Exploring the Social Minds of Elephants

During the last twenty or twenty-five years medieval historians have been much interested in the composition of the English episcopate. A number of studies of it have been published on periods ranging from the eleventh to the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. A further paper might well seem superfluous. My reason for offering one is that most previous writers have concentrated on analysing the professional circles from which the bishops were drawn, and suggesting the influences which their early careers as royal clerks, university masters and students, secular or regular clergy, may have had on their later work as bishops. They have shown comparatively little interest in their social background and provenance, except for those bishops who belonged to magnate families. Some years ago, when working on the political activities of Edward II's bishops, it seemed to me that social origins, family connexions and provenance might in a number of cases have had at least as much influence on a bishop's attitude to politics as his early career. I there fore collected information about the origins and provenance of these bishops. I now think that a rather more careful and complete study of this subject might throw further light not only on the political history of the reign, but on other problems connected with the character and work of the English episcopate. There is a general impression that in England in the later middle ages the bishops' ties with their dioceses were becoming less close, and that they were normally spending less time in diocesan work than their predecessors in the thirteenth century.

Download Full-text

Social transmission bias and the cultural evolution of folk-economic beliefs

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x18000365 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

David Hirshleifer ◽

Siew Hong Teoh

Keyword(s):

Cultural Evolution ◽

Social Transmission ◽

Cognitive Approach ◽

Economic Problems ◽

Economic Attitudes ◽

The Social ◽

Economic Beliefs ◽

Over Time

AbstractEvolved dispositions influence, but do not determine, how people think about economic problems. The evolutionary cognitive approach offers important insights but underweights the social transmission of ideas as a level of explanation. The need for asocialexplanation for the evolution of economic attitudes is evidenced, for example, by immense variations in folk-economic beliefs over time and across individuals.

Download Full-text

Individual differences, social attention, and the history of the social motivation hypotheses of autism

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x18002509 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Author(s):

Peter C. Mundy

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Early Development ◽

Emotional Development ◽

Social Motivation ◽

Social Attention ◽

Social Emotional Development ◽

Social Emotional ◽

Precise Understanding ◽

The Social ◽

History Of

Abstract The stereotype of people with autism as unresponsive or uninterested in other people was prominent in the 1980s. However, this view of autism has steadily given way to recognition of important individual differences in the social-emotional development of affected people and a more precise understanding of the possible role social motivation has in their early development.

Download Full-text

Challenges to the social motivation theory of autism: The dangers of counteracting an imprecise theory with even more imprecision

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x18002339 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mirko Uljarević ◽

Giacomo Vivanti ◽

Susan R. Leekam ◽

Antonio Y. Hardan

Keyword(s):

Empirical Evidence ◽

Social Motivation ◽

Motivation Theory ◽

The Social

Abstract The arguments offered by Jaswal & Akhtar to counter the social motivation theory (SMT) do not appear to be directly related to the SMT tenets and predictions, seem to not be empirically testable, and are inconsistent with empirical evidence. To evaluate the merits and shortcomings of the SMT and identify scientifically testable alternatives, advances are needed on the conceptualization and operationalization of social motivation across diagnostic boundaries.

Download Full-text

What is taken for granted in autism research?

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x1800225x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michele Ilana Friedner

Keyword(s):

Research Methodologies ◽

Communicative Practices ◽

Autism Research ◽

Autistic People ◽

The Social ◽

New Research

Abstract This commentary focuses on three points: the need to consider semiotic ideologies of both researchers and autistic people, questions of commensurability, and problems with “the social” as an analytical concept. It ends with a call for new research methodologies that are not deficit-based and that consider a broad range of linguistic and non-linguistic communicative practices.

Download Full-text

Ultrastructural analysis of “Sensory” surface nerve endings and “putative” neurotransmitter sites in Schistosoma mansoni Miracidia

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100156791 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 962-963

Author(s):

Betty Ruth Jones ◽

Steve Chi-Tang Pan

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Schistosoma Mansoni ◽

Snail Host ◽

Complex Life Cycle ◽

Rational Approach ◽

Effective Control ◽

The Social ◽

Social And Economic Development ◽

Basic Biology

INTRODUCTION: Schistosomiasis has been described as “one of the most devastating diseases of mankind, second only to malaria in its deleterious effects on the social and economic development of populations in many warm areas of the world.” The disease is worldwide and is probably spreading faster and becoming more intense than the overall research efforts designed to provide the basis for countering it. Moreover, there are indications that the development of water resources and the demands for increasing cultivation and food in developing countries may prevent adequate control of the disease and thus the number of infections are increasing.Our knowledge of the basic biology of the parasites causing the disease is far from adequate. Such knowledge is essential if we are to develop a rational approach to the effective control of human schistosomiasis. The miracidium is the first infective stage in the complex life cycle of schistosomes. The future of the entire life cycle depends on the capacity and ability of this organism to locate and enter a suitable snail host for further development, Little is known about the nervous system of the miracidium of Schistosoma mansoni and of other trematodes. Studies indicate that miracidia contain a well developed and complex nervous system that may aid the larvae in locating and entering a susceptible snail host (Wilson, 1970; Brooker, 1972; Chernin, 1974; Pan, 1980; Mehlhorn, 1988; and Jones, 1987-1988).

Download Full-text