Unchosen transformative experiences and the experience of agency

Author(s):  
Jelena Markovic
Author(s):  
Thomas DeGloma ◽  
Erin F. Johnston

This chapter explores the ways individuals account for cognitive migrations—significant changes of mind and consciousness that are often expressed as powerful discoveries, transformative experiences, and newly embraced worldviews. It outlines three ideal typical forms of cognitive migration: awakenings, self-actualizations, and ongoing quests. Building on prior approaches to such personal transformations, it develops the notion of cognitive migration to argue the following set of interrelated points. First, cognitive migrations take autobiographical form, which is to say they manifest as the narrative identity work of individuals who undergo them. Second, such narrative identity work provides a reflexive foundation for an individual’s understanding of self and identity in relation to other possible selves and identities—for seeing oneself as a relationally situated character. Third, individuals who articulate cognitive migrations use the plot structure and cultural coding at the root of their narratives to express their allegiance to a new sociomental community. They thereby take on new cognitive norms and identity-defining conventions while rejecting potential alternatives, locating themselves within a broader sociomental field. The spatial metaphor of cognitive migrations draws explicit attention to the broader sociomental field in which such radical changes of mind take place. Finally, such narrative identity work links self-understandings to the often-contested meanings of broadly relevant issues, events, and experiences; when individuals account for their cognitive migrations, they also advance claims that reach well-beyond their personal lives.


2021 ◽  
pp. 234763112110072
Author(s):  
Srinivasan Lakshminarayanan ◽  
N. J. Rao ◽  
G. K. Meghana

The introductory programming course, commonly known as CS1 and offered as a core course in the first year in all engineering programs in India, is unique because it can address higher cognitive levels, metacognition and some aspects of the affective domain. It can provide much needed transformative experiences to students coming from a system of school education that is dominantly performance-driven. Unfortunately, the CS1 course, as practiced in almost all engineering programs, is also performance-driven because of a variety of compulsions. This paper suggests that the inclusion of a course CS0 can bring about transformative learning that can potentially make a significant difference in the quality of learning in all subsequent engineering courses. The suggested instruction design of this course takes the advantage of the unique features of a course in programming. The proposed CS0 course uses “extreme apprenticeship” and “guided discovery” methods of instruction. The effectiveness of these instruction methods was established through the use of the thematic analysis, a well-known qualitative research method, and the associated coding of transformative learning experiences and instruction components.


2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110067
Author(s):  
Parissa J. Ballard ◽  
Grace Anderson ◽  
Danielle Parker Moore ◽  
Stephanie S. Daniel

Authoring Action (A2) is a youth-focused, arts-based, afterschool and summer program. A2’s mission is “to transform the lives of youth and the world through the power of creative writing, spoken word, visual and media arts, film-making and leadership education that promotes positive systemic change.” Using in-depth interviews, this study aimed to understand how this arts-based program affects youth development. Participants in this study (N=36) were alums of Authoring Action (A2), interviewed when they were between the ages of 17-32. Over half identified as female (N=21). Most A2 participants were youth of color and participated in A2 between ages 13-17. Interview data were coded following several steps: generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and generating a report. Four themes describe the impacts of A2 for program participants: communication, cathartic and transformative experiences, connection, and critical consciousness. Programmatic features—getting paid to participate, shared group identity, and open access to program leaders and peers – were meaningful to youth participants. The mission and programmatic features of A2 support youth development; we discuss practices that may benefit other arts-based youth programs and the implications of such practices for youth development.


2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Pugh ◽  
Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia ◽  
Kristin L. K. Koskey ◽  
Victoria C. Stewart ◽  
Christine Manzey

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 47-59
Author(s):  
Sue Bradley

Tony Robbins is an American life coach and entrepreneur who claims his motivational workshop, Unleash the Power Within (UPW) can transform people’s lives. This article is based on an interpretative phenomenological analysis of eight participants who had attended different UPW seminars and explored their experiences of transformation. Eight themes were identified: (1) a change in their sense of self, (2) the development of new skills, (3) changes in lifestyle, (4) transformation/conversion, (5) changes in relationships, (6) permanency of change, (7) feelings of fear versus anticipation and (8) loss versus gain. The research concluded that participants had undergone transformation involving significant, valued and enduring changes centred on new meaning in their lives. Further research was suggested to examine both a wider and more in-depth approach, as personal development workshops offer a large and potentially rich field of transpersonal study focused on human meaning-making and change.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Wielenga

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share architecture as a tool that is increasingly implemented in nature areas and its potential for stimulating transformative experiences among visitors in nature-based tourism. Design/methodology/approach Based on three examples of architecture in nature, the value of architecture to nature-based tourism is presented. Findings It was found that architecture in nature has a wide range of benefits for nature-based tourism and may form a catalyst for gaining transformative experiences in the examples presented. Originality/value The findings presented in this paper touch upon a new way of stimulating transformative experiences among visitors in nature-based tourism by implementing architecture.


2020 ◽  
pp. 230-253
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lackey

This chapter argues that the possibility of transformations and transformative experiences shows that strict, long-term punishments are epistemically irrational. Since the rationality of punishment must be sensitive to the mental states of the person being punished, including their mental states after the time of the punishable act, the possibility of radical changes makes it irrational to punish a person in a way that precludes considering future evidence about these changes. Since strict, long-term punishments, such as sentences of natural life without the possibility of parole, do just this, such punishments always run afoul of the demands of epistemic rationality.


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