An Apology for a Religion of the Melancholic

This article is a study of depression and melancholia from the psychoanalytic perspective. Starting with the issue of levels and categories involving the phenomena of depression and melancholia, it elucidates the particular nature of the melancholic loss; the fact that the melancholic’s problem has to do with language; the view of the melancholic subject as a default subject; and the question of desire in melancholia and its trajectory toward recovery, eventually leading to a hopeful imagination concerning the innermost human desire. Three Lacanian psychoanalytic theories (Darian Leader (2009); Colette Soler (2006); Slavoj Zizek (2006)) are used to support my arguments; Suah Bae (2003, 2004) provides fascinating fictional truths that witness to the melancholic’s inner world; and Donald Capps (2000) renders a decisive help in my pastoral psychological reading of all of these writers.     

Comparing Self-differentiation and Psychological Well-being between Korean and European American Students

This study examined cross-cultural differences in the relationship of self-differentiation with self-esteem and depressed mood, two indices of psychological well-being. Participants were 427 Korean and 375 European American college students. The main findings were that the levels of all components of self-differentiation were greater for European Americans than for Koreans; self-differentiation was associated with psychological well-being more strongly in American samples than in Korean counterparts; and “I position” was the most powerful predictor on self-esteem in both groups. Results suggest that differentiation is a meaningful construct for understanding psychological adjustment of college students in collectivistic Korean society.This research was supported by the Chonbuk National University funds for overseas research, 2004.     

Rewards of technology: Explaining China’s reverse migration

China rewards Mainlanders with technology who return to China. Among entrepreneurs and scientists, technology is generating today’s reverse migration as the rewards for bringing back technology are significant. Many returnees do not bring the latest international technology; technology that is new for China suffices to create a comparative advantage in the domestic market, making the transfer of technology a key strategy for becoming a successful reverse migrant. This article shows statistically that those who said that they had returned because they possessed a new technology (55% of our sample) were less likely to have a new international technology than a technology that was new only for China. La Chine récompense les Chinois continentaux qui retoument au pays avec des moyens techniques. Les récompenses pour avoir rapporté des éléments technologiques étant significatives, c’est la technologie qui favorise la migration de retour actuelle chez les entrepreneurs et les scientifiques. Nombreux sont les rapatriés qui ne rapportent pas le dernier cri international en technologie; il suffit de revenir avec des moyens techniques qui sont inconnus en Chine pour créer un avantage comparé dans le marché intérieur. Ainsi, le transfert de technologies constitue une strategie privilégiée dans la réussite des rapatriés. Nos statistiques indiquent que chez ceux qui étaient retournés au pays parce qu¡ls y introduisaient une nouvelle technologie (soit 55% de notre échantillon), il était moins probable pour eux d’avoir de nouveaux moyens techniques intemationaux que de moyens techniques qui représentaient une nouveauté en Chine seulement.     

Logic and Majority Voting

Journal of Philosophical Logic - To investigate the relationship between logical reasoning and majority voting, we introduce logic with groups Lg in the style of Gentzen’s sequent calculus,...     

A Strengths-Based Longitudinal Career Intervention for Junior Secondary School Students with Special Educational Needs: a Mixed-method Evaluation

The mixed-method study reported here was designed to evaluate a strengths-based career intervention program for secondary school students with mild special educational needs (SEN). A sample of 32 SEN students (19 boys: 13 girls) from 5 inclusive schools in Hong Kong were recruited to a treatment group. An additional 32 SEN students (19 boys: 13 girls) were selected to form the control group matched for age, gender and parents’ education level. The special needs exhibited by both groups were in areas of literacy and numeracy, attention deficits, and social-emotional problems, but did not include severe or complex disabilities. Participants in both groups responded to pre- and post-intervention questionnaires covering career development self-efficacy, personal and social development self-efficacy, and meaning in life. As a follow-up, two teachers and three social workers providing support to SEN students, and the 32 participants were interviewed several months after the intervention. Interviews also took place with teachers, social workers and students to evaluate the perceived effects of the intervention. Findings indicated significant interactions between Time 1 and Time 2, and between groups (control vs. treatment) in personal goal-setting, career goal-setting, and the presence of meaning in life. Additionally, several themes were identified from the interviews suggesting that the intervention did have positive effects on SEN students’ career, personal and social development self-efficacy, and acquisition of meaning in life.

     

Multi-family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (MF-PEP) for Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

This article describes the development and methodology of a novel psychosocial intervention for children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). Originally developed as an adjunctive treatment for children with mood disorders, Multi-Family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (MF-PEP) has been adapted for children with ASD (MF-PEP-ASD). Consisting of eight sessions, children with ASD and their parents receive psychoeducation and social support, and learn coping, problem-solving, communication, and symptom-management skills in separate and joint sessions. Core treatment components of MF-PEP-ASD include psychoeducation, social skills treatment, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and parent training and involvement. Preliminary qualitative data from parent and child participants have indicated positive and promising findings. Continued evaluation of this treatment using comprehensive outcome and treatment fidelity measures is warranted.     

Inquiry of Pentecostalism Regarding Pneumatology: A Theological Suggestion of a Feminist Perspective

This article revisits the legacy of the Pentecostal movement in Korea based on pneumatology and reflects on the issues of Pentecostalism from a feminist perspective. It elaborates on (1) the patriarchal top‐down hierarchy by personal cult, (2) gender injustice, and (3) the dualistic conflict of ideology. Pentecostalism is an important trend in World Christianity and in the Korean landscape of Christianity in particular. In terms of impact on society, Pentecostalism is more influential compared to Minjung theology, and these two streams have common interest regarding marginalized people. Given global challenges and growing economic disparity, it is also relevant to promote cooperation between the evangelical and ecumenical movements. To promote a new paradigm of mission and evangelism in the 21st century in the Korean context, we need to improve several aspects thereof in terms of justice, peace, and integration of creation. In this era of liberal market capitalism, when human individualization and economic inequality are accelerating, what we need is a purpose for common goodness that is based on the incarnation of God's love and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our perception of pneumatology should be constructively oriented toward justice and life for conviviality instead of the divinization of human beings.