Social Science posts
- May 16, 2013
- 11:16 AM
- 20 views
'Vocal mimicry hypothesis' falsified? [Part 2]
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
A few entries ago I uploaded a fragment from a study that discusses an intriguing experiment with three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) which were trained to tap regularly on a piano keyboard...... Read more »
Hattori, Y., Tomonaga, M., & Matsuzawa, T. (2013) Spontaneous synchronized tapping to an auditory rhythm in a chimpanzee. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/srep01566
Hasegawa, A., Okanoya, K., Hasegawa, T., & Seki, Y. (2011) Rhythmic synchronization tapping to an audio–visual metronome in budgerigars. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/srep00120
Honing, H., Merchant, H., Háden, G., Prado, L., & Bartolo, R. (2012) Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta) Detect Rhythmic Groups in Music, but Not the Beat. PLoS ONE, 7(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051369
- May 16, 2013
- 02:12 AM
- 34 views
We’re All Just Looking For a Patsy
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
If often seems as though policy-making has devolved into nothing more than a contest where the goal is to blame as many people as possible (but not yourself) for the country’s problems. Fossil fuel companies blame environmental regulations for economic stagnation and high energy prices. Neocons blame civil libertarians for national security weaknesses. And of [...]... Read more »
Rothschild, Z., Landau, M., Molina, L., Branscombe, N., & Sullivan, D. (2013) Displacing Blame over the Ingroup’s Harming of a Disadvantaged Group can Fuel Moral Outrage at a Third-Party Scapegoat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2013.05.005
- May 15, 2013
- 06:49 PM
- 79 views
Six Arguments For the Elimination of Cigarettes
by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox
Prohibition and the “tobacco control endgame.”
Despite all our efforts in recent years to reduce the percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes—currently about one in five—the idea of full-blown cigarette prohibition has not gained much traction. That may be changing, as prominent nicotine researchers and public police officials start thinking about what is widely referred to as the “tobacco control endgame.”
Considering the new regulatory powers given the FDA under the terms ........ Read more »
Proctor R. N. (2013) Why ban the sale of cigarettes? The case for abolition. Tobacco Control, 22(Supplement 1). DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050811
- May 14, 2013
- 04:32 AM
- 37 views
Internationalization of Higher Education, 1933
by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move
While the internationalization of higher education is a hot topic at the moment and is widely seen as unique to the present, internationalization of higher education is not new. The politics of internationalization at Istanbul University in the early years … Continue reading →... Read more »
Ergin, M. (2009) Cultural encounters in the social sciences and humanities: western emigre scholars in Turkey. History of the Human Sciences, 22(1), 105-130. DOI: 10.1177/0952695108099137
- May 14, 2013
- 01:49 AM
- 37 views
Teacher Expectations Have a Stronger Impact On Low-Income Students
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
In their 1968 book Pygmalion in the Classroom, Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson presented their groundbreaking research that showed teacher expectations are self-fulfilling prophecies. If two students start the school year at the same achievement level, the student the teacher is told is a high achiever will make more gains than the student the teacher believes is [...]... Read more »
Sorhagen, N. (2013) Early teacher expectations disproportionately affect poor children's high school performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(2), 465-477. DOI: 10.1037/a0031754
- May 13, 2013
- 07:27 AM
- 43 views
Boosting your wage by lowering your voice
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
t’s sexier, we already knew that. But lower voices do more than just turning people on. It appears a deep sound also means more success in your career. A new study makes some pretty clear statements about the associations between wage, management power, tenure and the tone of voice.... Read more »
Mayew, W., Parsons, C., & Venkatachalam, M. (2013) Voice pitch and the labor market success of male chief executive officers. Evolution and Human Behavior. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.03.001
- May 12, 2013
- 06:18 AM
- 39 views
Fluent chunks 2: How to label your chunks
by Ray Carey in ELFA project
Most people recognise that we don’t speak in “sentences”. Still, speech is analysed and described using the concepts of sentence grammars, even when these writing-based systems must be bent and stretched, or vice versa – isn’t it cheating to “clean up” naturally occurring speech so it fits into a sentence grammar? In a previous post […]... Read more »
Mauranen, Anna. (2012) Linear Unit Grammar. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. DOI: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0707
- May 10, 2013
- 11:30 PM
- 43 views
Learning and evolution are different dynamics
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
A couple of weeks ago, if you randomly woke me in the middle of the night and demanded to know the fundamental difference between evolution and learning as adaptive processes, I would probably respond: “how did you get into my house? and umm… I guess they are mostly the same, it is just a matter […]... Read more »
Brenner, T. (1998) Can evolutionary algorithms describe learning processes?. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 8(3), 271-283. DOI: 10.1007/s001910050064
- May 10, 2013
- 11:06 AM
- 60 views
How To Make Yourself A Popular Tweeter
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
Twitter has a pretty bad reputation caused by a lot of people twittering about their personal issues. But is that really what Twitter is about? Researchers just discovered that this typical Twitter behavior actually decreases your followers. Time for a do’s and don’t list.... Read more »
C.J. Hutto, Sarita Yardi, & Eric Gilbert. (2013) A Longitudinal Study of Follow Predictors on Twitter. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems . DOI: 10.1145/2470654.2470771
- May 10, 2013
- 10:56 AM
- 37 views
When Voting, Political Preferences Outweigh the Evidence
by amikulak in Daily Observations
Supporters of a political measure are more influenced by their initial preferences than cold, hard evidence suggesting that the measure won’t go their way, according to new research published in The post When Voting, Political Preferences Outweigh the Evidence appeared first on Association for Psychological Science.... Read more »
Krizan, Z., & Sweeny, K. (2013) Causes and Consequences of Expectation Trajectories: "High" on Optimism in a Public Ballot Initiative. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797612460690
- May 9, 2013
- 11:05 PM
- 23 views
Stop to smell the flowers. Especially lavender.
by Cobb & Hecht in Do You Believe In Dog?
(source)Hi Julie, WOW!Dogs in clothes. Corgis in bikinis at the beach. Greyhounds in onesies. We people do some weird things to our canine friends, no?! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy being dressed up in a padded outfit all day long, so I think I'll pass on sharing that experience with my dogs. As you said, cultural perceptions, ethics and expectations add a whole layer of extra consideration. It's not always easy to work out what dogs want or need. That's why I like........ Read more »
Wells Deborah L. (2009) Sensory stimulation as environmental enrichment for captive animals: A review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 118(1-2), 1-11. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2009.01.002
Graham Lynne, Wells Deborah L., & Hepper Peter G. (2005) The influence of olfactory stimulation on the behaviour of dogs housed in a rescue shelter. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 91(1-2), 143-153. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2004.08.024
Wells Deborah L. (2006) Aromatherapy for travel-induced excitement in dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 229(6), 964-967. DOI: 10.2460/javma.229.6.964
MOTOMURA NAOYASU, SAKURAI AKIHIRO, & YOTSUYA YUKIKO. (2001) REDUCTION OF MENTAL STRESS WITH LAVENDER ODORANT. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 93(3), 713-718. DOI: 10.2466/pms.2001.93.3.713
- May 8, 2013
- 03:15 PM
- 22 views
Internationalization and Englishization in Higher Education
by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move
The Intercultural Communication Special Interest Group of the British Association of Applied Linguistics is hosting a seminar at Newcastle University next week devoted to “Intercultural Communication in Higher Education – principles and practices.” Given that internationalization of higher education is … Continue reading →... Read more »
Cho, J. (2012) Campus in English or campus in shock?. English Today, 28(02), 18-25. DOI: 10.1017/S026607841200020X
Piller, I., & Cho, J. (2013) Neoliberalism as language policy. Language in Society, 42(01), 23-44. DOI: 10.1017/S0047404512000887
- May 8, 2013
- 12:00 PM
- 34 views
Microbial Misadventures: Anthrax, Hippies & Drum Circles
by Rebecca Kreston in BODY HORRORS
When you think of drum circles taking place in the United States, visions of hippies, Birkenstocks and the vibrant green lawns of private colleges may appear. The bacteria Bacillus anthracis, or anthrax, does not often materialize alongside the skunky mix of patchouli and ganja hovering above the crowd in one’s visions of (ar)rhythmic drumming events.
... Read more »
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2010) Gastrointestinal anthrax after an animal-hide drumming event - New Hampshire and Massachusetts, 2009. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 59(28), 872-7. PMID: 20651643
- May 8, 2013
- 09:50 AM
- 46 views
Thanks Mom!
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
Like Mother, like baby! Photo from freedigitalphotos.net.Moms give us so much more than we ever give them credit for. Biologically speaking, we all have a mom and a dad (unless you’re a flatworm or some other species that can reproduce without sex) that provide us with one of each chromosome type (our chromosomes contain our genes, commonly thought of as our “biological blueprints”). So it makes sense that we tend to think of ourselves as being half-our-mom and half-our-dad. But not so! Al........ Read more »
BERNARDO, J. (1996) Maternal Effects in Animal Ecology. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 36(2), 83-105. DOI: 10.1093/icb/36.2.83
Wolf, J., & Wade, M.J. (2009) What are maternal effects (and what are they not)?. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 1107-1115. info:/
- May 8, 2013
- 07:33 AM
- 42 views
What did your ancestors talk about?
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
What subjects were important for both modern humans and our ancestors? A new study into the Eurasian primal language offers some important clues. Researchers found 23 words that are approximately 15.000 years old. ... Read more »
Pagel, M., Atkinson, Q., S. Calude, A., & Meade, A. (2013) Ultraconserved words point to deep language ancestry across Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1218726110
- May 8, 2013
- 07:06 AM
- 27 views
What Did Our Ancestors Talk About?
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
Our modern lives don't have a lot in common with those of our ancestors. Still, scientists found 23 words that were already being used 15.000 years ago.... Read more »
Pagel, M., Atkinson, Q., S. Calude, A., & Meade, A. (2013) Ultraconserved words point to deep language ancestry across Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1218726110
- May 7, 2013
- 07:01 PM
- 47 views
In Your Face: soldiers' faces predict aggression, military rank and number of children | @GrrlScientist
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
New research demonstrates that male soldiers' faces may predict their military rank and how many children they ultimately father... Read more »
Carré J. M, & McCormick C. M. (2008) In your face: facial metrics predict aggressive behaviour in the laboratory and in varsity and professional hockey players. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275(1651), 2651-2656. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0873
Wong E. M., Ormiston M. E., & Haselhuhn M. P. (2011) A Face Only an Investor Could Love: CEOs' Facial Structure Predicts Their Firms' Financial Performance. Psychological Science, 22(12), 1478-1483. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611418838
Tsujimura H., & Banissy M. J. (2013) Human face structure correlates with professional baseball performance: insights from professional Japanese baseball players. Biology Letters, 9(3), 20130140-20130140. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0140
Stirrat Michael, Stulp Gert, & Pollet Thomas V. (2012) Male facial width is associated with death by contact violence: narrow-faced males are more likely to die from contact violence. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(5), 551-556. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.02.002
Stirrat M., & Perrett D. I. (2012) Face Structure Predicts Cooperation: Men With Wider Faces Are More Generous to Their In-Group When Out-Group Competition Is Salient. Psychological Science, 23(7), 718-722. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611435133
- May 7, 2013
- 01:38 PM
- 18 views
Why Are Children Given Antipsychotics?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
Prescriptions of antipsychotic (aka neuroleptic) drugs in North American children and adolescents have been rising rapidly in recent years. But why? Gabrielle Carlson of Stony Brook Children’s Hospital offers her thoughts in a brief paper: The Dramatic Rise in Neuroleptic Use In Children: Why Do We Do It and What Does It Buy Us? Carlson [...]... Read more »
Carlson GA. (2013) The dramatic rise in neuroleptic use in children: why do we do it and what does it buy us? Theories from inpatient data 1988-2010. Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology, 23(3), 144-7. PMID: 23607407
- May 6, 2013
- 09:44 AM
- 51 views
The young and the restless
by neuroecology in Neuroecology
It struck me recently that one of the key differences between economists and neuroscientists studying decision-making is their interest in dynamics. Economists seem more interested in explaining how behavior operates (or should operate) on average whereas neuroscientists would like to explain trial-to-trial variability. Decisions are rarely made just once in a lifetime, but are instead made repeatedly. [...]... Read more »
Hampton, A., Bossaerts, P., & O'Doherty, J. (2008) Neural correlates of mentalizing-related computations during strategic interactions in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(18), 6741-6746. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0711099105
Zhu, L., Walsh, D., & Hsu, M. (2012) Neuroeconomic Measures of Social Decision-Making Across the Lifespan. Frontiers in Neuroscience. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2012.00128
- May 5, 2013
- 07:00 PM
- 78 views
Social learning dilemma
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
Last week, my father sent me a link to the 100 top-ranked specialties in the sciences and social sciences. The Web of Knowledge report considered 10 broad areas[1] of natural and social science, and for each one listed 10 research fronts that they consider as the key fields to watch in 2013 and are “hot [...]... Read more »
Rendell L, Boyd R, Cownden D, Enquist M, Eriksson K, Feldman MW, Fogarty L, Ghirlanda S, Lillicrap T, & Laland KN. (2010) Why copy others? Insights from the social learning strategies tournament. Science, 328(5975), 208-213. PMID: 20378813
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