Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Religion, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

The thesis breaks modern Japanese thoughts on China and Asia into four categories, according to their evaluation of the universalist quality of Europeanness as well as Japan¡¦s role in promoting universalism. These categories are assimilation, Asian renaissance, Resistance and Japanism. The thesis attends specifically to the last category in that it represents a nascent trend in the Japanese thinking that no long considers it necessary for Japan to be associated with either Europe or Asia in order to join the world¡¦s puruisit of universalism.

The overall aim of this thesis is to critically assess the concept of the person in Macmurray's philosophy. This exploration requires a general examination of Macmurray's published and unpublished writings owing to the lack of any full length study of his ideas. In particular, this thesis is broadly sympathetic to Macmurray's thought and seeks to reveal the relevance of its for today. Whilst certain details of his theory are contentious and inadequate, they are not beyond redemption. Religion is important for Macmurray, but he is primarily a philosopher, and the content of this thesis reflects this. In the first chapter, Macmurray's antagonism towards traditional mind-body dualism is discussed in connection with his definition of the Self as an embodied agent. It is in this sense that his concept of the person represents an holistic account of the individual. Whilst speculation surrounds Macmurray's influences, some comparisons are drawn and the ensuing criticisms are examined. As a direct result of the postulation of the Self as agent, the existence of the Other is both confirmed and deemed necessary. Chapter two explores the interaction between the Self and the Other from the perspective of the human infant. It asserts the importance of relationships for the growth of the individual. Then, with reference to the ethical implications of the related agent, chapter three examine the composition of societies, paying particular attention to Marxist analysis, and seeking to extricate Macmurray's transferable ideas from those conditioned by his era. Finally, chapter four claims that communities are necessary for the full expression of the person, whilst criticising Macmurray's dubious employment of religious terminology in this respect. In essence, this thesis argues that the insights of Macmurray's theory have been needlessly neglected, and that the person must be understood from the perspective of agency and relationships.

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Sport dropout during adolescence is a common phenomenon which is connected to motivation. Therefore this thesis investigated the relationship between coaches’ (N = 61, Mage = 40.39) transformational leadership and athletes’ (N = 132, Mage = 20.61) type of motivation in Swedish sport clubs. In addition, the moderating role of personality and self-other agreement ratings were examined. A cross sectional research design was used and data was collected through self-ratings and other ratings. Data was analysed using SPSS and the add-on program Process macro. To investigate the moderating role of personality and level of agreement, coach-athletes dyads were created (N = 38). The result showed that transformational leadership is positively associated with more self-determined types of motivation. Four of the coach’s personality traits (i.e., honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion and conscientiousness) moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and motivation. For the athletes agreeableness moderated this relationship. A majority of the coaches and athletes disagreed in rating the coaches’ transformational behaviours; however the result only showed significant correlation between coaches who underestimated and athletes’ lack of motivation. In conclusion, transformational leadership is suitable in a sport context. Future research could use a longitudinal design to further explore personality’s role in leadership. Practical implications of transformational leadership in connection to education are discussed.

The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the significance of identity as a driving force behind Swedish security policy change. By studying social identity constructions of Russia in Swedish defence propositions from 1992, 2004 and 2015, the thesis concludes that these constructions might have resulted in shifts in Swedish security policy. The thesis uses discourse analysis to examine how Russia was socially constructed as 'difference' in the propositions. Drawing on self/other theories in IR, the study concludes that Russia was constructed in more or less antagonistic forms of ‘otherness’/’difference’ in the different propositions. In 1992, Russia was constructed as a neutral other and a temporally radical other. In 2004, Russia was constructed as a connected other. In 2015, Russia was constructed as a radical other, mostly due to the Russian aggression against and annexation of Crimea. Moreover the article concludes, through a qualitative content analysis, that these perceptions of Russia may have generated ontological (in)security for Swedish political identity. Drawing on Mitzen (2006) and others, the thesis demonstrates that ontological (in)security may have been a driving force behind security policy change. This thesis argues that the search for ontological security may have resulted in European integration for Sweden in 1992, expanded cooperation with Russia in 2004 and a proposition on a strengthened defence capability in 2015. In relation to existing research on Swedish security policy change, this thesis highlights the importance of identity and perceptions of 'others' as a driving force behind security policy change.

This thesis investigates the effect that non-anonymity has upon student team-member evaluations; more specifically, it looked at how to create conditions of openness and honesty in which students will readily give and receive constructive criticism. The central hypothesis of this research is that if students are taught and prepared to properly give and receive constructive criticism, and have multiple opportunities to do so, non-anonymous feedback is the most effective and desirable. In order to gauge the effects of non-anonymity, eight specific hypotheses relating to different aspects of the feedback process were tested. Predictions were made as to the effects upon the self-awareness and defensiveness of those who received feedback, the honesty and candor of those who provided it, as well as the effect upon teams' levels of trust and unity, and levels of performance. The statistical analysis showed that non-anonymity had no significant effect upon self-awareness, trust and unity, and performance. Significant differences were observed for honesty and candor, as well as defensiveness. Although some of these differences were in favor, others were contrary to the assumptions that were made. One of the results showed that at the beginning of the procedure, non-anonymous ratings were more lenient, but at the end of the process there was no difference. This was as expected. In regards to the overall process, non-anonymous students perceived ratings to be less honest and candid. A second conclusion was that non-anonymous students were actually more defensive towards negative feedback. In the end, there was no strong evidence for or against non-anonymity, and thus it appears that there was no major treatment effect. There are two justifications as to why this may be the case. These are based upon insights gained from the free-response section of a follow-up survey which the participants took. First, if non-anonymous feedback does indeed produce positive outcomes it may take a longer period of time for these differences to be noticed. This process took place over only about a three-month period, and feedback was received only 3-4 weeks apart. Secondly, when teams are small (i.e., only 3-5 members), it is difficult to maintain anonymity, which essentially removes the treatment. From these observations, the final recommendation of this report is that for students working in small teams, non-anonymous feedback is preferable. This is because, as just noted, anonymity is difficult to maintain even if it is a required condition. It seems that pretending that anonymity exists, when in fact it does not, actually hinders transparency and trust. Also, it seems that giving feedback non-anonymously will more effectively prepare students for working on teams in their careers, as this is more reflective of the way that feedback will be provided in the workforce.

Prison Animal Programs that bring inmates and dogs together consistently report improvements to inmates’ self-esteem, ability to empathize, and helping behaviors with no understanding of why these improvements occur. With similar improvement documented in relationship closeness literature, this research examines the felt inmate dog connection and self-reported closeness as a possible explanation for the three reported benefits. Introducing relationship closeness scales that substitute a dog for another person, 37 inmate handlers at three correctional facilities completed survey and interview questions measuring self-esteem, self-expansion, and self-other (dog) overlap.Research findings strongly support that inmate-dog connectivity is consistent with documented dyadic human connectivity to close family and friends. The self-reported connectivity between handler and dog is furthermore suggested to strongly influence the three areas of improvement with additional research recommended. Findings also suggest that working with dogs in prison initiates a healing or restorative process for both inmate handlers and the outside community.

This thesis aims to analyse the use of stereotypes about the Latin-American minority in the rhetoric of presidential candidates, using the single case of the 2016 US Presidential Campaign. The primary focus is the binary relation Self-Other established by the candidates through the use of stereotypes about the minority group and themselves. The analysis is performed in a framework that combines representation theory, constructivism and post colonial theory. The speeches and debates of the candidates, which served as data, demonstrate that stereotypes are present and help represent the Latin-American group as a negative Other, a threat or victimized burden. At the same time, through the representation of this specific Other, the candidates are creating their Self political persona, which in this case is a hero who will protect the American society from the threat, or a hero who will rescue the poor from their own victimized situation. Both candidates show similarities in the use of generalized stereotypes to mention LatinAmericans or in the context in which they refer to them. While they differ in the way that they create the Other, their position to confront the problem yields a similar political persona, as both want to be rescuers. Trump portrays LatinAmericans as a threat to security or as a poor victim, while Clinton also refers to the group as a victim, but also as an asset to economy. The intention of this thesis is to contribute to the field of stereotypes in political discourse in relation to the establishment of binary oppositions.

Research has long held that family of origin plays a significant, if not critical, role in mental health. The purpose of the present study was to provide theoretical evidence to support the feasibility of a new target for clinical intervention by demonstrating that identity style, the way individuals take in and process identity-relevant information, is a mediating factor between family cohesion and psychopathology. Secondly, this study aimed to provide empirical evidence for identity boundaries, or the cognitive barrier that dictates the assimilation and disposal of identity-relevant information, by linking identity style to one*s ability to differentiate the self from others. A total of 496 university students were surveyed using a self-report battery available via an online research database provided by the author*s institution. Results suggested that individuals adhering to the informational identity style had the highest degrees of self-other differentiation followed by the normative identity style and, finally, the diffuse-avoidant. Further, the diffuse-avoidant identity style (and by extension, diffuse identity boundaries) significantly and fully mediated the relationship between balanced family cohesion and psychopathology. Given that the diffuse-avoidant identity style is linked to a number of maladaptive decision-making and problem-solving strategies, interventions aimed at changing one*s ability to master their environment may have positive implications for the way that they amalgamate their sense of self which may, in turn, lead to improved functioning.