Publication Type: Individual Poster
Abstract: Background and aims
Cultural development of the child is founded on the use of signs and on mediated relationships. The basis of the sign is social. It exists in those forms of social interaction in which the child participates before beginning to use language independently. In joint play activities with objects the child is engaged in meaningful activity. Child development cannot be separated from the social context of development. In this development mediated action of the adult is essential. It is question about sense creation of the child (Vygotsky 1933). The aim of this study is to find out how the zone of proximal development is constructed in child-mother interaction during the pre-verbal stage and how mothers support the sense making at the developmental transition periods.
Method
The study consisted a longitudinal follow-up observation in a free-play laboratory setting of six mother-child pairs (Context A). At the beginning of the study the children were six months old and by the end they had reached three years of age. Mother-child pairs visited the laboratory monthly one visit lasting about one hour and half.
Results
We found that development of social sign reveals two developmental transitions during the pre-verbal stage. The first transition takes place at the age of 9-12 months when the emergence of subjective self is actual and the imaginary begin. The second transition around the age of 15 to 20 months lasting to close the age of three years, when speech normally starts to affect as part of the child`s actions. Before each transition the child`s independent movement and imitative behaviour becomes activated while symbolic activity begins after the transition has occurred. Basic elements of sense making at the pre-verbal stage are: 1)emotional interaction connected to the mutual activity with objects, 2) narrative imaginary elements of action and 3) mutual imitation between mother and child.
Conclusions
The study is bringing forth the central importance of the adult in turning points of child development. In the spring 2005 started the club for creative play (small children`s group under three years) in Kajaani campus, where mothers and their children are collect together ones a week for two hours (Context B). The main activity during these visits is free play between children in situations where also mothers of the children are present. Play situations will be videotaped. I continue to find out how transition periods are visible and how they are supported by the adults and peers. It will be analyzed and compared how the guiding roles of adults differ in these two contexts (A and B). The study focuses on the child-adult pairs` and peer mutual activity episodes and will be analysed micro-analytically.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The current study presents the results of a content analysis conducted on the verbal aggression found in 36 hours of televised professional wrestling. The coding scheme was adapted from the National Television Violence Study and past research on televised verbal aggression. The results show that an abundance of verbal aggression is present in televised professional wrestling. In particular, swearing, competence attacks, and character attacks. Notably, these forms of aggression are committed most often by perpetrators with no clear dispositional characteristics, and without any apparently justifiable reason – most often done seemingly just for amusement. The results are discussed in terms of potential effects of exposure to the verbal aggression found in professional wrestling.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Imagined interactions (IIs) are a type of social cognition and mental imagery whereby actors imagine an interaction with others for the purposes of planning. Within actual encounters, verbal fluency is a characteristic that contributes to the speaker’s credibility. The planning that takes place through imagined dialogues can help a speaker overcome disfluency found in speech. Results from this study indicate planning’s influence in the reduction of silent pauses but not vocalized pauses.

Publication Type: Short Oral Report
Abstract: Este documento reporta observaciones al utilizar el CAS como manipulador simbólico, para resolver problemas verbales aritmético-algebraicos. El CAS se utiliza como resolutor sintáctico que hace que el alumno se concentre en la parte semántica del problema verbal aritmético-algebraico y reflexione sobre lo que tiene en la pantalla de la calculadora con CAS, para explorar, descubrir y manipular cosas que desconocía.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Verbal aggression (e.g. name calling, hate speech, etc.) directed at individuals or groups of people who are perceived as being different appears to be gaining greater frequency on campuses in the United States. University administrators in growing numbers have supported campus speech codes to combat this type of psychoviolence that on occasion has lead to physical violence (Adler, Starr, Chidega, Wright & Haac, 1990; Emerson, 1991; Melville, 1992). However, speech codes have been perceived by some to violate one's freedom of speech. In addition to verbal aggression, argumentativeness is another style of communication that is considerably more constructive. Argumentativeness (Infante 1995) is a trait that helps a person to present and defend positions on controversial issues while critiquing the positions that other people take. In other words, Infante (1995) argues that the communicator who exhibits argumentativeness attempts to be “issue-oriented” in his or her style of communicating.

Given the background of these two different styles of communication, this paper explores the relationships between argumentative and verbally aggressive communication styles, as well as attitudes toward freedom of speech, on antisocial outcomes such as physical aggression, verbal aggression, drug use, and other antisocial behaviors as reported by university students. We find that indeed communication style and free speech attitudes do predict whether university students engage in antisocial behaviors. Finally, based on our findings, we discuss possible measures that can be taken to foster healthy and productive communication techniques among students.