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Elsevier

Books in Arts and humanities

Elsevier's Arts and Humanities titles encompass a rich spectrum of scholarship that explores human culture, history, philosophy, and creative expression. These works offer deep insights into language, literature, visual arts, and critical theory, supporting the academic community in understanding diverse perspectives and cultural legacies. Designed for scholars, educators, and students, this collection bridges classic studies with contemporary issues, fostering a deeper appreciation and knowledge of the human experience.

  • Toward a General Theory of Social Control

    Fundamentals
    • 1st Edition
    • Donald Black
    • English
    Studies on Law and Social Control: Toward a General Theory of Social Control, Volume 1: Fundamentals focuses on the dynamics, practices, and mechanisms involved in social control. The selection first underscores social control as a dependent variable and division of labor in social control. Discussions focus on the explanation of division of social control labor; concept of division of social control labor; conceptions of the relationship between law and social control; quantity of normative behavior; and concept of social control. The text then takes a look at the stage of disputing to complaining, liability and social structure, and social organization of vengeance. Topics include revenge among inmates, contingency of vengeance, design of vengeance, liability and conflict management, idiom of liability in stateless societies, and complaining and the direction of law. The publication ponders on the variability of punishment, compensation in cross-cultural perspective, therapy and social solidarity, logic of mediation, and gossips and scandals. Concerns include role of gossip in small-scale societies, therapeutic social control in individualistic groups and tribal societies, social organization of compensation, and existing theories of punishment. The selection is a vital source of data for sociologists and researchers interested in the fundamentals of social control.

  • Norms of Word Association

    • 1st Edition
    • Leo Postman + 1 more
    • English
    Norms of Word Association contains a heterogeneous collection of word association norms. This book brings together nine sets of association norms that were collected independently at different times during a 15-year period. Each chapter is a self-contained unit. The order in which the norms are presented is arbitrary, although an attempt is made to group together norms that seem to belong together. The 1952 Minnesota norms are presented first, due to "age" and in recognition of the fact that a number of the norms that follow are direct outgrowths of this work. The next three norms in this collection are responses to the Russell-Jenkins stimuli obtained from subjects representing different linguistic communities. A summary of association norms collected from British and Australian subjects are reported along with association norms from German and French college students and French workmen. Four sets of norms that are not directly related to the 1952 Minnesota collection are included. The text will be of interest to historians and researchers in the field of verbal learning and verbal behavior.

  • Language Development and Neurological Theory

    • 1st Edition
    • Sidney J. Segalowitz + 1 more
    • English
    Language Development and Neurological Theory presents a neuropsychological theory of language development. The discussions are organized around the following themes: cerebral specialization for language in normal and brain-damaged individuals; development of cerebral dominance; and speech perception. Much emphasis is placed on the issue of cerebral specialization, or lateralization. Comprised of 20 chapters, this volume begins with a review of some of the methods used to correlate neurophysiological and behavioral functions, as well as some of the issues involved in trying to unite the empirical science of neuropsychology and the rationalist science of linguistics. The next chapter deals with lateralization for speech sounds shown by young infants and possible factors in the sound signal responsible for the differentiation. Subsequent chapters focus on asymmetries in young children during continuous verbal-nonvisual and visual-nonverbal story tasks; the effects of multi-language elementary school program on the degree of lateralization for language; intramodal and cross-modal pattern perception in stroke patients with lateralized lesions; and visual half-field asymmetries in deaf and hearing children. Several hypotheses as to why language is lateralized to the left hemisphere rather than to the right are also examined. This book is addressed to researchers and students of the neuropsychology of language, whether they call themselves psychologists, neuropsychologists, neurologists, or linguists.

  • Research on Exemplary Schools

    • 1st Edition
    • Gilbert R. Austin + 1 more
    • English
    Research on Exemplary Schools covers significant research works on effective school learning, with particular emphasis on identifying and analyzing a student's abilities and characteristics on the assumption that student learning was primarily determined by differences in individual potential and needs. The information provided is derived from the assumption that the characteristics of the school learning environment may explain the extent to which students master the outcomes desired from the school teaching-learning experience. This text is organized into three parts encompassing 10 chapters. Part I reviews the history of the exemplary schools research movements and the research findings, as well as policy implications concerning the relationships between private and public schools education, both Catholic and nonsectarian. Part II describes the methods for identifying exemplary schools, school climate, and the roles of the teacher and the school principal. Part III describes the policy issues emerging from effective schools research. This part also provide some critical thoughts on the movement from the perspective of an educational psychologist whose specialties are educational measurement and instructional design. This book will prove useful to researchers and practitioners who wish to improve the outcomes of all students in their schools.

  • Evaluating the Quality of Learning

    The SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome)
    • 1st Edition
    • John B. Biggs + 1 more
    • Allen J. Edward
    • English
    Educational Psychology Series: Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) focuses on the approaches, methodologies, and techniques employed in the valuation of the quality of learning. The publication first offers information on the quality and quantity of learning and origin and description of the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) taxonomy. Discussions focus on general intellectual development and the growth of quality; some assumptions and applications of stage theory; from developmental stage to levels of learning quality; and general intellectual development and the growth of quality. The text then examines the teaching of history, elementary mathematics, English, and geography. Topics include interpreting a map and drawing conclusions, explaining a natural phenomenon, appreciation of poetry, implications for the teaching of history, English, and mathematics, numbers and operations, and general application of SOLO to history. The manuscript takes a look at modern languages, place of the taxonomy in instructional design, and some methodological considerations. Concerns include alternative formats for obtaining SOLO responses, instructional processes, curriculum analysis, remediation, and teacher intentions. The publication is a vital source of data for educators interested in the SOLO taxonomy.

  • On Understanding Grammar

    • 1st Edition
    • Talmy Givón
    • Harry A Whitaker
    • English
    On Understanding Grammar covers the interdependencies among the various aspects of linguistics and the human language. This eight-chapter text considers some pertinent topics in linguistics, such as discourse-pragmatics... diachronic syntax, topology, creology, method, and ontology. Chapter 1 describes the notions of fact, theory, and explanation, particularly about how these notions manifest themselves in actual practice. Chapter 2 redefines syntax in terms of communicative function and discourse-pragmatics... and about the relation between the function of grammatical devices and their formal properties. Chapter 3 deals with discourse-pragmatics and how it transcends the narrow bounds of deductive logic, as well as the function and ontology of negation in language, and how those relate to the fundamental information-theoreti... principle of figure versus ground. Chapter 4 explores the two major aspects of case systems, namely, the semantic role and pragmatic function, and how the two interact in determining the typological characteristics of grammars. Chapter 5 examines the relation between discourse and syntax based on diachronic, ontogenetic, phylogenetic viewpoints. Chapter 6 tackles the relation between synchronic grammar and diachronic change, while Chapter 7 describes the relationship between human language and its phylogenetic evolution. Chapter 8 is about language and ontology, as well as the relation between cognition and the universe. This book will prove useful to linguistics and language researchers.

  • The Perception of Pictures

    Dürer's Devices: Beyond the Projective Model of Pictures
    • 1st Edition
    • Margaret A. Hagen
    • English
    Durer's Devices: Beyond the Projective Model of Pictures is a collection of papers that discusses the nature of picture making and perception. One paper presents a perceptual theory of pictorial representation in which cultural and historical options in styles of depiction that appear to be different are actually closely related perceptually. Another paper discusses pictorial functions and perceptual structures including pictorial representation, perceptual theory, flat canvass, and the deep world. One paper suggests that perception can be more a matter of information "make up" than "pick up." Light becomes somewhat informative and the eye, correspondingly, becomes less or more presumptive. Another paper notes that human vision is transformed by our modes of representation, that image formation can be essentially incomplete, false, or misleading (primarily as regards dramatic performance and pictorial representation). One paper makes three claims that: (1) the blind have untapped depiction abilities; (2) haptics, involving the sense of touch, have an intuitive sense of perspective; and (3) depiction is perceptual based on graphic elements and pictorial configurations. The collection is suitable for psychologists, physiologists, psychophysicists, and researchers in human perception or phenomenology.

  • Recent Trends in Social Learning Theory

    • 1st Edition
    • Ross D. Parke
    • English
    Recent Trends in Social Learning Theory offers a convenient overview of the state of social learning theory. This book is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 provides a detailed discussion of the social learning theory, followed by an analysis of the theoretical views on the social reinforcement issue in Chapter 2. The contiguity theory of modeling and important role played by symbolic coding processes in imitation are described in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 elaborates the developmental analysis of imitation, while Chapter 5 outlines an empirical and theoretical overview of the status of punishment and its role in the development of self-control in children. The last chapter summarizes the contributions compiled in this text. This publication is recommended for students and professionals in child development and social and clinical psychology.

  • The Australopithecine Face

    • 1st Edition
    • Yoel Rak
    • English
    The Australopithecine Face provides an introduction to the interpretation of the facial skeleton of Australopithecus, a part of the anatomy well represented in the African collections. This book presents important morphological differences between the early hominid taxa and interprets them in a biochemical, functional, evolutionary framework. Organized into seven chapters, this book begins with an overview of the description of the face of the four species of Australopithecus, extending to comparisons both within the genus and with other primates. This text then provides an analysis of the facial morphology of Australopithecus in terms of structural significance. Other chapters consider the taxonomic and phylogenetic status of the australopithecine species in light of the description and comparison. This book discusses as well the changes in the morphology and topography of the facial mask. The final chapter deals with the phylogenetic assignment of the different species. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologists.

  • Rhythm and Meter

    Phonetics and Phonology, Vol. 1
    • 1st Edition
    • Paul Kiparsky + 1 more
    • English
    Phonetics and Phonology: Volume 1, Rhythm and Meter compiles original articles by 12 linguists and literary critics who have made important contributions to current theories of phonology, verse meter, and music. This book mainly focuses on English poetry—on the meters of Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, Longfellow, Hopkins, Auden, and other Renaissance dramatists. Poetry in other languages that include Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, and German are also examined. This publication emphasizes metrical theory, formulating and illustrating metrical principles within the tradition of generative metrics and competing traditions. The relationships between rhythm in language and music are likewise analyzed. This volume is useful to linguists, literary critics, and specialists conducting work on rhythm and meter.

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