation for the characteristics of natural sign languages that separate them from artificially created signing systems. With that goal in mind, it explains layering as a largely ignored design feature of natural language, illustrates how it works in various sign languages, and then considers the implications of its absence in signed English (SE). Spoken languages have more segmental/sequential options available, and layered options are less frequently used (but not missing). Sign languages are more likely to use simultaneous/layered options (however, not exclusively), and which options will be used and what functions they are assigned differ from language to language. What the study of sign languages tells us about “language” is that natural languages share certain design features, specifically those that maximize information coding in a way that permits efficient production, perception, and processing.