Marking the anniversary: adolescents and the September 11 healing process

Clinical data are presented from a day spent at a New Jersey high school severely impacted by the World Trade Center disaster. Dissociation, a sense of numbness, anger, and guilt about feelings induced by the tragedy are all common dynamics in adolescents responding to trauma. The developmental issues that adolescents are confronting are described and discussed in terms of the challenges they present to the healing process. An argument is made that using groups to aid in the long recovery process with our young people should be a top public health priority.     

The Self as violent other: the problem of defining the self

This paper identifies the problem of arriving at a solid definition of C. G. Jung's notion of the Self, and seeks its resolution. The author first demonstrates how this problem is articulated by scholars of Jungian theory by showing that they have ultimately depended upon 'limited' definitions of the Self, where the Self is no more than a transcendental postulate, a simple derivative from the internal structure of Jungian argument. She then determines the reason for the problem by arguing that there can never be a complete definition of the Self for it encompasses that which is unconscious and is thus irreducible to ego-comprehension. By using a method of philosophical analysis (in the guise of Levinas) the author will show that through the Self's very need to evade comprehension the Self is essentially comprehended as an overpowering and violent entity. The author will argue that the Self as a force of violence is crucial to its definition, and scholars must not ignore the Self as numinous experience in favour of passive functionality. She will thus argue that through the adoption of a Levinasian critique, the Self can be defined and justified outside of the internally self-consistent system from which it is conventionally derived.     

Personality traits in people with synaesthesia: Do synaesthetes have an atypical personality profile?

People with synaesthesia not only have – by definition – unusual experiences (e.g., numbers triggering colour), they also have a different cognitive profile (e.g., in terms of their memory and perceptual abilities) and a bias towards certain interests and activities (e.g., towards the arts). However, virtually nothing is known about whether synaesthetes have an atypical personality profile. In this study, a standard measure of personality was administered (Big Five Inventory) along with two questionnaire measures of empathy. Synaesthetes, relative to demographically matched controls, reported higher levels of ‘Openness to Experience’ which is known to be related to imagination and artistic tendencies. They also reported higher levels of ‘Fantasizing’ on one of the empathy measures, which is conceptually related to Openness, although their self-reported empathy did not differ in other respects. In addition, synaesthetes reported lower levels of Agreeableness which we did not predict in advance.     

Survival of the selfish: Contrasting self-referential and survival-based encoding

Processing information in the context of personal survival scenarios elicits a memory advantage, relative to other rich encoding conditions such as self-referencing. However, previous research is unable to distinguish between the influence of survival and self-reference because personal survival is a self-referent encoding context. To resolve this issue, participants in the current study processed items in the context of their own survival and a familiar other person’s survival, as well as in a semantic context. Recognition memory for the items revealed that personal survival elicited a memory advantage relative to semantic encoding, whereas other-survival did not. These findings reinforce suggestions that the survival effect is closely tied with self-referential encoding, ensuring that fitness information of potential importance to self is successfully retained in memory.     

Parent Roles and Facilitation Strategies as Influenced by a Mobile-Based Technology During a Family Nature Hike

Abstract

Families use mobile technologies in many educational spaces, such as museums or other informal learning venues to support their social learning experience. This trend encourages parents to take on new facilitation roles during their children’s technologically driven learning experiences. This study provides an in-depth look at how one type of mobile technology shaped parent roles, facilitation, and family learning in an outdoor setting. The qualitative case study uses sociocultural learning theory with a lens toward parent roles during a mobile-based family learning experience in the outdoors to analyze the 1-hour hike of one case study family. Findings from a thematic analysis of the video data resulted in 6 parental roles embodied by the parents during their hike with an e-Trailguide. A secondary analysis provided evidence that the e-Trailguide facilitated collaborative observations of the natural world for the parents and children. Recommendations for mobile-based designs that support family, outdoor learning are included.     

Modality Effects and the Development of the Word Length Effect in Children

Two experiments investigated the development of the word length effect in children aged 4 to 10 years, comparing auditory and visual stimuli. The question addressed was whether word length effects emerged earlier with auditory presentation or visual presentation, or whether they emerged at the same age regardless of presentation modality. Results provided evidence that word length effects emerge earlier with visual than auditory presentation. The implication of our results is that with visual presentation, 4-year-olds engage in some form of verbalisation strategy that involves obtaining phonological representations of picture names and mapping them on to articulatory output plans. This strategy is clearly verbal in nature, but is not necessarily characterised as cumulative verbal rehearsal.