Cultivating Emotional Granularity

An emerging focus in affective science is the expertise that underlies healthy emotionality. A growing literature highlights emotional granularity – the ability to make fine-grained distinctions in one’s affective feelings – as an important skill. Cross-sectional evidence indicating the benefits of emotional granularity raises the question of how emotional granularity might be intentionally cultivated through training. To address this question, we present shared theoretical features of centuries-old Buddhist philosophy and modern constructionist theory that motivate the hypothesis that contemplative practices may improve granularity. We then examine the specific mindfulness-style practices originating in Buddhist traditions that are hypothesized to bolster granularity. We conclude with future directions to empirically test whether emotional granularity can be intentionally cultivated.

Understanding Empathy in Children

<p>Health, particularly diet and everyday nutrition, as the ultimate causal factor in life is an important aspect of every child's education. Meanwhile, computer generated (CG) 3-dimensional (3-D) graphics is a medium often used by entertainment and advertising. Educational intervention to help children make appropriate dietary choices can be designed by employing similar methods used by entertainment and advertising, such as 3-D characters aimed at children. The question that this research asked is: can creating an empathic bond between 3-D characters and children communicate a healthy nutrition message effectively? This thesis is based on qualitative research founded on the constructionist theory that focuses on exploring the perspective of children via focus groups. Educational designs based on familiar computer-generated graphics will help equip children to deal with nutritional and dietary choices, ultimately initiating behavioural change as their relationship with food matures earlier. Empathy on the children's and adult's sides of the healthy nutrition conversation is important to establish this relationship in children's nutritional decisions. The main challenge for nutrition education is not in short-term diversions, but long-term changes in behavioural responses in media literacy. A constructionist approach of helping children work through advertising by improving their media vocabulary would be a more sustainable approach to enhancing their ability to decode advertising rhetoric and in turn forming their own informed opinion and responses. Industry referenced educational content intent on healthy lifestyles can balance the prevalent advertising messages leading to a more balanced overall media that children are exposed to.</p>

Understanding Empathy in Children

<p>Health, particularly diet and everyday nutrition, as the ultimate causal factor in life is an important aspect of every child's education. Meanwhile, computer generated (CG) 3-dimensional (3-D) graphics is a medium often used by entertainment and advertising. Educational intervention to help children make appropriate dietary choices can be designed by employing similar methods used by entertainment and advertising, such as 3-D characters aimed at children. The question that this research asked is: can creating an empathic bond between 3-D characters and children communicate a healthy nutrition message effectively? This thesis is based on qualitative research founded on the constructionist theory that focuses on exploring the perspective of children via focus groups. Educational designs based on familiar computer-generated graphics will help equip children to deal with nutritional and dietary choices, ultimately initiating behavioural change as their relationship with food matures earlier. Empathy on the children's and adult's sides of the healthy nutrition conversation is important to establish this relationship in children's nutritional decisions. The main challenge for nutrition education is not in short-term diversions, but long-term changes in behavioural responses in media literacy. A constructionist approach of helping children work through advertising by improving their media vocabulary would be a more sustainable approach to enhancing their ability to decode advertising rhetoric and in turn forming their own informed opinion and responses. Industry referenced educational content intent on healthy lifestyles can balance the prevalent advertising messages leading to a more balanced overall media that children are exposed to.</p>

Cespedes-Guevara, J. - A constructionist theory of music induced emotions

Listening to music can arouse a variety of affective responses. The study of this phenomenon has flourished during the last two decades, particularly thanks to the contribution of the BRECVEMA theory and the Multifactorial Process Model. Nevertheless, these theoretical frameworks have neglected the symbolic dimension of music, and the effect of situational factors. The first aim of this article is to overcome these shortcomings by proposing a model based on contemporary constructionist theories of emotion. This novel approach proposes that listening to music activates automatic perceptual mechanisms that produce fluctuations of affect, and that the activation of associative and appraisal mechanisms transform the fluctuations of affect into a variety of emotional and nonemotional responses. The main proposal is that adopting this constructionist model constitutes a fruitful approach, as it provides a holistic heuristic framework that produces new hypotheses for future investigation of affective experiences with music.

Rights and religious belief in maintaining prison social order

This paper argues that it is not the prison rules and regulations that alter the behaviour of inmates but rather the ideological justification of their religious faith. The article draws upon the social constructionist theory of reality to underpin the discussion of the data. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews and the distribution of semi structured questionnaires. When analysed, the data revealed that although inmates had the right to practice the precepts of their religious faith as defined in law, in practice, these religious rights were not entirely observed. The partial recognition of these rights divulges that the principle of humane treatment underpinning the respect for rights in prison was ignored and reduced to mere formal respect for rules. Besides, the data disclosed that inmates rarely attributed the change in their personality to the impact of prison rules and regulations, but rather to the transformative power of their religion.

Faglige fyrtårne

ResuméArtiklens ærinde er at undersøge hvordan fænomenet fagligt fyrtårn, der blev introduceret i forbindelse med den nationale kompetenceudvikling på dagtilbudsområdet i 2018, konstrueres blandt ledere, medarbejdere og fyrtårne, samt at identificere de udfordringer, muligheder og dilemmaer der knytter sig hertil. Artiklen bygger på interviews med faglige fyrtårne, ledere og kolleger. Analysen viser, at de faglige fyrtårne konstrueres på mangfoldige måder gennem de positioner de forhandler sig frem til og bliver givet i det pågældende samarbejde. Artiklens metodologiske afsæt er inspireret af socialkonstruktionistisk erkendelsesteori, hvor virkeligheden anskues som et socialt konstrueret fænomen. I artiklen bliver fænomenet faglige fyrtårne sat i perspektiv i forhold til forståelsen af en intern og ekstern professionsforståelse og artiklen afsluttes med at fremhæve fire fremtrædende analytiske positioner; faglige fyrtårne som lyskastere, eksperter, facilitatorer og forandringskraft. AbstractVocational lighthouses - a growing phenomenon in daycare institutionsThe purpose of this article is to examine the ways in which the phenomenon vocational lighthouse, introduced in reference to the national competence initiatives in daycare in 2018, is constructed among leaders, employees and vocational lighthouses and to identify challenges, possibilities, and dilemmas related to the position. The article is based on several interviews from vocational lighthouses, leaders and colleagues. The analysis shows that the vocational lighthouses are constructed in specific and multifarious ways, closely connected to the context and the negotiated positions in which they participate in the local collaboration. Methodologically the article is inspired by social constructionist theory, whereby reality is viewed as a socially constructed phenomenon. The article places the vocational lighthouses in an understanding of an internal and external profession, and in conclusion, the article highlights four salient positions: vocational lighthouses as light-casters, experts, facilitators and change enforcers.

Individuality in complex systems: A constructionist approach

For a long time, linguists more or less denied the existence of individual differences in grammatical knowledge. While recent years have seen an explosion of research on individual differences, most usage-based research has failed to address this issue and has remained reluctant to study the synergy between individual and community grammars. This paper focuses on individual differences in linguistic knowledge and processing, and examines how these differences can be integrated into a more comprehensive constructionist theory of grammar. The examination is guided by the various challenges and opportunities that may be extracted from scattered research that exists across disciplines touching on these matters, while also presenting some new data that illustrate how differentiation between individuals can improve models of long-term language change. The paper also serves as the introduction to this special issue of Cognitive Linguistics, which collects seven contributions from various linguistic disciplines focusing on key aspects of individuals’ grammars.