Call for redirection: A vocational educator views school psychological services

This article was written in an effort to stimulate greater interest and active involvement in vocational and career education on the part of school psychological services. Several functions for the school psychologist were proposed, including assistance in the selection of students for vocational programs designed for the handicapped and disadvantaged, teacher consultation, and consultation in the development of career education programs.     

Descartes' Theory of Universals

Philosophical Studies -     

论笛卡尔的形而上学观

笛卡尔以前的形而上学(包括神学)是存在论的形而上学,即为自然现象、社会现象寻找超自然、超社会的最终根据、本原的理论。笛卡尔实现了形而上学的转向:从存在论转向了知识论,他为意识现象、认识现象寻找到了最终根据或本原:我思。本文系统论述了笛卡尔的形而上学观点。首先,论述了存在论形而上学的含义及其演变;其次,论述了笛卡尔的形而上学观点;再次,论述了笛卡尔的形而上学的内容。     

Betrayal: A psychological analysis

Betrayal is the sense of being harmed by the intentional actions or omissions of a trusted person. The most common forms of betrayal are harmful disclosures of confidential information, disloyalty, infidelity, dishonesty. They can be traumatic and cause considerable distress. The effects of betrayal include shock, loss and grief, morbid pre-occupation, damaged self-esteem, self-doubting, anger. Not infrequently they produce life-altering changes. The effects of a catastrophic betrayal are most relevant for anxiety disorders, and OC D and PTSD in particular.Betrayal can cause mental contamination, and the betrayer commonly becomes a source of contamination. In a series of experiments it was demonstrated that feelings of mental contamination can be aroused by imagining unacceptable non-consensual acts. The magnitude of the mental contamination was boosted by the introduction of betrayal themes. Feelings of mental contamination can also be aroused in some ‘perpetrators’ of non-consensual acts involving betrayal. The psychological significance of acts of betrayal is discussed.     

笛卡尔的想象理论研究

我们面临着一个笛卡尔哲学的理论困难:一方面他在形而上学的沉思中对思维和广延做出区分;另一方面,又在现实当中坚持人的灵魂和身体的不可分。而恰恰是在这种困境当中,想象具有了不可替代的重要性。没有想象,思维就不能通向物体性事物,物体性事物就是不可衡量的,作为思维根本性才能的理智就不能完成一个对物体性事物的基本认识,我们的激情就难以产生,我们的意志就难以发挥作用。想象是思维转向物体性广延的重要中介。     

A cultural psychological analysis of cultural change

Life experience appears to be transforming in contemporary societies, with changes taking place in Asia being particularly substantial. There is strong public interest in understanding how these changes affect individual psyches. Scientific understanding of this issue, however, has not kept pace with change. Research findings from Western societies, the USA in particular, provide a model for understanding and predicting patterns of cultural change in Asia. However, the applicability of the model in this region requires critical examination. This article presents an overview of the available evidence in this research field, reviewing available psychological research that examines cultural change in the USA, China, Japan, and Australia. This paper's aim is to stimulate interest in this research area within the community of Asian social psychologists as our Asia‐based insights have much to contribute to the fundamental research question at stake, and the nature of the interplay between a changing social ecology, cultural environment, and participating psyches.     

A prescriptive paradigm for sequencing instruction in physical education

Recent advances in the understanding of the neurological basis of motor control have made possible an explanation of motor skill acquisition in terms of the notion of programs of muscle synergies. The progressive development of an individual's capacity to control these synergies may be presented as a kind of hierarchical organization of processing levels based upon changes in the neurological location of motor control and the ability of the individual to make adjustments in the programs. This paper is an attempt to apply this information about the processing levels of motor control to the problem of the identification of a paradigm to assist practitioners in the design of sequences of motor skill learning experiences. Such a paradigm is proposed as a reformulation of Jewett's Movement Process Category System, a model originally created for use in curriculum decision-making.The proposed reformulation identifies three subphases of adaptive skill acquisition: skill construction, where a program of synergies is first automated; skill stabilization, where that program is then schematized; and skill differentiation, where that program is finally modularized. Within each of the subphases, processing levels are defined to enable the practitioner to give directions and design learning environments which will focus upon the students' gaining progressive control of the program of synergies selected for acquisition. Comments made throughout this presentation are intended to bridge the gap between motor control research and the teaching of skills, as well as encourage researchers in the motor learning/motor development areas to consider the notion of programs of muscle synergies as the fundamental explanatory unit for motor skill acquisition.     

Racial healthcare disparities: A social psychological analysis

Around the world, members of racial/ethnic minority groups typically experience poorer health than members of racial/ethnic majority groups. The core premise of this chapter is that thoughts, feelings, and behaviours related to race and ethnicity play a critical role in healthcare disparities. Social psychological theories of the origins and consequences of these thoughts, feelings, and behaviours offer critical insights into the processes responsible for these disparities and suggest interventions to address them. We present a multilevel model that explains how societal, intrapersonal, and interpersonal factors can influence ethnic/racial health disparities. We focus our literature review, including our own research, and conceptual analysis at the intrapersonal (the race-related thoughts and feelings of minority patients and non-minority physicians) and interpersonal levels (intergroup processes that affect medical interactions between minority patients and non-minority physicians). At both levels of analysis, we use theories of social categorisation, social identity, contemporary forms of racial bias, stereotype activation, stigma, and other social psychological processes to identify and understand potential causes and processes of health and healthcare disparities. In the final section, we identify theory-based interventions that might reduce ethnic/racial disparities in health and healthcare.     

Human-computer interaction: A preliminary social psychological analysis

Considering an interactive computer as a social stimulus suggests that contemporary social psychological theories can contribute to the prediction of user attitude and performance. In order to assist in the systematic exploration of this possibility, we developed DIALOGUE, an on-line system to investigate the effects of varying the computer’s responses to the user. This system involves a presentation program that displays the computer’s responses, performs the pacing of video information, and collects a variety of measurements, including the user’s response time and the number of correct/incorrect user responses. DIALOGUE also includes a data manager that allows the experimenter to examine or modify the information collected by the presentation program. Utilizing DIALOGUE, we conducted a preliminary investigation of one aspect of human-computer interaction, the effects of varying the degree of human-like responses exhibited by the computer. Results suggest that (1) there are underlying dimensions of judgment involving perception of interactive computers, (2) a manipulation of human-like computer responses is reflected primarily in certain of these dimensions, and (3) such a manipulation influences user performance and feelings of responsibility. Factors related to the implementation of DIALOGUE are considered, and its potential for investigations of a variety of human-computer interactions is discussed.     

Politicized collective identity. A social psychological analysis

This article develops a social psychological model of politicized collective identity that revolves around 3 conceptual triads. The 1st triad consists of collective identity, the struggle between groups for power, and the wider societal context. It is proposed that people evince politicized collective identity to the extent that they engage as self-conscious group members in a power struggle on behalf of their group knowing that it is the more inclusive societal context in which this struggle has to be fought out. Next, 3 antecedent stages leading to politicized collective identity are distinguished: awareness of shared grievances, adversarial attributions, and involvement of society at large. This sequence culminates in the final triad because the intergroup power struggle is eventually triangulated by involving society at large or representatives thereof. Consequences of politicized collective identity are discussed.