“Procrustean Psychotherapy” or Differential Therapeutics: Teaching Treatment Selection to Trainees

Most clinical training programs and treatment facilities offer a relatively narrow range of treatment alternatives to their interns and therefore produce procrustean psychotherapists. One way to remedy this unfortunate situation is to emphasize the importance of differential therapeutics and treatment selection at the outset of their training program. A suggestion on how to accomplish this on a minor scale is described in this paper.     

Science and Human Behavior translated into Portuguese: Ciência e Comportamento Humano

Science and Human Behavior was translated to Portuguese as part of the effort to begin a psychology course at the University of Brasília 40 years ago; one of the many results of the first visit of Fred S. Keller to Brazil. The book has been used continuously in undergraduate courses in Brazil since 1967.     

Possibilities and Limits of Self-reflection in the Teaching Profession

Reflection seems today to be highest fashion ineducation, especially in discussions aboutteacher education and the teaching profession.This has created the paradoxical situation that reflection is often used in an unreflectedmanner. Furthermore, this discovery ofreflection is not supported by earlierresearch. In philosophy, however, reflectionhas always played a central role.The purpose of this study is to investigate thepossibilities and limits of self-reflection forthe teaching profession by relating the problemto three masters of philosophy of reflection,i.e., René Descartes, Immanuel Kant andEdmund Husserl. In this way it is hoped that itwill be possible to learn from specialists onreflection for the teaching profession. Thelessons do not, however, need to be exclusivelypositive. Also from deficiencies and mistakesit is possible to learn.     

Bioethics, theology, and social change

Recent years have witnessed a concern among theological bioethicists that secular debate has grown increasingly "thin," and that "thick" religious traditions and their spokespersons have been correspondingly excluded. This essay disputes that analysis. First, religious and theological voices compete for public attention and effectiveness with the equally "thick" cultural traditions of modern science and market capitalism. The distinctive contribution of religion should be to emphasize social justice in access to the benefits of health care, challenging the for-profit global marketing of research and biotechnology to wealthy consumers. Second, religion and theology have been and are still socially effective in sponsoring activism for practical change, both locally and globally. This claim will be supported with specific examples; with familiar concepts like subsidiarity and "middle axioms"; and with recent analyses of "participatory democracy" and of emerging, decentralized forms of global governance.     

Misconceptions and realities about teaching online

This article is intended to guide online course developers and teachers. A brief review of the literature on the misconceptions of beginning online teachers reveals that most accept the notion that putting one’s lecture notes online produces effective learning, or that technology will make education more convenient and cost-effective for all concerned. Effective online learning requires a high level of responsibility for learning on the part of students and a reduction of the teacher-student power differential. This, in turn, has major implications for faculty and course development, student selection criteria, the cost of instruction, and the outcomes of education. Effective online teaching focuses on processes of learning rather than outcomes, and is consistent with modern principles of learning that emphasize focusing on issues of high interest to learners, teaching students to use skills of active and effective learning, providing prompt feedback, and enabling students to establish learning goals and employ alternative paths to achieving those goals. Multiple ways of operationalizing these goals online are presented. Tips are offered concerning selection of students who are capable of benefiting from the online experience, developing curriculum that is user-friendly, using resources that stimulate good writing and critical thinking, and limiting class size to a manageable number.     

An enriched teaching program for reducing resistance and indices of unhappiness among individuals with profound multiple disabilities

We evaluated an enriched teaching program for reducing resistance and indices of unhappiness displayed by 3 individuals with profound multiple disabilities during teaching sessions. The program involved presentation of preferred activities before, during, and after each teaching session, discontinuation of identified nonpreferred activities, and a brief break and preferred activity following occurrence of resistance. Implementation of the enriched teaching program was accompanied by reductions in resistance and indices of unhappiness for each participant. Results also indicated no negative impact of the program on participant performance of the teaching steps or staff teaching proficiency. Staff questionnaire responses provided a degree of social validation for the observed changes in that staff reported the participants liked the enriched teaching program more than the traditional teaching process. Directions for future research discussed include identifying critical aspects of the overall program and the potential relation between teaching proficiency and the program's enrichment effectiveness.     

Finding the space between east and west: the emotional impact of teaching in St Petersburg

The paper describes our experience of teaching analytical psychology to a group of graduates of the East European Institute of Psychoanalysis in St Petersburg, our developing partnership as we struggled to teach and learn, each with our own assumptions, preconceptions and projections about the other, and the emotional impact of our radically different social, intellectual and political histories. We had to be affected to become effective. It draws on contemporary Jungian ideas to unpack the interpersonal dynamics involved when there are culturally different styles of learning, which created a complicated transference/countertransference matrix. We believe we have by now witnessed a process of individuation among our students and at the same time they too have witnessed some change and growth in us.     

Students Aggress Against Professors in Reaction to Receiving Poor Grades: An Effect Moderated by Student Narcissism and Self‐Esteem

Laboratory evidence about whether students’ evaluations of teaching (SETs) are valid is lacking. Results from three (3) independent studies strongly confirm that "professors" who were generous with their grades were rewarded for their favor with higher SETs, while professors who were frugal were punished with lower SETs (Study 1, d = 1.51; Study 2, d = 1.59; Study 3, partial η² = .26). This result was found even when the feedback was manipulated to be more or less insulting (Study 3). Consistent with laboratory findings on direct aggression, results also indicated that, when participants were given a poorer feedback, higher self‐esteem (Study 1 and Study 2) and higher narcissism (Study 1) were associated with them giving lower (more aggressive) evaluations of the "professor." Moreover, consistent with findings on self‐serving biases, participants higher in self‐esteem who were in the positive grade/feedback condition exhibited a self‐enhancing bias by giving their "professor" higher evaluations (Study 1 and Study 2). The aforementioned relationships were not moderated by the professor's sex or rank (teaching assistant vs.professor). Results provide evidence that (1) students do aggress against professors through poor teaching evaluations, (2) threatened egotism among individuals with high self‐esteem is associated with more aggression, especially when coupled with high narcissism, and (3) self‐enhancing biases are robust among those with high self‐esteem. Aggr. Behav. 39:71‐84, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Method of Knowledge and the Challenges of the Planetary Society: Edgar Morin's Pedagogical Proposal

Edgar Morin is one of the most important contemporary European philosophers. His name has recently also become well known on the American continent, especially in South America, where his works have given rise to several interesting cultural initiatives. The analysis of his pedagogical proposal can be a stimulating adventure for educators and teachers alike. Morin's proposal to link methodologically what is disjoined suggests re-establishing the connection between thought and action, in order to re-establish on rational and critical bases the ethical principles of solidarity and responsibility and enable us to face the challenges of our times.