Whether or not major changes in family structure during adolescence have positive or negative consequences for adolescents has not been empirically investigated to any extent. The separation-individuation process is considered to be facilitated when adolescents can express themselves in a family context characterized by emotional connectedness (Grotevant & Cooper, 1986). This individuation process is not concerned exclusively with separation or autonomy but rather with the continuing embeddedness of the individual in relationships with others (Karpel, 1976; Youniss, 1983). The impact of parental death on the process of separation-individuation in adolescence was examined in this study. Thirty male and female adolescents, ages 12 to 16 years, from families in which the father had died participated in this study. They were compared with thirty adolescents of comparable age from intact families. The adolescents completed instruments that provided information about development of autonomy (Emotional Autonomy Scale), attachment to mother, father and peers (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment), and adolescents’ perception of family functioning (Family Functioning in Adolescence Questionnaire). Adolescents from the father-deceased group are more autonomous than the intact group in some of the scales. Males from the father- deceased group scored significantly higher than males from the intact group on the emotional autonomy subscales. Adolescents in the father-deceased families showed similar attachment to fathers and mothers when compared with adolescents from intact families. Adolescents’ perceptions of their family functioning showed similar results for both the father-deceased and intact groups with adolescents who scored high in family functioning being less autonomous. Similarly adolescents from the father-deceased group who were more attached to mothers showed less autonomy according to their scores on the Emotional Autonomy Scale. Adolescents’ attachment to peers was unrelated to their level of autonomy. / Graduate

Nosso objetivo é expor e avaliar as concepções filosóficas contidas na teoria da individuação de Gilbert Simondon, considerada especificamente em seus aspectos físico e biológico. Começaremos apresentando as concepções ontológicas básicas do autor acerca da natureza do processo de individuação; mostraremos, em seguida, alguns aspectos específicos do ambiente filosófico francês aos quais o pensamento de Simondon será articulado, o que nos permitirá captar as influências que incidem sobre o modo como o autor pensa a questão da individuação. Em nosso percurso, o foco central será averiguar e esclarecer os sentidos que possuem os conceitos de forma, informação e transdução na teoria da individuação de Simondon. Estes sentidos aparecerão, já na individuação física, em três momentos: (1) com a reconstrução do diálogo crítico que Simondon realiza com o hilemorfismo aristotélico, (2) com a exposição das razões que levam o autor a eleger a cristalização como paradigma do processo de individuação e (3) com o exame que faz dos estudos da física quântica relacionados à partícula. Os conceitos citados terão, por fim, seus papeis evidenciados na análise a que Simondon submete a individuação biológica. / Our purpose is to expose and evaluate the philosophical conceptions contained in the theory of individuation of Gilbert Simondon, considered specifically in its physical and biological aspects. We begin by presenting the author\'s basic ontological conceptions about the nature of the process of individuation; then we will show some specific aspects of the french philosophical environment to which Simondon\'s thought will be articulated, which will allow us to capture the influences that affect the way the author thinks the question of individuation. In our course, the central focus will be to ascertain and clarify the meanings that have the concepts of form, information and transduction in Simondon\'s theory of individuation. These senses will appear, in physical individuation, in three moments: (1) with the reconstruction of the critical dialogue that Simondon performs with the Aristotelian hilemorfism, (2) with the exposition of the reasons that lead the author to elect the crystallization as paradigm of the process of individuation and (3) by examining quantum physics studies related to the particle. The concepts cited will have, finally, their roles evidenced in the analysis to which Simondon submits the biological individuation.

Nosso objetivo é expor e avaliar as concepções filosóficas contidas na teoria da individuação de Gilbert Simondon, considerada especificamente em seus aspectos físico e biológico. Começaremos apresentando as concepções ontológicas básicas do autor acerca da natureza do processo de individuação; mostraremos, em seguida, alguns aspectos específicos do ambiente filosófico francês aos quais o pensamento de Simondon será articulado, o que nos permitirá captar as influências que incidem sobre o modo como o autor pensa a questão da individuação. Em nosso percurso, o foco central será averiguar e esclarecer os sentidos que possuem os conceitos de forma, informação e transdução na teoria da individuação de Simondon. Estes sentidos aparecerão, já na individuação física, em três momentos: (1) com a reconstrução do diálogo crítico que Simondon realiza com o hilemorfismo aristotélico, (2) com a exposição das razões que levam o autor a eleger a cristalização como paradigma do processo de individuação e (3) com o exame que faz dos estudos da física quântica relacionados à partícula. Os conceitos citados terão, por fim, seus papeis evidenciados na análise a que Simondon submete a individuação biológica. / Our purpose is to expose and evaluate the philosophical conceptions contained in the theory of individuation of Gilbert Simondon, considered specifically in its physical and biological aspects. We begin by presenting the author\'s basic ontological conceptions about the nature of the process of individuation; then we will show some specific aspects of the french philosophical environment to which Simondon\'s thought will be articulated, which will allow us to capture the influences that affect the way the author thinks the question of individuation. In our course, the central focus will be to ascertain and clarify the meanings that have the concepts of form, information and transduction in Simondon\'s theory of individuation. These senses will appear, in physical individuation, in three moments: (1) with the reconstruction of the critical dialogue that Simondon performs with the Aristotelian hilemorfism, (2) with the exposition of the reasons that lead the author to elect the crystallization as paradigm of the process of individuation and (3) by examining quantum physics studies related to the particle. The concepts cited will have, finally, their roles evidenced in the analysis to which Simondon submits the biological individuation.

Thesis advisor: Eileen C. Sweeney / This work aims to initiate a comprehensive and definitive account of St. Thomas Aquinas' doctrine of the principle of the individuation of substances of a common species, which adds some sort of "quantity" or "dimensions" to the Aristotelian account of matter as the principle of individuation. After laying out the interpretative problem in its entirety through a review of the Scholastic and modern traditions of commentary, I determine the first step on the path to its solution, and take that first step by offering a properly limited interpretation of the account set forth in Question 4, article 2 of the Expositio super librum Boethii De trinitate. I argue that this text presents a sapiential metaphysical account of the principle of individuation informed by a properly metaphysical understanding which it leaves implicit. St. Thomas resolves the ratio of the numerically individual composite substance of a species as apprehended by the logician to its first per se principle, defined as "matter under dimensiones interminatae." As individuating, the dimensiones interminatae do not belong to the accidental category of quantity, but are merely a dimensional continuum, a certain composite of a potency--the parts of dimensions, which can be united or divided--and the unifying act of situs, the "order of the parts in the whole," or beginning-middle-end structure, by virtue of which the dimensions possess in themselves the ratio of the numerical individual. In each of these respects, the dimensions qualify the potency of the matter subject to them. Qua potency, the dimensiones interminatae qualify matter's intrinsic potency for unity with form in the substance as a whole by restricting its scope in the real order. Qua act, they qualify this complex restricted potency in a merely rational manner, rendering its restricting potency (i.e., that of the dimensional parts for situs) actual, and thus they make the complex restricted potency of matter intelligible, possessed of the ratio of the numerical individual. Accordingly, matter under dimensiones interminatae is this (and not that) matter, one unified principle belonging to the category of substance. In the properly metaphysical understanding of individuation which underlies the explicit account given in Question 4, article 2 of the Expositio, matter is understood as the potency for the corruptibly contingent mode of the act of substantial existence. Being subjected to the restricting potency of the dimensiones interminatae renders matter thus considered a principle of contingency, in the real order, in respect of divisibility. As before, this complex restricted potency is rendered partially actual in the rational order, and thus the ground of the ratio of the numerically individual substance qua being, by the dimensiones interminatae according to the act of situs. In this way, matter is constituted as this matter, this potency for the corruptibly contingent mode of existence, and not that matter--or in other words, it is constituted as numerically individual matter, the first per se principle of individuation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

Recent research suggests that by 4 months of age infants are able to individuate objects using form features, such as shape and size, but surface features, such as pattern and color, are not used until later in the first year (Wilcox, 1999). The current study sought to investigate two possible explanations for this developmental hierarchy. The visual maturation hypothesis suggests that the order in which infants use features to individuate objects corresponds to the order in which they are most readily processed by the developing visual system. A second hypothesis, the information processing biases hypothesis, suggests that infants are biased to attend to form features because form features provide information that is relevant to reasoning about object interactions. One way to test these hypotheses is to investigate infants' ability to individuate objects based on luminance. Luminance is detected at birth, so, according to the visual maturation hypothesis, luminance, like shape and size, will be used to individuate objects early in the first year. However, luminance is a surface property, so according to the information processing biases hypothesis, luminance, like pattern and color, will be used to individuate objects late in the first year. In the current study, 7-month-old (Experiment 1) and 11-month-old (Experiment 2) infants' use of luminance information in an object individuation task was investigated. The narrow-screen event-monitoring paradigm developed by Wilcox and Baillargeon (1998a) was used. Infants saw an event in which a ball moved behind a screen and a second ball emerged from behind the opposite edge of the screen. In one condition, the balls were identical, suggesting the presence of one object (same-luminance condition), and in another condition, the balls differed in luminance, suggesting the presence of two objects (different-luminance condition). The screen was either too narrow (narrow-screen event) or sufficiently wide (wide-screen event) to occlude two objects simultaneously. Seven-month-olds looked equally at each event, whereas 11.5-month-old's looked longer at the narrow-screen event in the different-luminance condition. These results suggest that 11.5-month-olds, but not 7.5-month-olds used luminance information to conclude that two distinct objects were involved in the event, thus supporting the information processing biases hypothesis.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Psychologie. Psychopathologie et psychologie cliniques : Lyon 2 : 2002. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr.. Index.

Revision of Thesis (D. Phil.)--Oxford University, 1978. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [115]-116) and index.

Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown State College. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2824. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-81).

No description available.

Recent research suggests that by 4 months of age infants are able to individuate objects using form features, such as shape and size, but surface features, such as pattern and color, are not used until later in the first year (Wilcox, 1999). The current study sought to investigate two possible explanations for this developmental hierarchy. The visual maturation hypothesis suggests that the order in which infants use features to individuate objects corresponds to the order in which they are most readily processed by the developing visual system. A second hypothesis, the information processing biases hypothesis, suggests that infants are biased to attend to form features because form features provide information that is relevant to reasoning about object interactions. One way to test these hypotheses is to investigate infants' ability to individuate objects based on luminance. Luminance is detected at birth, so, according to the visual maturation hypothesis, luminance, like shape and size, will be used to individuate objects early in the first year. However, luminance is a surface property, so according to the information processing biases hypothesis, luminance, like pattern and color, will be used to individuate objects late in the first year. In the current study, 7-month-old (Experiment 1) and 11-month-old (Experiment 2) infants' use of luminance information in an object individuation task was investigated. The narrow-screen event-monitoring paradigm developed by Wilcox and Baillargeon (1998a) was used. Infants saw an event in which a ball moved behind a screen and a second ball emerged from behind the opposite edge of the screen. In one condition, the balls were identical, suggesting the presence of one object (same-luminance condition), and in another condition, the balls differed in luminance, suggesting the presence of two objects (different-luminance condition). The screen was either too narrow (narrow-screen event) or sufficiently wide (wide-screen event) to occlude two objects simultaneously. Seven-month-olds looked equally at each event, whereas 11.5-month-old's looked longer at the narrow-screen event in the different-luminance condition. These results suggest that 11.5-month-olds, but not 7.5-month-olds used luminance information to conclude that two distinct objects were involved in the event, thus supporting the information processing biases hypothesis.