Wilderness Experience Programs (WEPs) take youth into wilderness settings in order to teach wilderness travel and leadership, expand personal capacity, and equip youth with coping skills in order to manage life’s difficulties. Though considerable research has been conducted on WEPs, no one has sought to understand the student experience these programs provide through a constructive-developmental lens (Kegan, 1982, 1994). The purpose of this case study was to explore, describe, assess, and understand–using the framework of Robert Kegan’s (1982, 1994) constructive-developmental theory–the impact a 21-day wilderness backpacking experience had on five participating youth. The researcher believed that understanding how participants in a wilderness backpacking course make sense of their experience through the lens of their constructive-developmental perspective might help inform the theories of change that underpin WEPs, the means by which desired change is facilitated, and the reasons why some youth thrive and others struggle. This exploratory study utilized a case study approach. The researcher embedded as a participant-observer for the duration on a 21-day backpacking course with Outward Bound Canada in the Ghost River Wilderness, Alberta, Canada. Nine youth participated in the expedition, with five male students volunteering as research participants. Pre-trip and post-trip administrations of the Subject-Object Interview and post-expedition semi-structured interviews were conducted with each research participant. Additionally, the researcher made field observations and wrote field notes. The subsequent analysis produced in-depth profiles of each research participant’s experience of the course, pre and post expedition scores from the Subject-Object Interviews, and a description of how each research participant’s experience might be understood through the lens of their constructive-developmental perspective. Although no significant changes to constructive-developmental perspective were realized, implications of these analyses were discussed, conclusions were drawn, and recommendations were made. / Graduate

This dissertation addresses the role of tools in social interactions, or more precisely the significance of tools in cognition and cooperation, from a situated cognition perspective. While mainstream cognitive science focuses on the internal symbolic representations and computational thought processes inside the heads of individuals, situated cognition approaches instead emphasise the central role of the interaction between agents and their material and social environment. This thesis presents a framework regarding tools and (some) of their roles in social interactions, drawing upon work in cognitive science, cultural-historical theories, animal tool use, and different perspectives on the subject-object relationship. The framework integrates interactions between agents and their environment, or agent-agent-object interaction, conceptualisations regarding the function of tools, and different ways in which agents adapt their environments to scaffold individual and social processes. It also invokes stigmergy (tool mediated indirect interactions) as a mechanism that relates individual actions and social activity. The framework is illustrated by two empirical studies that consider tool use from a social interaction perspective, carried out in settings where tools assume a central role in the ongoing collaborative work processes; a children’s admission unit in a hospital and the control room of a grain silo. The empirical studies illustrate theoretical issues discussed in the background chapters, but also reveal some unforeseen aspects of tool use. Lastly, the theoretical implications for the study of individual and social tool use in cognitive science are summarised and the practical relevance for applications human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence is outlined.

IDENTITY In search of identity construction through the narrative of the pearl necklace   Lina Pihl   Can one reach an understanding of identity through the narrative of the pearl necklace?   The pearl necklace plays the role of the main character as well as the attribute in portraying identity in this dissertation. By looking at the pearl necklace as an object through its social context, it is possible to open it up for an understanding of its relation and impact on the individual. The world is not constructed of entities, but on relations. Thus it makes no sense to try to understand it through the notion of a predefined entity.   Through the investigation of the pearl necklace as a signified, and myth in the modern Western society, its relation to and affect on the subject when worn and the creation of a new context within the performance – a system for how we can see and look upon identity takes form, in which they both, myth and signified, play a part in the construction of identities. The myth of the pearl necklace makes it into a strong, signified that is used to manifest social belonging: by wearing the pearl necklace one becomes a part of the myth and its signified, which creates a new form, where the subject-object is the signified in action, a performance that makes the myth present and an active, living part of a society.   This proves that by taking an everyday object such as the pearl necklace and understanding it in a social context and in relation to the body and individuals, we can reach a deep and complex understanding of what identity is, how it is constructed and what potentials it possesses.

La thèse questionne les enjeux du processus de normalisation du point de vue des directeurs et de l’encadrement hospitaliers. L’approche est clinique : reconnaissance de la subjectivité dans les constructions sociales, pratique de l’analyse sociale à partir de l’intersubjectivité. Une première partie instruit de façon transdisciplinaire les composantes de la normalisation en se focalisant sur la compréhension des épistémologies implicites. Le postulat d’une particularité de la pensée médicale est posé. Celle-ci, étroitement articulée à la pensée scientifique et à la nécessité d’une praxis, est présentée comme une matrice pour penser une rupture du paradigme analytique clinique, en raison de la montée en complexité, vers un paradigme constructiviste normatif. La Norme est censée assurer une liaison symbolique neutre. La recherche pose que la pensée de la Norme témoigne de la transformation de la relation sujet -objet dans l’ordre scientifique. Le sujet de la connaissance tente de pénétrer à l’intérieur de son objet. C’est la pensée du modèle. Cette position épistémologique trouve sa traduction dans l’objectivation radicale de l’Autre de la relation.Une seconde partie empirique explore les principales significations engagées par la Norme pourl es directeurs et l’encadrement hospitaliers. Elles instruisent les dynamiques d’investissement que soutient le régime normatif et qui le façonnent. L’analyse est réalisée sous différentes modalités :analyse du lien institutionnel, dynamiques groupales et subjectives. Les significations élaborées sont mises au regard de celles formées avec un groupe d’aides-soignantes et un cadre soignant ayant quitté l’hôpital public. La thèse pose l’existence d’une butée à la normalisation en lien avec les processus identificatoires mobilisés dans l’appropriation. / This thesis examines the issues regarding the process of normalisation from the point of view of directors and managers of hospitals. The approach is clinical and addresses the recognition of subjectivity within social constructions and the practice of social analysis based on intersubjectivity. The first part considers the components of normalisation in a transdisciplinary way by focusing on the understanding of implicit epistemologies where the premise of a specific medical reasoning is held. Closely informed by scientific thinking as well as by the necessity of a praxis, this section is presented as a matrix through which to consider a rupture in the clinical-analytical paradigm (that is, a rupture caused by a growth in complexity) and, consequently, strive towards establishing anormative-constructivist paradigm. Although the Norm is meant to ensure a neutral and symbolic link, the thesis argues that the rationale behind the norm reveals the transformation of the relationship between the subject and object in the scientific order. The hypothesis is that the subect of knowledge attempts to penetrate the object’s interior. Indeed, this epistemological position finds its translation in the radical objectivation of the « Other » of the relation. A second empiric part explores the main significations of the Norme for hospital directors and management. They instruct investment dynamics that support and shape the normative regime. The analysis is completed under different modes such as analyses of the institutional link and group and subjective dynamics. The meanings developed are compared to those formed with a group of medical auxiliaries and medical executive who left the public sector of hospitals. Ultimately, the thesis argues for the existence of a boundary to normalisation linked to the process of identification involved in appropriation.

This work catalogues the verbal agreement paradigm of Kanyen'keha in greater detail than has previously been done. The cataloguing includes the complete intransitive, transitive, and reflexive paradigms, and description of all argumental contrasts to which the verbal agreement is sensitive. It also describes in detail the contexts where feature sensitivity is blunted, and the patterns of syncretism in the verbal agreement. Based off of this descriptive work, this work evaluates the accuracy with which previous analyses treat verbal agreement in Kanyen'keha. Finding room for improvement in these analyses, this work proposes a new analysis of Kanyen'keha, which claims all verbal agreement in transitive contexts to be realized from one agreement probe, which enters into Multiple Agree with subjects and objects. This style of analysis allows for many aspects of the agreement to be accounted for, including person hierarchy effects, distribution of portmanteau morphology, and complex dependency between the multiple morphemes which comprise the agreement / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This thesis describes the verbal agreement of Kayen'keha in greater detail than has previously been done. This thesis also evaluates the claims of previous work done on verbal agreement of Kanyen'keha, describing where such work accurately accounts for the agreement and where it does not. Finally, this thesis proposes a novel analysis of Kanyen'keha verbal agreement.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) a consacré son œuvre à l’explicitation d’une philosophie sociale du capitalisme et de son dépassement. Ce mémoire cherche à rendre compte de la spécificité de la domination capitaliste au travers du prisme des concepts d’objectivation et d’aliénation. Après avoir éclairé leurs sources chez Hegel et Feuerbach, nous défendons l’idée qu’il faut lire de façon plurielle le concept d’objectivation dans les Manuscrits de 1844, afin de saisir la constitution de l’objectivité par les médiations sociales et historiques. Des Manuscrits de 1844 au Capital, l’aliénation est alors comprise comme la domination d’une abstraction réelle, médiation sociale à laquelle les êtres humains ont remis la régulation de leurs rapports sociaux. / Karl Marx (1818-1883) devoted his work to an explicitation of a social philosophy of capitalism and its overthrow. This master’s thesis aims to specify the capitalist domination by analyzing the concepts of objectivation and alienation. After an initial clarification of these concepts drawing from Hegel and Feuerbach, we defend the necessity to adopt a plural reading of the concept of objectivation in the Manuscripts from 1844 in order to fully understand the constitution of objectivity through social and historical mediations. From this last work to The Capital, alienation can be understood as the domination of a real abstraction, a social mediation to which humans had given the power to regulate their social interactions.

<p>Personens egen erfarenhet samt subjekts/objektssyn och ansvarsyn har visats vara viktiga förklaringsfaktorer till empati för en annan. Den här studien undersökte huruvida empati har samband med empatisörens egna erfarenheter, tillskrivet ansvar och subjekts/objektssyn samt hur en person som blir utsatt för våld i sitt förhållande upplevs av andra. En enkätundersökning utfördes på fyra gymnasieklasser där eleverna läste en fiktiv berättelse om en kvinna som blir utsatt för våld i sitt förhållande. De besvarade frågor om deras upplevelse av kvinnan samt deras erfarenhet av våld. Resultatet av studien behandlades främst kvalitativt, men också genom statistiska analyser. Studien fann inte något samband mellan empati och tidigare erfarenhet men ett samband framträdde mellan empati och ansvarssyn samt empati och subjektssyn.</p> / <p>Research has shown that similar experience is not the only explanation for empathy. Other factors that can influence empathy are: subject/object viewing and responsibility. The focus of the present study was to investigate the relationship between (a) similar previous experience and empathy, (b) attribution of responsibility and empathy and (c) subject view and empathy. A questionnaire was handed out to four upper secondary school classes. The students were asked to read a story about a woman who was abused by her husband. They also answered questions about how they perceived the woman and about their own previous experience of violence. The results of this study are accounted for qualitatively and with statistical analyses. The study showed no association between similar experience and empathy but there was a strong correlation between responsibility, subject view and empathy.</p>

Personens egen erfarenhet samt subjekts/objektssyn och ansvarsyn har visats vara viktiga förklaringsfaktorer till empati för en annan. Den här studien undersökte huruvida empati har samband med empatisörens egna erfarenheter, tillskrivet ansvar och subjekts/objektssyn samt hur en person som blir utsatt för våld i sitt förhållande upplevs av andra. En enkätundersökning utfördes på fyra gymnasieklasser där eleverna läste en fiktiv berättelse om en kvinna som blir utsatt för våld i sitt förhållande. De besvarade frågor om deras upplevelse av kvinnan samt deras erfarenhet av våld. Resultatet av studien behandlades främst kvalitativt, men också genom statistiska analyser. Studien fann inte något samband mellan empati och tidigare erfarenhet men ett samband framträdde mellan empati och ansvarssyn samt empati och subjektssyn. / Research has shown that similar experience is not the only explanation for empathy. Other factors that can influence empathy are: subject/object viewing and responsibility. The focus of the present study was to investigate the relationship between (a) similar previous experience and empathy, (b) attribution of responsibility and empathy and (c) subject view and empathy. A questionnaire was handed out to four upper secondary school classes. The students were asked to read a story about a woman who was abused by her husband. They also answered questions about how they perceived the woman and about their own previous experience of violence. The results of this study are accounted for qualitatively and with statistical analyses. The study showed no association between similar experience and empathy but there was a strong correlation between responsibility, subject view and empathy.

This essay explores the instances in which human remains were used as material for contemporary artworks. Partly, the aim of the research is to find out why these materials are used and why it is important for the intended purpose of the artist that they do so. Another part of the aim is to investigate the representational layers of the material, and how the use of the material fits into a larger sociological context surrounding what we consider “proper care” of the dead. This is achieved through a thematic interpretive analysis which looks at the representation of the material, disruption of the dead and intention provided by the artists through the theoretical perspectives of Thomas Laqueur, Robert Hertz and Amelia Jones. In the end, the research concludes that the use of human remains as material for artworks is an intentional and imperative choice by the artists, who use the material to make grander statements about predetermined social orders and provide alternative ways of conceiving remains. For this to be done, the disruption of those social orders is a vital act, which is achieved through the disruption of human remains, making the “proper care” of the dead a necessarily neglected process. The fact that these bodies do represent a self, a life which has been previously lived with differing degrees of immediacy, is also required for the previously mentioned disruption to be able to take place. Our inherent insistence to access these represented selves serves to cause discomfort and redirect our attention to the will of the artists, who, in the making of the artwork, either repress or collaborate with the represented selves in order to make the statements which they set out to make.

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