Self-reflection as dialectic: How we can follow the Delphian calling to self-knowledge whilst avoiding Narcissus' fate

Self-reflection refers to our ability to think about ourselves and our lives and to ask and answer questions ranging from "Who am I?" to "Why did I do this?". It is thus considered a valuable means to gain self-knowledge. Structurally, reflection involves two elements, a reflecting and a reflected-on, in other words a subject and an object. In the case of self- reflection, subject and object are the same, the reflecting is the reflected-on. As subject and object are traditionally conceived of as radically opposed i.e. mutually exclusive, this situation has led to considering self-reflection problematic: If self-reflection is always reflection on an object, it is thought that self-reflection cannot yield insight into oneself qua subject and might even represent a danger to one’s subjectivity which is characteristic of lived life. Refuting the mutual exclusiveness of subject and object, self-reflection can be regained as a valuable means to gain self-knowledge. It is thereby going to be demonstrated that self-reflection has a dialectical structure. The nature of the self-knowledge yielded by self-reflection conceived of as dialectic is going to be explored. A final part shows how a dialectical account of self- reflection proves useful in clarifying the role which self-reflection plays in schizophrenia

An exploration of the utility of GSR in locating events from personal lifelogs for reflection

Digital personal lifelogs (PLs) enable many artifacts from a person’s life to be automatically stored in a digital archive. These data sets can contain a wealth of potentially valuable information describing events from an individual’s life. A key challenge for lifelog technologies is how to develop scenarios and applications which enable people to interact with these vast heterogeneous data sources in a meaningful way. One of the areas where individuals can gain from interacting with lifelog records of their life is in the process of self reflection. To date little attention has been given to applications which automatically extract content from lifelogs to support self reflection using lifelog content. One of the significant issues with reflection from lifelogs is discerning material which may be of interest in reflection from among the huge amount of available data. One way of determining the user’s engagement with their situation is measuring their biometric response associated with their arousal level. Specifically it is known that an individual’s galvanic skin response (GSR) can vary with their level of arousal. We hypothesize that situations of marked GSR variation are likely to be more significant for self reflection than other moments. We present an initial investigation, using 3 subjects’ lifelogs, of the utility of lifelog items with marked GSR for self reflection. Our results indicate that GSR records may serve as a good enabling technology for applications supporting self reflection and awareness

Disorienting Experiences: Guiding Faculty and Students Toward Cultural Responsiveness

This essay examines the challenges of integrating culturally responsive teaching into an honors curriculum at a predominantly white institution. Through self-reflection resulting from three specific incidents, one author examines the trajectory of risk-taking as it pertains to assigning difficult or challenging texts. The second author provides a vital complement to self-reflection: the mentorship of a senior colleague

Towards a Formal Model of Recursive Self-Reflection

Self-awareness holds the promise of better decision making based on a comprehensive assessment of a system\u27s own situation. Therefore it has been studied for more than ten years in a range of settings and applications. However, in the literature the term has been used in a variety of meanings and today there is no consensus on what features and properties it should include. In fact, researchers disagree on the relative benefits of a self-aware system compared to one that is very similar but lacks self-awareness. We sketch a formal model, and thus a formal definition, of self-awareness. The model is based on dynamic dataflow semantics and includes self-assessment, a simulation and an abstraction as facilitating techniques, which are modeled by spawning new dataflow actors in the system. Most importantly, it has a method to focus on any of its parts to make it a subject of analysis by applying abstraction, self-assessment and simulation. In particular, it can apply this process to itself, which we call recursive self-reflection. There is no arbitrary limit to this self-scrutiny except resource constraints

Miłosz: Self-Reflection as the Topic of a Poetic Description

Czesław Miłosz’s poetry displays two reverberating topics which may be defined as contradictory existence and world experiences. One of those is the admiration for the beauty of the world and awe consequent upon capturing the simultaneous existence of individual entities (Amazement), whilst the other is the topic of the lack of fulfilment, torment, the feeling of lack of authenticity, blame, and shame (This).Miłosz depicted his “I” (represented by various personae), the split between individual consciousness, a strong sense of individuality, distinct from the commune of ordinary people (a strand salient in the pre-war volume Three Winters), at the same time nurturing a feeling of strong bonds with the society.The poet’s self-reflection holds for both topics, while the autobiographic discourse is orientated to the questions about the functions of the poetic language and about the status and sense of poetry, thereby addressing the self-topicality

A Trip to the Moon: Personalized Animated Movies for Self-reflection

Self-tracking physiological and psychological data poses the challenge of presentation and interpretation. Insightful narratives for self-tracking data can motivate the user towards constructive self-reflection. One powerful form of narrative that engages audience across various culture and age groups is animated movies. We collected a week of self-reported mood and behavior data from each user and created in Unity a personalized animation based on their data. We evaluated the impact of their video in a randomized control trial with a non-personalized animated video as control. We found that personalized videos tend to be more emotionally engaging, encouraging greater and lengthier writing that indicated self-reflection about moods and behaviors, compared to non-personalized control videos

Success in Salsa: Students' Evaluation of the Use of Self-Reflection When Learning to Dance

Achievement goal theory stipulates that achievement goals guide our beliefs and behaviour (Roberts, 2001). The two main achievement goals orientations identified in the sport and physical activity literature are task and ego orientations (Nicholls, 1984). A person with a strong task orientation defines success in self-referenced terms, as improving one’s own performance or mastering new skills. Someone with a strong ego orientation defines success normatively, as being better than others (Duda & Hall, 2001). The majority of existing research suggests that having a strong task orientation is a good thing, whether in regards to motivationally adaptive responses (Standage & Treasure, 2002), self-referenced sources of enjoyment (Yoo & Kim, 2002), adaptive sources of confidence (Magyar & Feltz, 2003), or students’ satisfaction with learning (Zandvliet & Straker, 2001). Similar to many studies with athletes, Nieminen, Varstala and Manninen (2001) found that dance students tended to have stronger task than ego orientations. Even so, any method that 2 encourages dance students to focus on the process of what they are doing rather than what others are doing (i.e., comparing themselves to others) would be beneficial in helping students attend to relevant cues and improve their skills. Both teachers and students can become frustrated when either the desired level of improvement in student skills is not being achieved or when teachers are repeatedly saying the same thing with no apparent result. While teachers may need to provide more accurate, detailed or individual feedback, or improve the motivational climate of the class, sometimes the situation is that the students need to engage more directly in the learning process. One possible intervention is the use of structured self-reflection. Using self-reflection sheets that cause respondents to focus on specific elements of technique or skills, and rate one’s own performance, should theoretically promote a task focus. Hanrahan (1999) suggested that engaging in self-reflection may enhance intrinsic motivation as well as performance. Selfanalysis and self-monitoring have been found to positively influence the acquisition of physical skills (Lounsbery & Sharpe, 1996; Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 1996). The purpose of this study was to have dance students engage in structured self-reflection for a number of weeks and then evaluate the self-reflection process

A Self-reflection Tool for Black Trustees on Foundation Boards

A companion to ABFE's Responsive Philanthropy in Black Communities: A Framework and Agenda for Chang

Evaluating the effects of self-practice/self-reflection on cognitive flexibility, empathy, insight, self-compassion, self-monitoring, and stress in postgraduate cognitive behaviour therapy trainees : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

There is considerable evidence to suggest that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) training programs can effectively enhance therapists’ CBT knowledge and skills. In response, research is now beginning to establish which specific training strategies are most effective in developing which CBT skills and competencies. Self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) is an experiential training strategy used to enhance CBT training and the ongoing professional development of CBT practitioners. Self-practice/self-reflection provides therapists with a structured experience of using CBT on themselves (self-practice) and reflecting on that experience (self-reflection). In order to build on previous SP/SR research, the aim of the current study was to explore the effects of SP/SR on six specific dimensions of CBT therapist competence: cognitive flexibility, empathy, insight, self-compassion, self-monitoring, and stress, among postgraduate CBT trainees. Seven students completing a SP/SR program as part of the Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at Massey University were recruited to participate in the study. Quantitative data using six self-report measures of therapist competence was collected at five critical time points pertaining to the participants’ SP/SR program: baseline, pre-intervention, midpoint, post-intervention, and follow-up. Qualitative data was collected from participants’ written reflections. A mixed method design using descriptive quantitative and qualitative thematic analysis provided valuable quantitative (and some qualitative) support for the use of SP/SR as a CBT training and development strategy, particularly when targeting these six dimensions of CBT therapist competence

Sprite Catcher: A Handheld Self Reflection and Mindfulness Tool for Mental Healthcare

This paper describes the rationale behind the ongoing development of Sprite Catcher - a handheld, tangible interactive tool for treating depression and anxiety. The current design, which is intended to encourage the user to practice self-reflection and mindfulness, is the product of participatory design conducted with counsellors from a local mental health charity and with a university psychology researcher. Through a review of previous work in this area, a description of a use scenario and an overview of the design's functions and concepts, we illustrate where the project is heading and which research questions we aim to respond to