Function Of Self Research Articles

Choosing increases the value of non-instrumental information

Curiosity pervades all aspects of human behaviour and decision-making. Recent research indicates that the value of information is determined by its propensity to reduce uncertainty, and the hedonic value of the outcomes it predicts. Previous findings also indicate a preference for options that are freely chosen, compared to equivalently valued alternatives that are externally assigned. Here, we asked whether the value of information also varies as a function of self- or externally-imposed choices. Participants rated their preference for information that followed either a self-chosen decision, or an externally imposed condition. Our results showed that choosing a lottery significantly increased the subjective value of information about the outcome. Computational modelling indicated that this change in information-seeking behaviour was not due to changes in the subjective probability of winning, but instead reflected an independent effect of choosing on the value of resolving uncertainty. These results demonstrate that agency over a prospect is an important source of information value.

Coordinating and pricing decisions in two competitive reverse supply chains with different channel structures

This paper addresses coordination and competition problem in two reverse supply chains each having its own exclusive retailer and manufacturer. The chains have various collecting channel structures so that one of them uses the advantages of dual channels, where the consumer can return their e-waste through direct or traditional channels, while its competitor collects obsolete products only through its traditional channel. The willingness to return in each channel is a function of self- and cross-discounts of the competitors. Four decision scenarios are investigated; the first and second chain respectively select, Decentralised-Decentralised, Centralised-Centralised, Centralised-Decentralised or Decentralised-Centralised scenario. The closed-form optimal solution of each channel is derived based on the Stackelberg game when the second chain acts as a leader. The most economical scenario is determined by using a Non-Zero-Sum game when each chain plays as a single player in the game. To coordinate the members’ decisions and to convince unsatisfied members, two coordination contracts are offered. Numerical investigations reveal that direct channel suggests more discount and obtains more share of market. The results show that Centralised-Centralised scenario is the best decision from the SCs’ perspective which proposing contracts are able to persuade members to change their strategy to a global decision.

Contact Interruptions (2003)

Contact Interruptions (2003)

風景,環境世界,及び自己と,感性との関係性 : 美術教育の教育的意義としての「情操」の背景にある自己の働き

風景,環境世界,及び自己と,感性との関係性 : 美術教育の教育的意義としての「情操」の背景にある自己の働き

Perceptual and affective responses to sampled capsaicin differ by reported intake

The present study was conducted to a) generate suprathreshold dose-response functions for multiple qualities evoked by capsaicin across a wide range of concentrations, and b) revisit how intensity ratings and liking may differ as a function of self reported intake. Individuals rated eight samples of capsaicin for perceived burn and bitterness, as well as disliking/liking. Measures of reported preference for chili peppers, chili intake frequency, prior experience and personality measures were also assessed. Here, we confirm prior findings showing that burn in the laboratory differs with reported chili intake, with infrequent consumers reporting more burn. We extend these findings by exploring how capsaicin perception varies by reported liking, and measures of variety seeking. We also address the question of whether differences in burn ratings may potentially be an artifact of differential scale usage across groups due to prior experience, and not chronic desensitization, as is typically assumed. By using generalized scaling methods and recalled sensations, we conclude the differences observed here and elsewhere are not likely due to differences in how participants use rating scales.

Representation of a Disrupted Mind and Anguished Self in Samuel Beckett’s The Unnamable

This paper explores the main causes of character-narrator’s linguistic as well as “existential anguish” (Esslin, 1968, p. 29) in Samuel Beckett’s The Unnamable. The paper argues that the Unnamable's on-going and exhaustive quest for a real self leads in failure mainly because of his dissemination in the stories of the others as well as his only available medium or language. Although throughout the narrative the voice pretends to be able to deliver itself with either the thoughts of the others or their stories in order to obtain an independent self, the narrative is mainly a representation of the narrating voice’s failure in coming to terms with the arbitrary nature of language and the other voices. It follows that, the Unnamable, being a purely linguistic self and subjugating to the non-referential power of language, relentlessly searches for a true self throughout the narrative. The present paper thus examines The Unnamable as a poststructural narrative, investigating the function of self, language and their troubled relationship in the novel as well as exploring, as Lance Olsen puts, Beckett’s and Derrida’s joint questions concerning “the deconstructive turn” and “the dissolution of self, world, and language” (1956, p. 4). Accordingly, applying a poststructuralist approach, the present paper examines the Unnamable’s intramental (or private) perceptions regarding his existential and linguistic anguish within the narrative. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p462

Character in Military Leaders, Officer Competency and Meeting the Unforeseen

Officers educated at the Norwegian Military Academy (NMA) should be able to lead under extreme conditions when they encounter situations that are unforeseen. The NMA's new concept of leadership development will help the officers lead others in difficult military operations. In this concept it is assumed that both character and intellect are significant factors contributing to military leadership. The officer development concept is visualized in the NMA's pyramid of competency. The pyramid of competency illustrates how officer competency can be understood as a function of self- proficiency, subject-matter proficiency, and social proficiency. The integrated composition of the pyramid shows the mutual interaction of the proficiencies and how they affect and underpin the pyramid's top element that constitutes officer competency. The NMA aims to develop the necessary character and intellect in each officer, and regards this as absolutely central features of the officer competency. Officer competency is intended to constitute the acting dimension of an officer facing the unforeseen as well as unknown and unknowable situations. The NMA has as its guideline qualities responsibility, robustness and willpower. However, several questions need to be addressed first,concerning what character means, how it is developed, and which personalities are amenable prone to develop and to demonstrate character. The NMA has therefore initiated a new research project that will look into character in military leaders. The project is intended to provide valuable knowledge about the abovementioned questions regarding character. The results from this project will be a significant contribution to both the selection and training of officers and to decide whether an officer has or can acquire the required qualities to be a military leader.

Understanding the relationship between school leaders social and emotional competence and their transformational leadership: The importance of self-other agreement

This study examined the possible relationship between emotional competence and transformational leadership in K-12 school leaders as a function of self–other agreement. The study found that, for th...

Deciphering Subjective Trajectories for Life Satisfaction Using Self–Versus–Normative Other Discrepancies, Self–Esteem and Hope

Drawing on temporal and social comparison perspectives, we examined sources of the widespread belief that life gets better and better over time by determining how young adults evaluate their past, present and anticipated future life satisfaction (LS) relative to beliefs about normative others. We assessed whether patterns of subjective LS trajectories based on self–versus–normative other discrepancies varied as a function of self–esteem and whether such patterns were accounted for by hope, encompassing goal–related cognitions and motivations. University participants (n = 394) completed measures of their own and normative others’ past, present and anticipated future LS, as well as self–esteem and hope scales. Results from latent growth curve analyses demonstrated that high–self–esteem and low–self–esteem individuals perceived normative others’ LS as progressing on a similar upward subjective temporal trajectory; however, high–self–esteem individuals perceived self–improvement from past to present LS and self–consistency from present to future LS relative to others. Low–self–esteem individuals perceived self–consistency from past to present LS and self–improvement from present to future LS relative to others. These associations were accounted for by hope. This research highlights the utility of combining temporal and social comparison perspectives for understanding how people envision their LS unfolding over time. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Il corpo come "veicolo" del nostro essere nel mondo. L'esperienza corporea in psicoterapia della Gestalt

Somatic experience is here presented in the frame of reference of gestalt therapy: a phenomenological, relational and aesthetic epistemology. These roots of the concept of bodily experience address the therapeutic view towards the movement that both the patient and the therapist co-create, with complementary intentionalities. Concepts like integration, function of self, olism, aggression, support to the now-for-next, are revisited to the light of bodily experience. Clinical examples of various forms of suffering of the body-in-contact, from anxiety disorders to desensitizations, to somathic disturbances are described. Finally a few therapeutic competences, basic for working with the body in gestalt therapy, are presented.

A Functional Description of self in American Sign Language

Past studies have identified the function of self as a canonical reflexive pronoun in American Sign Language (ASL). This study examines the use of self with fifteen hours of naturalistic ASL discourse framed by the cognitive-functionalist approach. The analysis reveals that the category of self is expressed in three phonological forms and exhibits a number of other functions beside the canonical reflexive. In contradiction to previous analyses, this study finds that the use of self as a canonical reflexive is minimal whereas the distribution shows 80 percent of self tokens as an emphatic. Genres appear to play a role in the SELF usage where the study reports that self is frequently expressed in vlogs compared to narratives and two-person conversations. self is not best analyzed as a reflexive pronoun as previously claimed but instead can be viewed as a morpheme marking emphatic functions.

Experiences of dyadic sport friendships as a function of self and partner attachment characteristics

Objectives To examine the link between adolescent–parent attachment relationships and experiences of friendship quality in the context of the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. Design and method One hundred and ninety three male adolescents involved in team sports completed self-report assessments of relationship security with a key parental attachment figure and of the nature of their friendship with a nominated sporting best friend. In 40 reciprocal best friend dyads friendship quality perceptions were examined as a consequence of attachment characteristics of both the self and one’s best friend. Results Results provided evidence that the nature of the adolescent–parent attachment relationship was significantly related to sporting friendship experiences. More secure adolescent–parent attachment characteristics corresponded to more positive sporting friendships. Furthermore, adolescents’ perceptions of the quality of dyadic sporting friendships were apparently constructed not only as a function of their own attachment characteristics but also of the attachment characteristics of their best friend. Conclusion There is a suggestion that adolescent perceptions of dyadic sporting friendships are constructed as a consequence of both actor and partner attachment characteristics.

Models of Density‐Dependent Genic Selection and a New Rock‐Paper‐Scissors Social System

We describe new ESS models of density regulation driven by genic selection to explain the cyclical dynamics of a social system that exhibits a rock-paper-scissors (RPS) set of three alternative strategies. We tracked changes in morph frequency and fitness of Lacerta vivipara and found conspicuous RPS cycles. Morphs of Uta and Lacerta exhibited parallel survival-performance trade-offs. Frequency cycles in both species of lizards are driven by genic selection. In Lacerta, frequency of each allele in adult cohorts had significant impacts on juvenile recruitment, similar to mutualistic, altruistic, and antagonistic relations of RPS alleles in Uta. We constructed evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) models in which adults impact juvenile recruitment as a function of self versus nonself color recognition. ESS models suggest that the rapid 4-year RPS cycles exhibited by Lacerta are not possible unless three factors are present: behaviors evolve that discriminate self versus nonself morphs at higher rates than random, self- versus non-self-recognition contributes to density regulation, and context-dependent mate choice evolves in females, which choose sire genotypes to enhance progeny survival. We suggest genic selection coupled to density regulation is widespread and thus fundamental to theories of social system evolution as well as theories of population regulation in diverse animal taxa.

Dark matter distribution function from non-extensive statistical mechanics

We present an analytical and numerical study of the velocity distribution function of self gravitating collisionless particles, which include dark matter and star clusters. We show that the velocity distribution derived through the Eddington’s formula is identical to the analytical one derived directly from the generalized entropy of non-extensive statistical mechanics. This implies that self gravitating collisionless structures are to be described by non-extensive thermo-statistics. We identify a connection between the density slope of dark matter structures, γ, from ρ∼r−γ, and the entropic index, q, from the generalized entropy, Sq. Our numerical result confirms the analytical findings of earlier studies and clarifies which is the correct connection between the density slope and the entropic index. We use this result to conclude that from a fundamental statistical mechanics point of view the central density slope of self gravitating collisionless dark matter structures is not constrained, and even cored dark matter structures are allowed with γ=0. We find that the outer density slope is bounded by γ=10/3.

Research on the function of regulating lipid by moxibustion for hyperlipidemia

One hundred and seventy-one cases of hyperlipidemia were treated by moxibustion on Shenque (CV 8) and bilateral Zusanli (ST 36). After moxibustion, the blood-lipid contents of the patients with hyperlipidemia of various types were all lower than those before moxibustion. There was a significant difference between them. It is indicated that moxibustion on Shenque (CV 8) and bilateral Zusanli (ST 36) had the functions of reinforcing the spleen and kidney, warning yang, removing the stasis and treating both the principal and the secondary aspects of a disease for hyperlipidemia, which embodied the advantage of the function of regulating organism of moxibustion. The treatment by “regulating” can mobilize the regulating function of self to get the benign and bi-directional regulating effect for the various indexes of lipid metabolism and reach the intention of lowering blood-lipid.

Postural control as a function of self- and object-motion perception

The goals of this study were to examine the visual information influence on body sway as a function of self- and object-motion perception and visual information quality. Participants that were aware (object-motion) and unaware (self-motion) of the movement of a moving room were asked to stand upright at five different distances from its frontal wall. The visual information effect on body sway decreased when participants were aware about the sensory manipulation. Moreover, while the visual influence on body sway decreased as the distance increased in the self-motion perception, no effects were observed in the object-motion mode. The overall results indicate that postural control system functioning can be altered by prior knowledge, and adaptation due to changes in sensory quality seem to occur in the self- but not in the object-motion perception mode.

Healing Haunted Hearts—Toward a Model for Integrating Subjectivity: Commentary on Papers by Philip Bromberg and Gerald Stechler

Self-organizing systems (Stechler and Kaplan, 1980) biased by dissociative experience provide a robust perspective for the modern understanding of the development of hysteria. Definition of self, framed as a function of self as agent, object, and locus (Schafer, 1968), illuminates the bias of depersonalization and the clinical presentation of persons subject to developmental influences (Main and Morgan, 1996) in early childhood, as well as to overwhelming trauma (Terr, 1991). Characteristics of self, such as coherence, continuity/consistency, congruence/incongruence, and cohesion are explored in this context. Affect is the primary organizing bias in the discernment of self and in the development of relatedness. Clinically observed isolation of subjectivity may result from the bias of intense affect, that is, shame, on self-organizing systems in a multiple self-state model.

An Application of Neural Network for the Selection of Landslide Prevention Pile Design

In planning for the pile design of landslide prevention, it is necessary to consider the pile functions effected by the landslide features such as softness of moving mass, slip surface configuration and the location of pile construction. The pile design on the present time is conducted by information based on the engineering experience.This paper discusses an application of neural network for the pile design constructing to landslide. By use of neural network having the function of self making organization, the pile deflection amount in planning area can be easily estimated without the hardly numerical calculation. The influence degree of landslide feature against the constructed pile is also demonstrated through the actual examples.

Cox Regression with Incomplete Covariate Measurements

Abstract This article provides a general solution to the problem of missing covariate data under the Cox regression model. The estimating function for the vector of regression parameters is an approximation to the partial likelihood score function with full covariate measurements and reduces to the pseudolikelihood score function of Self and Prentice in the special setting of case-cohort designs. The resulting parameter estimator is consistent and asymptotically normal with a covariance matrix for which a simple and consistent estimator is provided. Extensive simulation studies show that the large-sample approximations are adequate for practical use. The proposed approach tends to be more efficient than the complete-case analysis, especially for large cohorts with infrequent failures. For case-cohort designs, the new methodology offers a variance-covariance estimator that is much easier to calculate than the existing ones and allows multiple subcohort augmentations to improve efficiency. Real data taken f...

Common threads, diverse solutions: Concluding commentary

In this concluding article, we summarize some of the major themes and highlight several unresolved issues. We focus first on the structure or representation of self. The major issues that emerged here were: (1) the existence and representation of a primitive, presymbolic self; (2) the existence, origins, and developmental course of multiple selves; (3) the role and representation of affect in early self. Several unifying propositions are offered both to integrate across commonalities and to demarcate theoretical differences. Next we consider functions of self, including both what self uniquely contributes to the organism and how its functions might change developmentally. We propose that the core function of self remains invariant; to define, locate, demarcate the world from a consistent perspective by organizing, integrating, and representing experiences from that vantage point. Inherent in this process, however, is the establishment of boundaries that define self with respect to the world and others. These boundaries may change with age as a function of the changing structure of self. The earliest boundaries may define for the infant the physical boundaries between self and world, followed by social and causal boundaries, then personal and psychological boundaries. In the final two sections we address issues of enactment of self in observable behavior: how do we know that the infant or young child has a self, and that the self looks like X? And we address the question of mechanisms of early self-development. Here we also suggest that insights gleaned from the study of nonnormative influences, whether biological or environmental, may shed light on our descriptions and explanations of the early self.