The benefits of autonomy support for adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral problems

The benefits of autonomy support in the domain of education have been well established within the general population, but have yet to be demonstrated within clinical populations. The present study investigated the benefits of an autonomy-supportive interpersonal style on teenage girls’ internalization of a tedious clinical workshop and their subjective experience during this task. Participants were female teenagers placed in a social rehabilitation center for their severe emotional and behavioral problems (n = 29). An experimental design allowed comparing the impact of learning a tedious, but important workshop with or without autonomy support on internalization and experiential outcomes. Results demonstrate that autonomy support leads to higher perceived task’s value, task liking as well as less negative affect compared to a condition without autonomy-support. Participants in the autonomy-supportive condition also perceived the instructor as more competent. By uncovering benefits of autonomy support to a clinical population of adolescents, the present study supports self-determination theory’s tenet that the benefits of autonomy support are universal.     

Underdetermination as an epistemological test tube: expounding hidden values of the scientific community

Duhem–Quine underdetermination plays a constructive role in epistemology by pinpointing the impact of non-empirical virtues or cognitive values on theory choice. Underdetermination thus contributes to illuminating the nature of scientific rationality. Scientists prefer and accept one account among empirical equivalent alternatives. The non-empirical virtues operating in science are laid open in such theory choice decisions. The latter act as an epistemological test tube in making explicit commitments to how scientific knowledge should be like.     

Artificial intelligence and metaphor making: Some philosophic considerations

This article argues that the metaphors presently employed in describing artificial intelligence represent the use of personification and anthropomorphism. They attempt to develop an isomorphic relationship between the human mind and a computer’s logic. It is suggested that an analogic metaphor is more appropriate in describing this relationship and is more epistemologically correct. Reprinted from Knowledge and Policy: The International Journal of Knowledge Transfer and Utilization, Spring 1990, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 46–61. His current research interests include the behavioral and philosophic aspects of artificial intelligence and expert computer systems in work situations, and the behavioral perceptions of decision processes in the workplace.