Psychology

The Columbine school shooting in the US and Dawson College in Canada are examples of recent traumatic events that, due to their broad timeframe, allow researchers to examine their residual impact. The Columbine shooting occurred in 1999 and was followed by 60 similar ones, despite increases in gun regulations in the US and Canada, twice as many as the previous decade.   Part of the reason may be 'copycat' attempts at the kind of impact and attention Columbine brought.  ”Despite the frequency of these incidents, there are very few empirical studies on their psychological effects and…

A Science Of Human Language - Part #8 Quistic grammar is a predominantly semantic grammar based on the observation that any statement in human language can be re-phrased as one or more simple questions.  This article continues the theme of spoken and written language as interleaved components of semantics and syntax: nuons and quons.  I suggest that at least the articles  A Science Of Human Language - Part #6  and Part #7 be read before this current one.  For a fuller exposition of quistic grammar, a grammar based in semantics, I recommend that the whole series of…

A Science Of Human Language - Part #7 Quistic grammar is a predominantly semantic grammar based on the observation that any statement in human language can be re-phrased as one or more simple questions.  This article introduces the idea of quons - cue-ons,  cues embedded in language.  I suggest that the article  A Science Of Human Language - Part #6  be read before this current one.  Part #6 introduced the idea of language having two major components: nuons and quons.  For a fuller exposition of quistic grammar, a grammar based in semantics, I recommend that…

The first two articles of this series have covered a brief overview of evolutionary psychology and the difficulty in defining and measuring intelligence. In the first article, I covered that we can measure what people prefer and value, but we don’t know the "why" behind those preferences and values. An evolutionary psychologist from the London School of Economics, Satoshi Kanazawa, wrote a paper on the origin of individual values and preferences that suggests values are tied to IQ, and you can theoretically predict the values of a nation based on its average intelligence. The second article…

A Science Of Human Language - Part #6 : Quistic Grammar Part #1 of this series outlines the need for an inclusive theory of language based in science.  Part #2 was an overview of the use of linguistic error-handling processes as an aid to reliability and predictability of communication.  Part #3  introduced the topic of conformity - the observation that language users broadly conform to a set of social norms of language.  Part #4  introduced the theory of mental models, continued and expanded  in Part #5. This article is about quistic grammar: a semantic…

In a unique study of four previously convicted adult male pedophiles (Mage = 33.8, SD 9.7 years), utilizing structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and imaging genomics (neuroimaging combined with genetic analyses), the authors propose that small variations in genotypes are responsible for paraphilic phenotypic expression (Tost, Vollmert, Brassen, Schmitt, Dressing, Braus, 2004).    The candidate genes identified within this study are those responsible for the secretion of dopamine, plus a defective D2 A1 receptor allele.  The D2 receptor allele appears to be involved…

A Science Of Human Language - Part #5 This article is a continuation and expansion of the theory of mental models, introduced in part #4. Part #1 of this series outlines the need for an inclusive theory of language based in science.  Part #2  was an overview of the use of linguistic error-handling processes as an aid to reliability and predictability of communication.  Part #3  introduced the topic of conformity - the observation that language users broadly conform to a set of social norms of language. The Depths Of MeaningWe do not simply understand words as lumps of…

A Science Of Human Language - Part #4 In Part #1of this series, I suggested that a grammar heavily based in syntax was not sufficiently scientific as a general theory of how language functions. Part #2  was an overview of how linguistic error-handling processes can add to the reliability and predictability of communication using human language. Part #3  introduced the topic of conformity - the observation that language users broadly conform to the evolved norms of a language-using society. Conformity applies from the phoneme level to the word and phrase levels of semantics and…

A Ph.D. thesis at the University of the Basque Country has analyzed the role played by a number of emotional variables, such as the way in which negative emotions are controlled or attitudes to emotional expression, and to use these variables as tools to predict the possibility of suffering an eating disorder. The author of the thesis, Ms. Aitziber Pascual Jimeno, presented her work under the title, Emotions and emotional control in eating disorders: predictor role and emotional profiles. Ms Pascual is a graduate in Psychology and carried out her thesis under Ms Itziar Etxebarria Bilbao and…

Where we are born not only determines how we speak apparently how we taste food and drink, according to Andy Taylor, a researcher in flavor technology at The University of Nottingham and Greg Tucker, a food psychologist. The taste preferences of the UK's major regions have been analyzed by the pair and Taylor of the Flavour Research Group said, "Taste is determined by our genetic make-up and influenced by our upbringing and experience with flavours. Just as with spoken dialects, where accent is placed on different syllables and vowel formations, people from different regions have developed…