Beliefs

English hungry. That was the only way I could describe her. When I asked her how she had learned English so well without leaving Japan, she simply said," All you have to do is pretend. Pretend you are an English speaker." It turned out, she first got hooked on pop music in English in junior high school. Along the way she developed a knack for finding and imitating English everywhere she went. She confessed she used to listen to the NHK English radio programs with her earphone even while she was in other classes.

This article explores patterns of language use in oral poetry within a variety of semantic formula. Such a formula may vary its surface texture in relation to phonic demands of the metrical environment in which it is realized. Metrically entangled kennings in Old Norse dróttkvætt poetry provide material for a series of case studies focusing on variation in realizing formulae of this type. Old Norse kennings present a semantic formula of a particular type which is valuable as an example owing to the extremes of textural variation that it enables. Focus will be on variation between two broad semantic categories in expressing the formula’s consistent unit of meaning that are otherwise unambiguously distinct: proper names for mythological beings and poetic terms for weapons and armour. This article introduces an approach to kennings as semantic formulae and includes an illustrative case study on kennings meaning ‘battle’ in the last three metrical positions of a dróttkvætt line. The case study is simultaneously used to demonstrate the degree of integration of mythological proper names in the poetic register. This article contains only the first case study of a series. It provides foundations for examining variation in the associative links exhibited by names of mythic beings as a category according to the metrical positions in which a battle-kenning is realized, as will be discussed further later in this series. In additions to insights into how language was used in the practice of this tradition, this study highlights that mythological names could be used in the poetry for purely metrical reasons without linking to the name's mythological significance.

Religious and secular convictions have powerful effects, but their foundations are often surprisingly fragile. New converts often come across as stringent believers precisely because they need to dispel their own lingering doubts, while revolutionary movements survive only through the denial of ambiguity. This book shows that a focus on uncertainty and doubt is indispensable for grasping the role of ideas in social action. By studying everyday doubt, this book unravels the mechanisms by which convictions gain and lose their force, and analyses the dynamics that propel loosely held ideas into committed action. Drawing on a wide range of cases, from spirit mediums in Taiwan to Maoist revolutionaries in India, and from right-wing populists in Europe to ethnic strife in Central Asia, the authors analyse the ways in which doubt is overcome and, conversely, how belief systems collapse. In doing so, Ethnographies of Doubt provides important insights into the cycles of faith, hope, conviction and disillusion that are intrinsic to the human condition.

"Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving – Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Whenever I find myself in conversation with a liberal skeptic who assumes that the existence of a liberal Mormon or Catholic is about as likely as aliens walking the planet, I do two things. First, I show them our blog. Second, I attempt to describe the complicated, long, and constantly evolving relationship between American liberalism, religion, and feminism. The roots of this complex triad are planted in a complicated history whereby, on the one hand, religious liberalism helped women gain equal rights and social justice, while on the other hand, it created divisions among some religious women who felt liberalism threatened their theological beliefs. Of course, the term “liberalism” is fraught with its own contemporary meanings. However, religious feminists throughout history have nevertheless engaged in practices we could place under the rubric of liberalism, including the push toward cosmopolitanism, modernism, and political progressivism. The difficulty was (and still is) maintaining their religious practices and beliefs."

This article is focused on answering the question to what extent one may be a sceptic. Sextus Empiricus’s Outlines of Scepticism serves as a guide. In section 1, it is investigated whether three logical laws have a certain foundation or are subject to doubt. In section 2, Sextus’s way to deal with these laws is examined; the question arises how dogmatic his approach is. After that, a possible ‘reply’ by Sextus to the criticism receives attention. Section 3 is concentrated on a possible alternative to Sextus’s approach. Besides logical laws, some important methods are concerned.

This paper discusses the findings of a study that examined the processes of anchoring in the understanding of dementia caregiving using 29 interviews conducted in Germany with wives and daughters caring for a relative with dementia and 43 newspaper articles pertinent to the research objective. The concept of anchoring from Social Representations Theory was complemented by elements from cognitive linguistics to analyse the social representations (SRs) that served as source domains to determine what the target domain of dementia caregiving means, entails and requires. The analysis revealed three prevalent patterns of anchoring dementia care in SRs of child care and the good mother. The first pattern ascribed the role of the helpless clinging child needing his mother to the dementia patient, the second emphasised that the dementia caregivers' responsibility for caring, just like motherhood, should take precedence over all other interests and the third consisted of dementia caregivers deriving the perception of being the most suitable caregiver from the mother's natural aptitude for caring. The conclusions reached by the different patterns are argued to contribute to dementia caregivers overexerting themselves and not using support services. The clinical implications for targeting such adverse effects of the anchoring will be discussed.

Abstract:  This state of the art paper revisits foreign language teacher beliefs. The first part of the paper  reviews  some  factors  that  have  an  impact  on  foreign/second  language  (L2) teachers’‎ beliefs.‎ ‎ The‎ second‎ part‎ outlines‎ some‎ characteristics‎ of‎ teacher‎ beliefs‎ by‎ providing examples from a range of research studies conducted in the field. In the final part, the paper attempts to illuminate the complex nature of L2 teacher beliefs and belief formation processes by‎ addressing‎ Moscovici’s‎ social‎ representations‎ theory.‎ The‎ author argues that Moscovici’s‎ social‎ representations‎ theory, ‎and‎ Abric’s‎ central‎ kernel‎ theory  developed  as  a  sub-theory  of  social  representations  theory  offer  the  theoretical foundation  to  explain  differing  aspects  of  L2  teacher  beliefs.  The  author  claims  that central kernels theory provides a clear distinction between peripheral and core beliefs.  The‎ author ‎concludes ‎by ‎suggesting ‎future ‎research‎ focusing ‎on ‎L2‎ teachers’‎ peripheral‎ and core beliefs.

I argue that any account of imagination should satisfy the following three desiderata. First, imaginations induce actions only in conjunction with beliefs about the environment of the imagining subject. Second, there is a continuum between imaginations and beliefs. Recognizing this continuum is crucial to explain the phenomenon of imaginative immersion. Third, the mental states that relate to imaginations in the way that desires relate to beliefs are a special kind of desire, namely desires to make true in fiction. These desires to make true in fiction do not differ from regular desires in kind, but only in content. I argue for these three desiderata in turn by critically discussing several recent accounts of imagination.

This study surveyed Chinese middle school (n = 951) teachers' conceptions of excellent teaching and examined the relationship of those conceptions to their self-reported teaching practices. Responses were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. These teachers identified one examination-oriented dimension and four interactive, pedagogical dimensions of excellent teaching and four dimensions of teaching practice. The structural model indicated a high consistency rate (83%) between teachers' conceptions of excellent teaching and the corresponding self-reported practices. Implications for teaching standards, teacher professional development, and examination system are discussed.

This study was designed to examine the relationships among social axioms and four different dispositional components of self-regulation, namely optimism, mindfulness, regulatory modes, and approach versus avoidance motivation. We focused on two dimensions of beliefs about the world—social cynicism, that constellation of beliefs judging the social world to be dominated by power, and reward for application, that constellation of beliefs judging the world to respond positively to inputs of human effort and investment of resources. Results indicated that two axiom dimensions, namely, social cynicism and reward for application, were related to this subset of self-regulatory orientations. Moreover, mediational analyses suggested that social cynicism was related to less adaptive self-regulatory orientations, which in turn compromised subjective well-being, whereas reward for application was related to more adaptive self-regulatory orientations, which thereby enhanced subjective well-being. The implications of these findings are discussed for interpersonal strategic orientations and psychological health.