WAR, WOMEN, AND POLITICAL WISDOM

One of the most perceptive and ambidextrous social commentators of our day, Augustinian scholar Jean Bethke Elshtain furnishes in ever fresh ways through her writings a bridge between the ancient and the modern, between politics and ethics, between timeless moral wisdom and cultural sensitivity. To read Elshtain seriously is to take the study of culture as well as the “permanent things” seriously. But Elshtain is no mere moralist. Neither is she content solely to dwell in the domain of the theoretical. For it is Elshtain the citizen—the creatively engaged and contributing citizen—whom the reader encounters on virtually every page of her writings. But reader beware: Elshtain does not shy away from controversy. At the same time, she is anything but a controversialist. In the essay that follows, several prominent themes that emerge from Elstain's writings—civic responsibility, justice, gender, and war—are considered afresh. Whether one agrees with her positions or not, one is forced to confess in the end that she cares deeply about the common good. And this alone makes her required reading for any engaged citizen of the republic.     

EGO-LESS AGENCY: DHARMA-RESPONSIVENESS WITHOUT KANTIAN AUTONOMY

My critical focus in this article is on Rick Repetti's compatibilist conception of free will, and his apparent commitment to a Kantian conception of autonomy, which I argue is in direct conflict with the Buddhist doctrine of no-self. As an alternative, I defend a conception of ego-less agency that I believe better coheres with core Buddhist teachings. In the course of the argument, I discuss the competing conceptions of free agency and autonomy defended by Harry Frankfurt, John Martin Fischer, Christine Korsgaard, and David Velleman.     

Mind-Mindedness of Male and Female Caregivers in Childcare and the Relation to Sensitivity and Attachment: An Exploratory Study

Mind-mindedness refers to the caregiver’s ability to be attuned to the child’s mental states. Within the parent-child relationship, mind-mindedness relates to parents’ sensitive caregiving, and to children’s secure attachment. However, the same relations are still unexplored in out-of-home care settings. We investigated the associations between childcare professionals’ mind-mindedness, sensitive responsiveness and respect for autonomy, and child-caregiver attachment security. Moreover, we examined whether these relations are influenced by caregivers’ and children’s gender. Participants were 17 caregiver couples (17 males, 17 females) and 34 three-year-old children (17 boys, 17 girls), recruited in childcare centers. Mind-mindedness toward the boy or the girl (dyadic) or both children (non-dyadic), sensitive responsiveness and respect for autonomy were assessed during a semi-structured play. Attachment security was assessed through observations. Male and female caregivers had equivalent scores of mind-mindedness, sensitive responsiveness, and respect for autonomy. Similarly, children were securely attached to male and female caregivers. Girls’ and boys’ secure attachment was predicted by caregivers’ use of non-dyadic mind-related comments. For girls, but not for boys, the relation was partially mediated by caregivers’ respect for autonomy. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance for the quality of child-caregiver relationships, and children’s socio-emotional development.     

群体决策质量评估方法及其在大学生和社区居民中的应用

社会心理服务体系建设要求用心理学理论和方法开展精细化社会治理, 而在多元主体共商共治的过程中出现了群体决策质量无法得到有效评估的问题。群体决策“过程-结果模型”认为应该从“双过程” (信息加工过程和人际互动过程)和“双结果” (客观结果和主观感受)两个方面综合评估群体决策质量。基于该模型建构的群体决策质量问卷自评法和录像他评法被应用于大学生和社区居民一些真实问题解决的群体决策质量评估。研究结果显示群体决策质量自评问卷效度良好, 适合作为群体决策质量的自评工具; 录像他评法与问卷自评法结果相互印证能够全面地反映群体决策质量, 可应用于更广阔的社会治理领域中。     

略论汉初士人在社会秩序建设中的作用

秦末农民大起义,推翻了秦王朝的残暴统治,打乱了封建统治秩序。汉政权建立后,致力于巩固政权,重建社会秩序,这其间士人群体做出了重要贡献。主要表现在三个方面:其一,建章立制,稳定社会。其二,制定和完善礼仪规范,制约社会成员的行为。其三,教化社会。部分士人入仕后担任政权的中下级官吏,他们在任期间,设立学校,教化民众,消除民众的反抗意识。同时严明法纪,为社会秩序的重建做出了种种努力。     

An Open Trial Investigation of a Transdiagnostic Group Treatment for Children With Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms

The current study investigates the feasibility and preliminary outcomes associated with a transdiagnostic emotion-focused group protocol for the treatment of anxiety disorders and depressive symptoms in youth. Twenty-two children (ages 7 to 12; M = 9.79) with a principal anxiety disorder and varying levels of comorbid depressive symptoms were enrolled in an open trial of the Emotion Detectives Treatment Protocol (EDTP; Ehrenreich-May & Bilek, 2009), an intervention adapted from existent unified protocols for the treatment of emotional disorders among adults and adolescents. Results indicate that participants experienced significant improvements in clinician-rated severity of principal anxiety disorder diagnoses (d = 1.38), the sum of all anxiety and depressive disorder severity ratings (d = 1.07), and child-reported anxiety (d = 0.47) and parent-reported depressive symptoms (d = 0.54) at the posttreatment assessment. EDTP had good retention rates and reports of high satisfaction. Thus, preliminary evidence suggests that EDTP is a feasible and potentially efficacious treatment of youth anxiety disorders and co-occurring depressive symptoms. Children experiencing a range of internalizing symptoms may benefit from this more generalized, emotion-focused treatment modality, as it offers flexibility to families and the mental health clinician, while maintaining a concurrent focus on the provision of cognitive-behavioral treatment skills vital to the amelioration of anxiety and depressive disorder symptoms in youth.     

The effects of functional group counseling on inspiring low-achieving students' self-worth and self-efficacy in Taiwan

In this study, we investigated the effects of functional group counseling on inspiring low achievers' self-worth and self-efficacy in Taiwan. Forty-three 10th grade low-achieving students volunteered as the Experimental Group to join a 24-week intervention, which integrated and utilized functional group counseling; another 51 10th grade low-achieving students volunteered to be Comparison Group I. In addition, 43 10th grade moderate or high academic achieving students volunteered to be Comparison Group II. All participants completed the Vocational School Student Questionnaire at the beginning and end of this study to measure their self-worth and self-efficacy. In addition, six target students (two boys and four girls) with the lowest total scores on self-worth or self-efficacy in the pretest were selected from the Experimental Group to be interviewed at the end of the intervention and observed weekly. Analyses of variance, analyses of covariance, and paired t-tests assessed the similarity and differences among groups. The initial findings were as follows: Experimental group students had significantly higher scores on self-efficacy and self-worth than both Comparison Group I and Group II students and functional group counseling was shown to significantly affect the low-achieving students. Qualitative results from interviews and observations were used for triangulation and consolidation of quantitative results. Implications of the study included the recommended use of functional group counseling with low-achieving students.     

Taiwanese adolescent cognitive autonomy and identity development: the relationship of situational and agential factors

Taiwanese professionals have adopted information about adolescent psychosocial development from Western societies. However, scholars know little about whether they have properly applied the models to both rural and urban youth. The purpose of this study was to examine the development of cognitive autonomy and ego identity in Taiwanese adolescents from Taipei City and surrounding rural counties. We controlled for gender and examined both situational (residential location, family income, and school type) and agential factors (culture value affiliation, attachment, and resiliency) to determine the extent to which each predicted psychosocial developmental outcomes. Among all the factors in this study, resiliency had the most distinctive relationship with adolescent psychosocial development. Each factor successfully predicted specific aspects of psychosocial development for these youth. We conclude with a discussion of the utility of using Western models of development.     

Self-stereotyping: the central role of an ingroup threatening identity

Self-stereotyping is a process by which people belonging to a stigmatized social group tend to describe themselves more with stereotypical traits as compared with traits irrelevant to the ingroup stereotype. The present work analyzes why especially members of low-status groups are more inclined to self-stereotype compared to members of high-status groups. We tested the hypothesis that belonging to a low-, rather than a high-status group, makes low-status members feel more threatened and motivates them to protect their self-perception by increasing their similarity with the ingroup. Specifically, we investigated the effects of an experimental manipulation that was conceived to either threaten or protect the natural group membership of participants from either a low- or a high-status group on the level of self-stereotyping. The findings supported the idea that only low-status group members protected themselves when their group identity was threatened through increased self-stereotyping.