Writing Desire,or Being Seduced by Karmen MacKendrick

Abstract

This essay explores the intimate relation between writing and desire in Karmen MacKendrick’s work. It uses this relation to connect MacKendrick’s work to work from Georges Bataille and Leo Bersani.     

发展性阅读障碍书写加工缺陷及其神经机制

发展性阅读障碍是学习障碍的主要类型之一, 严重影响个体认知、情感与社会适应性的发展。书写与阅读关系密切, 阅读障碍者常常表现出书写加工缺陷。在行为层面, 阅读障碍者书写缺陷表现在书写质量差、速度慢和停顿多等多个方面。在脑机制层面, 脑成像研究发现, 阅读障碍者书写加工缺陷与字形加工脑区活动, 以及字形与运动区脑功能与结构连接异常有关。总体而言, 阅读障碍者书写过程中的字形通达缺陷的证据比较充分, 但字形与运动编码的衔接以及运动执行是否存在困难, 尚缺乏研究证据。相对于字母语言, 书写与阅读的关系在汉语中更为紧密, 汉语阅读障碍的书写研究将为开发汉语特色的诊治方案提供重要指导。     

Expressive Electronic Journal Writing: Freedom of Communication for Survivors of Acquired Brain Injury

In addition to the impaired ability to effectively communicate, adults with acquired brain injury (ABI) also experience high incidences of depression, social isolation, and decreased quality of life. Expressive writing programs have been shown to be effective in alleviating these concomitant impairments in other populations including incarcerated inmates (Lane, Writing as a road to self-discovery, F & W, Cincinnati 1993). In addition, computer applications such as email have been suggested as an effective means of improving communication and social isolation in adults with brain injury (Sohlberg et al. [2003]. Brain Injury, 17(7), 609–629). This investigation examines the effects of on-line expressive journal writing on the communication, emotional status, social integration and quality of life of individuals with brain injury.     

The Ethics of Academic Journal Editing

This paper amounts to a reply to Professor Donald G. Brown’s thoughtful comment on my “Ethical Issues in Journal Peer-Review”, which appeared in this journal.

Effects of Training Reflective Listening in a Corporate Setting

A communication skills training of insurance company employees was devised and evaluated. Study 1 compared trained and untrained employees on their Reflective listening (RL; Rogers, 1951) skills before and after a 16-hr training, as they conversed with a confederate who rated them, and their responses were categorized. In a follow-up Study 2, some of the employees audiotaped conversations with customers, and their responses were categorized as well. In a validation Study 3, students rated conversations by employees who used more or less RL. Results showed that training increased RL, and that the skills were subsequently transferred to an authentic setting. Results did not show that trained employees were evaluated differently than untrained. Implications of the results are discussed.     

小学生写作能力测验的编制报告

本研究立足于小学写作教学实践需要,以写作能力结构、写作教学大纲及写作能力各因素的操作性定义为理论基础,在教育测量与评价的基本原理指导下,编制小学生写作能力的客观测验。经过初稿、反复地个别测试、预试,并对测验的科学性进行检验,结果表明该测验的难度适中、项目区分性好、具有很好的信度和效度。本测验对于小学生写作能力的客观评价及探讨小学生写作能力的发展特点是一个很好的工具。     

Structure and Content: The Relationship Between Reflective Judgment and Laypeople's Viewpoints

A neglected research area involving the relationship between structure and content in thinking is explored in this study. Fifty-nine adults participated in initial (1986–88) and follow-up (1993–94) interviews on Reflective Judgment (RJ) dilemmas devised by Kitchener and King. An earlier study by A.-M. Pirttilä-Backman and A. Kajanne (2001) showed that Reflective Judgment mean scores were higher in the second interview round than those in the first. One of the Kitchener and King dilemmas on food additives was investigated further. In another study using the same data, A. Kajanne and A.-M. Pirttilä-Backman (1996) presented 4 categories of standpoints (Harmful, Safe, Both, and Neither) on food additives that were apparent in both interviews. A shift from the more clear-cut (Harmful and Safe) to the more moderate (Both and Neither) standpoints was detected between the 2 studies. The results of these two studies are utilized here in investigating the connection between form and content in thinking. In both interviews the mean stage scores on Reflective Judgment differed according to the standpoint taken. Stages 4 and 5 formed a dividing line: those under this line chose one of the clear-cut standpoints more often than those above it. Some contents were independent of the stage scores, but others were closely linked to them.     

Unveiling a reflective diary methodology for exploring the lived experiences of stress and coping

This article unveils a diary methodology exploring accounts of ongoing experiences during the final furlong of university life and examines the role of diary keeping for gaining insights into stress and coping with performance-related and general life stressors. The focus is on thirty young people who, following a year working in industry, were in the midst of their final year of university study—undergoing coursework assessments, preparing for final examinations, making key career choices, and taking part in the whole process of job applications, assessment centres, and interviews. All were attending a course exploring theoretical and practical approaches to self-awareness and interpersonal skills development. The article shares insights regarding the use of diaries for the exploration of stress and coping from the perspective of both the researcher and the diarist.     

Reflective equilibrium and moral objectivity

Ever since the introduction of reflective equilibrium in ethics, it has been argued that reflective equilibrium either leads to moral relativism, or that it turns out to be a form of intuitionism in disguise. Despite these criticisms, reflective equilibrium remains the most dominant method of moral justification in ethics. In this paper, I therefore critically examine the most recent attempts to defend the method of reflective equilibrium against these objections. Defenders of reflective equilibrium typically respond to the objections by saying that either reflective equilibrium can in fact safeguard moral objectivity or alternatively, even if it cannot, that there simply are no reasonable alternatives. In this paper, I take issue with both responses. First, I argue that given the non-foundationalist aspirations of reflective equilibrium, moral objectivity cannot be maintained. Second, I argue that reflective equilibrium is not the only game in town once intuitionism has been discarded. I argue that given their own normative ambitions, combined with their rejection of intuitionism, proponents of reflective equilibrium have reason to take alternative methods of moral justification, and more specifically transcendental arguments, more seriously than they have done so far. I end by sketching the outlines of what this alternative methodology might look like.