Transformations of identity: Referent location,agency, and levels of integration in the progress from potential self to existential identity

The study traces the genesis of existential despair and empty depression in personality disordered individuals to the impact of a premature definition of the self in terms of an other-centered referent. Three aspects of identity are discussed: self identity, role identity, and existential identity. Their respective potential contribution to self-integration is examined.     

Cognition,construction of knowledge,and teaching

The existence of objective knowledge and the possibility of communicating it by means of language have traditionally been taken for granted by educators. Recent developments in the philosophy of science and the historical study of scientific accomplishments have deprived these presuppositions of their former plausibility. Sooner or later, this must have an effect on the teaching of science. In this paper I am presenting a brief outline of an alternative theory of knowing that takes into account the thinking organism's cognitive isolation from reality. This orientation was proposed by Vico at the beginning of the 18th century, disregarded for two hundred years, and then propounded independently by Piaget as a developmentally grounded constructivist epistemology. The paper focuses specifically on the adaptive function of cognition, Piaget's scheme theory, the process of communication, and the subjective perspective on social interaction. In the concluding section it then suggests some of the consequences the shift of epistemological presuppositions might have for the practice of teaching.The only truly ubiquitous factor in cognitive developments — be it in the history of science or in the ontogeny of mind — are of a functional, not a structural kind.Piaget and Garcia, 1983, p. 38I am indebted to Jack Lochhead and John Clement for their helpful critical comments on the draft of this paper. The work that led to it was supported in part by NSF Grants to IBR. University of Georgia, and SRRI, University of Massachusetts.     

When a compliance without pressure strategy fails due to a minority dissenter: A case of “behavioral conversion”

While a strategy of compliance without pressure (Joule, 1987) had the effect of inducing almost all of a group of smoking subjects to stop smoking first for 18 hours then for 3 days, simply observing someone (an accomplice) break his or her own initial agreement to abstain from smoking for 18 hours was enough to bring about a substantial reduction in the willingness of other subjects to later abstain for 3 days. However, subjects did not follow the lead of the accomplice immediately, and persisted in their agreement to abstain for 18 hours. This pattern of indirect, but not direct influence, suggests that there may be a type of minority influence at work here that represents a sort of behavioral conversion.     

Sex differences in dealing with bureaucracy

The present study set out to test the popular stereotype of male communicative dominance in the context of dealing with bureaucracy. The study examined the responses of male and female officials of various bureaucratic organizations to different persuasive appeals activated by male and female clients. Log-linear analysis was used to reveal the relationships between sex composition of client-official dyads and outcome across types of organizations and types of persuasive appeal. Findings indicate that the sex of the client and the official significantly affected the outcome only when the type of appeal was taken into account. Although male and female clients did not differ in rates of successful outcome, males were more persuasive when using stronger (i.e., normative) appeals, and females were more effective when applying weaker (i.e., altruistic) appeals. The results demonstrate that no simple answer can be found to the old issue of sex-bound persuasiveness. The answer is highly dependent on a combination of contextual aspects, communicative tactics, and measures of response.This research was supported by the Research Authority of the University of Haifa. The author wishes to thank the late Joseph Shepher, Marilyn Safir, Maya Weinberg, and Brenda Danet and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article, and to acknowledge the contribution of Henry Lever in providing the MULTC program.     

Internalization of conflict and attitude change

In a 2 × 2 × 2 design, eighty smokers were exposed to an anti-smoking appeal attributed either to an expert source (superior status) or a minority source (inferior status). Subjects were either allowed or not to smoke during the experiment. In addition subjects had to memorize part of the appeal and a recall task either followed after reading the appeal (completed task) or not (uncompleted task). The results show that the expert source produces more attitude change than the minority when the tension induced by the source is weakened (either by the opportunity to smoke or task completion). In contrast the minority has more impact when subjects are not able to smoke or when the task is not completed, which is to say when the conflict has been internalized. An explanation of these effects is offered in terms of the more defensive forms of resistance involved with respect to sources of superior status compared to more assertive forms with respect to minorities.     

Anthropology and the theory of medicine

Instead of presupposing reality as the “realists” do, a genetic theory of knowledge attempts to understand scientific knowledge through the psychological origins of both the concepts, and the operations on which these concepts are based. Adopting the viewpoint of genetic epistemology, the envisaged theory of medicine will have to perform a threefold task: (1) A revision and reformulation of the psycho-physical problem and the development of a model for the living body; (2) A revision of our views concerning the relationship between humans and the inanimate and animate environment; and (3) The development of a concept for the construction of individual reality and its consequences for the patient-physician relationship.