Perseveration in Tool Use: A Window for Understanding the Dynamics of the Action‐Selection Process

Two experiments investigated how 3‐year‐old children select a tool to perform a manual task, with a focus on their perseverative parameter choices for the various relationships involved in handling a tool: the actor‐to‐tool relation and the tool‐to‐target relation (topology). The first study concerned the parameter value for the tool‐to‐target relation by asking how children use a cane for either pushing an object further away (exclosure; outside the hook) or pulling an object nearby (enclosure; inside the hook). The second study concerned the parameter value for the hand‐to‐tool relation by assessing the hand used for grasping a spoon to feed a puppet. Results from both studies showed that on the first trial, choices were driven by task information. However, when the task switched from pulling to pushing or from left hand to right hand, or vice versa, children persevered with the choice they made during the 4 previous trials. Results are discussed in terms of the dynamical field modeling work of Esther Thelen and her colleagues. Our findings underscore Thelen's hypotheses that: (a) the action‐selection process is a dynamic affair, affected by multiple influences at different time scales and its own intrinsic dynamics; and (b) that perseverative behavior is a general phenomenon that is neither indicative for a specific period in the development, nor for a particular task. Similarly, we argue that the presence (or absence) of causal understanding emerges from the action‐selection process, rather than determining this process.     

IMPACT OF COMPETITION,INVESTMENT, AND REGULATION ON PRICES OF MOBILE SERVICES: EVIDENCE FROM FRANCE

In this paper, we assess the impact of competition, investment, and regulation on prices of mobile services in France. We estimate hedonic price regressions using data on tariff plans offered by the main mobile telecommunications operator in France between May 2011 and December 2014. In this time period, the obtained quality‐adjusted price index decreased by about 42.8% as compared to a decline in weighted average prices without quality‐adjustment of 8.7%. In a second step, we relate the quality‐adjusted prices to a set of competition, investment, and regulation variables and find that the launch of 4G networks by mobile operators was the main driver of price reductions for classic tariffs with commitment. Low‐cost tariffs without commitment which were introduced to pre‐empt the entry of low‐cost competitor declined at the time of entry. Moreover, we find that regulation, which is approximated by the level of mobile termination charges and international roaming price caps for voice and data, has a joint significant impact on quality‐adjusted prices. In percentage terms, competition is responsible for about 23.4% of total price decline and investments in 4G for 56.1%. We conclude that the reduction in quality‐adjusted prices in the last years was largely caused by competition between operators for a new 4G technology and by entry of a fourth low‐cost operator. (JEL L13, L50, L96)     

Accomplishing Profession through Self‐Mockery

One influential sociological approach to profession has it that a profession is something constructed by social actors themselves and that this work is performed through the swapping of atrocity stories. While atrocity stories are an important resource for constructing profession, they are not the only ones available to social actors. In this article, I draw on field work in an academic engineering research laboratory to document how social actors use self‐mockery to construct profession. They do this in five ways, including through the use of background knowledge to interpret self‐mockery, by reserving self‐mockery for specific conditions separate from conditions where engineering knowledge is put on display, by maintaining a preference for self‐presentations that exclude self‐mockery toward the speaker's self during presentations in lab meetings and lectures in courses, through the selection of locally insignificant selves for mockery, and by assembling their own accounts of self‐mockery.     

A Brief Feminist Review and Critique of the Sociology of Alcohol‐Use and Substance‐Abuse Treatment Approaches

Guided by a sociology‐of‐gender framework, we provide an overview and critique of recent academic debates on substance‐use, particularly alcohol‐use. We note that substance use research has been useful for illuminating areas central to sociological inquiry. In limited scope, we focus on the relationships between alcohol‐use, gender, marginalization, violence, and sexualities. Alcohol‐use, we argue, is highly meaningful yet a paradox in that alcohol‐use both upholds and violates gender and sexuality norms. The active construction of gender is particularly visible when focusing on alcohol, gender and violence. We also claim that alcohol plays a role in the maintenance of a gendered society. We conclude by offering suggestions for future sociologically informed research and treatment approaches.     

The Use of Pitch Accent in Word–Object Association by Monolingual Japanese Infants

This study investigated the lexical use of Japanese pitch accent in Japanese‐learning infants. A word–object association task revealed that 18‐month‐old infants succeeded in learning the associations between two nonsense objects paired with two nonsense words minimally distinguished by pitch pattern (Experiment 1). In contrast, 14‐month‐old infants failed (Experiment 2). Eighteen‐month‐old infants succeeded even for sounds that contained only the prosodic information (Experiment 3). However, a subsequent experiment revealed that 14‐month‐old infants succeeded in an easier single word–object task using pitch contrast (Experiment 4). These findings indicate that pitch pattern information is robustly available to 18‐month‐old Japanese monolingual infants in a minimal pair word‐learning situation, but only partially accessible in the same context for 14‐month‐old infants.     

Talking Prose All These Years: Agent‐Based Modeling as Process‐Oriented Analysis

This article considers the implications of an approach to computer simulation called agent‐based modeling for process‐oriented analysis. It argues that many theoretical and methodological debates found in the latter field can be effectively advanced by the former. The argument is presented and then extended using a ubiquitous agent‐based model proposed to improve understanding of ethnic residential segregation. The argument has three strands. The first is that theoretical and methodological debates are unlikely to progress unless they can be “cashed out” empirically. The second is that agent‐based modeling (and its distinctive methodology) has capabilities to do this that existing research methods lack and, in fact, that agent‐based models are a natural way to represent “social process” as apparently conceived by process‐oriented analysis. The third is that possibilities exist for productive synthesis between agent‐based modeling and process‐oriented analysis with the former clarifying, instantiating, and perhaps even testing notions of process developed by the latter.     

Self‐Esteem,the Fear of Crime,and the Decision to Protect Oneself From Victimization

This research extends prior work that examines self‐esteem as an outcome of protective behaviors against crime victimization by focusing instead on the moderating influence of self‐esteem on the relationship between the fear of crime and the decision to protect oneself from victimization. The fear of crime is conceptualized as two separate components (fear of victimization and perceived risk) in accordance with prior work. Self‐esteem is conceptualized as three separate components (worth, efficacy, and authenticity), and measured with a recently designed instrument for capturing each aspect of self‐esteem separately. Data are collected through surveys of a population at high risk for victimization (undergraduate college students). Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that self‐esteem does play a role for deciding whether to engage in protective behaviors, and that the specific components of self‐esteem moderate defensive behavioral outcomes differently. Specifically, the self‐worth, self‐efficacy, and authenticity components of self‐esteem influence the decision to carry protection, but not the decision to take a self‐defense class. Implications for both the fear of crime and self‐esteem literatures are addressed.     

Immigration and Intermarriage Among Hispanics: Crossing Racial and Generational Boundaries1

Rates of Hispanic intermarriage with whites declined for the first time during the 1990s. One hypothesis, which we test here, is that the recent influx of new immigrants has provided an expanding marriage market for Hispanics, reinforced cultural and ethnic identity, and slowed the process of marital assimilation. In this article, we use data from the March Current Population Survey (1995–2008) to identify generational differences in Hispanic‐white intermarriage. The results indicate that second‐generation Hispanics were more likely to marry first‐ rather than third‐generation Hispanics or whites, a pattern that was reinforced over the study period. The results suggest declining rates of intermarriage among second‐generation Hispanics—a pattern that diverges sharply from those observed among third‐plus‐generation Hispanics, where in‐marriage with other Hispanics declined over time. If couched in the language of straight line assimilation theory, third‐plus‐generation Hispanics are assimilating by increasingly marrying other third‐generation co‐ethnics and whites. On the other hand, assimilation among the second‐generation is slowing down as its members increasingly reconnect to their native culture by marrying immigrants.     

Self‐Employment as a Strategy for Dealing with the Competing Demands of Work and Family? The Importance of Family/Lifestyle Motives

In this paper, we test the argument that self‐employment may be a strategy for dealing with competing demands of work and family. We do this by comparing work–family conflict experienced by self‐employed and employed men and women. By examining to what extent the self‐employed versus regularly employed value time for themselves and their family — i.e., whether they are driven by family/lifestyle motives in their working life — we examine whether self‐employment can help reduce work–family conflict among those guided by family/lifestyle motives. Using data from a 2011 Swedish survey of 2483 self‐employed and 2642 regularly employed, the analyses indicate that experiences of work–family conflict differ between self‐employed and employees. Self‐employed men and women, especially those with employees, generally experience more work–family conflict than do employees. However, self‐employment can sometimes be a strategy for dealing with competing demands of work and family life. The presence of family/lifestyle motives generally decreases the probability of experiencing work–family conflict, particularly among self‐employed women with employees.     

Neighborhood Sectarian Displacement and the Battle for Baghdad: A Self‐Fulfilling Prophecy of Fear and Crimes Against Humanity in Iraq

We use two unique Iraq data sets to show how fear and uncertainty served to motivate the self‐fulfilling, neighborhood‐specific forces that followed the U.S.‐led invasion of Iraq. Sectarian criminal violence by armed Shia and Sunni organizations created a situation of ethnic/religious cleansing that reconfigured much of Baghdad. The article focuses on the case of how one particularly violent group, the Mahdi Army, mobilized through the coercive entrepreneurship of Muqtada al‐Sadr, used organized crime tactics of killing, torture, rape, kidnapping, harassment, threats, and forced displacement in a widespread and systematic attack against civilians that forced Sunni residents from their Baghdad neighborhoods. Ordinary Iraqis were victims of an amplified “self‐fulfilling prophecy of fear” that created the momentum for massive sectarian displacement in the battle for Baghdad. We demonstrate that there is a neighborhood specific effect of early postinvasion neighborhood fear net of intervening violence on displacement three years later, following the Al‐Qaeda Samara Shrine attack, confirming an effect of a self‐fulfilling prophecy of fear in the neighborhoods of Baghdad that compounded in a self‐reinforcing way. The changed demography of Baghdad was effectively consolidated by the later surge of U.S. forces that left in place the territorial gains made by the Shia‐led Mahdi Army at the expense of former Sunni residents. We conclude that this continues to matter because the resulting grievances have contributed to renewed violence.     

Children's Agency: ‘Getting By,Getting Back,Getting Out and Getting Organised’ Under Welfare‐to‐Work in Australia

One in four children in lone‐parent households in Australia lives in poverty. Welfare‐to‐work policies designed to 'activate' lone‐parents into the labour market is one approach that successive governments have employed to address this issue. This article argues that activation policies that target parents risk overlooking the implications for the children in these families. It concludes that more understanding about how poor children employ agency within the constraints and conditions of their lives could inform policy that better supports their well‐being, values their contributions, and is more sensitive to the diverse and changing needs of families. It draws on child‐centred participatory research with twenty‐six children in Australia that found they were active agents across a range of areas that included strategies for getting by, aspiration for the future, and acts of resistance.     

Reflections on a Cross‐National Qualitative Study of Within‐Household Finances

This report presents some reflections on and experiences from a cross‐national qualitative research project about within‐household finances conducted by sociologists from Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. The authors focus first on the challenges of making qualitative cross‐national comparisons and argue for the importance of establishing a common understanding of methodological and theoretical aspects. They then go on to consider the relevance of political – cultural context for understanding within‐household distribution of resources. They suggest that meanings of money are influenced by understandings of gender, which in turn influence and are influenced by welfare regimes. They then present a few outcomes from a cross‐national analysis of results from Spain, Sweden, and the United States. They conclude the article by suggesting that comparisons on the level of results rather than on the level of primary data is a viable option for qualitative cross‐national analysis.     

Eighteen‐Month‐Olds,but not 14‐Month‐Olds,Use Social Context to Bind Action Sequences

We demonstrate that 18‐month‐olds, but not 14‐month‐olds, can anticipate others' actions based on an interpretation of shared goals that bind together individual actions into a collaborative sequence. After viewing a sequence of actions performed by two people who socially interact, 18‐month‐olds bound together the socially engaged actors' actions such that they later expected the actors to share the same final goal. Eighteen‐month‐olds who saw nonsocially engaged actors did not have this expectation and neither did 14‐month‐olds when viewing either socially or nonsocially engaged actors. The results are discussed in light of the possibility that experience in collaborations could be necessary for understanding collaboration from a third‐person perspective.     

Briefly Noted

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded Medicare beneficiaries' access to telehealth, allowing payment for individual psychotherapy, patient education and group psychotherapy that are delivered in “temporary expansion locations, including patients' homes.” In addition, it will consider adding more services if providers show they are interested in doing this. The April 30 decision will temporarily allow Community Mental Health Centers to offer partial hospitalization and other mental health services to clients in their homes. The CMS previously announced that Medicare would pay for certain services conducted by audio‐only telephone between beneficiaries and their doctors, but has broadened that list to include many behavioral health and patient education services. The payments for telephone visits now match payments for similar office and outpatient visits, retroactive to March 1, 2020. Instead of using a rulemaking process to add Medicare services that may be furnished via telehealth, the CMS will continue to add these during the COVID‐19 emergency on a subregulatory basis, taking into consideration “requests by practitioners now learning to use telehealth as broadly as possible.” And the CMS is waiving the video requirement for certain “evaluation and management services” — the office visits with the doctor — and now these can be provided by telephone only. Some beneficiaries don't have access to the technology for video, or don't want to use it. For more information, go to https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press‐releases/trump‐administration‐issues‐second‐round‐sweeping‐changes‐support‐us‐healthcare‐system‐during‐covid .     

Better Processing of Consonantal Over Vocalic Information in Word Learning at 16 Months of Age

Previous research using the name‐based categorization task has shown that 20‐month‐old infants can simultaneously learn 2 words that only differ by 1 consonantal feature but fail to do so when the words only differ by 1 vocalic feature. This asymmetry was taken as evidence for the proposal that consonants are more important than vowels at the lexical level. This study explores this consonant‐vowel asymmetry in 16‐month‐old infants, using an interactive word learning task. It shows that the pattern of the 16‐month‐olds is the same as that of the 20‐month‐olds. Infants succeeded with 1‐feature consonantal contrasts (either place or voicing) but were at chance level with 1‐feature vocalic contrasts (either place or height). These results thus contribute to a growing body of evidence establishing, from early infancy to adulthood, that consonants and vowels have different roles in lexical acquisition and processing.     

Toddlers Activate Lexical Semantic Knowledge in the Absence of Visual Referents: Evidence from Auditory Priming

Language learners rapidly acquire extensive semantic knowledge, but the development of this knowledge is difficult to study, in part because it is difficult to assess young children's lexical semantic representations. In our studies, we solved this problem by investigating lexical semantic knowledge in 24‐month‐olds using the Head‐turn Preference Procedure. In Experiment 1, looking times to a repeating spoken word stimulus (e.g., kitty‐kitty‐kitty) were shorter for trials preceded by a semantically related word (e.g., dog‐dog‐dog) than trials preceded by an unrelated word (e.g., juice‐juice‐juice). Experiment 2 yielded similar results using a method in which pairs of words were presented on the same trial. The studies provide evidence that young children activate of lexical semantic knowledge, and critically, that they do so in the absence of visual referents or sentence contexts. Auditory lexical priming is a promising technique for studying the development and structure of semantic knowledge in young children.     

Welfare Reform and Teenage Pregnancy,Childbirth, and School Dropout

This study estimates the effect of welfare reform on adolescent behaviors using a difference‐in‐differences approach. After defining the prereform and reform cohorts and considering the life course development of adolescent behavior by following each cohort from age 14 to age 16, we compare the welfare‐target and nontarget populations in the two cohorts. The difference‐in‐differences estimates are obtained using an event history model. Our analysis suggests that welfare reform has not reduced teenage fertility and school dropout. We find modest evidence that welfare reform is associated with higher risk of teenage births for girls in welfare families and higher risk of school dropout for girls in poor families. A combination of a difference‐in‐differences approach and a life course perspective can be a useful way to delineate the effect of societal‐level change on family phenomena.     

Couple Longevity in the Era of Same‐Sex Marriage in the United States

The author used a new longitudinal data set, the How Couples Meet and Stay Together surveys (N = 3,009), to generate the first nationally representative comparison of same‐sex couple stability and heterosexual couple stability in the United States. He measured the association between marriage (by several definitions of marriage) and couple longevity for same‐sex couples in the United States. Reports of same‐sex relationship instability in the past were due in part to the low rate of marriages among same‐sex couples. After controlling for marriage and marriage‐like commitments, the break‐up rate for same‐sex couples was comparable to (and not statistically distinguishable from) the break‐up rate for heterosexual couples. The results revealed that same‐sex couples who had a marriage‐like commitment had stable unions regardless of government recognition. A variety of predictors of relationship dissolution for heterosexual and for same‐sex couples are explored.