PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CONTEXT OF THIRD WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Unlike other social sciences, psychology has for long remained outside the orbit of social change and national development. Because of the very nature of socio-economic development that is taking place in the Third World countries, psychology has a distinct role. Temporal compression and cacophonic nature of changes have caused conditions of instability that have brought to the fore many socio-psychological problems requiring immediate attention. The role of psychology in this context and the factors underlying the limited impact it has made so far have been discussed. Some robust findings in psychology that have obvious implications for policy formulation and action programme are outlined.     

走向一个多元文化世界中的跨文化伦理

一、人类的历史始终是一系列敌对和冲突的历史。实际上,霍布斯的著名论断人类的本性只是从事“一切人反对一切人的战争”（bellum omnium conlrao,omnes）,似乎比以往任何时候都真实。然而,尽管战事不断,但我们的历史也记录了对和平的痛苦渴望。我们发觉这种渴望甚至在最为狂妄好战的文化中表现出来。在每一时间,在每一地点,总是有各种声音——低沉的、压抑的、响亮的或柔和的、情绪的或理性的——在呼唤说,和平是对战争的替代,和平是可能存在的。     

COMMENTARY: THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGY ON THIRD WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Parts of the basic conceptual framework of Western psychology have been imported, sometimes blindly, into the design of many Third World countries' education, industry, law and health services. Psychology needs to demonstrate its relevance to the particular sociocultural conditions of these countries and to development policy in each of these fields. This requires close collaboration with other social sciences. Theories and techniques developed in Western societies (e.g., pre-school enrichment and aptitude testing) need to be unpackaged so that Third World policy-makers can decide which aspects are most relevant to their goals. Revitalization of endogenous cultural development is essential for developing a valid and socially acceptable psychology. This requires both sensitivity to the cultural load of Western psychology and systematic exploration of distinctive indigenous concepts.     

THE SCIENTIST AS STATESMAN: BIOLOGISTS AND THIRD WORLD HEALTH

One of the most threatening problems the world faces is the growing poverty crisis and the related human rights inequalities and the spread of diseases in underprivileged areas. Human rights and relief organizations try hard to contain the devastation of these interconnected difficulties. What is the role of the biomedical scientist in this endeavor? The challenges that biomedical scientists face in their research lead us to question whether scientists can go beyond the time‐consuming realm of experimental investigation and engage the issues of society in a more public way. I suggest how the scientist's role can be expanded in our complex and precarious world, introducing the idea of the modern biomedical researcher as scientist, scholar‐philosopher, and statesman for the scientific community and the larger human rights community. I provide examples of where the scientist can interface with human rights organizations, medical doctors, political and civic leaders, and the science‐religion dialogue. My argument reveals the emerging role of the biomedical scientist as one of public service in addition to and beyond the realm of the experimental investigator. This role, however, is formidable, and I list some of the obstacles it entails.     

TOWARDS RESEARCH OF THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD

La méthode de formation par étapes des activités et des concepts mentaux a permis de distinguer trois principaux types dans les méthodes d'enseignement. Chacun d'eux se caractérise par la manière particulière dont s'oriente l'enfant dans la matière étudiée et dont se présente cette matière en fonction de l'orientation choisie. Lorsque l'enseignement dans une matière est organisé selon les exigences du III^e type de méthode, on voit pour la première fois clairement apparaître et se différencier — (1) les schémas généraux des objets étudiés et — (2) les connaissances concrètes particulières (y compris les lois). Seuls les schémas généraux sont en rapport direct avec le développement de la pensée : ils dessinent à la fois la structuration générale de la matière étudiée et les lignes générales de l'orientation dans cette matière. Une fois assimilés, ces schèmes deviennent les structures générales de la pensée. Ce sont ces schèmes, et eux seuls, qui constituent l'élément de liaison entre l'apprentissage et le développement de la pensée. Avec les autres méthodes pédagogiques, ces schèmes restent cachés, l'enfant n'est pas conscient de les approcher et l'on manque de faits précis relativement à la liaison entre apprentissage et développement, qui est ainsi l'objet d'interprétations très diflérentes. C'est pourquoi, à l'heure actuelle, il n'est pas de meilleure manière d'aborder l'étude, non pas statique (comme le font les “ coupes transversales ”), mais dynamique du développement de la pensée que de faire apprendre à l'enfant les activités mentales et les concepts en l'orientant dans les matières à étudier comme le propose la méthode de type III.     

BEAUTY IN THE LIVING WORLD

Almost all admit that there is beauty in the natural world. Many suspect that such beauty is more than an adornment of nature. Few in our contemporary world suggest that this beauty is an empirical principle of the natural world itself and instead relegate beauty to the eye and mind of the beholder. Guided by theological and scientific insight, the authors propose that such exclusion is no longer tenable, at least in the data of modern biology and in our view of the natural world in general. More important, we believe an empirical aesthetics exists that can help guide experimental design and development of computational models in biology. Moreover, because theology and science can both contribute toward and equally profit from such an aesthetics, we propose that this empirical aesthetics provides the foundation for a living synergy between theology and science.     

SUDDEN CHANGE IN THE WORLD

Abstract. The suddenness of phase change is examined as an example of a discontinuity in nature, in which an apparently random microscopic event can trigger a macroscopic change of state such as the crystallization of a liquid. Recent advances in nucleation theory that have helped to quantify but not eliminate this randomness are described, and analogies with the modes of God's action in the world are explored.     

ON THE NEED FOR QUALITY CONTROL IN VALIDATION RESEARCH

The aptitude tests used to help make personnel decisions about military recruits were validated against hands-on tests of job performance in two Marine Corps occupational specialties, radio repairers and automotive mechanics. The tests were administered by Marine Corps noncommissioned officers. Marine Corps units provided the test administrators, testing facilities, and examinees. Data collected under such conditions are filled with errors that reduce the accuracy of validity coefficients. This paper shows how validity coefficients can be made more accurate by exercising quality control during the statistical analysis.