Self-reflection Research Articles

Prerequisites for an Artificial Self.

Traditionally investigated in philosophy, body ownership and agency—two main components of the minimal self—have recently gained attention from other disciplines, such as brain, cognitive and behavioral sciences, and even robotics and artificial intelligence. In robotics, intuitive human interaction in natural and dynamic environments becomes more and more important, and requires skills such as self-other distinction and an understanding of agency effects. In a previous review article, we investigated studies on mechanisms for the development of motor and cognitive skills in robots (Schillaci et al., 2016). In this review article, we argue that these mechanisms also build the foundation for an understanding of an artificial self. In particular, we look at developmental processes of the minimal self in biological systems, transfer principles of those to the development of an artificial self, and suggest metrics for agency and body ownership in an artificial self.

Disruptions of self, place and mobility: digital nomads in Chiang Mai, Thailand

ABSTRACT This article considers the growing lifestyle trend of digital nomadism, whereby individuals leverage digital technology to combine work, leisure and hypermobile travel interests. Based primarily on ethnographic fieldwork in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I examine the lifestyle and mobility pathways of digital nomads through two distinct yet coexisting notions of disruption. On one level disruption is viewed as a radical expression of flexibility, fluidity and newness, that evokes a sense of breaking free from a traditional past. At the same time, I consider disruption on more subtle terms, addressing ways in which historical formations pertaining to work and tourism feed into and unsettle understandings of self, place and mobility. In this article, I examine the role of a work-leisure distinction, colonial imaginaries of place and emerging norms of hypermobility in complicating attempts by digital nomads to establish a coherent sense of self, work and productivity in and across tourism destinations. These seemingly fluid lifestyle practices, I suggest, promote a continual preoccupation with boundaries, as digital nomads try to make sense of work, identity and newness amid an in/visible and intersecting constellation of mobility pathways involving Western backpackers, Chinese tourists, resident foreigners, visiting family and friends, and other nomads.

The Individual and Social Self in a New Communitarianism

ABSTRACTSome communitarians about personhood hold that human communities are metaphysically antecedent to individual persons, and that personhood comes in degrees, and that one becomes a person through ethical maturation within a community. I offer a new communitarianism that also endorses those claims. It is based partly on certain African accounts of the person—primarily Menkiti’s account—and partly on Mark Johnston’s extraordinary argument that extremely good persons are literally at one with the human community itself. The theory’s concept of the person is a novel understanding of the social self. I argue that the account helps to solve three puzzles to do with communitarian conceptions of personhood. One puzzle is about understanding the individual person as an individual. Another relates to the alleged metaphysical priority of communities over persons. And a third is a problem for the view that personhood is graded.

Lived Experiences in the Illness Trajectory for Elderly Patients with Ovarian Cancer in Taiwan: A Phenomenological Study

Background: Elderly patients with ovarian cancer have complex emotional responses to the cancer diagnosis and treatment such as worry about performing daily routines. As cancer treatment progress, these patients need support from family, community, and health care professionals to cope with physical and psychological symptoms and impairments. Methods: Giorgi's phenomenological methodology was employed to explore the essence for elderly patients' lived experiences amid the illness trajectory of ovarian cancer. Results: Fifteen interviews were conducted. Four themes and 10 subthemes emerged from the verbatim transcripts: (1) hopelessness regarding loss of health: treatment side effects exceed expectations, worries about loss of energy hindering the cancer battle, and interruption of daily activities and interpersonal relationships; (2) endeavoring to fight for life: optimism and difficulty in establishing a new perspective on life, and cooperation with prescribed treatment; (3) managing uncertainty: realizing the impermanence of life and seizing the moment, self-reflection on the meaning of life, and attempting to regain physical health; and (4) learning to face early death: perceiving the upcoming end of life, and seeking peace of mind for lasting love. Conclusion: The low cure rate of ovarian cancer forces elderly patients to face the possibility of death. Medical teams must provide urgent and long-term medical care and value the medical autonomy of elderly patients with ovarian cancer to offer timely professional opinions and adequate care. Medical professionals should help patients develop adjustment strategies and establish a support system by integrating social resources for the holistic well-being of the patient.

Developing global graduates: essentials and possibilities

Developing intercultural communication competence (ICC) is a pursuit that has captured the interest of researchers in several disciplines for a number of decades. The urgency and interest to produce graduates who are ready for the global marketplace has never been more prevalent amongst educators as it is today. This article outlines strategies for developing ICC based on prior research, and articulates a new framework for global graduates based on four understandings: understanding of self, understanding of others, understanding of self’s responsibility to others, and understanding of others’ contributions to self. Curriculum development and institutional investment considerations are discussed in relation to the proposed framework.

Who am ‘I’: Reauthoring self, stories and subjectivity in research with children

The ‘new’ sociology of childhood sees an emergence of interdisciplinary approaches to understanding self, experience and subjectivity of children. As debates frame research with children, concerned with ‘ethics’ and ‘agency’, what is meant by the ‘subject’ of experience is given little attention. In this article, I ask whether narratives are a true representation of ‘self’; who is the ‘experiencer’ that stories refer to and what are the implications for claiming subjectivity through narrative structures? I suggest that ‘experience’ is an irreducible quality of reality that transcends personal self, and that a core subjectivity serves as the dative of experience, ‘ as natures sole ontological primitive. Understanding self, experience and subjectivity in line with an “Analytical Idealism”’, offers fresh insight into current sociological debates in Childhood Studies.

Children’s Literature, Culturally Responsive Teaching, and Teacher Identity: An Action Research Inquiry in Teacher Education

ABSTRACT This paper reports on an action research inquiry that identified ways that a graduate course in multicultural children’s literature contributed to teachers’ meaning-making of such texts, their professional practices, and themselves as educators. Conceptually grounded in culturally responsive teaching and the construct of teacher identity, analysis of course artifacts, participant interviews and a focus group session revealed three emergent themes. First, teachers’ participation in the course deepened insight on how former experiences with texts connected with beliefs about literature. Second, course structures and activities promoted understandings of self as a teacher who values diverse texts and culturally responsive practices. Third, the inclusion of controversial and challenged texts in P-12 classrooms was of professional concern. Recommendations for future research and teacher education are provided.

Empirical study on the influence of flipped classroom teaching mode on college students' professional help-seeking attitudes

Objective To explore the influence of flipped classroom teaching mode on college students' attitudes towards psychological help-seeking. Methods The small private online course and experiential teaching method were combined to teach the course of mental health. Before and after the course, the Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (Hao Zhihong 2007 Revision) and the Self-Stigma of Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (Vogel et al.) were used to measure the professional help-seeking attitudes and self-stigma of 258 randomly selected subjects. SPSS 22.0 and paired sample t-test were used and related data were analyzed. Results A total of 242 valid scales were collected. The teaching mode of flipped classroom reduced self-stigma (t=2.067, P=0.040) and increased the willingness of professional psychological help-seeking among students (t=2.483, P=0.015). Before the course, there was no significant difference between the high-input group and the low-input group in the attitudes of help-seeking (t=0.515, P=0.607) and self-stigma (t=0.432, P=0.666). After the course, the scores of help-seeking attitudes in the high-input group were significantly higher than those in the low-input group (t=2.401, P=0.018), and the self-stigma scores in high-input group were significantly lower than those in low-input group (t=2.185, P=0.031). Conclusion The teaching mode of flipped classroom helps to reduce self-stigma evaluation and forms a more positive attitude towards seeking help. Attitudes changed significantly in those students who have higher commitment in knowledge learning, self-expression and self-reflection. Key words: Mental health; Flipped Classroom; Professional help-seeking attitude; Self-stigma; Course involvement

Is the true self truly moral? Identity intuitions across domains of sociomoral reasoning and age

Adults intuit that positive moral characteristics (e.g., being caring, being honest) reflect a person's true self. The current work aimed to extend research on the true self phenomenon (a) by directly comparing how moral and nonmoral norms are implicated in intuitions about the true self and (b) by examining intuitions about the true self across various age groups (children, adolescents, and adults). Participants from three age groups were presented with scenarios describing people undergoing change and reported the impact of that change on identity. The nature of the change varied in the type of characteristic (moral belief, social-conventional belief, or personal preference), the direction (positive change or negative change), and the target (self or other). Children and adolescents, like adults, judged that changes to moral beliefs were more disruptive to identity continuity than changes to social-conventional beliefs or personal preferences. All three age groups shared the intuition that negative moral change was more disruptive to identity than positive moral change, which is consistent with an understanding of the central role that morally good characteristics play in perceptions of the true self. Although these results suggest continuity between late childhood and early adulthood in understanding of the true self, age-related differences did emerge with regard to the target of the change. Children and adolescents reported that moral changes in others were more disruptive to identity than moral changes in themselves, unlike adults, whose intuitions were perspective invariant.

The Roles of Metaphor and Imagination in Child Trauma Treatment

ABSTRACTThis article presents developmental theory regarding the emergence and importance of metaphor and imagination to child development. The author then reviews psychotherapy research and clinical literature to identify ways that these two mental processes, as transtheoretical elements of child therapy, can be applied within trauma-specific treatment for expressing and processing difficult experiences, integrating traumatic memories, containing fears, bolstering self-efficacy, and expanding understanding of self and others. Case examples are provided to illustrate clinical applications.

The psychological self and advanced theory of mind in adolescence

ABSTRACTA short-term longitudinal study explored the relation between the psychological understanding of self (the psychological self, PS) and other people (advanced theory of mind, aToM) during adolescence. Two hundred and one early and middle adolescents were tested twice (separated by a one-year break) with self- and other-understanding measures. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Compared to early adolescents, middle adolescents scored higher on PS and aToM and their scores on PS and aToM increased over the course of one year. In both age groups, PS and aToM were positively related, and for early adolescents, the initial level of aToM predicted the growth of PS. The findings are discussed within the context of developmental research.

Therapists' interventions as a predictor of clients' emotional experience, self-understanding, and treatment outcomes.

Clients' emotional experience (EE) and self-understanding (SU) are two clients' processes thought to play a key role in many therapeutic approaches, especially psychodynamic (PD) psychotherapy. Previous studies exploring client processes and the interventions assumed to promote them have found that both processes and interventions are related to a reduction in symptoms. However, the complex associations between the use of specific interventions, clients' processes and symptomatic outcomes have rarely been investigated. Using data collected on a session-by-session basis, we explored (a) the temporal associations between clients' processes (EE and SU) and treatment outcomes (clients' level of functioning), (b) the associations between therapists' AF and PD interventions and clients' processes, and (c) the direct and indirect associations among therapists' interventions, clients' processes, and clients' functioning. Clients (N = 115) undergoing PD psychotherapy reported their general functioning presession using the Outcome Rating Scale, and their EE and SU postsession using the Emotional Experience Self-Report and Self-Understanding Scale, respectively. Therapists reported their use of interventions postsession using the Multitheoretical List of Interventions. Longitudinal multilevel models indicated that higher EE and SU scores predicted subsequent change in functioning. Moderate (vs. high or low) use of AF interventions predicted an increase in clients' EE. Greater use of PD interventions predicted an increase in clients' SU, which also mediated improvement in functioning. These findings highlight the importance of adjusting therapists' use of interventions to promote clients' therapeutic processes and outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Relations between self-understanding and other-understanding: similarities and interactions

Relations between self-understanding and other-understanding: similarities and interactions

Experiencing Grace and Graceful Moments: In-Between Spaces in Teaching and Learning

Abstract: Teacher education’s dominant narrative is often one that accentuates sure-fire methods in the attainment of curriculum goals and objectives. We offer grace as an orientation that could serve to accentuate the profoundly relational generative space of teaching and learning, and to afford opportunities for taking time and making space in the classroom for inquiry into the living disciplines as a means to further understandings of self, other and curriculum matter. In this paper we explore and interpret Richard Wagamese’s essay “On the wings of eagles” as a portrayal of moments of grace and put it into conversation with our own experiences in teacher education and curriculum theory. Although it is not in the nature of this project to conclude or profess definitive results or methods, our aim is to keep open questions of what it means to be graceful, and to act gracefully in relation to our students and to subject matters. We believe that grace is a way to be in the world that could be transformational for current pedagogical practices.

The interaction effect between gender and profession in posttraumatic growth among hospital personnel.

To explore if there is an interaction effect between gender (men and women) and profession (nurses and physicians) in posttraumatic growth (PTG). PTG is defined as a positive psychological change experienced as a result of struggling with highly challenging life circumstances. It may take the form of improved self-image, a deeper understanding of self, increased spirituality, and/or enhanced interpersonal relationships. Gender and profession were found separately to be associated with PTG, but to date were not examined under interaction effect. We employed a cross-sectional study conducted in the tertiary medical center in Israel using a convenience sample. One hundred and twenty-eight nurses and seventy-eight physicians gave their consent and agreed to fill out self-report questionnaires regarding personal and professional data and PTG Inventory. The correlation matrix revealed that being a woman was associated with higher PTG total scale (r = 0.242; P ≤ 0.001) and its subscales except for spiritual change that showed no evidence of statistical effect. Similar pattern was found for being a nurse with PTG total scale (r = 0.223; P ≤0.001) and its subscales except for relating to others that showed no evidence of statistical effect. However, the interaction effect revealed that among men, there was no difference in the level of PTG and its subscales based on profession (Physicians men = 62.54 (20.82) versus Nurses men = 60.26 (22.39); F = 9.618; P = 0.002). Among women, nurses had a significantly higher scores in PTG (Physicians women = 61.81 (18.51) versus Nurses women = 73.87 (12.36); F = 9.618; P = 0.002) and its subscales in comparison to physicians except for subscale relating to other. Our findings suggest implications for research and practice namely exploring PTG among nurses and physicians would benefit from applying interaction effect of gender and profession. For practice, advocating PTG within the health care organization is needed to be tailored with gender and professional sensitivity.

Особенности Я-концепции обучающихся подросткового возраста

The article discusses features of the self-concept in adolescents. The relevance of the research is substantiated by increased social demands on an individual. In the modern world, success depends on an individual’s activity based on their understanding of self in the context of life. At the same time, the very content of education has been altered in order to create conditions for self-determination and ensure ultimate self-realization. Despite the abundance of research on the issues associated with the development of the self-concept in preschoolers, primary school children, adolescents, and youth, the author notes an insufficient number of studies on this topic in the modern population of children, as most studies date back to the early 2000s. The theoretical and methodological basis of the present research was formed by the teaching of R. B. Burns on the three-component structure of the self-concept, which includes the cognitive (main characteristics of our habitual self-perception, self-knowledge), evaluative (self-esteem, self-attitude) and behavioural components (potential behavioural reaction, self-control). These ideas are consistent with the ideas of modern researchers about the self-concept and its structure. In the article, the author cites the data of his own empirical research, the purpose of which is to identify the features of the self-concept in modern adolescents, and provides a list of diagnostic methods for each of the components. Diagnostic results for the cognitive component of the self-concept in adolescents showed that the respondents find it difficult to describe or characterize themselves and that their self-knowledge is poor. At the same time, when analyzing the results of measuring the evaluative component, the author found high levels of self-esteem and ambition, a high degree of differentiation in self-esteem, a large gap between self-esteem and the level of ambition, and a high level of self-regard. When studying the level of subjective control, it was established that adolescents generally control their behaviour. However, there is a tendency to shift responsibility for major successes and failures to external factors. The author concludes that the presence of the identified features in the self-concept of adolescents indicates the need for further research on this issue.

Culture and early social-cognitive development.

From a developmental systems perspective, this chapter focuses on the question whether culture matters for children's early social-cognitive development. Based on a review of the current cross-cultural literature, we evaluate the current state of research on cross-cultural similarities and differences in major developmental milestones of early social cognition, namely (i) the development of self-awareness and an understanding of self and others as intentional agents, (ii) advanced forms of social learning and (iii) prosocial cognition and behavior. Overall, the current cross-cultural research suggests universality without uniformity: the common suite of social-cognitive skills emerges reliably and, at the same time, there are culture-specific accentuations of social-cognitive development across domains that mostly are in line with cultural values, beliefs and practices. By following different agendas when providing and structuring physical and social settings for their children, caregivers coherently organize infants' nascent intuitions, sentiments, and inclinations into increasingly coherent patterns of attention, appraisal, experience and behavior that are in line with cultural ideals and beliefs. By doing so, culturally informed social interaction sets the stage for culture-specific modulations of social cognition already in the first years of life.

Factores que potencian la autorregulación y el aprendizaje significativo en Primera Infancia

Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación que tuvo como objetivo conocer los factores que potencian la autorregulación del aprendizaje en los niños y las niñas de primera infancia, beneficiarios del proyecto “Pedagogía en contexto Aula Móvil”, del Programa de Licenciatura en Pedagogía Infantil, de Uniminuto Soacha, Colombia; y la incidencia de dicha autorregulación en su aprendizaje significativo. Es menester subrayar que para este estudio se utilizó una metodología cualitativa con alcance exploratorio y descriptivo, logrado a través de una muestra no probabilística intencional. Se encontró que la autorregulación y el aprendizaje significativo se potencian a través de: procesos motivacionales relacionados con la afectividad en el aula, el juego, la lúdica, el arte y los espacios para la libre expresión; procesos metacognitivos como los espacios para la autorreflexión, autovaloración, problematización de realidades, resolución de conflictos, experimentación y praxis; y con procesos de inteligencia emocional como el desarrollo de la confianza, la seguridad en sí mismos y la autoestima.

ТЕОРЕТИКО-МЕТОДОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ БИОГРАФИЧЕСКОЙ РЕФЛЕКСИИ ЛИЧНОСТИ

The article presents with psychological characteristic of biographical reflection as a reflective analysis of the life course. The author provides an overview of contemporary scienific discussion about biographical reflection, and adduces the data obtained through the study, the subject of which was the psychological content, functions and genesis of the bio-graphical reflection of a personality. In the contemporary scientific psychological discourses, the biographical reflection is considered as a method of studying the personality on the scale of the life path, or as the main property of the personality and of the autobiographical subject. The researchers in Russia and the West are focused on the heterogeneous mechanisms of autobiographical analysis of life events, conditions for understanding the meaning of life, autobiographical knowledge, life narrative, interpretation of an autobiography and a biography. They consider as well the dynamics of these mechanisms in lifespan development. The author offers the reader her own view of the contemporary debate about psychological content, and functions and genesis of the biographical reflection, highlighting important, from her point of view, a reflection of the autobiographical Self in the life changes when there are no social and cultural sources and resources to support development. In the original concept, the author proposed to consider biographical reflection as a resource for the personality self-development in adulthood. This work examined the specific of biographical reflection in an alternation two forms of the reflective analysis: a reflection of «life of Me» and a reflection of «life of Other» (a prototype of generation and culture). The formation process of biographical reflection at the age 17-25 is associated with integrating the heterogeneous mechanisms of life course reflective analysis (existential, cognitive, narrative, and hermeneutic) and interiorizating biographical signs and symbols, which is accompanied by the motivation of self-determination. The author considers the further development of biographical reflection (in age 25–65) as a stage of mastering by adults a reflection as a development resource for affirming the position of the author of life, and gaining arbitrary control over autobiographical Self, and exercise of free choosing a life course, and search for the meanings of life. The author argues that thanks to the mechanisms of biographical reflection, connections are established between the separate life events and new integrity arises as a life course that becomes a form of self-development of a modern adult. These results suggest that modern adults, who are choosing the individualization of life course, are more likely to have higher biographical reflection and use it as recourse to gain control over the quality of the individual life in time.

Narrating Whiteness: A Qualitative Exploration of How White College Students Construct and Give Meaning to Their Racial Location

The purpose of this study was to explore how white college students construct and give meaning to their racial locations through the act of storytelling. Guided by narrative inquiry and grounded in critical whiteness studies, the results of this study highlight 3 constructions of whiteness that illuminate understandings of the racial self, the racial self in relation to People of Color, and systems of racism and white supremacy. Implications for engaging white students on race, racism, and whiteness are offered.