9 research outputs found
The Early Acquisition of Verb Constructions in Albanian: Evidence from Children’s Verb Use in Experimental Contexts
No full textAbstract
One of the wonders of human development is children’s symbolic capacity to generate language that goes beyond the input received. The present study examines this developmental process with special focus on language typological factors. More specifically, it examines 2-and 3-year-old Albanian-speaking children’s ability to acquire transitive and intransitive constructions in an experimental context. Thirty 2- and 3-year old Albanian-speaking children divided into two age cohorts were trained and then tested using an elicited production task based on the novel verb paradigm. Findings reveal that Albanian-speaking children are precocious in their productivity with transitive and intransitive verb constructions. In contrast to much prior research on English-speaking children, results revealed that most Albanian-speaking children were able to productively use familiar and novel verbs in both transitive and intransitive constructions, regardless of age and whether they heard the novel verbs modeled in verb constructions tested. It is argued that languages with explicit markings for agent- patient relations facilitate an earlier onset of productivity than word-order languages like English. Additionally, results suggest that children’s capacity to diversely use familiar verbs affects the developmental process of acquiring new verbs including those used in novel verb experiments. Discussion focuses on the importance of using naturalistic experimental designs to construct a more comprehensive view of the process by which children acquire verb constructions and also considers the implications of the cross-linguistic findings for developmental theories of language acquisition.</jats:p
Review Essay: Weaving Sociocultural Change and Cognitive Development Together
No full textIn her book Weaving Generations Together, Patricia Greenfield presents an account of the nature and course of human development that suggests a tight relationship with sociocultural change. During two extensive stays in the Zinacantec Mayan hamlet of Nabenchauk, Mexico, in 1969–70 and 1991, Greenfield studied weaving, the typical activity of Mayan women, and developed a long-term project spanning two generations of Zinacantec mothers teaching their daughters how to weave.
The results of this project are documented in the book, initially developed as a catalog for a museum exhibition; as well as in multiple scientific reports by the author and her collaborators (e.g., Childs &
Greenfield, 1980; Greenfield, 2000; Greenfield, Maynard, & Childs, 2000; Maynard & Greenfield, 2003; Maynard, Greenfield, & Childs, 1999). Relying on empirical data accompanied by beautiful photographic
work by Lauren Greenfield, the book selects the following foci for study: the ontogenesis of weaving as a product of biology and culture; the transformations in weaving apprenticeship and in the cognitive
and creative processes involved in it between 1969–70 and 1991; and the role of sociocultural change in these transformations.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIP
THE ROLE OF ACADEMIC SUPPORT SERVICES IN ENSURING STUDENT SUCCESS AND WELL-BEING: A CASE STUDY IN THE ALBANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXT
No full textBe Careful Where You Smile : Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
No full textWe thank all the supporting team-members involved in the translation procedures and data collections. Research was supported by the Polish NCN Grant 2011/03/N/HS6/05112 (K.K.) and Chinese NNSF Grant 31200788 (C.X).Peer reviewe
Catching up with wonderful women: The women-are-wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies
No full textInequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies-there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect-that women are evaluated more positively than men overall-is also common. Cross-cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self-reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women-are-wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women
Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children's exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study
No full textBackground: Children's exposure to violence is a major public health issue. The Balkan epidemiological study on Child Abuse and Neglect project aimed to collect internationally comparable data on violence exposures in childhood.Methods: A three stage stratified random sample of 42,194 school-attending children (response rate: 66.7%) in three grades (aged 11, 13 and 16 years) was drawn from schools in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. Children completed the ICAST-C questionnaire, which measures children's exposure to violence by any perpetrator.Results: Exposure rates for psychological violence were between 64.6% (FYROM) and 83.2% (Greece) for lifetime and 59.62% (Serbia) and 70.0% (Greece) for past-year prevalence. Physical violence exposure varied between 50.6% (FYROM) and 76.3% (Greece) for lifetime and 42.5% (FYROM) and 51.0% (Bosnia) for past-year prevalence. Sexual violence figures were highest for lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (18.6%) and lowest in FYROM (7.6%). Lifetime contact sexual violence was highest in Bosnia (9.8%) and lowest in Romania (3.6%). Past-year sexual violence and contact sexual violence prevalence was lowest in Romania (5.0 and 2.1%) and highest in Bosnia (13.6 and 7.7% respectively). Self-reported neglect was highest for both past-year and lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (48.0 and 20.3%) and lowest in Romania (22.6 and 16.7%). Experiences of positive parental practices were reported by most participating children in all countries.Conclusions: Where significant differences in violence exposure by sex were observed, males reported higher exposure to past-year and lifetime sexual violence and females higher exposure to neglect. Children in Balkan countries experience a high burden of violence victimization and national-level programming and child protection policy making is urgently needed to address this
Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
No full textSmiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling
ones—they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly
clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal,
however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western,
Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social
perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smilin
Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
No full textSmiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones—they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE’s uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling—in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions
