Re-conceptualizing Neurosis as a Degree of Egocentricity: Ethical Issues in Psychological Theory.

Psychology's historical rejection of ethics has led to an oversimplification of the origins and treatments of mental disorders. In this article, we present an analysis of how classical neurosis can be reformulated from an ethical and psychological interaction. We focus on the crucial role that egocentricity plays and argue that this term can help to clarify how ego defensive ethical decisions can undermine psychological capacities and contribute to a progressive depersonalization that can result in typical clinical disorders. In Christian anthropology, the virtues, especially humility and love have a crucial role in the positive growth of human affective and cognitive capacities. In addition, the person in his/her nature is endowed with the capacity to transcend the self and to escape egocentricity through self-giving love of God and of others. This capacity of self-giving is diametrically opposed to egocentricity and opens a new way for possible psychological recovery.

The use of stories in moral development. New psychological reasons for an old education method.

Contemporary approaches to moral development and moral education emphasize propositional thinking and verbal discussion of abstract moral dilemmas. In contrast, this article proposes that narratives (stories) are a central factor in a person's moral development. Support for this position comes from recent theoretical contributions of Bruner, Sarbin, Spence, Tulving, and others, who have emphasized narrative thought as a major form of cognition that is qualitatively different from abstract propositional or scientific thinking. In addition, over the last 10 to 20 years psychologists investigating and conceptualizing moral development have come to emphasize such processes as empathy (Hoffman), caring and commitment (Gilligan), interpersonal interaction (Haan), personal character and personality (Coles; Hogan; Staub; Rushton). It is proposed that narratives and narrative thinking are especially involved in how these processes lead to moral development and therefore that narrative should be rehabilitated as a valuable part of moral education.

Learning numerical progressions.

Learning of simple numerical progressions and compound progressions formed by combining two or three simple progressions is investigated. In two experiments, time to solution was greater for compound vs simple progressions; greater the higher the progression's solution level; and greater if the progression consisted of large vs small numbers. A set of strategies is proposed to account for progression learning based on the assumption S computes differences between integers, differences between differences, etc., in a hierarchical fashion. Two measures of progression difficulty, each a summary of the strategies, are proposed; C1 is a count of the number of differences needed to solve a progression; C2 is the same count with higher level differences given more weight. The measures accurately predict in both experiments the mean time to solve 16 different progressions with C2 being somewhat superior. The measures also predict the learning difficulty of 10 other progressions reported by Bjork (1968).