Story education: Assessing history education in light of narrative therapy

This paper discusses the obstructive dimension of specific declarative knowledge on historical thinking. Through considering the anthropological and social-psychological functions of stories, the author identifies potential difficulties individuals may face when trying to decipher, understand, and evaluate particular stories, as intended by historical thinking. By comparing the incapacity to cope with complex historic narratives with the effects of trauma, the paper discusses how approaches in narrative psychotherapy may add interesting insights to the domain of history education. The paper concludes that selection of declarative knowledge needs to be critically reviewed from a pathological perspective if historical thinking is set to be one of the main functions of history education.

The Effect of Martial Arts Training on Cognitive and Psychological Functions in At-Risk Youths

The current study assessed whether an extended program of martial arts training was a viable intervention for at-risk youths in improving cognitive and psychological functions. Adolescent boys attending specialized education facilities for at-risk youths took part in regular sport lessons or martial arts practice twice a week for 6 months. Hormonal reactivity was assessed during initial training, and measures of psychological (aggression, self-esteem) and cognitive (inhibition, flexibility, speed of processing, and attention) functions were assessed before and immediately following the intervention. Participants in the martial arts training demonstrated significant improvement in the domains of inhibition and shifting and speed of processing. Additionally, initial hormonal reactivity (oxytocin and cortisol) to the intervention predicted significant post-intervention change on several measures of cognitive and psychological functioning. Specifically, oxytocin reactivity predicted improvement in processing speed, as well as reduction of aggression, whereas cortisol reactivity predicted increases in self-esteem. This pioneering, ecologically valid study demonstrates the initial efficacy of this enjoyable, readily available, group intervention for at-risk boys and suggests potential mechanisms that may mediate the process of change.

The joint construction of goals and means as a solution for the problem of variability in behavior

The understanding of variability in behavior is extraordinarily difficult because behavior consists of actions that are purposeful processes directed to reach future results and psychological functions can deliberately be adjusted for this. The conventional method used in handling this problem is to make behavior in experiments as similar as possible to processes studied in the natural sciences. It is suggested this allows the revealing of simple mechanisms of behavior that are independent of purpose and deliberation. A sufficient basis of the simple mechanisms should elucidate purposefulness mechanistically. It is implicitly assumed this method defines the simple mechanisms unequivocally. The replication crisis hints this assumption is incorrect. Arocha (2021) suggests purpose is the essential component in understanding behavior. However, Arocha assumes no mechanistic explanations for goal-directed processes, thus restricting the usefulness of his ideas. I suggest the goal and means of an action are constructed jointly through the criterion of minimal construction costs. This mechanistically determines actions.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF ADVERTISING

В рамках исследования рассмотрены психологические особенности рекламы. Описаны основные элементы психологии применяемые в сфере рекламы. Приведен пример психологического воздействия рекламы на потребителя. The study examines the psychological features of advertising. The main elements of psychology used in the field of advertising are described. An example of the psychological impact of advertising on the consumer is given.

THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF THE CONCEPT “THE READINESS OF PUPILS TO THE ECOLOGICAL ACTIVITY”

In the article it was analyzed the essence of the concepts “readiness”, “activity”, “ecological activity” from the philosophical, psychological and pedagogical points of view. It was also underlined the significance the readiness of the pupils to the ecological activity for the Ukrainian educational system. There were distinguished two approaches of the historical development of the concept “readiness”: personal and functional. The supporters of the first approach consider the readiness as disclosure of individual qualities of a person and its integrity caused by effective character of an activity with high results. The supporters of the second approach define readiness as certain state of the psychological functions of the person that is the condition of the high results during the performance of any activity. The concept “activity” was analyzed as well. The concept “activity” is defined as the activity of a person that is turned out in the system of actions directed to the achieving of certain goals. The theoretical basics of the concept “ecological activity” were outlined. The author develops and specifies the definition of the concept “the readiness of the teenagers to the ecological activity”. It is based on the knowledge about the essence of ecological activity, emotional and valuable attitude to the process of ecological activity and the usage of received knowledge and skills in the ecological activity.

Increasing Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Conduct Problems in Children and Adolescents: What Can We Learn from Neuroimaging Studies?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is particularly relevant for children from 7 years on and adolescents with clinical levels of conduct problems. CBT provides these children and adolescents with anger regulation and social problem-solving skills that enable them to behave in more independent and situation appropriate ways. Typically, CBT is combined with another psychological treatment such as behavioral parent training in childhood or an intervention targeting multiple systems in adolescence. The effectiveness of CBT, however, is in the small to medium range. The aim of this review is to describe how the effectiveness of CBT may be improved by paying more attention to a series of psychological functions that have been shown to be impaired in neuroimaging studies: (1) anger recognition, (2) the ability to generate situation appropriate solutions to social problems, (3) reinforcement-based decision making, (4) response inhibition, and (5) affective empathy. It is suggested that children and adolescents first become familiar with these psychological functions during group CBT sessions. In individual sessions in which the parents (and/or child care workers in day treatment and residential treatment) and the child or adolescent participate, parents then learn to elicit, support, and reinforce their child’s use of these psychological functions in everyday life (in vivo practice). In these individual sessions, working on the psychological functions is tailored to the individual child’s characteristic impairments of these functions. CBT therapists may also share crucial social-learning topics with teachers with a view to creating learning opportunities for children and adolescents at school.