The concept of ‘mine‘ 1

Misunderstanding of the word mine and its shifting relations to ‘pro‐attitudes’ inspired much of Aristotle's attack on collectivism at Politics 1261B 15ff. Similar misunderstandings contribute to certain criticisms leveled by modern conservatives like Goldwater against ‘welfarism’, they presuppose confused psychological and ethical doctrines. Thus semantically necessary truths may be misconstrued as entailing contingent propositions about political and economic arrangements. Different confusions about mine and ‘pro‐attitudes’ lend a correspondingly specious aura of certainty to some Platonic and Marxist claims. The ownership model of mine impedes our understanding of men.     

Chinese philosophy: A characterization

This article offers a synthetic characterization of Chinese philosophy based on an analytical reconstruction of its main traditions and thinking. Three main traditions in Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, Taoism and Chinese Buddhism, are depicted and discussed, together with some comments on Chinese Marxism in the contemporary scene. Four characteristics of Chinese philosophy are presented: intrinsic humanism, concrete rationalism, organic naturalism, and a pragmatism of self‐cultivation. It is clear from the discussion that these four characteristics are interrelated and mutually supporting and thus should be better understood in the context of one another. Many open problems of philosophy, such as transcendence, evil, logic, and theoretical knowledge, are raised by an inquiry into Chinese philosophy. If Chinese philosophy serves to make us critically aware of these problems and to provide alternative ways of thinking, we are more than justified in presenting Chinese philosophy as a philosophy of universal concern and universal significance.     

Human food preferences and cultural identity: The case of Aragón (Spain)

This research aims to analyze the relationship between sociocultural values and human food preferences. The latter, as shown in this paper, are greatly influenced by cultural identity. This work stems from a theoretical context that originated in Europe and the United States towards the mid‐twentieth century, within the field of the anthropology of food. A qualitative and quantitative analysis has been performed in the Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón (Spain). Research methods include focus groups, in‐depth interviews, participant observation, and a questionnaire that was handed out to a representative sample of the Aragonese population (816 people over 21 years of age; confidence level of 95.5% and error margin of ±3.5). Regarding the research outcome, a highly significant qualitative and quantitative connection has been found between food selection and cultural identity. In other words, people prefer to consume foods that are symbolically associated with their own culture, in order to reinforce their sense of belonging. Although this study has been carried out in Aragón, it is our belief that the results can be generalized to other areas. The originality and interest of our findings are notable considering that, to date, few works have analyzed the sociocultural factors motivating food behavior. Moreover, these results could be used by public and private organizations to meet objectives such as health promotion and product marketing.     

‘Translation’ and ‘transformation’ in the analytic situation: Freud – Bion – Laplanche

Following a short introduction to the core theses of Jean Laplanche’s theory of a ‘general seduction’ the author presents the resultant clinical position of the analyst. In the same way that an adult sends ‘enigmatic messages’ to the child, it is the analyst’s task to reopen this primal situation so that the patient can find new ‘translations’ for these messages. Laplanche distinguishes between the function of the analytic frame – which represents and supports attachment – and the ‘sexual’– which is the repressed and constitutes the unconscious. Only the focus on this unconscious facilitates the deconstruction of ‘incorrect’ translations. Accordingly, the analyst, says Laplanche, should not take part in construction – this is a self‐construction of the patient – but only in reconstruction. The author compares this clinical model with Freud’s notions and the ‘transformation processes’ through the alpha function as described by Bion. She illustrates Laplanche’s model and the interpretation strategy with case material.     

Worry about terror among young adults living in ongoing security uncertainty

The aim of the current study was to investigate worry about terror as a mediating variable, with the exogenous variables being media viewing, differentiation of self, and trait anxiety, and the endogenous variables being somatic symptoms and perceptions of security‐related stress. Participants were divided into two groups by age/academic level: 248 high school students and 191 university students. A pathway correlation model was used to investigate worry about terror as a mediating variable. The central finding was that worry about terror was a significant mediating variable in the relationship between the extent of media viewing following terror events and the level of perception of security‐related stress. That is, young people who said they worried a lot reported a high level of stress relating to the terror events they saw covered in the media. In addition, trait anxiety was found to have an effect on stress perception only via the level of worry about terror. This means that high levels of stress are not experienced by all highly trait‐anxious people, but only by those who suffer from higher levels of worry about terror.     

The effect of a multicomponent literacy instruction model on literacy growth for kindergartners and first‐grade students in Chile

In the present study we examined the impact of a comprehensive literacy instruction model called Collaborative Language and Literacy Instruction Project (CLLIP) on language and literacy achievement over the course of a year by Spanish‐speaking children in Chile. Participants included kindergartners (N = 312) from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds and first‐grade students (N = 305) from high SES families. The CLLIP model targeted phonological awareness, alphabetics and phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing, and included coaching and sustained follow‐up as key elements for teacher professional development. The results showed promise for the CLLIP model in the Chilean context. Kindergartners in CLLIP classrooms had faster growth rates in letter naming, word reading, vocabulary, and phonemic segmentation fluency than those in control classrooms, and had higher scores at the end of the year in phonemic segmentation fluency, letter naming, and word reading. In addition, kindergartners from high SES families had faster growth rates than kindergartners from low SES families in letter naming and word reading. Effect sizes ranged from small (d = .18 in word reading) to fairly large (d = .70 in letter‐naming fluency). First‐grade students in CLLIP classrooms had faster growth rates than students in control classrooms in vocabulary, nonword reading fluency, word reading, and reading comprehension. Effect sizes were small in vocabulary, nonword reading fluency, and reading comprehension (.23 ≤ d ≤ .28) and medium in word reading (d = .50). These results suggest that the present multicomponent literacy instructional model had a positive impact on Chilean children's literacy acquisition.     

Boys’ and girls’ involvement in science learning and their self‐efficacy in Taiwan

This cross‐sectional study investigated the significant differences in students’ self‐efficacy and their involvement in learning science. Nine hundred and twenty‐two elementary school fifth graders, 499 junior high school eighth graders, and 1455 senior or vocational high school eleventh graders completed the students’ questionnaire. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and independent t‐tests compared the significant similarities and differences across school levels and genders. The initial findings were as follows: A sharp decline in boys’ and girls’ self‐efficacy scores from elementary to secondary school levels; boys have significantly higher self‐efficacy scores than girls at vocational and senior high school levels; students with more involvement in science learning presented significantly higher self‐efficacy scores than those with less involvement. The significant discrepancies in terms of gender and age in students’ self‐efficacy and involvement in learning science need to be addressed. Implications and limitations are provided.