À l’école et au supermarché : le développement des connaissances sur deux organisations sociales

The development of naive theories regarding social organizations has not received the same emphasis as other conceptual domains, such as naive biology and naive psychology. However, a number of studies have been devoted to the development of children's naive conceptions of politics, school, or economics, most of them with interviews. In the present study, we studied six-, 10-, 14-year-old children's conceptions regarding two familiar organizations, school and supermarket. Results show that, even young children have knowledge regarding these two institutions. However, even 10-year-old children might fail to integrate these institutions in more general organizational, institutional and social dimensions. In many cases, only children aged 14 consistently integrate these various dimensions.     

Développement conceptuel de la notion d’énergie relative à des objets inanimés et animés chez les élèves de dix à 17 ans

The objective of this work is to study the concept of energy in case where animates and inanimates objects interact. We questioned pupils between 10 and 17 years old with regard to the existence of energy in inanimates and energy consumption by animates. Our results show that pupils use a small number of coherent conceptions dependent on the context. These conceptions develop differently for inanimate and animate objects. In the case of inanimates, some evolution is observed, while for animates the concept evolves slowly. In general, the materialist character of energy, its confusion with force and its attribution, in preference, to animates are among the naive conceptions which constrain the scientific understanding of energy.     

Children's understanding of food and its functions: A preliminary study of the development of concepts of nutrition

Children's developing conceptions of how the body functions nutritionally were examined. Two different tasks provided converging findings. One task asked children to judge the causes of certain end states (e.g., why X is fat). The second task asked children to judge the result of certain contrasting diets (e.g., twin-1 eats twice as much candy as twin-2). The results evidenced; (a) systematic misconceptions on the part of kindergarteners that were overcome by sixth grade; and (b) other fairly sophisticated conceptions present even at the youngest ages tested. The research provides a needed first step toward describing the naive theories of nutrition possessed by children at different ages. Knowledge of childrens' theories of nutrition are essential for optimal planning of curricula and methods in nutrition education.     

Logical versus psychological necessity: A discussion of the role of common sense in psychological theory

Smedslund's has argued that psychological theory should be concerned with the logical analysis of common sense since (a) empirical data are "arbitrary" and no general and empirical laws can exist when it comes to human action; and (b) theoretical explanation of data is likely to be empirically empty—psychological theory often cannot be falsified. The argument was supported mainly by an analysis of Bandura's self-efficacy conceptions. Bandura's approach is, however, not developed to the point of being an explicit theory, a fact that explains why it can be demonstrated as being non-distinguishable from the naive analysis of action. Many well developed theories of decision making, such as Tversky's EBA theory, transcend common sense and are falsifiable. Common sense is, furthermore, subject to change over time and differs between cultures, and even between individuals. There is no such things as the common sense. It is also inconsistent and ambiguous and uses a loose mode of thinking which can often provide post hoc explanations but no predictions. Therefore, common sense probably offers little in the way of profound insights. Furthermore, the problems of inferrring general laws from unique events have not stifled progress in the natural sciences and should not discourage psychologists. The case for general laws in psychology is still being heard. Besides, even if findings are restricted in time and space they concern important questions of how people act here and now. Finally, Smedslund's attempt at logical analysis of treatment rules is shown to provide little more than semantic explication of the chosen definitions of key terms; in no way can such explication serve as a substitute for empirical research on psychotherapy effects.     

Where is the Fundamental Disagreement Between Naive Realism and Intentionalism?

This paper aims to reveal the source of the dispute between naive realism and intentionalism. To accomplish this task, it examines Adam Pautz’s challenge to naive realism, according to which a naive intuition about visual phenomenology, which is the only workable case for naive realism, is problematic. It argues that naive realists can address the challenge from Pautz by rejecting his assumption that naive realists and intentionalists agree on the nominal definition of visual phenomenology. The paper then argues that the reason naive realists want to preserve the naive intuition is its irresistibility rather than its reliability. Given this, it concludes that the disagreement between naive realism and intentionalism is rooted in what philosophical projects they tackle. Naive realists are engaged in the philosophical project of delineating a coherent view of the actual world in which the irresistible naive intuition can be true; the intentionalist philosophical project differs from it.     

On the distinction between the concept of God and conceptions of God

The starting-point is the distinction between concept and conception. Our conceptions of gold, for instance, are the different understandings we get when we hear the word ‘gold’ whereas the concept of gold consists in the scientific determination of what gold is. It depends on the context whether it is more reasonable to claim a concept or to look for fitting conceptions. By arguing against metaphysical realism and for non-metaphysical realism, I will elaborate on some philosophical reasons for dealing with conceptions instead of concepts of God, and secondly, I will discuss how such conceptions should be critically assessed. This article is an amended and enlarged version of a paper delivered at the conference on The Concept of God, arranged by the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion in Oxford, Great Britain, September 11–13, 2007.     

Cancer and the development of will

People with cancer, who live better or longer than expected or who recover completely despite a poor medical prognosis, usually go through a profound change and self-development. This paper is an attempt to describe and understand the nature of this transformation by examining how initially unexamined conceptions of oneself, life, illness, etc., become manifest and get developed. One feature of this process is that people leave the present-day medical conception, which is based on the notion of ‘victim’ of and ‘battle’ against illness, and discover that they have other resources for dealing with life and illness. It will be argued that at the centre of this transformation lies the discovery and development of the ‘will’, which is closely associated with the willingness to examine one's conceptions of oneself, health, illness and life.     

A Model of Tolerance

According to the naive theory of vagueness, the vagueness of an expression consists in the existence of both positive and negative cases of application of the expression and in the non-existence of a sharp cut-off point between them. The sorites paradox shows the naive theory to be inconsistent in most logics proposed for a vague language. The paper explores the prospects of saving the naive theory by revising the logic in a novel way, placing principled restrictions on the transitivity of the consequence relation. A lattice-theoretical framework for a whole family of (zeroth-order) “tolerant logics” is proposed and developed. Particular care is devoted to the relation between the salient features of the formal apparatus and the informal logical and semantic notions they are supposed to model. A suitable non-transitive counterpart to classical logic is defined. Some of its properties are studied, and it is eventually shown how an appropriate regimentation of the naive theory of vagueness is consistent in such a logic.     

A modest proposal: (re)defining unconscious fantasy

The author argues that unconscious fantasy, properly defined, necessarily represents the three-dimensional intersection of wishful thinking (fantasy), veridical perception of the environment (reality), and the naive cognition of childhood. It is proposed that, although attachment theory developed out of the intent to capture the unalloyed reality of dyadic experience, that experience is inextricably entangled with the other two components, wishes and naive cognition, and furthermore, that the behavior of children in the attachment paradigm can only be accounted for by positing the existence of underlying unconscious fantasies. In making these arguments, the author also addresses the development of unconscious fantasies and their relationship to compromise formations and trauma.     

Broadening the Study of the Self: Integrating the Study of Personal Identity and Cultural Identity

This article reviews what is known and what remains to be studied, regarding the association between personal identity and cultural identity. Although these two conceptions of identity have inspired separate literatures and have developed independently of one another, globalization and mass immigration have increased the need to study these two conceptions of identity together. The article puts forth recommendations for integrating the literatures on personal identity and cultural identity. These recommendations include using multidimensional constructs to represent both personal identity and cultural identity, refining the measurement of personal identity and of cultural identity, and of studying these conceptions of identity across various ethnic, cultural, and national groups.     

儿童人格特质概念的研究方法

近30年来,儿童人格特质概念一直是儿童社会认知发展的重要研究领域。20世纪90年代以前,研究者主要采用自由描述和行为预测两种研究方法考察儿童人格特质概念的发展;20世纪90年代后,受儿童心理理论研究热潮的影响,研究者开始转换研究视角,提出心理预测这一新方法考察儿童人格特质概念的发展。心理预测研究方法的提出极大地促进和深化了儿童人格特质概念发展的研究。但在儿童人格特质概念发展的研究中,仍存在一些基础性问题有待于进一步的理论探讨和实证研究。     

小学生数学学习观调查研究

采用开放题、多选题与单选题相结合的问卷调查方法．调查190名二、四、六年级学生的数学学习态度和数学学习观,结果表明：1)小学生普遍喜欢数学．并对自身的数学能力有信心．但这种积极态度随年级升高而逐渐下降,尤其是在四、六年级之间达到了显著性;2)小学生的数学知识性质观是倾向于建构性的,并随年级升高而显著提高．但总体上还是比较素朴、直观和肤浅的;3)小学生的数学学习过程观总体上并不十分明确．同时注重表层上的接受学习和深层上的主观参与。     

Infant,primary and secondary teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching and their relation to educational variables

It has been established that teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching influence their instructional practices. Several authors maintain that these conceptions are based on certain implicit assumptions that give rise to different theories. Our view is that people have multiple alternative theories which they use depending on the context and the demands of the task. The main purpose of this study was to find out whether such representational plurality exists in teachers’ conceptions and, if it does, whether this plurality can lead to the identification of different representational profiles. We were also interested in studying some of the teaching practice variables that might influence the nature of the representational profiles. Our results, obtained by means of a dilemma questionnaire answered by 1074 teachers from different educational levels and knowledge domains and with different ranges of experience, are consistent with the assumption of representational plurality, as they show that the same teacher may hold different conceptions that set up a conceptions profile. Moreover, the combination of the responses in each profile is not random. Teachers at the more advanced levels and with more teaching experience manifested more traditional conceptions. Furthermore, some knowledge domains were associated with certain conception profiles.     

Maternal conceptions of the parenting role and mother–child collaborative behaviours in at-risk context

This study investigated to what extent mothers' conceptions of the parenting role drive mother–child collaborative behaviour as well as expert ratings on maternal practices. It also investigated whether there is any direct link between mother and child behaviours and expert ratings. Self-report measures for maternal conceptions and observed mother–child behaviours in the shopping task were obtained from a sample of 75 at-risk mothers with a child 8 to 12 years old. Social workers reported on mothers' negligent, coercive and resilient practices. Structural equation models showed that high power conception had a negative influence on mother and child's collaborative efforts, whereas reciprocity and parental support conceptions had a positive influence. Reciprocity, low power and parental support schemas consistently predicted experts' view on maternal practices. However, only mother's passivity predicted negatively expert ratings on resilient practice, indicating that expert views were mostly derived from mothers' reflections on their parenting role. Results suggested ways for improving experts' assessment of parental capacities and the use of intervention programmes to promote mothers' positive conceptions and actions.     

Origins of knowledge.

Experiments with young infants provide evidence for early-developing capacities to represent physical objects and to reason about object motion. Early physical reasoning accords with 2 constraints at the center of mature physical conceptions: continuity and solidity. It fails to accord with 2 constraints that may be peripheral to mature conceptions: gravity and inertia. These experiments suggest that cognition develops concurrently with perception and action and that development leads to the enrichment of conceptions around an unchanging core. The experiments challenge claims that cognition develops on a foundation of perceptual or motor experience, that initial conceptions are inappropriate to the world, and that initial conceptions are abandoned or radically changed with the growth of knowledge.     

Les conceptions hédoniques de la motivation

Hedonism is a psychological notion central to many conceptions of happiness and psychological well-being. Hedonism is also fundamental to motivation as a whole. The present article reviews four hedonic conceptions of motivation from a historical perspective: hedonism of instinct, hedonism as lack of arousal, hedonism as finding an optimum, hedonism as satisfaction to psychological needs. It appears that the first approach, linked to the instincts, is close to more modern conceptions such as satisfaction of psychological needs in a eudemonic perspective.     

Epistemological development in adolescence and adulthood: a multidimensional framework

Theories of epistemological development are reviewed. A framework describing variations in adolescents' and adults' intuitive conceptions of knowledge is proposed. Within the proposed framework, naive epistemologies are conceptualized in terms of their assumptions concerning (a) the nature of the knowledge acquisition process, (b) the degree of correspondence between knowledge and reality, (c) the certainty of knowledge, (d) the commensurability of knowledge across individuals, (e) the degree to which knowledge forms or inheres in a coherent system of thought, (f) the nature of meaning, (g) the appropriate procedures for evaluating competing beliefs, (h) the nature and role of authorities as sources of knowledge and justification, and (i) the nature of reality. This framework is used to describe possible developmental changes in adolescents' and adults' concepts of knowledge and to suggest how future researchers might address core issues concerning epistemological development.     

Global Distributive Justice

The paper discusses the problem of global distributive justice. It proposes to distinguish between principles for the domestic and for the global or intersocietal distribution of wealth. It is argued that there may be a plurality of partly diverging domestic conceptions of distributive justice, not all of which need to be liberal egalitarian conceptions. It is maintained, however, that principles regulating the intersocietal distribution of wealth have to be egalitarian principles. This claim is defended against Rawls's argument in The Law of Peoples that egalitarian principles of distributive justice should not be applied globally. Moreover, it is explained in detail, why Rawls's "duty of assistance to burdened societies" cannot be an appropriate substitute for a global principle of distributive justice.     

Cognitive ego psychology and the psychotherapy of learning disorders

The single most common referral problem in middle childhood and adolescence is academic underachievement and learning failure. Yet, the term “learning disorder” lacks specificity as a diagnostic entity and offers no guidelines for psychotherapy. An appreciation of the developmental processes by which the undifferentiated, unstructured, self-less and objectless newborn becomes a more fully developed, self-sufficient individual, capable of adaptive functioning and formal academic learning is encompassed in contemporary psychoanalytic conceptions of the separation-individuation process. This theory provides an organizing, theoretical base for diagnosis and treatment of learning disorders. Based on these conceptions, we discuss therapeutic techniques which are appropriate to the level of developmental arrest at each of the phases of the separation-individuation process.