Support for Returning to Work for a Patient of Social Behavior Disorder with Impaired Self-awareness

Social behavioral disorders and impaired self-awareness, which are sequelae of brain injuries, have negative effects on interpersonal relationships and employment. In this study, we performed a long-term client-centered approach to help the patient diagnosed with a social behavior disorder and impaired self-awareness return to work. Cognitive rehabilitation, cognitive-behavioral treatment, and positive behavioral support were provided while assessing the self-awareness using the Japanese version of the Self-Regulation Skills Interview. This patient exemplifies the importance of establishing methods for self-monitoring and rebuilding a positive self-identity while considering the complexities of self-awareness when helping patients with impaired self-awareness. The patient took the initiative in managing problematic behaviors due to social behavior disorder, and as a result, was able to achieve stable self-awareness. The strategies described in this patient can be used in the future to treat patients with social behavior disorder due to inadequate self-awareness. In order to practice a client-centered approach while assessing the patient's level of self-awareness, it is important to build a trusting relationship over a long period. To assess the level of self-awareness, existing interviews, questionnaires, and work to express one's mental and physical state as seen by the patient may be effective.

     

career awareness of new graduates and recruiting activities by companies in japan

Japan has been experiencing a labor market problem wherein many young people are leaving their jobs within the first 3 years. The authors explore this situation and consider the role of career development in this process. Suggestions are made for how career development programs can play an important role in facilitating a more satisfying career transition process.     

On-line statistical segmentation of a non-speech auditory stream in neonates as demonstrated by event-related brain potentials

The ability to statistically segment a continuous auditory stream is one of the most important preparations for initiating language learning. Such ability is available to human infants at 8 months of age, as shown by a behavioral measurement. However, behavioral study alone cannot determine how early this ability is available. A recent study using measurements of event-related potential (ERP) revealed that neonates are able to detect statistical boundaries within auditory streams of speech syllables. Extending this line of research will allow us to better understand the cognitive preparation for language acquisition that is available to neonates. The aim of the present study was to examine the domain-generality of such statistical segmentation. Neonates were presented with nonlinguistic tone sequences composed of four tritone units, each consisting of three semitones extracted from one octave, for two 5-minute sessions. Only the first tone of each unit evoked a significant positivity in the frontal area during the second session, but not in the first session. This result suggests that the general ability to distinguish units in an auditory stream by statistical information is activated at birth and is probably innately prepared in humans.     

Psychosocial development and moral development: an exploratory comparison of adolescents in Japan and America

Building on previous cross-cultural research, this exploratory study examined the comparative psychosocial and sociomoral development of 46 adolescents--22 Japanese in Japan, 10 Japanese in the United States, and 14 Euro-Americans in the United States. Euro-American participants obtained more positive scores than Japanese in the United States and Japanese in Japan on six psychosocial stages and the total psychosocial score as measured by the Measures of Psychosocial Development. Except in the Contract/Truth domain, all groups scored at a comparable level in sociomoral development as measured by the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form. Results are discussed in terms of cultural differences affecting adolescent development with implications for research and professional practice.     

The Automatic Activation of Retributive Motive When Determining Punishment

This study sought to test the hypothesis that an individual’s retributive motive is activated automatically when he or she is presented with an opportunity to determine appropriate punishment. Fifty-one undergraduate students were subjected to one of two conditions: one in which an video clip of a brutal crime was presented (crime video condition) and another in which a sports documentary video clip was presented (sports video condition). Participants were asked to complete the Implicit Association Test before and after being presented with the video. It was predicted that the activation of retributive motive would strengthen the association with a balanced combination of these factors as compared to the association with an unbalanced combination of factors and increase the IAT effect accordingly. The IAT effect increased in the crime video condition but did not change in the sports video condition. This result supported the hypothesis, indicating that decision making regarding punishment is carried out automatically and outside of conscious awareness, as the IAT reflects automatic cognitive processes such as implicit attitudes.     

The Gettier Intuition from South America to Asia

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - This article examines whether people share the Gettier intuition (viz. that someone who has a true justified belief that p may nonetheless fail...     

Simultaneously cooperative, but serially antagonistic: a neuropsychological study of diagonistic dyspraxia in a case of Marchiafava-Bignami disease

We describe a patient with Marchiafava-Bignami disease who showed, in addition to signs of callosal interruption, a peculiar form of diagonistic dyspraxia. Unlike the typical diagonistic dyspraxia, both of the patient's hands could simultaneously cooperate in a sequence of bimanual actions. More specifically, his right hand could start a commanded action with the cooperation of his left hand. However, once the action was completed, his left hand started an antagonistic action, undoing the result, with the cooperation of his right hand. Once this countermanding action was completed, the original action started again. These antagonistic actions repeated themselves alternately unless he was restrained. The patient's diagonistic dyspraxia was apparent in only some bimanual actions, and he showed no diagonistic dyspraxia when performing voluntary actions; the antagonistic actions occurred in response to oral commands or by imitation. Magnetic resonance imaging showed symmetrical demyelination with partial necrosis in the genu, body, and anterior splenium of the corpus callosum. We speculate that the bimanual coordination is possible because part of the corpus callosum is intact, whereas the antagonistic actions may be caused by conflict between the two hemispheres due to interhemispheric disinhibition elicited by the demyelinated part of the corpus callosum.     

Homogeneity perception as a reaction to identity threat: effects of status difference in a simulated society game

The present study examined how members of low status groups would react to a threat to their social identity. Undergraduates participated in a ‘simulated society game,’ and were divided into four groups, each of which was assigned either a high or low status. During a series of game sessions with intergroup competition and cooperation, participants estimated the range of distributions among in‐ group and out‐group members regarding various traits. The central tendency and variability derived from each estimate were analysed. Members of the low status groups deprecated their in‐group with respect to a status‐defining trait, but showed in‐group favouritism regarding alternative, status‐irrelevant traits. Furthermore, the low status members judged their in‐group as more homogeneous than the out‐group regarding the alternative traits, particularly when they were compared to a high status group. The results were interpreted as an indication of a subtle form of maintaining positive in‐group evaluations. Theoretical and methodological implications for the study of status effects are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of the response–stimulus interval on implicit and explicit learning of stimulus sequence

Three experiments investigated the influence of the response-stimulus interval (RSI) on implicit and explicit learning of stimulus sequences. Participants responded to numerals presented in predetermined positions with alternating long and short RSIs. Half of the participants were instructed explicitly to learn the position sequence. In the transfer phase of Experiments 1 and 2, changing RSI patterns reduced the expression of incidental and intentional learning of position sequence. In Experiment 3 the position sequence was transformed, except that sub-sequences demarcated by long RSIs remained unchanged; this greatly reduced the expression of intentional learning, and slightly reduced that of incidental learning. These results indicate that in implicit learning, stimulus sequences are learned under the constraints of RSIs, whereas in explicit learning, learning independent of RSIs, as well as learning constrained by RSIs, occurs.