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Infants accept arbitrary objects as ad-hoc symbols
No full textThe ability to process visual objects as symbols is fundamental to the interpretation of depictions such as maps, graphs, diagrams, and animations. We outline a cognitive mechanism that may underlie the interpretation of depictions and present three eye-tracking and looking-time experiments (n = 192) indicating that this ability is already in place in 15-month-old infants. Experiment 1 showed that infants can assign arbitrary shapes (e.g., a triangle) to familiar discourse referents (e.g., a duck) based on labeling (e.g., “Look, a duck!”). Experiment 2 showed that infants do not generalize these mappings to a new speaker. This rules out the alternative hypothesis that infants interpret such labeling events literally. Experiment 3 revealed that infants are sensitive to the conceptual identity of the referent. After being told that one shape stands for an agent (e.g., a duck) and another for a object (e.g., a cup), infants distinguished congruent trials, in which the agent symbol moved towards the object symbol, from incongruent trials with the opposite movement pattern. This rules out the alternative hypothesis that infants interpret the labeling events as referential pacts. To our knowledge, this is the earliest evidence for a general symbol concept in infancy. This concept underlies the ability to use arbitrary objects to communicate and may constitute a foundational element of human cognition
Croatian Veterans’ Construction of the Dominant 1990s War Narrative in the 2000-2005 period:Between Preservation and Negotiation
No full textAs a country gaining independence amid the 1990s war, the Homeland War represents a pivotal historical event for Croatia, serving as its founding myth. By selectively using historical facts about the conflict, the main myth-makers use the war as a political myth important for Croatian contemporary national identity. This sanitised view of the past, constructed and promoted by elites and non-elites, is especially tied to war veterans. Since the 1990s, veteran associations played a significant role in Croatia’s memory politics, reinforcing the regime of Croatian President Franjo Tuđman. After Tuđman’s death and the subsequent opposition’s electoral victory, veteran associations and groups played a major role in keeping the war narrative alive. Veterans were especially active during the 2000-2002 period, when they successfully advocated the dominant narrative about the war, obstructing Croatian cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. However, after preserving the dominant narrative, many veteran associations took part in negotiating or re-constructing the narrative when, in 2004-2005, they aligned with the new government policy of cooperating with the ICTY for the sake of European integration. By analysing archival documents and media reports, the article points to the pragmatism of many veteran groups contrasted to those loyal to their former fellow combatants. © (2024), (Croatia Political Science Association). All Rights Reserved
US governors populism database:Assessing the impact of Donald Trump on state-level discourse
No full textThe election of Donald Trump in 2016 has often been characterized as part of a larger populist wave sweeping Western democracies. However, claims about populism’s pervasiveness often lack empirical support, particularly at the subnational level. This research note introduces the US Governors Populism Database (USGPD), providing the first quantitative measures of populist rhetoric among state-level officials in the United States. Analyzing 400 speeches from 100 governor terms across all 50 states, we find that a political system with a populist national leader is not necessarily associated with high levels of subnational populism. While Republican governors show higher levels of populist rhetoric than Democrats, this difference predates Trump’s presidency and shows no evidence of intensifying following his first election. By providing systematic evidence about populism’s presence and diffusion across different levels of government, this study demonstrates how populist rhetoric manifests differently across governmental tiers and contributes to scholarship examining populist discourse in multi-level political systems