Towards the feeling of emergence

Emergence is a multi-dimensional notion; the meanings it has acquired span the mythopoetic to the scientific, especially as found in complex systems. Examples of emergence in Navaho and Egyptian imagery underscore its diverse cultural origins and applications as well as suggesting an underlying archetypal quality to the core concept. A brief overview of the use of this term in science starting in the 17th century helps to locate the roots of modern emergent views in the philosophy of Leibniz. Jung's own use of early systems approaches was a part of his formulations of a 'third' position associated with the transcendent function. As this paper was delivered at the 50th anniversary conference of the Journal of Analytical Psychology, aspects of the emergence of the Journal within the contents of the first issue are explored. Attention is drawn to several articles, especially a case of brief child therapy done by Robert Moody. His approach to working his case is strikingly modern and vividly demonstrates principles of emergence within the clinical setting. Following this there is a discussion of some neuroscientific research on neural body maps, pointing to the experience of feelings as an emergent process. It is suggested that feelings derive from phase transitions in the brain's body mapping states. A reconsideration of a seeming impasse in the case described by Moody leads instead to a view of the initial phase of treatment as a pre-critical period. Research findings on mirror neurons are presented in terms of the feeling of empathy. Subjective feelings are then shown to be associated with moments of emergence, especially surprise and curiosity, exemplified by a case from the author's practice.     

Trait as default: extraversion, subjective well-being, and the distinction between neutral and positive events

On the basis of prior work suggesting that trait self-knowledge serves a "fill-in" function when event-specific information is missing (M.D. Robinson & G. L. Clore, 2002a), we sought to demonstrate that extraversion is a more reliable predictor of subjective well-being (SWB) judgments among certain individuals than among others. Four studies involving a total of 260 participants revealed that the extraversion-SWB relation was relatively weaker among those quick to appreciate the distinction between neutral and positive events in a choice reaction-time task; by contrast, it was stronger among those slow to recognize this distinction. The findings suggest that extraversion scales measure (among other things) beliefs about SWB that differentially contribute to judgments among those less capable of making evaluative distinctions at encoding.     

Image analysis of small animal feeding behavior

The optimal design of behavioral experiments includes measures to minimize observer bias while maximizing researcher efficiency. To this end, we have developed a reliable, autonomous monitor of animal feeding behavior. Previous studies of caterpillar (Manduca sexta) feeding have relied on human observation for visual evaluation of food consumption at specific time points over the course of several hours. This method is eliminated by our newbehavior rig, which collects data automatically. Individual animals are monitored via CCD cameras activated in sequence by a computer. Images are obtained at preset time intervals using a frame grabber to capture still pictures from the cameras. Subsequently, images are analyzed using software written in MatLab to determine food selection and quantify consumption.     

The effects of establishing operations on preferences for tangible items

Researchers have demonstrated that both deprivation and satiation can affect the outcome of preference assessments for food. In the current study, paired-stimulus preference assessments for tangible items were conducted under three conditions: control, deprivation, and satiation. Three persons with developmental disabilities and 3 typically developing preschool children served as participants. The results demonstrated that deprivation and satiation influenced the outcome of preference assessments of leisure items or toys.     

Multivariate Extreme Value Distributions and Coverage of Ranking Probabilities

The main result in this paper is that the class of multivariate extreme value distributions, when used as random utility models, can approximate all ranking probability distributions. This extends Theorem 1 of Dagsvik (1995). Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior in Center-Based Classrooms: Evaluation of Pre-teaching the Alternative Behavior

This study investigated the effectiveness of a differential reinforcement of alternative behavior procedure in decreasing disruptive behavior while simultaneously increasing the appropriate behavior of four children of typical development between the ages of 4 and 6 in center-based classrooms. We began with brief functional analyses for each child. Then, differential reinforcement procedures, with and without pre-teaching the alternative behavior, were compared using an alternating treatments design. Results indicated that the differential reinforcement procedure with pre-teaching resulted in lower levels of problem behavior and greater levels of the alternative behavior compared to differential reinforcement alone. Results are discussed in terms of implications for applied practice and functional assessment and intervention research.     

Talking to Visitors about Conservation: Exploring Message Communication through Docent–Visitor Interactions at Zoos

ABSTRACT

Education personnel, both paid staff and volunteers, are often used at zoos and other museums as a channel to disseminate educational messages. This exploratory study examined the use of zoo docents to communicate key conservation messages from the zoo to visitors. The study was conducted in 2 phases using an emergent design with mixed methods. The findings suggest that visitors perceive docents to be an important source for conservation messages even though observed message communication through docent–visitor interactions was very limited. Docents view themselves as “facilitators for learning”, but their limited awareness of the institution's messages inhibits their ability to communicate these messages to visitors. Other factors that influence incidence of message communication are duration of the interaction, nature of the exhibit/region, and group composition. In this study, signage was found to be an effective channel for building cognitive awareness of messages among visitors.     

Business owner-managers' descriptions of entrepreneurship: A content analysis

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is one of the most researched topics in business research. Findings have been mixed regarding the traits of entrepreneurs, and interest has grown in examining the behavioral aspects and business operations elements necessary for effective entrepreneurship, branching out from the focus on personality traits that has dominated the literature. We explored the area of entrepreneurship with the goal of developing a useful framework for viewing this domain. Content analysis was used to build the framework from business owner-managers' observations of entrepreneurial effectiveness. The construct categories and the overall dimensions and their relationships to entrepreneurship are reported. The result is the beginning of a process to describe an entrepreneurship system. Suggestions for future research and the continuation of entrepreneurship model development are offered.