Knowledge’s Boundary Problem

Where is the justificatory boundary between a true belief’s not being knowledge and its being knowledge? Even if we put to one side the Gettier problem, this remains a fundamental epistemological question, concerning as it does the matter of whether we can provide some significant defence of the usual epistemological assumption that a belief is knowledge only if it is well justified. But can that question be answered non-arbitrarily? BonJour believes that it cannot be – and that epistemology should therefore abandon the concept of knowledge. More optimistically, this paper does attempt to answer that question, by applying – and thereby refining – a non-absolutist theory of knowledge.     

Is Student Counselling a Profession?

Moves towards professionalisation within student counselling are discussed as a case-study which may have wider applicability within counselling as a whole. The main approaches to defining a profession are described, and eight criteria are distinguished and applied to student counselling. It is concluded that student counsellors are some way from the 'ideal-type' profession. Account also needs to be taken, how ever, of moves towards some forms of deprofessionalisation' within the traditional professions. Current moves towards accreditation of individuals and courses within the Association for Student Counselling are welcomed.     

Too Close for Comfort? Faculty–Student Multiple Relationships and Their Impact on Student Classroom Conduct

Professors are increasingly encouraged to adopt multiple role relationships with their students. Regardless of professor intent, these relationships carry risks. Left unexamined is whether student–faculty social multiple relationships impact student in-class behaviors. Provocatively, our exploratory study provides empirical support suggesting that when undergraduate students perceive that their professors engage in the multiple faculty–student relationships of friendships, drinking (alcohol) relationships, and sexual partnerships, students report they are more likely to engage in uncivil behaviors in the professor’s classroom. Accordingly, our study provides a backdrop against which to think more substantively about the professorial role and the boundaries that accompany it.     

Candidates’ Responses to Sexual Boundary Violations

This paper addresses the subtle and not-so-subtle power that sexual boundary violations have on the candidates within psychoanalytic institutes. The unspoken leaves things shrouded in secrecy, generating powerful feelings in candidates. Multiple psychological responses, including splitting, envy, and paranoia, along with reactions that range from the sanctimonious to the apathetic, are explored. I address how elusive boundary violations can be and the multiple forms they can take (physical/sexual and nonsexual). I examine some of the reasons for a resulting generalized passivity in both faculty and candidates, including the evocation of early conflicts centered on primal scene and oedipal anxieties and reflect on the ongoing difficulties of finding a personal voice as a candidate.     

The Effects of Negative Managerial Feedback on Student Motivation: Implications for Gender Differences in Teacher–Student Relations

Research suggests that boys receive more negative teacher feedback concerning failure to follow directions, whereas girls receive more positive feedback concerning compliance (e.g., J. Brophy, 1985; K. B. Hoyenga & K. T. Hoyenga, 1993). In this study, 5th and 6th graders (79.8% Caucasian, 9.2% Hispanic, 6.1% Asian, 2.2% Pacific Islander, and 1.8% African, predominantly lower middle class) were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 5 feedback patterns. All students received positive competence-related feedback. Relative to the other conditions, the typical “male” feedback pattern decreased students' activity interest, perceived competence, and liking for the teacher. Students receiving typical “male” feedback reported less willingness to work with the teacher again; however, they did not report less willingness to work on the activity either alone or with a friend.     

Erikson’s Case of the Theological Student

This article focuses on Erik H. Erikson’s case of a theological student on the borderline of psychosis. The case, presented in a lecture published in Insight and Responsibility (1964, pp. 47–80), was important to Erikson for two important reasons: It enabled him to gain confidence in his capacity to help young adults and convinced him that he was not being disloyal to Freud by focusing on patients’ religious experiences. His presentation of the case focuses on an enigmatic dream image that caused the patient to believe that he was losing his mind but that, when interpreted, led to a breakthrough in his therapy and eventual recovery of his mental health. The springboard for his study of Martin Luther, this case illustrates the three primary religious images that Erikson identifies in Young Man Luther (1958): the maternal matrix, the paternal voice, and the pure self. It also illustrates how the timely appearance of a new person in one’s life may have enormous therapeutic value.     

A Student’s Perspective on Medical Ethics Education

Despite many efforts to increase ethics education in US medical schools, barriers continue to arise that impede the production of morally driven physicians who practice medicine with ideal empathy. Research has shown that, particularly during the clinical years, medical students lose the ability both to recognize ethical dilemmas and to approach such situations with compassionate reasoning. This article summarizes the current status of ethics education in US medical schools, described through the eyes of and alongside the story of a graduating medical student.     

Greed is good? Student disciplinary choice and self-reported psychopathy

The idea of the organisational psychopath has become not only popular in recent times, but increasingly relevant, thanks to the alleged role of high-profile members of the commercial sector in the global recession. To test the proposition that self-reported sub-clinical psychopathy might be disproportionately more common amongst those people electing to study commerce/business at University, 903 first-year students enrolled in a range of academic degrees completed a survey containing Levenson’s Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (Levenson, Kiehl, & Fitzpatrick, 1995) and Paulhus’ (1991) Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding. Even after accounting for social desirability, commerce students reported higher levels of primary psychopathy than other students, regardless of sex.     

Boundary completion in illusory contours: interpolation or extrapolation?

Most computational and neural-style models of contour completion (ie illusory and occluded contours) are based on interpolation: the filling in of an edge between two visible edges. The results of three experiments suggest an alternative conception, that units are formed as a result of extrapolation from visible edges. In three experiments, subjects reported illusory contours between standard illusory-contour inducing elements and forms that do not, by themselves, induce illusory contours. We suggest that these forms are not a special case of inducing elements but that they represent a different class--receiving elements. Receiving elements are forms that can receive an illusory contour but cannot generate one, and they can alter contour formation. In experiment 1, receiving elements increased the judged clarity of illusory contours. In experiment 2, illusory edges were seen to connect to corners, line ends, and even the edges of circles. Boundary formation in motion displays also appears to be based on extrapolation. In experiment 3, subjects reported that small moving dots altered the formation of spatiotemporally defined boundaries. Implications for higher-order operator and network models of boundary formation are discussed.     

Student Characteristics Associated with Girls�� Success in a Single-sex School

Given the mixed results of previous studies on the benefits of single-sex schooling, scholars have called for research on differences in the effects of single-sex schooling based on student and school characteristics. We sought to examine the associations of a range of student characteristics with attitudes and achievement among students attending an all-girls public middle school in the southwestern United States. Predictor variables included demographic factors (i.e., race, family income), prior academic achievement, gender stereotyping, and gender identity (i.e., gender typicality, peer preferences). Prior academic achievement predicted later achievement and persistence in the single-sex school. School-related stereotyping was associated with success in and connection to the single-sex school; school connection was also a significant moderator of the relation between stereotyping and academic performance. Gender-typed peer preferences were associated with school connection and persistence. Overall, results indicate that student characteristics, as well as issues of ??fit?? with the specific school, are associated with students?? connection to and success in single-sex educational environments.     

Student driver propensity to engage with distractions – a self-report survey

This paper reports a survey of engagement with, and ratings of, driver distraction, for undergraduate student drivers. Survey data was collected using an anonymous online questionnaire. 530 respondents contributed to the survey during a seven-year data collection period.Results indicate that the three internal-to-vehicle behaviours rated as most distracting when driving were ‘writing text messages’, ‘internet use’, and ‘reading text messages’. The three most frequently undertaken distractions were, ‘(interactions with) adults’, ‘daydreaming’, and ‘eating, drinking or smoking’. Considering external-to-vehicle distractions, the top three rated were ‘environmental conditions’, ‘unexpected objects or events’, and ‘animals behaving unexpectedly’; while the most frequently experienced external distractions were ‘people (behaving normally), ‘busy roads’ and ‘official signage’. Some evidence was found that internal-to-vehicle distractions were relatively more distracting than external-to-vehicle ones, along with limited findings showing significant variation in the amount of engagement with distractions over time. Significant predictive models for engagement with distraction were calculated (for both work-related and non-work-related driving) and found to be broadly in agreement with previous research, although accounting for less variance in the models. Significantly greater engagement with distractions was found during non-work-related driving, when compared to work-related.The data present a picture of ongoing and substantial engagement with distracting behaviours for this population over the data collection period. For example, on a daily or weekly basis, more than three-fifths of respondents reported willingness to read text messages with the vehicle in motion; while just under half indicated that they typically write text messages in the same circumstances. However, the findings do offer some promise that interventions targeted towards non-work-related driving behaviours may be effective to reduce volitional engagement with distractions.     

Marking the Perception–Cognition Boundary: The Criterion of Stimulus-Dependence

Philosophy, scientific psychology, and common sense all distinguish perception from cognition. While there is little agreement about how the perception–cognition boundary ought to be drawn, one prominent idea is that perceptual states are dependent on a stimulus, or are stimulus-dependent, in a way that cognitive states are not. This paper seeks to develop this idea in a way that can accommodate two apparent counterexamples: hallucinations, which are prima facie perceptual yet stimulus-independent; and demonstrative thoughts, which are prima facie cognitive yet stimulus-dependent. The payoff is not only a specific proposal for marking the perception–cognition boundary, but also a deeper understanding of the natures of hallucination and demonstrative thought.     

Ethnic–Racial Socialization,Social Bonds,and College Student Substance Use

Using survey data from a diverse college student sample (N = 1,728), this study tested how three types of parental ethnic-racial socialization received during the respondents’ youth were indirectly associated with substance use through their impact on the development of social bonds. Cultural socialization and preparation for bias messages indirectly decreased substance use, while promotion of mistrust messages indirectly increased substance use. By-group analyses indicated some ethnic and gender differences. Overall, the findings point to the importance of examining ethnic-racial socialization as a multidimensional construct in relation to social bonds to understand its impact on young adult substance use.     

Different Strokes in Boundary Artistry: Commentary on Cooper’s “Blurring Boundaries or Why Do We Refer to Sexual Misconduct With Patients as ‘Boundary Violation’”

In this commentary, the useful idea of psychoanalytic process as boundary art is taken up, elaborated, and further conceptualized. Two registers of psychic experience are utilized: the mutual and asymmetric modes of relating inherent in and definitional of analytic process. In line with Steven H. Cooper’s ideas, the givenness of boundaries in the mutual realm constitute the psychic matter of self-other differentiation. In contrast, the asymmetrical register marks boundaries as asserted and intended to be actualized in behavior. The usefulness of “boundary violation” as an expression of a perversion of ethical commitments is construed as a justified and necessary phrase. Boundaries in the asymmetrical register, continually asserted, make play and flex in the mutual register possible and in this way form a dialectical relation. In concert with Cooper, these assertions reflect the power of boundaries to ‘allow us to get lost.’ Fallibilities in the ways theories can be coopted to erase (and thereby truncate) aspects of the psychoanalytic process are described as a misuse (violation?) of boundary art.     

Challenging ‘Belief’ and the Evangelical Bias: Student Christianity in English Universities

Abstract

Popular and academic accounts of university-based religion tend to privilege evangelical Christianity, presented as a morally conservative, conversionist movement at odds with university contexts, which are widely assumed to be vehicles for a progressive Western modernity. This is especially the case in the UK, given the association of higher education with secularisation, yet virtually no research has studied this interface by examining the lives of students. This article discusses findings from the three-year project “Christianity and the University Experience in Contemporary England”, including a nation-wide survey of undergraduate students, in examining how the experience of university shapes on-campus expressions of Christian identity. We argue that a sizeable constituency of undergraduates self-identify as ‘Christian’, but evangelicals emerge not as the dominant majority, but as a vocal minority. The emerging internal complexity is masked by a public discourse that conceives of religion in terms of propositional belief and presents evangelicalism as its pre-eminent form.     

“Should It Be Considered Plagiarism?” Student Perceptions of Complex Citation Issues

Most research on student plagiarism defines the concept very narrowly or with much ambiguity. Many studies focus on plagiarism involving large swaths of text copied and pasted from unattributed sources, a type of plagiarism that the overwhelming majority of students seem to have little trouble identifying. Other studies rely on ambiguous definitions, assuming students understand what the term means and requesting that they self-report how well they understand the concept. This study attempts to avoid these problems by examining student perceptions of more complex citation issues. We presented 240 students with a series of examples, asked them to indicate whether or not each should be considered plagiarism, and followed up with a series of demographic and attitudinal questions. The examples fell within the spectrum of inadequate citation, patchwriting, and the reuse of other people’s ideas. Half were excerpted from publicized cases of academic plagiarism, and half were modified from other sources. Our findings indicated that students shared a very strong agreement that near verbatim copy and paste and patchwriting should be considered plagiarism, but that they were much more conflicted regarding the reuse of ideas. Additionally, this study found significant correlation between self-reported confidence in their understanding and the identification of more complex cases as plagiarism, but this study found little correlation between academic class status or exposure to plagiarism detection software and perceptions of plagiarism. The latter finding goes against a prevailing sentiment in the academic literature that the ability to recognize plagiarism is inherently linked to academic literacy. Overall, our findings indicate that more pedagogical emphasis may need to be placed on complex forms of plagiarism.     

Other People’s Problems: Student Distancing,Epistemic Responsibility,and Injustice

In classes that examine entrenched injustices like sexism or racism, students sometimes use “distancing strategies” to dissociate themselves from the injustice being studied. Education researchers argue that distancing is a mechanism through which students, especially students of apparent privilege, deny their complicity in systemic injustice. While I am sympathetic to this analysis, I argue that there is much at stake in student distancing that the current literature fails to recognize. On my view, distancing perpetuates socially sanctioned forms of ignorance and unknowing, through which students misrecognize not only their complicity in injustice, but also the ways that injustice shapes the world, their lives, and their knowledge. Thus, distancing is pedagogically problematic because it prevents students from understanding important social facts, and because it prevents them from engaging with perspectives, analyses, and testimonies that might beneficially challenge their settled views and epistemic habits. To substantiate this new analysis, I draw on recent work on epistemologies of ignorance, especially José Medina’s account of “active ignorance.” In order to respond to student distancing, I argue, it is not sufficient for teachers to make students aware of injustice, or of their potential complicity in it. Beyond this, teachers should cultivate epistemic virtue in the classroom and encourage students to take responsibility for better ways of knowing. The article ends by outlining several classroom practices for beginning this work.     

Encounters with Boundary Challenges: A Preliminary Model of Experienced Psychotherapists’ Working Strategies

Five experienced clinical psychologists were interviewed about their strategies for maintaining boundaries in psychotherapy. The interviews were subjected to qualitative analysis using grounded theory techniques to develop a preliminary model of boundary maintenance. The central principle exhibited by the interviewees was maintaining a therapeutic relationship to facilitate client self care. Overall, the central principle was comprised of three main working strategies: (1) maintaining client boundaries to ensure a clear focus on client needs; (2) maintaining psychotherapist boundaries to protect effective practice; and (3) maintaining psychotherapy boundaries to facilitate client reflection, awareness, and assumption of responsibility. Each strategy included two or three distinct meaning categories, explicated in the paper. Implications for clinical work and future research are discussed.     

Introduction to Panel: Ghosts that Haunt—Sexual Boundary Violations in our Communities

Sexual boundary violations are ghosts that silence and haunt our psychoanalytic communities. In an attempt to break that silence and confront our ghosts, I put together a panel that included a faculty member (Seth Aronson), an institute graduate (Nancy Crown), and an institute candidate (Carina Grossmark). Our task: To address the particular impact of boundary violations on each cohort. Taken together, our aim is to disturb and provoke; that is, to get us all thinking and speaking about the unspeakable.