Reflections on Historical Trends and Prospects in Contemporary Nonverbal Research

This article offers a brief, selective review of some important trends and issues in nonverbal research over the last 50 years. Although the volume and range of research have increased dramatically over that period, an adequate integration of this extensive body of work is lacking. In response to this concern, the article proposes that nonverbal communication might be framed in terms of an adaptive and efficient system of managing our social worlds. Several basic characteristics of this system are outlined and their utility in organizing and facilitating research is discussed.     

From Civility to Harassment and the Great Space in Between

Civility has produced powerful results in bringing about internal healing and understanding throughout the history of the United States. The proposition that civility is far more disciplined than the behavior required by law regarding appropriate social– or work–related behavior and its practice is good preventive law is the point of this article. By various means of teaching civility, the middle area between civility and legal restriction can be noted and tolerated as part of civility. This article will illustrate different aspects of civility by discussing Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee as they showed civility with the context of social order, and as Robert E. Lee demonstrated, in the academy. The difference between civility and legal restrictions on disruptive behavior that severely interfere with the educational process will be shown by first presenting civility examples, then citing the law regarding speech and harassment.     

Dynamic Benchmarks for Operations Evaluation Using Soft Computing Methods*

New dynamic benchmarks are developed as performance metrics for operational activities in the ingot mill of an aluminium smelter. This new type of high-level performance measure enables both a systematic and a holistic appraisal of operations performance that is not possible at present. The benchmarks also allow changes in performance of each distinct resource group to be clearly identified. The method for computing such measures is based on a wide range of shop-floor data, and possibility theory is used to model the soft characteristics of much of the input. Fuzzy performance estimates are dynamically updated with special attention to combining the different forms of uncertainty that exist in the input information. Although these procedures are site specific, the methodology is applicable to other types of manufacturing systems.     

Locating deaf people, gesture and sign in African histories, 1450s-1950s

Construction of valued identities and evidence-based cultural histories is not easy for deaf or disabled people across Africa. This paper locates some deaf people, gesture and formal Sign Language in African histories, to illustrate possible sources and encourage local, national and pan-African compilation of materials. Documentary evidence of deaf individuals or groups is indicated from 25 nations, sourced in travellers' accounts, legal and genealogical records, government reports, institutional and missionary archives, linguistic studies, folklore, novels, religious narrative, mime and dance. Interpretations and uses of the materials remain for deaf people in Africa to decide according to their own various interests and objectives.     

Principles and Practicalities for Measuring Child Poverty

This paper has three objectives. The first is to discuss the major issues involved in defining and measuring child poverty. The choices that must be made are clarified, and a set of six principles to serve as a guide for public policy are stated. The second objective is to take stock of child poverty and changes in child poverty in the majority of OECD countries since about 1990 when the Convention on the Rights of the Child came into force. Finally, the third objective is to formulate a number of suggestions for the setting of credible targets for the elimination of child poverty in the rich countries. This involves a method for embodying the ideal of children having priority on social resources into a particular set of child poverty reduction targets, it involves the development of appropriate and timely information sources, and finally it involves the clarification of feasible targets that may vary across the OECD.     

Process over outcome: How perceptions of procedural fairness influence conservative support for redistributive taxes

Though majorities of Americans express support for redistributive tax policies as a cure for income inequality in the United States, this general support tends to dissipate when the public evaluates their support for specific proposals. The dominant explanations emphasize elite behavior and the disconnect between American values and political representation. An alternative view is that this counter-intuitive finding is entirely consistent with individual values. Some people place higher priority on policy processes than policy outcomes. This paper demonstrates that conservatives think about redistributive tax policy differently than liberals. Conservative support (opposition) for redistributive taxes is based on evaluations of the fairness of processes of government that lead to economic inequality. When conservatives believe that these processes are not fair, they are very supportive of wealth redistribution as a cure for economic inequality, whereas liberal support for wealth redistribution is more outcome-dependent.     

Implicit Behavioral Mimicry: Investigating the Impact of Group Membership

Two experiments investigated the impact of group membership on non-conscious behavioral mimicry. Female participants viewed videotapes of female confederates who rubbed their faces whilst describing a picture. The extent to which the participant mimicked this face rubbing behavior was assessed from video footage taken using a hidden video-camera. Experiment 1 showed greater mimicry of a member of an in-group than of a member of an out-group. Experiment 2 showed both explicit and implicit liking of a target group to predict the extent of mimicry of a member of that group. There was a positive relationship between implicit liking and mimicry but a negative relationship between explicit liking and mimicry. Results are discussed in terms of processes underlying mimicry.