Theory and Philosophy Commons^™

The Inevitability Of Decay: Disability In Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea, Dominic Robin

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To many, Ernest Hemingway embodies a certain image of "masculinity," one centered around ability and physical performance. Such a narrative ignores the truly complicated and dynamic shape his understanding of the body took. Through an analysis of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, I examine the form this ideology took in his later life, focusing particularly on Hemingway's evolved understanding of the body. Through this research, a more nuanced picture of Hemingway emerges, one that recognizes the complicated and dynamic nature his view of the "able" body took.

Philosophical Ends To Scientific Means: Diagnosis And The Epistemology Of Psychology, Christopher Michael Johnson

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Modern scientific psychology continues to advance toward newer and greater discoveries of the inner workings of the human mind, posited in the belief that a universal objectivity exists if only to be found. Despite the professional emphasis on conducting psychological enterprises in this manner, the field has spent much of its formalized existence struggling to answer some of its most basic questions. This paper thoroughly explores the nature of a scientific psychology, while suggesting that psychology may find wisdom in its philosophical origins. It further suggests that psychology continue toward a postmodern epistemology, in which a unitary psychological reality is …

Transcendence Of Trauma.Pdf, Mary-Jane V. Rubenstein

Mary-Jane Rubenstein

No abstract provided.

The Horse's Ass: A Survey Of Comediology, William M. Fisk

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

What is comedy? Can someone learn to be funny? Are there rules or guidelines for the production of laughter, the universal language? This paper, which outlines an investigation of successful comedians and the production of a short film, determines to aggregate as many of the relevant prerequisites of inducing giggles as possible, especially as they relate to the audiovisual medium of cinema.

Stasi Brainwashing In The Gdr 1957 - 1990, Jacob H. Solbrig, Jacob Hagen Solbrig

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the methods used by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), more commonly known as the Stasi, or East German secret police, for extraction of information from citizens of the German Democratic Republic for the purpose of espionage and covert operations inside East Germany, as it pertains to the deliberate brainwashing of East German citizens. As one of the most efficient intelligence agencies to ever exist, the Stasi’s main purpose was to monitor the population, gather intelligence, and collect or turn informants. They used brainwashing techniques to control the people of the GDR, keeping the populace paralyzed with fear …

Mentalization In Counseling Processes, Matthew J. Swartzentruber

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The purpose of this literature review is to demonstrate the profound influences and numerous applications the concept of mentalization has within counseling processes. The skill of mentalizing extends across theoretical orientations within existing counseling frameworks and has been suggested to be a core factor within the counseling process (Allen, Fonagy, & Bateman, 2008). Mentalizing capacities have been linked to positive therapeutic alliances (Markowitz & Milrod, 2011), positive client outcomes (Bernbach, 2002; Bouchard et al., 2008; Fonagy & Target, 1996; Karlsson & Kermott, 2006; Levy et. al., 2006; Meehan, Levy, Reynoso, Hill, & Clarkin, 2009), and counselor effectiveness (Cologon, 2013); and …

Increasing Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists Clinical Self-Efficacy Using Peer Mentoring, Megan Christine Bass

Doctoral Projects

The purpose of this project is to determine if clinical self-efficacy is increased in SRNAs at The University of Southern Mississippi after participation in the peer mentoring program. The project was a one-group pre and posttest design in a sample of SRNAs who received peer mentoring. To evaluate the students’ perceived clinical self-efficacy before and after the peer mentoring educational intervention, the Rowbotham and Schmitz Student Self-Efficacy scale (SSE) (2013) was adapted and administered to second-year SRNAs (N=17). Clinical performance, skill and knowledge development, social interaction with clinical faculty, and coping with clinical stress are the four areas evaluated by …

Is Agent-Neutral Deontology Possible?, Matthew Hammerton

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

It is commonly held that all deontological moral theories are agent-relative in the sense that they give each agent a special concern that she does not perform acts of a certain type rather than a general concern with the actions of all agents. Recently, Tom Dougherty has challenged this orthodoxy by arguing that agent-neutral deontology is possible. In this article I counter Dougherty's arguments and show that agent-neutral deontology is not possible.

Nonlinear Dynamical Systems And Humanistic Psychology, David Pincus, Adam W. Kiefer, Jessica I. Beyer

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The recent debunking by Brown, Sokal, and Friedman of some high-profile results applying chaos theory to positive psychology creates the opportunity to shed light on the quality work that has been done by others in this area. Too many humanists may be unaware of the large volume of legitimate work that exists in the literature apart from Fredrickson and Losada’s article. Often, such legitimate lines of research are ignored, not for lack of scientific merit, but because of artificial guild boundaries and similar silos that separate groups of scientists—even when working in similar areas. It would be unfortunate to have …

Why People Play Table-Top Role-Playing Games: A Grounded Theory Of Becoming As Motivation, Darrin F. Coe

The Qualitative Report

There is a paucity of research related to the motivation of people who play table-top role-playing games (TRPGs). Two questions drove this research: (1) What motivates people to play TRPGs and (2) Can a single supra-motivator be developed which envelopes a larger theory of why people participate in TRPGs? Grounded Theory methodology was used to investigate why people initiate and continue to participate in table-top role-playing games. Fourteen people who attended a 4-year college who played TRPGs and two people who did not play were interviewed regarding their participation in role-playing games. Open codes, emergent categories, conceptual categories, and a …

Attaining The Peak: Three Factors That Inhibit Performance, Marcus Marsden

Asian Management Insights

The willingness of individuals and teams to experience the ‘discomfort of adaptation’, as opposed to the ‘comfort of learning’, is the crucial meta-factor in the drive to increase performance. Too much time and effort is spent on strategy and knowledge. This is not to say that strategy and knowledge are not important. However, the focus on looking ‘outside’ rather than ‘inside’ for performance solutions, while it may be more comfortable for everyone concerned, does not quite cut it. As Grashow and Heifetz state in The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, “The most common error organisations make is to try and solve …

Weight-Loss Treatment-Induced Physical Activity Associated With Improved Nutrition Through Changes In Social Cognitive Theory Variables In Women With Obesity, James J. Annesi, Nicole Mareno

Health Behavior Research

Behavioral weight-loss treatments have typically been unsuccessful and a theoretical. Even when treatments were scientifically derived, theory has rarely been used to decompose, and understand the bases of, their effects. This 2-year study evaluated mediation of the prediction of nutritional changes by changes in physical activity, through social cognitive theory variables. Data from women with Class 1–2 obesity, classified as “insufficiently active” (N = 50; Mage = 47.6 years), were extracted from 2 initial trials of a new cognitive-behavioral intervention. That treatment sought to improve self-regulation, mood, and self-efficacy through increased physical activity, to then induce improved eating …

Do Injunctive And Descriptive Normative Beliefs Need A Value-Laden Multiplier In Value Expectancy Models? A Case Series Across Multiple Health Behaviors, Paul Branscum, Maria Collado Rivera, Grace Fairchild, Katie Qualls Fay

Health Behavior Research

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefit of transforming expectancy-based determinants of injunctive and descriptive norms with a value-laden construct across a case series of health behaviors. This case series draws upon three cases (sugar-sweetened beverages, physical activity, and sleep), each evaluating generalized injunctive (ΣIN) and descriptive norms (ΣDN), with corresponding value-expectancy based determinants: injunctive normative belief strength (inbi) and motivation to comply (mtci), and descriptive normative belief strength (dnbi) and identification with referents (iwri). Each belief-based measure (inbi/dnbi) and product between belief-based measure and value-laden measure (inbi x mtci/dnbi x iwri) was correlated to its corresponding …

Syntax And Semantics Of Perceptual Representation, James K. Quilty-Dunn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a defense of perceptual pluralism, the thesis that perceptual systems deliver multiple types of representations including those used in thought. In particular, it argues that perceptual systems output iconic (i.e., image-like, analog) representations as well as discursive (i.e., language-like, digital) states. A central thesis is that perceptual representations of objects are propositional and composed of concepts. It also develops a compositional syntax of iconic representation called the coordination model, according to which icons are sets of primitive parts, each of which determines values along multiple analog feature dimensions simultaneously. The dissertation supports the conclusion that perceptual …

The Doctrine Of Affections: Where Art Meets Reason, Sharri K. Hall

Musical Offerings

The Doctrine of Affections was a widespread understanding of music and musicality during the Baroque era. The Doctrine was a result of the philosophy of reason and science as it coincides with music. It aimed to reconcile what man knew about science and the human body, and what man thought he knew about music. It was a reconciliation of practical musicianship and theoretical music which had begun to rise in the time. Though it is generally understood as being apart from Enlightenment thinking, the Doctrine is a result of Enlightenment-style philosophy. As the Enlightenment sought to explain why things occurred …

Bridging Transpersonal Ecosophical Concerns With The Hero’S Journey And Superheroes Through Comicbook Lore: Implications For Personal And Cultural Transformation, Mark A. Schroll, Claire Polansky

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper explores how mythical figures and comicbook superheroes can 1) inspire personal growth, social and planetary change, and 2) explicate aspects of the deep ecology movement and transpersonal ecosophy that invite further academic inquiry while at the same time 3) speak to concerns that ignite the interests of popular culture and personal mythology. Likewise the ecopsychological significance of modern fictional characters in comicbooks, graphic novels, and films will be examined. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 provides a theoretical examination of how definitions of the terms myth and hero and hero’s journey are framed, and their implications …

Spiritual Emergency: The Understanding And Treatment Of Transpersonal Crises, Christina Grof, Stanislav Grof

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

There exists increasing evidence that many individuals experiencing episodes of nonordinary states of consciousness accompanied by various emotional, perceptual, and psychosomatic manifestations are undergoing an evolutionary crisis rather than suffering from a mental disease (Grof, 1985). The recognition of this fact has important practical and theoretical consequences. If properly understood and treated as difficult stages in a natural developmental process, these experiences—spiritual emergencies or transpersonal crises—can result in emotional and psychosomatic healing, creative problem-solving, personality transformation, and consciousness evolution. is fact is reflected in the term “spiritual emergency,” which suggests a crisis, but also suggests the potential for rising to …

The Return Of Perennial Perspectives? Why Transpersonal Psychology Should Remain Open To Essentialism, Steve Taylor

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In reply to Hartelius’s (2016) response to my paper “From Philosophy to Phenomenology: The Argument for a ‘Soft’ Perennialism” (Taylor, 2016a), I provide arguments in support of my model from contemporary scholars of mysticism, who advocate a move from a philosophically-based perennialism to a phenomenologically-based essentialism. This discussion illustrates that perennialist perspectives are far from outmoded. I discuss the metaphysical aspects of my model, suggesting that there is no reason why transpersonal psychology should not address metaphysical issues, as long as they are secondary to phenomenological issues, and as long as they are based on evidence rather than wholly speculative. …

Zombie Perennialism: An Intelligent Design For Psychology? A Further Response To Taylor's Soft Perennialism, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In a recent paper Taylor has suggested that perennialist models are or should be resurgent within transpersonal psychology. However, perennialist models such as those of Wilber and Taylor are metaphysical philosophies of spirituality typical of New Age religions; while such systems may be studied by a psychology that considers human spirituality, they are not and should not be proffered as psychology. Claims that Taylor's soft perennialism are partly evidence based are compared with invalid claims that the narrative of Noah's flood or the Christian-based idea of intelligent design are partly evidence based. Critiques of Wilber's integral perennialism and Taylor's soft …

Keeping The Account Open: On Metaphysical Mistrust In Transpersonal Psychology (A Response To Hartelius, 2017), Steve Taylor

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In response to Hartelius (2017), I suggest that the evidence for perennialism or essentialism can be tested, and is publicly accessible, through engagement with the spiritual practices that have given rise to cross-cultural mystical experiences with common characteristics. This suggests that essentialism could be included in transpersonal psychology (and psychology in general). I suggest that there is no reason why transpersonal psychology should exclude metaphysical claims, as long as they are inferred or implied by research and evidence, explicitly stated and viewed as secondary. It is impossible to avoid metaphysics, and it is important for transpersonal psychologists (and all psychologists …