The grand reversal: On the corso and ricorso of human way of life

The rapidly emerging pattern of globally interconnected society is characterized by the transition from labor to knowledge as a major new form of capital. The underlying cause of this momentous transformation is the powerful process of reintegration of all previously deintegrated, atomized or specialized ways. After an outswing (corso) of progressive specialization we are encountering (first time in human history) the beginning of a rebound (ricorso) towards the final integration.

We study three basic historical divisions which have now exhausted their progressive potential: (1) Division of task is being replaced by the reintegration of task; this is manifested by rapidly declining number of separate parts in our products. (2) Division of labor is being replaced by the reintegration of labor; this is manifested by the narrowing of the gap between producer and consumer, ultimately leading towards widespread self‐production and self‐service of products. (3) Division of knowledge is being replaced by the reintegration of knowledge; this is manifested by declining hierarchies, multifunctionality and self‐management and narrowing of the gap between employees and owners of enterprises.

The implications of these reintegrative processes affect not only the economic, social and political dimensions of the emerging society, but the very way of life of humans on this planet.     

Self As System: Comparing the Grounded Theory of Protecting Self and Autopoiesis

The author compares the theoretical elements of her grounded theory, Protecting Self: Experiencing Organizational Change, with autopoiesis, a biological theory of living systems. Autopoiesis, meaning self-production, is a closed system that recursively generates the same organization, components, and network of processes from which they are produced. A cautious extrapolation of theoretical similarities between the two theories is presented, including self-referentiality, self-maintenance, circularity, individuality, and the maintenance of identity. The author concludes that this comparison provides a thought-provoking argument that supports the difficult process of individual and organizational learning, growth, and change.     

早期气质对焦虑退缩行为的影响：社会适应的背景性作用

本追踪研究从发展的角度探讨了焦虑退缩行为与儿童的社会适应之间的关系, 并探讨了气质对焦虑退缩行为的影响。共132名儿童参与了本研究, 2岁时测查了儿童气质, 7岁和11岁时测查了儿童的焦虑退缩行为和社会适应。结果发现, 7岁时焦虑退缩行为与社会适应之间的相关不显著, 11岁时焦虑退缩与积极的适应结果呈负相关, 与消极的适应结果呈正相关; 儿童2岁时的行为接近显著预测儿童7岁和11岁时的焦虑退缩行为, 且儿童2岁时的自我调节能力能够调节行为接近与11岁时的焦虑退缩之间的关系。研究表明, 从7岁到11岁, 焦虑退缩行为对社会适应的影响变得消极, 在对焦虑退缩行为的预测中, 存在不同气质特质之间的交互作用。     

EMBODIED COGNITION IN CLASSICAL RABBINIC LITERATURE

Challenging earlier cognitivist approaches, recent theories of embodied cognition argue that the human mind and its functions are best understood as intimately bound up with the human body and its physiological dimensions. Some scholars have suggested that such theories, in departing from some core assumptions of the Western philosophical tradition, display significant similarities to certain non‐Western traditions of thought, such as Buddhism. This essay extends such parallels to the Jewish tradition and argues that, in particular, classical rabbinic thought presents a profoundly nondualistic account of the body–soul relation in its connection to cognition, action, and embodiment. Classical rabbinic texts therefore model the possibility of engaging with ‘Western’ conceptions such as God and the soul, while doing so in a manner that resonates strongly with many aspects of contemporary scientific theories. Thus, beyond their value as historical documents, insight into the texts and concepts of classical rabbinic Judaism can contribute to the further development of new theories of intellect and cognition.     

Why Ferenczi today? The contribution of Sándor Ferenczi to the understanding and healing of psychic suffering

A society undergoing rapid change, which doubts its own possibilities of survival, calls into question the worth of psychoanalytical theory and practice. The author emphasizes that the Ferenczian clinical evolution could be a source of inspiration for reinvigorating our trust in the prodromes of the Freudian paradigm, and thus for relaunching the authoritativeness of our thought and our psychotherapeutic method. In this light the author examines the affective and cognitive qualities that render Ferenczi a mentor of our possible future development, taking into consideration the following aspects: the communicative and intersubjective perspective that denotes Ferenczi's thought since his first writings; the receptive, reflective, and self‐reflective capacities which have progressively accompanied his own commitment and clinical attitude; and his elective work on trauma and “the traumatic”, including the algogenic messages transmitted during the healing process by analysts in fear (and perhaps terror) of their own regression and countertransferential catastrophe. In particular, these last events (central in the Ferenczian vision) are today specifically stimulated by new forms of pathology which search for, with our help, a resolution of the apathetic pain and the tearing apart of the identity that characterize the suffering of patients.     

Entitlement to Self‐Knowledge and Brute Error

Abstract

I discuss Burge’s argument that our entitlement to self‐knowledge consists in the constitutive relation between the second‐order review of thoughts and the thoughts reviewed, and defend it against Peacocke’s criticism. I then argue that though our entitlement to self‐knowledge is neutral to different environments, as Burge claims, the consideration of Burge’s own notion of brute error shows that Burge’s effort to reconcile externalism and self‐knowledge is not successful.     

Death anxiety,altruism, self‐efficacy,and organ donation intention among Japanese college students: A moderated mediation analysis

The shortage of organs for transplantation in Japan has alerted health professionals to the low organ donation rate among Japanese people. The unique cultural view of death and altruism has been suggested leading to their low intent to donate cadaveric organs. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted in Japan to investigate the interplay of death anxiety, altruism, and self‐efficacy in influencing Japanese college students' intention to sign donor cards, in order to mobilise this large potential source of organ donors in the future. Six hundred and seven Japanese non‐donor card signers voluntarily completed a self‐administered questionnaire. The results of mediation and moderated mediation analyses with bootstrap approach suggest that death anxiety indirectly hinders Japanese people's intention to become a donor card signer through lowering of self‐efficacy, while altruism intensifies the positive impact of self‐efficacy on signing intention. These findings provide useful insights for organ procurement organisations seeking behavioural change not only in Japan but also in multi‐ethnic societies with a substantial Japanese population.     

Cognitive load on working memory both encourages and discourages reasoning bias regarding the mental states of others

Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability to reason about the mental states of others. An increasing number of studies have revealed that working memory (WM) plays an important role in ToM. The present study applied WM loads to adults during a ToM task in order to investigate the impact on mental‐state reasoning performance. The task required participants to estimate the probabilities of several possible behaviours for a protagonist following the presentation of a ToM story. Participants were also required to maintain a meaningless two‐ (light WM load) or seven‐letter English alphabet string (heavy WM load) during story comprehension and mental‐state reasoning. The results show that the combination of light WM load applied during story comprehension with heavy WM load during mental‐state reasoning results in an overestimation of the probability that the protagonist's behaviour will accord with a participant's knowledge. Conversely, a heavy WM load applied during story comprehension, regardless of the type of WM load during mental‐state reasoning, did not result in this probability estimation bias. We discuss these findings from the perspective of a WM representation account.     

I Working with dissociative dynamics and the longing for excess in binge eating disorders

In this paper the author describes her work with a woman who, in her mid 20s, sought analysis for her non‐vomiting binge eating disorder. The paper explores how two aspects of Jung's view of the psyche as healthily dissociable were used to think about the potential for change contained within the explosive, aggressive energies in this patient's bingeing. The resultant approach takes the patient's splitting defences, dissociations and self‐destructive behaviour as a point of access to her unconscious. Seen in this way, these behaviours contain the seeds of recovery and are the starting point for analysis rather than defences against it. The paper also brings a number of Jungian and post‐Jungian ideas into conversation with aspects of contemporary thinking about subjectivity, identity and the longing for excess developed by Leo Bersani and Judith Butler.     

Knowledge of Memory Aging Across the Lifespan

ABSTRACT. The authors examined knowledge of normal and pathological memory aging in a lifespan sample of 198 individuals who ranged in age from 13 to 88 years. Participants completed the Knowledge of Memory Aging Questionnaire (Cherry, Brigman, Hawley, & Reese, 2003). The authors hypothesized that high school students would be less knowledgeable about memory aging issues than college students, middle-aged, and community-dwelling older adults. Consistent with this hypothesis, response accuracy was lower for high school students compared to their older counterparts. Follow-up analyses revealed that high school students’ responses to a subset of questions that tap ageist views of adult cognition were less accurate than the other age groups, implying a response bias toward stereotypical images of memory aging. Implications for research and the design of instructional materials to increase people's knowledge about normative changes in adult cognition are discussed.