Gun
Peripherals and Video Game Play: Is there a Weapons-Priming Effect?
Robert H.
Hamby and Mary Ballard
Abstract
There is
evidence that playing violent video games increases physiological
arousal, negative emotions, and aggressive thoughts and behavior. There
is an argument that exposure to a weapon stimulus (e.g., guns; photos of
guns) primes individuals to think and behave aggressively, but the
evidence is weak and inconsistent. First-person-shooter video games can
be played using gun-like peripherals. There is no research examining if
using a gun peripheral during video game play moderates responses.
However some psychologists have suggested that playing violent video
games with a gun peripheral is a likely context to increase arousal and
aggression beyond the affects seen when violent games are played without
a gun peripheral. In this study, 60 male participants (aged 13-18)
played a video game using a gun peripheral or standard controller; half of
those who played the game with the controller saw the gun peripheral on
top of the TV and vice versa. Given (a) the confounded and mixed
evidence regarding weapons priming and (b) the unrealistic appearance of
the gun peripheral, it was hypothesized that cardiovascular arousal,
self-reported aggression, and behavioral aggression would not be
affected by using or seeing the video game gun peripheral. It was
hypothesized that video game play per se would result in increased heart
rate and blood pressure. Both hypothesis were supported; exposure to a
gun peripheral during video game play did not significantly affect
cardiovascular arousal, self-reported aggression, or behavioral
aggression and video game play did result in increased cardiovascular
arousal. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are
discussed.
Full Article
Historical Analysis
of AIDS Patients in Uganda Using Innovative Community Clinic Service:
The AIDS Support
Organization (TASO)
Michelle Calvarese,Sherry Bame, Bakama BakamaNume
Abstract
This study examined the case of Uganda’s The AIDS Support
Organization (TASO) services and changes in their clients’
sexual behavior. This study used statistical analyses to
investigate the relationship between socio-demographic
characteristics of the general population and of TASO
clients and correlate patterns of sexual behavior with use
of TASO centers. The first step of the analysis described
the frequencies and proportions of the following variables
within the TASO data set: Sex, Age, and Employment. It was
then determined by use of a ratio equation Z-test if the
proportion of each category of the TASO data set differed
from the proportion in the same category of the national
AIDS data and the national census of the general population.
Analysis for examining TASO client changes in safe-sex
behavior, utilized data collected between May and August of
1997. Analysis of socio-demographic characteristics found
that high-risk groups among the TASO population appeared to
be females in their late twenties and employed. Analysis of
case studies revealed that during the course of long term
TASO care, 25 percent of patients changed their behavior
from unprotected sex to abstinence. The findings of this
study supported the importance of TASO’s approach to care as
a means of increasing safe-sex behaviors among HIV/AIDS
patients.
Full Article
Is There Indeed A “Nigerian English?
Timothy T. Ajani
Abstract
The global spread of the English language as one of the most
far-reaching linguistic phenomena of our time is already an
established fact. Evidence of this worldwide phenomenon of
language contact, variation and change can be seen through
such designations as world Englishes, new Englishes, modern
Englishes, West African Englishes, South African English,
Australian English, Indian English, to mention just a few.
The phrase “Nigerian English” has also appeared in the last
four decades or so. The purpose of this paper is to
re-apprise the arguments involving the existence or
non-existence of a distinct variety of English known as
“Nigerian English.” Some of the issues explored include the
following: Is there really such a thing as Nigerian English?
What has been said thus far, and by whom? What are the main
arguments for and against? What conclusions can be drawn
from them? If there is indeed such a variety of English,
what are its main identifying characteristics?
Full Article
Brutal Cops, News Coverage, and Public Perceptions of Law Enforcement:
An Experimental Investigation of Reality Construction
Gregg A. Payne and David Dozier
Abstract
This research
examines the relationship between newspaper coverage of police
brutality, the public construction of law enforcement reality, and the
predictive capacity of exemplification theory. Two randomly selected
subsamples were assigned to either a control or test condition in a
posttest only experiment. Those in the test group were exposed to six
newspaper accounts recounting incidents of police brutality. A negative
construction of reality associated with policecitizen interaction
followed exposure. It is clear that public faith in law enforcement is
eroded by extra legal police behavior, and that police-citizen
relationships are contaminated, as a consequence. Further research is
called for, involving more ethnically and racially diverse populations,
a more representative age demographic, and media other than newspapers,
both print and electronic.
Full Article
The Political Economy of Everyday Life: Working Children in Curvelo,
Minas Gerais, Brazil
Marcia
Mikulak
Abstract
Numerous
articles about working children in Brazil focus on HIV-Aids,
child labor, crime, and petty thievery; however, social
science literature does not analyze their positive
contributions. From the perspective of working children,
this article discusses the contributions that they make to
their families as they navigate between home, school, and
the informal labor market. Data are presented on the types
of work that working children perform, time spent working,
money earned, and contributions to their family household
incomes. In addition, this article argues that the lack of
extra-familial support networks within favelas contributes
to the high numbers of children working within informal
markets in Brazilian cities. Finally, Brazil’s legacy of
slavery is linked to the political economy of patron-client
relations as it impacts working children and their families.
Full Article
Christianity and the Pagan: Comparisons of Religious Dogma in Late Roman
Antiquity and New World Spanish Colonialism
Rhianna C. Rogers and Jennifer L. Blank
Abstract
Historic and modern scholarship has shown that both early Medieval and
Colonial Christianity
promoted idealized interpretations of conversion and paganism. More
specifically, theologians in these eras viewed groups outside of the
idealized Christology as barbarous and irrational. One can argue that
the Christian hierarchy in Late Roman Antiquity and the Spanish New
World intentionally propagated eurocentric ideas of cultural supremacy
in order to demonize pagan practices. The authors of this paper intend
to explore the relationship between Christianity and paganism in both
Late Roman Antiquity (c.a., A.D. 300-500) and the Spanish New World
(A.D.1450-1550.) This paper utilizes both historical research and the
modern concepts of globalization and comparative history in order to
demonstrate the calculated strategy of Christian conversion and pagan
resistance that occurred during these periods. Utilizing a comparative
examination of both periods , this paper attempts to demonstrate the
manipulative tactics employed by both religious theologians and
conquerors to promote the conversion of pagans to Christian ideals of
What Can Industry
Trade Orientation Tell Us About Trade-related Employment Dynamics?
Roger White
Abstract
This paper explores whether imports and exports affect industry
employment differently based on the industry’s trade orientation.
Effects of trade are examined for both production and non-production
employment using data for 384 6-digit manufacturing industries,
classified by the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS),
and 116 trading partners that span the years 1972 to 2001. Additionally,
the paper considers potential employment effects stemming from shifts in
import sources from high- to low-income nations. The findings confirm
theory and provide a more detailed portrait of trade-related employment
dynamics. As the United States further liberalizes trade, net job loss
may be expected in more labor-intensive industries that run trade
deficits and possess lower than average levels of technology.
Export-oriented industries characterized by more capital-intensive
production and possession of above-average levels of technology are
expected to see net job creation.
Full Article
Abstract
This paper offers a
sketch of ten of the most essential figures in the Bloomsbury Group.
Among the ten Bloomsburries, there are two critics: Clive Bell in
painting, Desmond MacCarthy in letters. Virginia Woolf and E. M.
Forster, the two great novelists, and Lytton Strachey, the biographer,
are the three literary figures. There are three painters: Roger Fry, who
was also an art theorist and critic, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant. And
then there are John Maynard Keynes, an economist and political theorist,
and Leonard Woolf, a writer and influential publisher. The paper also
describes the origin of the group and some of the interactions among
these influential figures.
Full Article
Autism’s relation to Theory of Mind, Executive Control and Simulation
Theory.
Michael K. Cundall Jr.
Abstract
The
developmental disorder of autism has played a central role in theories
of socio-cognitive development. This article critiques the widely held
view that autism is a test case which can be used to adjudicate among
competing theories of cognitive development. Relying on new research
findings on persons with autism perceptual abilities, this paper argues
that autism is a disorder likely caused by early perceptual deficits in
the perception of social/biological stimuli. This paper critiques three
specific approaches to social cognition: Executive Control Theory,
Theory of Mind (ToM) and Simulation Theory.
Full Article
Heterophenomenology Debunked
Tan Kock Wah
Abstract
What is analyzed in this
paper is of fundamental importance to the viability of Dennett’s works
on mind and consciousness. Dennett uses the heterophenomenology method
as the basis to ground his thoughts on subjectivity and phenomenal
experiences. It is argued here that Dennett’s formulation of
heterophenomenology fails to provide the founding framework with which
to ground studies on consciousness and qualia. Analysis in the paper has
important import on the rest of his theory of consciousness and mind,
for without credible philosophical underpinnings, his reasoning on
consciousness and mind at large is not likely to amount to much.
Full Article
Abstract
The only remaining
controversy in Taiwan’s efforts to standardize its pinyin system for
Chinese is
whether to adopt Tongyong
or Hanyu; while the former has an intense symbolic value of
indigenization, the
latter enjoys a substantial globalized distribution. This paper first
makes clear
the nature of ‘interface’
of any pinyin system and examines this seemingly domestic issue from the
perspectives of the New Economy in the global Information Age. Given the
characteristics of
‘increasing returns’ and
‘path-dependence’, Hanyu Pinyin, with its universal standardization and
dominant global market
share, is the obvious choice. Taiwan’s implementation of Tongyong Pinyin
must necessarily incur the cost of dual interfaces. Given the 85%
overlap between the two
systems, Tongyong, as a
politically meaningful symbol, ironically, also creates a division among
Taiwan’s population. The
unfortunate politicization of the pinyin issue has cornered the nation
into a dilemma: Tongyong costs economically, Hanyu costs politically.
The ultimate reconciliation thus hinges upon the implementation of a
system that optimizes Tongyong’s indigenized symbolic value and Hanyu’s
globalized substance, to the furthest extent possible.
Full Article
|
