(Re)assembling Natures,Cultures, and (Nano)technologies in Public Engagement

Abstract

Practices of ordering are powerful means of giving structure to people's lives and providing a sense of control. The analysis of three episodes from discussion groups on nanotechnology in Austria shows that citizens evaluate new technologies with regard to how they intersect with, support, or disturb existing orders. The concept of discursive assemblages serves as a lens for recognising the non-fixed character of the discursive process, while still allowing the analyst to identify how specific elements, such as conceptions of nature, culture, and technology, are (re)assembled at particular moments. Each of the three episodes represents a specific way of creating and negotiating assemblages: the first case demonstrates how discussants collectively discuss a nature–technology hybrid (nano-bamboo socks) against the backdrop of a highly valued ideal of keeping ‘the natural’ and ‘the technological’ separate; the second episode exemplifies a clash of two assemblages as participants argued for or against the application of nanotechnology in food products; and the third example illustrates the process of collective experimentation with different assemblages to make sense of a highly futuristic nanochip for brain enhancement. Together the episodes demonstrate that participants in public engagement settings do not address nanotechnology as a simple question of choice between acceptance and rejection but rather engage in processes of care regarding how a society might develop when technological innovations such as nanotechnology threaten to blur existing boundaries and orders, such as the distinction between nature and culture.     

Emerging Technologies and the Future of Philosophy

This article examines how a class of emerging technologies—specifically, radical cognitive enhancements and artificial intelligence—has the potential to influence the future of philosophy. The article argues that progress in philosophy has been impeded, in part, by two specific constraints imposed on us by the natural architecture of our cognitive systems. Both of these constraints, though, could in principle be overcome by certain cognitive technologies currently being researched and/or developed. It surveys a number of these technologies, and then looks at a particular metaphilosophical stance (called “inflationism”) that advocates amplifying the abilities of philosophers rather than reducing the ambitions of philosophy, given the apparent “teleological gap” between philosophy's ultimate goal (i.e., “the truth”) and the limited capacities of our evolved mental machinery.     

Associations between perceptions about siblings' development and emerging adults' adulthood attainment

Siblings shape each other's attitudes and behaviors during childhood and adolescence; however, it is less clear if siblings continue to influence each other in emerging adulthood. This study investigated the extent to which emerging adults modeled their siblings in domains of adulthood attainment. Participants included 1,750 emerging adults from the United States between the ages of 18 and 29 years. Data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings showed that perceptions of siblings' adulthood attainment were positively related to emerging adults' development in those same domains. Moreover, the extent to which emerging adults modeled their siblings enhanced these associations; neither birth order nor gender composition moderated these findings. In short, processes of sibling influence continue to be relevant in emerging adulthood.     

Childhood Peer Reputation as a Predictor of Competence and Symptoms 10 Years Later

This study examined the differential developmental significance of multiple domains of peer reputation in childhood for current and future competence and symptoms. Participants were 205 children from a normative school cohort who completed assessments in grades 3–6 and then again 10 years later. Through re-analysis of original data from the Revised Class Play (RCP; N=612), new narrow-band subscales were examined as distinct correlates and predictors of competence in age-relevant developmental tasks and psychological well being as indexed by internalizing symptoms. Findings support the differentiation of peer exclusion, withdrawal, and sadness within the broad sensitive-isolated domain of reputation, as well as the distinctive meaning of reputations for Popularity-Leadership and Prosocial Behavior within the broad Sociable-Leader domain. When the Sensitive-Isolated predictors were considered, academic and job competence at the 10-year follow-up were predicted uniquely and negatively by peer exclusion, problems in the social and romantic domains were predicted distinctively by withdrawal from peers, and internalizing symptoms were uniquely predicted by childhood reputation as Sad-Sensitive. When the Sociable-Leader predictors were considered, academic and (for ethnic minority youth) job success was predicted by a Prosocial reputation, social success was forecasted by Popularity-Leadership, and romantic competence was predicted positively by Popularity-Leadership and negatively by Prosocial reputation. Negative academic and job outcomes were also predicted by a childhood reputation as Aggressive-Disruptive. Results are discussed in relation to conceptualizing and measuring peer social competence and its relation to later adaptation.     

Young Adults' Perceived Purposes of Emerging Adulthood: Implications for Cohabitation

The authors investigated associations between young adults' perceived purposes of emerging adulthood and their attitudes toward and participation in cohabitation. In a sample of 775 never married individuals, ages 18–29 (69% female, 69% white) from the United States, young people's perceptions of this period of life were associated with their acceptance of cohabitation, their reasoning for accepting cohabitation, and the likelihood of cohabiting. Results showed that the perception that emerging adulthood is a time to prepare for future family roles was negatively associated with acceptance of cohabitation whereas the perception that emerging adulthood is a time to take risks was positively associated with acceptance of cohabitation. The perception that emerging adulthood is a time to prepare for future family roles was associated with an increased likelihood of having cohabited while the perception that emerging adulthood is a time of possibilities was associated with a decreased likelihood of having cohabited. Implications for future research are discussed.     

THE TOKEN ECONOMY: A DECADE LATER

In the last decade, the token economy has been extended widely across populations and behaviors in treatment, rehabilitation, educational, and community settings. Outcome research has expanded as well to include large-scale program evaluations and comparative and combined treatment studies of the token economy. In a previous review (Kazdin & Bootzin, 1972), several obstacles were identified for the effective application of the token economy. These included identifying procedures to enhance program efficacy, to train staff, to overcome client resistance, and to promote long-term maintenance and transfer of training. The present paper discusses recent advances in research and reviews progress on the major issues identified previously. New issues have become salient in the last decade that pertain to the extension of the token economy to institutional settings. The demands for maintaining the integrity of treatment, the ability to integrate token economies within existing institutional constraints, and the disseminability of the procedures on a large scale are major issues that may dictate the future of the token economy.     

TOKEN REINFORCEMENT DURING THE INSTATEMENT AND SHAPING OF FLUENCY IN THE TREATMENT OF STUTTERING

The value of token reinforcement in the instatement and shaping of fluency was examined in an intensive treatment program for adult stutterers. Experiment 1 examined the effect of removing the tangible back-up reinforcers for the token system and found that clients' performance in the program was equally good with or without these back-up reinforcers, suggesting that a strict token economy may not be crucial to rapid progress through treatment. Experiment 2 compared contingent and noncontingent token reinforcement, while controlling for some variables that may have confounded the results of earlier research, and found no difference in clients' performance. Experiment 3 examined the effect of the entire removal of token reinforcement. Performance was found to be no worse under a “no tokens” system than under a system of tokens with back-up reinforcers. It is argued that in a highly structured treatment program where many other reinforcers are operating, token reinforcement may be largely redundant. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Identity behind the Iron Curtain: Recent advances in identity research in changing contexts

Abstract

The present article introduces the special issue on identity in the former Soviet bloc countries. We begin by discussing identity as a developmental task, as well as the social-contextual forces that direct and constrain the ways in which individual people construct their identities. We then articulate some specific challenges inherent in identity development within contexts characterized by social change – primarily the fact that the available identity alternatives, and the ways in which individuals are expected to go about choosing from among these alternatives, are likely changing rapidly. We frame Erikson’s original work as having been grounded in times of rapid social change in the post-World War II United States, and describe the direct relevance of Erikson’s work for the study of more contemporary instances of sociopolitical change. We then introduce and summarize the articles included in the special issue.     

Individuation in relation to parents as a predictor of career goals and career optimism in emerging adults

The aim of this study was to examine the associations of Slovenian emerging adults’ individuation characteristics (in relation to mother and father) with career goals and career optimism. We were interested in contributions of age, gender, certainty of study choice, and individuation dimensions when predicting intrinsic/extrinsic career goals and career optimism. The participants provided self‐reports on the Individuation Test for Emerging Adults, the Career Goals Scale and the Career Futures Inventory. The results showed that age did not relate to emerging adults’ career goals; however, older students reported lower career optimism than their younger counterparts. Furthermore, certainty of study choice was the most important predictor of career optimism, and, along with gender, of intrinsic career goals. Emerging adults who reported higher connectedness with both parents and self‐reliance in relation to mother had higher intrinsic career goals, while self‐reliance in relation to mother was positively associated with stronger optimism about an individual's future career. Fear of disappointing both parents significantly contributed to the prediction of extrinsic career goals and optimism, while parental intrusiveness did not add significantly to the prediction of the two measured career outcomes. The study confirmed the correlational effects of positive and negative aspects of individuation on career outcomes in emerging adulthood.