Sex differences in the effects of visual contact and eye contact in negotiations

"Previous research has proposed that the ability to see others would benefit negotiations. We argue that this view is too narrow and that the impact of visual contact on negotiated agreements depends on the meaning individuals ascribe to either its presence or absence. Based on previous research showing that females are more likely to understand others in the presence of visual contact while males understand others better in the absence of visual contact, we explore how visual contact, eye contact, and sex affect the quality of negotiated agreements in a meta-analysis (Study 1) and a laboratory experiment (Study 2). The two studies combined show that because direct communication via the face facilitates a shared understanding for two unacquainted females, their agreements are of higher quality when they have visual contact compared to when they do not (Study 1), and if they have visual contact, their agreements are better when they have eye contact than when they do not (Study 2). Because communication via the face increases discomfort between two unacquainted males, their agreements are of higher quality when they do not have visual contact (Study 1), and if they do have visual contact, their agreements are better when they have no eye contact than when they do (Study 2)." [author's abstract

Cognitive control and discourse comprehension in schizophrenia.

Cognitive deficits across a wide range of domains have been consistently observed in schizophrenia and are linked to poor functional outcome (Green, 1996; Carter, 2006). Language abnormalities are among the most salient and include disorganized speech as well as deficits in comprehension. In this review, we aim to evaluate impairments of language processing in schizophrenia in relation to a domain-general control deficit. We first provide an overview of language comprehension in the healthy human brain, stressing the role of cognitive control processes, especially during discourse comprehension. We then discuss cognitive control deficits in schizophrenia, before turning to evidence suggesting that schizophrenia patients are particularly impaired at processing meaningful discourse as a result of deficits in control functions. We conclude that domain-general control mechanisms are impaired in schizophrenia and that during language comprehension this is most likely to result in difficulties during the processing of discourse-level context, which involves integrating and maintaining multiple levels of meaning. Finally, we predict that language comprehension in schizophrenia patients will be most impaired during discourse processing. We further suggest that discourse comprehension problems in schizophrenia might be mitigated when conflicting information is absent and strong relations amongst individual words are present in the discourse context."There is no "centre of Speech" in the brain any more than there is a faculty of Speech in the mind.The entire brain, more or less, is at work in a man who uses language"William JamesFrom The Principles of Psychology, 1890"The mind in dementia praecox is like an orchestra without a conductor"Kraepelin, 1919

Review of 'Side-Stepping Normativity in Selected Short Stories by Sylvia Townsend Warner' by Rebecca Kate Hahn

Rebecca Hahn’s book on Warner, remarkably, is the first monograph on the writings of this prolific, brilliant and underrated English author. Moreover, Warner’s short stories are a neglected area within a neglected oeuvre; her novels have had much more critical attention than her short fiction. Side-Stepping Normativity, then, is a strikingly original and fresh publication. For those who don’t know Warner’s stories Hahn’s book will be an excellent critical introduction, while existing readers will find fresh and insightful readings into a dozen stories. Taken together they give a persuasive account of the impressiveness and scope of Warner’s achievements in this form. The book opens up many avenues for discussion and will be of considerable value to future study of Warner

Sylvia Townsend Warner and the Possibilities of Freedom: The Sylvia Townsend Warner Society Lecture 2019

This article considers why Warner’s writing has been undervalued, in particular taking issue with the argument that her works are too radically disparate to be discussed as an oeuvre. It argues that one path through her writings – a ‘handle to get hold of the bundle’ in William Empson’s phrase – is the idea of ‘the possibilities of freedom’, a topic broad enough to address a good deal in Warner’s writings but specific enough to bring some focus. ‘The possibilities of freedom’ – as against ‘freedom’ alone – points both ways, both to what is possible and conversely to the limits of the possible. The essay follows this theme and some of its variations through the six decades and several genres of Warner’s writing life, discussing in particular ‘The Young Sailor’, Lolly Willowes, Opus 7, ‘To Come So Far’ and ‘Oxenhope’. It concludes that we should see her as in no way a quiet, removed stylist but instead as a figure of vigorous cultural engagements, an intellectual contemporary of writings such as Bertrand Russell’s Proposed Roads to Freedom (1918), Sartre’s Les chemins de la liberté (1945–49) and Hannah Arendt’s essay ‘What is Freedom?’ (1961)

Romantic Poetry and Victorian Nonsense Poetry: Some Directions of Travel

This essay explores links between Victorian nonsense poetry and poetry of the Romantic period, with a focus on narratives of quest, voyaging and escape. It discusses brief instances from various writers of the two periods and moves on to a more developed comparison between Wordsworth and Edward Lear, centring on ‘The Blind Highland Boy’. The comparison between periods leads to an argument that self-critique and scepticism were quite robustly in place from the start in the romantic period, and that obstacles to sense could at times be experienced not just as perplexity but as enjoyment shared with an audience. It also points to a further appreciation of some of the less canonical works by the most canonical writers, and suggests a tradition in which romantic aspiration was often coolly linked to a sense of absurdity