Philosophy of Education in a Poor Historical Moment: A Personal Account

Under the post-metaphysical sky “old” humanistic-oriented education is possible solely at the cost of its transformation into its negative, into a power that is determined to diminish human potentials for self-exaltation. Nothing less than total metamorphosis is needed to rescue the core of humanistic genesis: the quest for edifying Life and resistance to the call for “home-returning” into the total harmony that is promised to us within nothingness.     

Differences in Multidimensional Poverty According to Householders’ Gender and Age in South Korea

This study examines multidimensional poverty according to householders’ gender and age in South Korea. Using the counting approach, multidimensional poverty was measured on six dimensions: money, health, housing, employment, social protection, and social relations. The results indicate that the monetary dimension does not cover other deprived dimensions. In terms of poverty rate, female-headed households are more deprived on all six dimensions. The headcount ratio and adjusted headcount ratio gradually decrease as the cutoff value of multidimensional poverty increases. The decreasing tendency is more moderate for female-headed households than for male-headed households, indicating that female-headed households face more weighted poverty dimensions. Our study found that the poverty dimension demonstrates different patterns according to householders’ age. For the older group, health is the second most contributing factor, and for the younger group housing and social protection contributed more to multidimensional poverty than for the older group.

     

Action-based and vision-based selection of input: Two sources of control

In the first part of this paper we review evidence suggesting that there exists a mechanism that selects input on the basis of its similarity to the required action. This response-based input selection differs from the more established space- and object-based input selection in that it is not constrained by the structure of the input. Our evidence suggests that the two-choice Stroop effect is caused by this response-based selection mechanism. By contrast, it is known that the flanker effect is determined by the space- and object- based selection mechanisms. We explore whether the conflict resolution of the Stroop and flanker tasks is different as well by embedding these two tasks in a PRP (Psychological Refractory Period) paradigm. We show that the Stroop and the PRP effects are additive whereas the flanker and the PRP effects are underadditive, suggesting that the processes in charge of the conflict resolution in the Stroop and the flanker tasks are indeed different. We discuss possible reasons for this difference, and discuss possible ways in which the response-based mechanism can be implemented in information processing models.     

Win-shift and win-stay learning in the short-beaked echidna (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tachyglossus aculeatus</Emphasis>)

Numerous previous investigators have explained species differences in spatial memory performance in terms of differences in foraging ecology. In three experiments we attempted to extend these findings by examining the extent to which the spatial memory performance of echidnas (or "spiny anteaters") can be understood in terms of the spatio-temporal distribution of their prey (ants and termites). This is a species and a foraging situation that have not been examined in this way before. Echidnas were better able to learn to avoid a previously rewarding location (to "win-shift") than to learn to return to a previously rewarding location (to "win-stay"), at short retention intervals, but were unable to learn either of these strategies at retention intervals of 90 min. The short retention interval results support the ecological hypothesis, but the long retention interval results do not. Electronic Publication     

Role of the working alliance in the treatment of delinquent boys in community-based programs

Examined the role of the working alliance in the treatment of delinquent boys in community-based residential programs, clarifying the relation between therapeutic process and behavioral change. Horvath and Greenberg's (1989) Working Alliance Inventory was used to assess the therapeutic alliance between youth and staff after 3 weeks in treatment and again after 3 months. Achenbach's (1991) Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Youth Self-Report [YSR] and Teacher Report Form [TRF]) and recidivism scores were used to assess treatment progress and outcome. Results indicated that a positive working alliance assessed after 3 months in treatment related to positive psychological changes and predicted lower rates of recidivism. Unexpectedly, a positive working alliance assessed early in treatment was associated with negative outcomes (increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms and higher rates of recidivism). This finding suggests that for some delinquent youth initially optimistic assessments may be prognostic of slow progress or treatment failure.     

The Factor Structure of the Beavers Interactional Scales

Confirmatory factor analysis and regression analyses of the Beavers Interactional Scales did not appear to support the model offered by its developers, namely, several specified family attributes contributing respectively to two global factors of Family Competence and Family Style. Moreover, regression analysis indicated that only three of 12 items predicted raters' assessments of Global Family Health, and one of seven items predicted Global Family Style. Individuals interested in the family dynamic centripetal/centrifugal might best think of that as a unitary entity and rate it accordingly.