An altered stress response can contribute to the transition from preclinical psychotic symptoms to the clinical manifestation of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. The present study was ...aimed at testing the hypotheses that (i) the autonomic and neuroendocrine responses under psychosocial stress are dysregulated in individuals with high psychosis proneness (schizotypy); (ii) the magnitude of post-stress autonomic activation and cortisol release predicts alterations in semantic memory retrieval. The study was performed in 73 healthy individuals of both sexes with either high or low schizotypal traits preselected out of 609 individuals using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. A psychosocial stress procedure based on public speech was used as a stress model. We found that individuals with high schizotypy engaged in less adaptive emotional stress-coping strategies than low schizotypy individuals. Yet, the neuroendocrine, immune, and sympathetic activation in response to the stress test was not different between the groups. Irrespective of the exposure to the stressor, individuals with high schizotypy were less fluent when retrieving associations from semantic memory. In addition, we demonstrated that acute psychosocial stress reduced the flexibility of semantic memory retrieval. The post-stress mental inflexibility was reliably predicted by the concomitant elevation of cortisol concentrations in saliva. The present study thus brings novel evidence indicating that the acute psychosocial challenge impairs retrieval flexibility in the semantic domain, which may be due to neuroendocrine activation.
•High schizotypy is associated with less adaptive emotional stress-coping strategies.•Stress-induced neuroendocrine changes are not affected by schizotypal traits.•Automatic semantic memory retrieval is compromised in high schizotypy.•The flexibility of semantic memory retrieval is reduced under acute stress.•Post-stress cortisol increase may mediate the inflexibility of semantic retrieval.
Abstract
The aim of this research is to analyze the political discourse and the language they used in public addresses provided by two former presidents of the United States, specifically, President ...Barak Obama and President Donald Trump. This research reflects on the material that has been collected for several months which aimed to contribute on the analysis of the corpus, distinctions and similarities, as well as their attitudes towards the public opinion. The objectives of this study are mainly empirical and theoretical. Considering the empirical objectives, this study seeks to explore, identify and categorize the most used words in a political speech according to the categories, form, function and meaning, whereas, the theoretical objectives of this study are to provide a description of the language that is used in major events from well-known politicians when aiming to capture people’s attention. Their rhetorical habits were examined, in every delivery of Mr. Obama’s political speech; his speeches were carefully and well-articulated throughout his 8 year political service in the oval office, portraying him as a kind person. On the other hand, Mr. Trump’s, as a non-politician, more as a businessman, political speeches throughout his campaign and 4 years in the office were very often seen as aggressive, unforeseen, and nonetheless straight to the point.
This study covers the linguistic level analysis as well as semantic and pragmatic levels. Initially, the selected corpora were analyzed using the Ant Conc software regarding frequency of usage and then move into detailed analysis.
Public speaking comes in many different forms and has many uses but the main aim is to inform, educate and successfully influence the public with motivational and powerful statements. The majority of ...public speakers that an individual might encounter are political figures. In order to demonstrate competence and credibility, they evoke different language techniques. Carefully chosen type of speech (demonstrative, informative, ceremonial or persuasive) alongside with particular linguistic devices (lexical and stylistic) allow any influential orator to create a notable impact on the target audience and manipulate the mind-set of the masses. The purpose of the research was to unveil the effectiveness of linguistic devices used in the speeches of three US presidents, to compare as well as to indicate the predominant lexical and stylistic means that ensure oratory success. The methods of theoretical analysis and descriptive comparative linguistic analysis were applied. 45 lexical devices were identified while analysing the speeches, out of which 23 were chosen for a more thorough examination. 162 stylistic devices were identified and 45 of them were analysed in the research. The article reveals that lexical means create a more cohesive but less creative speech, whereas stylistic devices serve to reflect the speakers’ idiosyncrasy. The speeches of Barack Obama, Joe Biden sound clear and knowledgeable, whereas Donald Trump creates a sense of informality, forcefulness or even aggressiveness.
The current paper's objective is to determine why some EFL students at Qassim University, KSA, find it difficult to give their public presentations demanded by some departments’ curricula as a ...college requirement. Recently, the author observed that some EFL students are very reluctant to participate in public speaking sessions until the allotted time expires although they know that they are going to lose grades at the end of the day for not participating. A quantitative research methodology is used to acquire the data. A questionnaire containing (17) items was designed and distributed to a sample of (52) EFL students representing the total number of students enrolled in two theoretical linguistic courses during the academic year (1443 -1444). After collecting and analysing the data, the study showed that some students feel shy and intentionally avoid public speech in EFL classes because they come with hardly negligible experiences in public speech when enrolled as tertiary-level students.
Objective:
One of the main characteristics of social anxiety disorder is excessive fear of social evaluation. In such situations, anxiety can influence gaze behaviour. Thus, the current study adopted ...virtual reality to examine eye gaze pattern of social anxiety disorder patients while presenting different types of speeches.
Methods:
A total of 79 social anxiety disorder patients and 51 healthy controls presented prepared speeches on general topics and impromptu speeches on self-related topics to a virtual audience while their eye gaze was recorded. Their presentation performance was also evaluated.
Results:
Overall, social anxiety disorder patients showed less eye gaze towards the audience than healthy controls. Types of speech did not influence social anxiety disorder patients’ gaze allocation towards the audience. However, patients with social anxiety disorder showed significant correlations between the amount of eye gaze towards the audience while presenting self-related speeches and social anxiety cognitions.
Conclusion:
The current study confirms that eye gaze behaviour of social anxiety disorder patients is aversive and that their anxiety symptoms are more dependent on the nature of topic.
Reported speech acts serve as a central journalistic resource for mediating public actors’ intentions, stances, and worldviews. Yet, journalists’ practices of interpreting and mediating intentions ...was fairly neglected by scholars of journalism. This study takes the example of reported condemnations, congratulations, and greetings, all of which consist of evaluative language that allows the examination of the ‘intention work’ journalists perform when meditating the words of others. Comparative analysis of 131 reported speech acts, with respect to the actual statements made by the quoted sources, suggest that journalists display variations in the level of adherence to the actual statements and show preference to intensify negative evaluations by resorting to subtle pragmatic and stylistic choices. We conclude by suggesting several reasons underlying reporters’ intention work and discuss the implications and professional stances assumed by journalists in their active role as mediators of intentions.
Abstract
This study adopts a contrastive pragmatic approach to examine the meanings and functions of public regret in two linguacultures. We located questions of regret realized by news interviewers ...in Israel and the United States between the years 2010 and 2020 using keyword searches in databases of diverse radio and television broadcast news media. Contrastive analysis of realizations and uptakes of questions of regret reveals similar discursive, functional and thematic patterns across the two cultures: questions of regret are predominantly used to demand accountability or to elicit emotion and narrative evaluation, and are discursively constructed as either challenging or supportive. We also found a delicate cross-cultural difference, with interviewees' tendency to avoid regret greater in the U.S. In the Discussion we suggest possible explanations for the overall resemblance of discursive patterns in news interviews in Israel and the U.S., and their theoretical and methodological implications for contrastive pragmatics in institutional settings.
Schizotypy denotes psychosis-like experiences, such as perceptual aberration, magical ideation, and social anxiety. Altered physiological arousal from social stress is found in people with high ...schizotypal traits. Two experiments aimed to determine the relationship of schizotypy to physiological arousal from social stress. Experiment 1 tested the hypotheses that heart rate from social stress would be greater in high, than mild-to-moderate, schizotypal traits, and disorganized schizotypy would explain this effect because of distress from disorganisation. Experiment 1 tested social stress in 16 participants with high schizotypal traits and 10 participants with mild-to-moderate schizotypal traits. The social stress test consisted of a public speech and an informal discussion with strangers. The high schizotypal group had a higher heart rate than the mild-to-moderate schizotypal group during the informal discussion with strangers, but not during the public speech. Disorganized schizotypy accounted for this group difference. Experiment 2 tested the hypothesis that mild-to-moderate schizotypal traits would have a linear relationship with physiological arousal from social stress. Experiment 2 tested 24 participants with mild-to-moderate schizotypal traits performing the abovementioned social stress test while their heart rate and skin conductance responses were measured. Mild-to-moderate schizotypal traits had a linear relationship with physiological arousal during the discussion with strangers. Distress in disorganized schizotypy may explain the heightened arousal from close social interaction with strangers in high schizotypy than mild-to-moderate schizotypy. Mild-to-moderate schizotypal traits may have a linear relationship with HR during close social interaction because of difficulty with acclimatizing to the social interaction.
The article is devoted to the unification of approaches to the analysis of the public information environment, as well as the coordination of efforts to counter information aggression on a ...decentralized basis. The purpose of the study is to establish the main features and principles of the formation of an expert-analytical product within the framework of strengthening the security capacity of Ukrainian society. The value of a quick asymmetric information response in the form of discrediting the source, disavowing the information provided and/or using errors or mistakes in the information provided to one’s advantage is characterized. It was emphasized that the targeting of political and security content should also take into account the socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics (data) of the community to which the information is directed. The creativity of the expert-analytical security product is analyzed, which means a creative approach to counter hostile informational provocations and invasions. The importance of the principle of responsiveness, which means the compliance of the appearance of content with time dimensions and the requirements of the political and security situation, is revealed. It was found that the appearance of expert political and security materials should precede the events, be carried out according to the plan of media events, as well as within the framework of crisis situations. It was revealed that the empirical nature of the expert-analytical product involves the use of various models for assessing threats to political security. It is proven that the development of various scenarios of expert public content contributes to the development of the political situation in the future in the desired direction. It has been established that the expert-analytical product of public direction (reports, assessments, analytical summaries, etc.) should not only be broadcast in an accessible (understandable) language. It is assumed that the complexity and completeness of information means its completeness in terms of known and unknown facts. It has been established that the value neutrality of communication messages means avoiding the promotion of ideological messages and motivational components, except when such materials are not included in special promotions and operations. It was found that open discussion leaves the possibility of the information consumer to interactively interact with the text of the message and data. It was concluded that a promising direction of information security activity is asymmetric action in relation to operational massive support of political actions of hostile power institutions on the international arena.
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