“Ubi Patria – Ibi Bene”: The Scope and Limits of Rousseau's Patriotic Education

Does the inculcation of patriotic sentiments in the hearts of patriotsrender them invulnerable to the malady of self-alienation experiencedotherwise by citizens of the “atomist” state? Rousseau, as will be shownin this paper, provided a positive answer to this question. Accordingly,he accorded utmost importance in his political and educational writingto the education for patriotism. The purpose of this paper is to offer acritical assessment of Rousseau's education for patriotism. I suggestthat when successfully implemented, this education leads to theestrangement and effacement of the self, giving rise to a malady similarto the one Rousseau wanted to cure. If Rousseau's patriotic educationcan really prevent the experience of self-alienation arising due to alack of a community one can call one's own, this very education givesalso rise to the experience of self-alienation arising upon theemergence of a tight-knit patriotic community. Such a community leavesno room for the development of the individual's (or the patriot's)unique talents and the pursuit of his or her self-regarding goals andencourages the emergence, over again, of the experience ofself-alienation.     

The effect of acculturation and ethnic identification on consumer disidentification and consumption: An investigation of U.S. Hispanics

This study examines the antecedents and outcomes of consumer disidentification (CDI) among immigrants and the role that cultural change plays in affecting this consumer orientation. Specifically, it explores the effect of acculturation and ethnic identification on host nation sentiments (i.e., host nation identification, disidentification, and affinity) and how the latter influence CDI. Then, it assesses the effect of CDI on consumer behaviors including product quality judgments and willingness to buy products originating in the host country. Survey data from a convenience sample of 555 adults of Cuban and Puerto Rican origin, who live in the USA, confirm that disidentification with the host nation is the basis of CDI. Acculturation is the process through which disidentification with the host nation and the resulting CDI can be mitigated. However, ethnic identification shows inconsistencies in affecting consumers' sentiments toward the host nation and CDI. While CDI is negatively related to consumers' willingness to buy domestic products, it does not seem to affect consumers' willingness to buy domestic products through their product quality judgments. Practically, this study facilitates strategic marketing decisions that are related to the presentation of country‐of‐origin (COO) product attributes in marketing communication and branding campaigns. This study is one of the few empirical studies on CDI, and it focuses on COO effects of domestic rather than foreign products among subcultures within national boundaries. Understanding COO effects among subnational cultural consumers is of primary importance given the ever‐increasing ethnic diversification of consumer markets.     

A neural plasticity perspective on the schizophrenic condition

Imbalanced plasticity of neural networks in the brain is proposed to underlie deficits in the integration of efferent and afferent processes in schizophrenia. These deficits affect the priming of the behavior implementing systems by prior knowledge, and thus impair both controlled regulation and automatic activation of mental and motor processes. The sense of self as a distinct entity can consequently be undermined. In predominantly reality-distorting patients, hypo-plasticity of neural connectivity may cause the emergence of highly focused but inflexible patterns of activation in their representation and response systems. This may lead to dominance of prepotent patterns of activity in these systems and a relative inability of higher control systems to bias lower level activity towards congruence with the ongoing cognitive and motor context. By contrast, predominantly disorganized patients are characterized by hyper-plastic connectivity. This leads to a weakening of prepotent response tendencies but also, as in reality-distorting patients, to less effective top-down contextual constraining.     

Effect of Prenatal Androgen on Adult Personality: Greater Openness with More Female-Typical 2D:4D Digit Ratios

One hundred seven university community participants (71 female, 36 male) were evaluated on the five personality factors (NEO-FFI), and finger lengths were measured to determine the ratio of the second to fourth digit (2D:4D). It is well-established that 2D:4D ratios are an index of prenatal androgenic activity. Sex differences were found such that the men had lower 2D:4D ratios than the women for both the left and right hands, and the women indicated greater Neuroticism than the men, as reported by others. Most interestingly, greater Openness was significantly associated with more female-typical (higher) 2D:4D ratios for the entire sample. This was significant for the male sample alone, and was found at a trend level in the female sample alone.     

A Story of a Split and Hope

ABSTRACT

This article, written by the analyst and his supervisor, presents the handling of a persistent obstruction of the analyst’s empathic capability. The mutual activation of a relentless empathic search led to the obstruction’s dissolution through the revelation of a personal part of the analyst’s life, and its connection to the patient’s inner life. The recognition of the split that existed in the analyst and the joy of finding the lost empathy and expanding it opened a new path in the analysis and enabled the beginning of a psychic transformation in the patient, which main essence is Hope.     

Attachment Patterns in Medically Serious Suicide Attempts: The Mediating Role of Self‐Disclosure and Loneliness

Although the study of medically serious suicide behavior is an important strategy for understanding the nature of suicide, little is known about its underlying psychological mechanisms. This gap is addressed here by applying insights from attachment theory to severe suicidal behavior. The results show that both anxious and avoidant attachment patterns predict medical lethality. Path analysis indicated that interpersonal difficulties mediated the paths between insecure attachment patterns and lethality of suicide attempts. These results suggest that the psychological mechanisms of medically serious suicide behavior involve high levels of mental pain amplified by insecure attachment patterns and interpersonal difficulties. Implications for prevention and therapeutic intervention strategies are discussed.     

Jewish rural settlement in Cyprus 1882–1935: a “springboard” or a destiny?

After its transfer to British rule in 1878, Cyprus became an object of Jewish settlement. The island was seen as a reasonable alternative at a time when aliyah and land purchase in Eretz-Israel were problematic. Three attempts were made by different groups to settle Jews in rural sites between 1882 and 1935. The first, near Pathos, was initiated by a millenarian British association. It lasted barely a year and focused on helping immigrants from Russia. The second, in the years 1892–1898, fostered by a pre-Zionist group of London Jews, and with the assistance of JCA, led to the purchase of Margo, an agricultural site located between Larnaka and Nicosia. The third attempt, the longest, between 1898 and 1935, was sponsored by the JCA itself, which settled about 35 families and offered continuing professional assistance. Ultimate failure was assured, nonetheless, by the proximity of Eretz-Israel, which exerted an irresistible allure on the younger, second, generation. For a short time, Cyprus was thought by some to be a political alternative to Eretz-Israel. The so-called “Trietsch Project” of 1898 interested even Herzl himself.