Socio-cognitive Analysis Research Articles

A Socio-Cognitive Analysis of the Self/other Representation in Bush’s Speech

It is known that political speeches are important as a communicative tool for politicians to maintain the power, which is essential to express political opinions and views as well as ideologies, though not always explicitly. Ideology is regarded as one of the primary objectives of text analysis in linguistic studies, particularly critical discourse analysis(henceforth CDA) , which consists of shared values, beliefs and attitudes within a group .In this way, discourse reflects the values of these ideological held by those groups who create it. The present study focuses on investigating the discursive ideological strategies of the self/other in Bush’s speech after September 11 attacks based on Van Dijk's (2006) model of ideological square. The data are collected qualitatively and a mixed method is used to analyze the results of this study. The major findings show that Bush used more ideological strategies to represent the image of “US” (selves) positively, than the image of “THEM” (others) negatively. In particular, the lexicalization is the most common strategy used by Bush’s speech, which showed that Bush emphasized on reflecting that Americans are (good, innocent, peaceful, victims, targeted, respectful, strong, great, powerful and sympathetic), while Arabs, particularly Muslims are (bad, terrorists, evil, violent, peace- haters, spiteful, murderers, vengeful, dangerous, destructive, violence and enemy). It is hoped that this study can improve the understanding of EFL learners about the importance of clarifying the hidden ideologies in politician’s speech and all kinds of discourse.

Walt Wittman: The Universal Poet and the American Ideal - A Socio-Cognitive Analysis

Walt Whitman is one of America's most iconic poets. He is renowned for his innovative and linguistic style, which embodies the spirit of revolution. His poem "Song of Myself" from his collection "Leaves of Grass" captures the essence of this revolutionary spirit, as it challenges traditional norms and explores the possibilities of realizing the American ideal. The study delves into the process of power and its ability to regenerate a sense of life. This analysis not only sheds light on Whitman's unique use of language and form but also explores how his poetry captures the possibilities of realizing the American ideal. Whitman’s use of the present participial form in the closing lines of "Song of Myself," where he writes "I stop somewhere waiting for you," is a prime example of his innovative linguistic style and his vision of the present being connected to both the past and the future. This paper attempts to analyze this poem in the light of socio-cognitive approach.

The Influence of Cultural Pluralism on Women's Leadership Discourse: A Socio-Cognitive Analysis: Selected Models

The Influence of Cultural Pluralism on Women's Leadership Discourse: A Socio-Cognitive Analysis: Selected Models

Competencies in Higher Education and the Labor Market: A Sociocognitive Analysis of the Problem of Integration

Introduction. Professional competencies developed by the education system do not provide the high degree of integration with the real economy at the Russian labor market. The sociocognitive approach to social institutions as information processing systems suggests that this may be partly due to different languages used by employers and educational structures for describing competencies. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis of this mismatch drawing on the example of the applied sociology sector. Materials and Methods. The case study method was applied to the material of the archive of correspondence on personnel issues of a company from the field of applied sociology, which worked in 2012–2019 (46 papers). The hypothesis that employers and educational system use a different language for describing competencies was tested. Content analysis method was applied to the largest Russian job portals: hh.ru, superjob.ru and Avito.Rabota. The hypothesis of non-use of educational standards for describing competencies in the labor market was tested. Results. Both hypotheses were confirmed. Based on the results of the correspondence archive analysis, it was proved that employers use a language different from that of the education system when describing requirements to employees (including their competencies). The results of content analysis revealed the phenomenon of almost complete isolation of the labor market from the formal standards of higher education (educational standards for describing the competencies of sociologists were not used in a single vacancy or a resumé out of more than 32 thousand found on the portals). Discussion and Conclusion. To overcome the lack of demand for graduates in the labor market, it is necessary to overcome the existing language gap between the education system and employers. To this end, the system of validation of competencies should be changed. The source of their description should not be the education system itself, the texts and ideas that are born in it, but the requirements of employers, verbalized by them in the description of vacancies. Descriptions of competencies that do not meet the widely accepted requirements of employers should be automatically excluded from professional education standards as invalid. The results contribute to searching critical problems in the educational system and adapting it to the current needs of the labor market.

Coping with gender-critical voices from within: A sociocognitive approach to Sussex’s Twitter (X) crisis responses

Drawing on critical discourse studies (CDS), this article foregrounds how British higher education institutions respond to gender-critical controversies sparked by their staff members. Adopting Teun van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach, we analyse the University of Sussex’s crisis responses on Twitter (known as X today) concerning de-platforming campaigns against Kathleen Stock. The analysis unpacks how Sussex employs various discursive strategies to validate its institutional stance in the Stock incident. Sussex’s communicative actions aim to mitigate reputation damage caused by the incident. However, such discursive practices simultaneously indicate the university’s attempt to evade its institutional responsibility for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) advocacy, neither do they address the reputation crisis caused by fellow Twitter users’ counter-narratives. The analysis points towards the need for a sociocognitive analysis of crisis responses to hold higher education institutions accountable for their core mission, amid trans-rights debates unfolding in wider society.

Socio-cognitive analysis of farmers' water conservation behaviour: The case of the Kavar plain, Iran.

Agricultural activities have a lot of effects on the environment so that water conservation measures help produce crops and consume water resources sustainably. The present research mainly aimed to explore farmers' water conservation behaviour using the comprehensive action determination model (CADM). The research was conducted on the farmers in the Kavar plain in Fars province, Iran (N = 4000). The sample including 351 farmers was taken by the stratified random sampling technique. The measurement instrument was a questionnaire whose face and content validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. To check its reliability, a pilot study was conducted to calculate Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR). The results showed that the indicators used to measure the research variables properly fitted the factor structure and the theoretical framework of the study. Based on the results, social norms (β = 0.26), personal norms (β = 0.22), attitude (β = 0.33), objective constraints (β = 0.38), and subjective constraints (β = 0.29) affect farmers' water conservation intention positively and significantly. Also, farmers' behaviour is influenced by their intention (β = 0.6), as well as their subjective (β = 0.73) and objective constraints (β = 0.58). It can be concluded that farmers' water conservation behavior is shaped by a process that involves their normative process, habitual process, situation, and attitudes.

Discursive construction in multilingual crisis risk communication: An analysis of ‘A letter to foreign nationals’ messages in China’s COVID-19 fight

This article examines the discursive construction of a specific letter-style multilingual crisis message released by local governmental institutions during China’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a sociocognitive analysis of a collection of 33 English-language messages, the analysis revealed the structural features of the message and the discursive strategies in constructing and negotiating the identities of the message’s addresser and the addressee. It was found that the discursive relationship between the addresser and the addressee was established on an ingroup-outgroup distinction mediated by neutralising strategies to reduce authoritative imposition and image-enhancing strategies to promote a responsible government. The findings suggest that multilingual crisis communication is a multivocal, complex social practice shaped by genre, textual, media and contextual factors. These findings will provide insights into the crisis discourse as an emerging topic of interest and help inform multilingual communication strategies in and beyond the context of a public health emergency.

Occupying the streets, occupying words. Reframing new feminisms through reappropriation

This paper presents a Critical and Socio-Cognitive analysis of protest discourse as created in slogans for feminist rallies taking place in Spain (2017–2020). The study focuses on the discursive evolution of the term manada (‘wolfpack’), from its origins as a metonymy to refer to a gang rape taking place in the San Fermín bullfighting celebration of July 2016, to its reappropriation by feminists to bring attention to gender violence and, most importantly, to create a positive in-group identity of cohesion and empowerment, while delegitimizing and dispossessing the out-group, rapists, of their power. The analysis shows how reappropriation, together with recontextualization and multimodal creativity, helps to understand the impact of a single term, manada, in the transformation of the traditional discourse of fear and threat into one of solidarity and hope when addressing gender violence, as well as its effects on the constructions of new cognitive and social frames within the community.

Struggling for Leadership Authority: Critical Discourse Analysis on Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono's Political Speech

This study aims to determine the socio-cognitive dimensions of Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono's (AHY) political speech as chairman of the Democratic Party (DP). The data was taken from AHY's speech entitled Konferensi Pers Ketua Umum Partai Demokrat Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono which was broadcasted on Agus Yudhoyono's YouTube channel. The lingual data was taken by using free listening techniques through the stages of transcription, reading and observation, sorting, storing and printing, re-reading, and determining the research subject. Meanwhile, non-lingual data was collected by using the Internet archive documentation method. The data were analysed through extra lingual matching technique, hermeneutics, and phenomenology. The analysis was carried out through the stages of data reduction, data display, conclusion, and verification. The findings showed that AHY represents himself as a democratic, caring, vigilant, thorough, careful, and committed to party sovereignty leader. The social cognition aspect of AHY is dominated by his background as a former military officer and his status as party leader. The narrative built in his speech was influenced by the poor results of DP in the last 2 elections, the low electability of DP, and conflicts at the internal level of DP. The sociocognitive analysis showed that AHY constructs leadership authority by representing himself as a selective, strategic, and political leader. The three characters he builds are the strong influence of his social cognition. Through his speech, AHY strives to fight for his leadership authority, both as the general chairman of the DP, and for the wider community. Keywords: Leadership authority, critical discourse analysis, political speech, sociocognitive analysis, political speech.

“My dear unwanted”: media discourse on sex-selective abortion in Montenegro

ABSTRACT Beliefs based on patriarchy have different manifestations, from gender-insensitive language to discriminatory and prejudiced behavior. While the consequences of patriarchal beliefs are observable and well-studied, more attention is required to unravel the role of societal actors that contribute to both their development and their suppression. The present research applies the novel Socio-cognitive Discourse Studies to investigate how the media acts as a significant mediating public structure that has the potential to enable or disable the reproduction of patriarchy. I investigate the media discourse on sex-selective abortion (SSA)—the practice of the targeted elimination of female fetuses. The study takes the case of Montenegro, listed among the leading countries in the world with a significantly distorted sex ratio at birth. Besides confirming that the majority of the media encourage the status quo through its passive approach to SSA, the socio-cognitive analysis also established the relationship between the media and consumers, revealing how the different discourse strategies the journalists use trigger different cognitive responses among their audience. This study discovered discursive patterns in the public presentation of women while pointing out the crucial role the media plays in disseminating analytical and balanced information on significant and worrisome tendencies, such as SSA.

Review on Cognitive Mediation in Social Actor Representation in Discourse

This paper has set off to unearth how cognitive construal operations anchor social actor representation is discourse. Most of the previous literature resorted to different approaches to deal with the domain of social actor representation focusing on analyzing the text itself rather than taking into concertation how the given linguistic choices provoke different conceptualizations in the mind of the reader. Thus, the present paper seeks to address the association between social and cognitive aspects of the text. It is motivated by the lack of rigorous critical sociocognitive analysis that address the enacted ideology as a social and cognitive phenomenon. Furthermore, the paper highlights the crucial role of cognitive conceptual abilities as a mediator between text and society and recommends the adaptation of sociocognitive multimodal analysis to qualitatively and quantitatively analyse text to cover both descriptive and interpretive levels of analysis.

Toil and Trouble: Contextualizing Student Success Work at Research Universities

ABSTRACT Through this study, I examined the experiences and perspectives of 16 administrators, faculty, and staff members (i.e. institutional actors) responsible for student success efforts in research universities. Using sociocognitive discourse analysis, I illuminated the social practices of institutional actors engaged in student success work, more especially how their’ experiences with and within their respective contexts shaped their approaches to and capacity for student success work. These insights contribute to and complicate student success research, especially discussions of how student success practices are implemented. Given these insights, institutions can identify and address how their environments impede the implementation of student success practices, and how to support and empower institutional actors as they do student success work within these environments.

Trump's January 6 Address: Hate Speech or Freedom of Speech? A Transdisciplinary Study

PurposeThis research is a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, which results in his supporters' storming the US Capitol in order to challenge certifying Biden's victory. The Democrats accused Trump of incitement of insurrection. Consequently, Trump was impeached. This article investigates Trump's speech to label it as hate speech or free speech.Design/methodology/approachAnalytical framework is tri-dimensional. The textual analysis is based on Halliday's notion of process types and Huckin's discourse tools of foregrounding and topicalization. The socio-cognitive analysis is based on Van Dijk's ideological square and his theory of mental models. The philosophical dimension is founded on Habermas's theory of discourse. These parameters are the cornerstones of the barometer that will be utilized to reach an objective evaluation of Trump's speech.FindingsFindings suggest that Trump usually endows “I, We, You” with topic positions to lay importance on himself and his supporters. He frequently uses material process to urge the crowds' action. He categorizes Americans into two conflicting poles: He and his supporters versus the media and the Democrats. Mental models are created and activated so that the other is always negatively depicted. Reports about corruption are denied in court. Despite that, Trump repeats such reports. This is immoral in Habermas's terms. The study concludes that Trump delivered hate speech in order to incite the mob to act in a manner that may change the election results.Originality/valueThe study is original in its tri-dimensional framework and its data of analysis.

Socio-cognitive Analysis on the Attitude of Gen Z Towards Malay Language in the Era of Industrial Revolution 4.0.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) which emphasizes more on science and technology and the need to master the area in English seem to impact on the formation of identity of the Malay language. Thus, this study aims to identify and analyze the identity of Malay language among Gen Z, the generation born and grew up in this era. In this respect, appreciation and practice of the Malay language which are the components of identity were also investigated, particularly from the socio-cognitive perspective. Data were obtained from 660 respondents from a survey using Google forms. The respondents consisted of Gen Z throughout Malaysia who received invitations based on set criteria, covering urban, suburban and rural clusters. Research instruments developed specifically for this study have a high level of validity and reliability, namely ? = .75 to ? = .91. Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 software. This study utilizes Socio-cognitive Theory and Socio-cognitive approach to describe the relationship between Socio-cognitive elements with the identity of Malay language among Gen Z. In general, the study concluded that 50.0% of Gen Z are in the early phase of fading language identity. The study also notes that 62.1% of Gen Z have negative attitude towards the Malay language, 73.0% have negative perceptions of the Malay language and 40.0% have the low practice level of Malay language. However, the study found that 83.4% of Gen Z have high appreciation of the Malay language. In order to ensure the identity of Malay language among Gen Z can be maintained, the study suggested that the stakeholders in policy-making can make the subject of the Malay language as a compulsory elective course in all higher education institutions, both public or private, as a requirement for graduation.

The Representation of Islam and Muslims in Pre- and Post-9/11 New York Times News Articles: A Socio-Cognitive Analysis

This study analyzes media representations of Islam and Muslims in the New York Times news articles six months before and after 9/11 to ascertain if and how post-9/11 representations changed. Similar studies have used quantitative methods to record the number of positive, negative, and neutral words, sentences, or tone in articles, editorials, or headlines to document a “positive” or “neutral” trend. Their statistical data notwithstanding, these studies overlook the contextual properties of discourse, which this study foregrounds through Teun A. van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive Discourse Analysis. The article’s triangular approach analyzes the discursive, social, and cognitive features of the selected news articles to argue that while both pre- and post-9/11 articles reflect varying degrees of bias, the latter becomes more apparent in the post-9/11 period.

Critical sociocognitive analysis of hate speech in the 2015 Nigerian presidential election campaigns

Abstract In an attempt to ensure electoral victory, politicians use different strategies. One of such is resort to hate speech to discredit the opponents. The 2015 presidential election campaigns in Nigeria witnessed unrestrained use of hate speech in different media. This paper analysed selected speeches of the campaign organisations of the two leading political parties in the election, namely the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation and the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation. Data were got from the speeches and advertorials of the two organisations sampled from The Nation and The Punch, published between January and March 2015. The speeches were subjected to critical sociocognitive analysis. The antecedents of the candidates became a recipe for hate speech. Propagandist and alarmist ideologies were used. Socially shared knowledge played an important role in the hate speech. Figures were used symbolically and serious attempts were made to frighten the electorate.

A socio-cognitive analysis of evaluation and idea generation activities during co-creative design sessions supported by spatial augmented reality

ABSTRACT Co-creation with end-users is gaining an increasing interest in the design industry today. This study investigates the mechanisms by which spatial augmented reality (SAR) technology can affect socio-cognitive processes in groups involved in co-creative design sessions. More precisely, when used in real co-creative design sessions, does a SAR system facilitate the collective creative process, compared to sessions occurring in standard settings? A protocol analysis has been conducted to investigate three different design sessions involving experienced designers and end-users on a product design task: a design session supported by conventional design representations (usual design practices), a design session supported by non-spatial augmented reality (AR), and a session supported by SAR technology. While results do not clearly show that SAR or AR technologies increase end-user’s commitmen t, they illustrate the ability for these technologies to allow browsing through more ideas during a co-creative design session. Furthermore, it tends to reduce time spent on ideas, compared to a traditional session. We also noted that the introduction of this technology does not modify the profiles of the sessions in terms of cognitive activities. This tends to demonstrate that the technology itself does not impair the design activity.

The Ideological Construction of The 2015 Paris Attacks in The Jakarta Post

The terrorist attacks makes the global phenomenon in the world as the radical action by terrorist group. Therefore, this study wants to find out the ideological constuction of the 2015 Paris attacks in the Jakarta Post. The writer analyzed the data by using Critical Discourse Analysis which is proposed by van Dijk. This theory known as socio-cognitive approach which analyzes the object of the study into three levels: text, socio-cognitive, and societal analysis. The expected of the study, the writer applies the qualitative method to observe the study. The finding of this study revealed that The Jakarta Post emphasizes the bomber in Paris is claimed by Islamic group or ISIS. The writer found that ISIS in Paris attacks is depicted as violent group. Therefore, the people around the world cares about this case. From the findings, it was true that the power or dominant group can influence the text to spread the ideology to the society.

A Linguistic Discursive Analysis of Techno-Colonialism Through the Post-cyberpunk Literature

Technological advancement has made the world a complex arena of day to day transforming phenomenon. In such a complex and technologically progressive world nothing is static instead things have become technology oriented. The socio-historical phenomena like orientalism and imperialism are also not free from technological progress. Similarly, literature of the contemporary times has become Postmodernist for it now aims to represent the current human experiences. The quality of the Postmodernist literature is to represent and dismantle the socio-cultural constructions that use to perpetuate control and power. The objective of this research is twofold; it has projected the world of technological progress and innovation through the analysis of the selected Post-cyberpunk novel Accelerando (2005) by Charles Stross, The Windup Girl (2009) by Paolo Bacigalupi and The Rapture of the Nerds (2012) by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross. Socio-Cognitive analysis (van Dijk, 2008) has projected the linguistic discursive analysis of techno-colonialism in order to answer the research questions. The study has also introduced Post-cyberpunk as the genre of Postmodernist twenty-first century literature. The findings of the research have suggested that the selected Post-cyberpunk novels have not only represented techno-colonialism but they have also characterized the impact and influence of the techno-colonizers throughout the world.

Drowning in our own home: a metaphor-led discourse analysis of Australian news media reporting on maritime asylum seekers

ABSTRACTThis article provides a socio-cognitive discourse analysis of Australian news media’s use of certain metaphoric concepts to represent maritime asylum seekers (MASs) and discuss how such metaphorical constructions function to shape shared knowledge and legitimise certain immigration policies. The article argues that Australian news media feature a range of figurative language that discursively and consistently depicts MAS as an ‘uncontrollable danger’. Two major metaphoric themes are identified: MAS as water or water catastrophe (all italics in this document are my own italics for emphasis, unless otherwise stated), and Australia as an invaded home. These metaphorical constructions appear to have emerged at the expense of earlier concerns regarding assimilation and difference and the metaphorical use of the queue, suggesting a recent shift in the immigration discourse in Australia. We conclude that both the water catastrophe and the home metaphors cognitively concretise and socially amplify the link between boat arrivals and social menace, thereby giving credence to discourses of responsibility and border control. This reproduction of a new discourse contributes to legitimising restrictive government policies and creating further possibilities for anti-immigration measures.