Processing information related to the self and inferring the mental state of another person is known to involve the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) in both younger and older adults (Stone et al., 2008; Kelley et al., 2002; Hynes et al., 2006; Ruby et al., 2009). According to the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPF) theory of cognitive ageing, processing of the self should not be affected by healthy adult ageing as functions related to the VMPFC remain relatively preserved compared to functions related to the DLPF cortex (MacPherson et al., 2002). Similarly, no age difference should emerge in those tasks thought to tap functions of the VMPFC. The aim of this PhD is to investigate the effect of healthy adult ageing on the ability to process information related to the self and others. A series of experiments was designed to compare the performance of younger and older adults on tasks that investigate processing and retrieval of self-related information (e.g. behaviour prediction, personality judgement, mental state inferences, self-referential). The tasks differ in the extent to which they rely on cognitive effort. The results show that ageing does not affect self-related judgements. A further series of experiments designed to investigate affective and cognitive Theory of Mind (ToM) show that the affective performance, thought to rely on VMPFC activity, is not affected by age. In contrast, the performance of older participants differs from that of younger adults on cognitive ToM task, thought to involve DLPFC brain areas. A final experiment investigated the ability to make self versus other related judgments in a confabulating patient. The results show that the ability to reflect on the self but not on others was intact. In summary, the findings demonstrate that processing self-information and making ToM inferences remains intact in older individuals and is not overtly impaired by confabulation.

No description available.

This study explored how student intelligence was directly linked to the goals and motivation held by students when engaged in academic settings. Students were administered a questionnaire developed by Dr. Carol Dweck in which they responded to statements in order to determine their individual theory of intelligence. Once this was accomplished, multiple student variables (including but not limited to first semester GPA, second semester GPA, ACT composite score, age, and college coursework) were compared to their view of intelligence to determine if any correlations existed. Results showed that there was no significant difference between students who viewed intelligence as malleable or fixed with regard to first semester GPA scores or the comparison between first and second semester GPA scores. The data from this research study supported other research by finding that approximately 15% of students were identified in the undecided category regarding their view of intelligence. There was no significant difference found between entity theorists and incremental theorists in regards to the theory of intelligence students held determining whether or not their second semester GPA scores would increase or decrease when compared to their first semester GPA scores. In addition, a significant difference was found between student views of intelligence and their ACT composite score. It was also discovered that there was a positive correlation between how students viewed intelligence and how they viewed talent development. Findings from this study suggest that praise can be both motivating as well as detrimental to students, and it is important that the correct type of praise be used when addressing students. It was also discovered that teachers can have a direct role in regard to helping students change their view of intelligence from an entity view, in which they view intelligence as a fixed trait, to an incremental view, in which they view intelligence as a malleable trait and able to change through their own effort and hard work. Future research topics are discussed in an effort to determine what strategies and methods can be utilized to allow as many students as possible to reach their full academic potential.

This dissertation attempts to fill, in part, three lacunae in contemporary philosophical scholarship: first, the failure to identify the two distinct types of dialogism—psychological and interpersonal—that have been operative in discussions of the dialogical self; second, the lack of acknowledgement of the six most prominent features of interpersonal dialogism; and third, the unwillingness to recognize that interpersonal dialogism is a crucial feature of human ethical agency and identity. In Chapter One, I explain why dialogism has been relatively neglected—and certainly underappreciated—in contemporary Western philosophy. In Chapter Two, I offer a picture of Mikhail Bakhtin’s conception of dialogism. I explain why and how Bakhtin focuses on the novel in his account of dialogism. I then offer an account of Bakhtin’s claim regarding the dialogism of the ‘inner’ speech of thought. In the second part of Chapter Two, I offer an account of Gadamer’s conception of dialogism. I begin my examination of Gadamer by discussing the event ontology that serves as the metaphysical framework for his account of “play” (Spiel) and dialogue. In doing so, I explain some of the most important ideas in this part of his thought, such as his notion of understanding, tradition, effective history, the fusion of horizons, and the text. I explain what Gadamer means by genuine conversation, or dialogue, and I then describe one of the most important ideas in Gadamer’s thought—his notion of “play.” In Chapter Three, I give a critical account of the most influential contemporary account of dialogism in psychology, offered by Hubert Hermans et al., specifically in terms of their establishment of dialogical self theory. My examination consists of several parts. First, I discuss the ways they conceptualize the self, temporally and spatially. Second, I offer a description of their account of I-positions within the dialogical self. Third, I examine their claims about the necessary features of the dialogical self, and argue against one of their claims, which says that dominance relations are intrinsic to dialogue. Fourth, I describe their account of the four kinds of relations that can emerge within the self (2010, 121). Fifth, I briefly discuss their view regarding the “[t]hree models of self and identity, associated with different historical phases” (4), that have predominated in Western history. Sixth, I consider their claim that there are “positions” within the self in addition to the “I-positions” noted above. And lastly, I evaluate their account of (what they call) the nine “features of good dialogue” (10). In Chapter Four, I offer a critical evaluation of the account of dialogue and dialogism developed by Dmitri Nikulin, arguably the leading contemporary philosopher on the subjects. While I address the features of his account that I think are correct, I ultimately argue that it is problematic for three main reasons: first, it fails to recognize the proper relationship between dialogue and agency; second, its elucidation of the necessary and sufficient conditions for dialogue contains conceptual inconsistencies; and third, its conception of the relation between dialogue and personhood has potentially disastrous ethical implications. In Chapter Five, I show how Heidegger’s notions of Dasein’s “Being-with” (Mitsein), “discourse” (Rede), and “solicitude” (Fursorge) help lay the groundwork for recognizing some important features of dialogism. I do three things in Chapter Six. First, I briefly discuss Charles Taylor’s work on dialogism. Second, I offer my account of the seven most prominent features of dialogism. And third, I argue that dialogism is a crucial feature of ethical agency and identity. To do so, I offer an example of a personal (and social) virtue, namely, empathy, which illustrates the important role dialogism plays in ethical agency.

Syftet med studien är att få en djupare förståelse för hur förskollärare tänker kring och arbetar med förskolebarns självkänsla. För att kunna undersöka syftet formulerades tre frågeställningar: Vad har förskollärare för olika tankar kring förskolebarns självkänsla? Hur arbetar förskollärarna med barnens självkänsla i verksamheten? Och Används några etablerade metoder eller teorier för att stärka barnens självkänsla och varför? Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för studien är Daniel Sterns självteori, som utgår ifrån att barnets självkänsla utvecklas i samspel med andra och börjar utvecklas redan vid födseln. Den metoden som används för att besvara frågeställningarna är kvalitativa intervjuer. Metoden valdes för att nå varje informants egna erfarenheter i ämnet och möjliggöra en djupdykning. Intervjuerna genomfördes med fem förskollärare på olika förskolor i två kommuner i Södra Sverige. Resultat visar att förskollärarna har kunskap kring olika metoder samt teorier även om de inte kan namnge någon källa. Alla förskollärarna är eniga om att dagens barn överlag har en god självkänsla där de litar på sin egna förmåga och vågar ta för sig mer. Vår slutsats är att det främsta sättet att arbeta med barns självkänsla är via förhållningssättet, där förskollärarnas barnsyn är av stor betydelse för hur de påverkar barnens självkänsla. Det framkommer i resultatet och Sterns (2003) teorier att samspelet är viktigt för hur barnens självkänsla kan utvecklas.

No description available.

As of 2007, approximately 73% of the 18 million college students in this country could be identified as nontraditional (Ross-Gordon, 2011). A key characteristic distinguishing this group from the traditional college student is the influence of multiple roles of the adult learner on the learning and engagement process (Keith, Byerly, Floerchinger, Pence, & Thornberg, 2006). Ross-Gordon remarks on some roles that may provide life experience, an asset to understanding theoretical constructs otherwise immaterial to younger, traditional learners. However, it is important to recognize the complex dynamic of conflicting roles as challenges to the academic competence of nontraditional college students. This research examined the vague definition of the nontraditional student and the factors that influence the learning and engagement processes. Through the lens of Hermans and Gieser's (2012) dialogical self-theory and higher education discourse, a novel examination of group role identity salience is proposed as a useful model for improving the educational and social realities of the adult learner.

Despite a strong commercial trend towards wearable technology, this thesis considers the distal devices that have played an important role in our lives for over twenty years. Suggesting that the distance we have had between our bodies and our devices has given us the space to form meaningful relationships; the research explores how these relationships change when our devices migrate onto and into our bodies in the form of wearable technologies. The methodology of performative scenarios is developed to examine examples of relationships between people and their devices. Using examples of technologies that live with us now to inform the design of future technological developments reflects a post-phenomenological perspective calling for a materially oriented design approach. This thesis will explore this approach through focusing on the question; what would we lose if our distal devices became wearable devices? Ideations aiming to prevent any loss caused by the transition of devices from distal to wearable will provide examples of post-phenomenological wearable technology that not only maintains our relationships with our devices, but also helps our relationships to grow.

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the literacy practices of marginalized adolescent youth in India and the relationship of these practices to imagination and identity construction. More than just tools for communication, language and literacy practices allow individuals to express their selves and identities as they voice their thoughts, negotiate meaning (Dyson & Genishi, 2005; Gee, 2003), and enact themselves within society (Janks, 2010; New London Group, 1996). This qualitative case study took place in Lucknow, India; the subjects were a group of adolescent girls at a nonprofit all-girls school in a seventh-grade classroom. Using discourse analysis, the data revealed the ways in which the girls used literacy to agentively position themselves as actual selves in their societies, as imagined social selves and others, in relationship to social others, and in imagined events.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eliana Massih.pdf: 678661 bytes, checksum: 2e70a35edc574595bdecf3d0289d23e8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-20 / This thesis deals with a derivation of the Dialogic Self Theory in order to understand some psychotherapeutic issues on Catholic seminarians at the end of their personal training process. The life narratives, dreams, memories and reflections accounts of her clients are her main tools showing that dialogue established within the clinical conversations fosters the human adulthood. Some key concepts of this theory and the inclusion of some dimensions of the original culture of clients in the interpretation of clinical issues are the way used to reach that purpose. The author argues that her findings could be validated by the subjects of the research themselves; this is an appropriate way to investigate methodologically and epistemologically the human religiosity in its cultural dimension and, in particular, when one deals with subjects whose core value of their lives is the religiosity. As a last point, she validates her conclusions bringing up her own personal development as a researcher in Psychology of Religion and she proposes new research fields / A tese apresenta uma derivação da Teoria do self dialógico para a compreensão de aspectos emergentes na psicoterapia de seminaristas católicos em vias da ordenação. A autora utiliza as narrativas de vida, sonhos, memórias e reflexões de seus clientes para mostrar que o diálogo estabelecido na conversação clínica fomenta o amadurecimento humano dos mesmos. Esse objetivo é atingido através de alguns conceitos-chave da teoria e da inclusão da cultura original dos clientes na interpretação dos fatos da clínica. A autora mostra que suas conclusões são validadas pelos próprios sujeitos de pesquisa o que é metodológica e epistemologicamente adequado para investigar a religiosidade humana em sua dimensão cultural e, em especial, quando se trata de sujeitos que tem como valor central de suas vidas a religiosidade. Finalmente valida suas conclusões mencionando seu próprio amadurecimento enquanto pesquisadora em Psicologia da Religião e propõe novas aberturas de investigação