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States of epistemic curiosity interfere with memory for incidental scholastic facts
No full textCuriosity can be a powerful motivator to learn and retain new information. Evidence shows that high states of curiosity elicited by a specific source (i.e., a trivia question) can promote memory for incidental stimuli (non-target) presented close in time. The spreading effect of curiosity states on memory for other information has potential for educational applications. Specifically, it could provide techniques to improve learning for information that did not spark a sense of curiosity on its own. Here, we investigated how high states of curiosity induced through trivia questions affect memory performance for unrelated scholastic facts (e.g., scientific, English, or historical facts) presented in close temporal proximity to the trivia question. Across three task versions, participants viewed trivia questions closely followed in time by a scholastic fact unrelated to the trivia question, either just prior to or immediately following the answer to the trivia question. Participants then completed a surprise multiple-choice memory test (akin to a pop quiz) for the scholastic material. In all three task versions, memory performance was poorer for scholastic facts presented after trivia questions that had elicited high versus low levels of curiosity. These results contradict previous findings showing curiosity-enhanced memory for incidentally presented visual stimuli and suggest that target information that generates a high-curiosity state interferes with encoding complex and unrelated scholastic facts presented close in time
The Sounds of Separation: The Influence of Western Radio and Music on the Fall of the Berlin Wall
No full textThesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in Creative Writing)--John Cabot University, Spring 2024.This thesis explores the influence of Western radio and music on the fall of the Berlin Wall. The first chapter examines Western radio such as Radio Liberty, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and more. It also explores the influence of the Studio on the Barbed Wire, a mobile broadcast that roamed the border of East and West Berlin following the construction of the Berlin Wall. Radio was the earliest way for the West to communicate, at least in a one-sided manner, with those behind the Iron Curtain. As all the radio stations of the time made clear, their purpose was to provide the truth to those who would not otherwise hear it. The second chapter explores the multitude of concerts that took place in East and West Berlin, with an emphasis on lyrics and the cultural impact Western artists had on the East despite the Cold War. This chapter explores the music of multiple Western artists and their influence in divided Berlin such as David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, and David Hasselhoff. The use of photographs and music is essential to this thesis as it is important to understand what East Berliners were hearing and seeing; the sounds of separation
Family Management and Historical Origins: The Italian Experience
No full textResearch Question/Issue
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the long-run determinants of the corporate structure of Italian firms to explain the persistent role of a long-run tradition of civic capital that has favored interpersonal trust, fostered cooperation outside of the narrow ties of family members and limited the diffusion of family businesses managed predominantly by family members.
Research Findings/Insights
We examined a large sample of Italian listed and not listed firms and identified those that operate in current municipalities that in the past used to be independent communes. Such firms featuring experiences of civic engagement are today less likely to be owned by a family and run by family management.
Theoretical/Academic Implications
Our findings highlight the role of institutions as drivers of corporate governance and signal that long forgotten institutions, by modifying local social capital, may interact with family social capital and have important persistent effects on current corporate governance arrangements. Therefore, significant elements of path dependency may explain current patterns of unbundling of ownership and management.
Practitioner/Policy Implications
Persistent corporate governance structures are difficult even for policymakers to modify. Our findings suggest that political measures should favor the accumulation of social capital at the local level when aiming to change ownership and management arrangements and limit the misallocation of resources due to family management
Intergenerational Trauma Within Native American Children in the United States: Healing The Soul Wound
No full textThesis (B.A. in Humanistic Studies, Minor in English and Art & Design)--John Cabot University, Spring 2024.This thesis’ aim is to combine the past, the present, and the future of the educational narrative regarding Native children in the United States. It will begin with historical accounts, focusing on the Federal Boarding School era and the trauma and abuse that Native children suffered at the hands of their supposed caretakers in these schools. Chapter 2 will thus focus on trauma of the past. Following that, Chapter 3 will offer an investigation into how trauma from the past is manifesting itself in today’s world and affecting the Native American children of today. This will seek to explain the concept of the “soul wound” and Intergenerational Trauma as living experiences. Statistics of Native students’ grades, dropout rates, etc. will be included. In addition to statistics of substance abuse struggles, there will be an investigation of how Child Protective Services is mishandling cases involving Native American children and their families. This will include a description of how laws such as the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act were enacted, but how this law, whose purpose was to protect Native American children, is in some cases still being ignored. This chapter will thus focus on a variety of ways in which Native children of today continue to experience trauma. Finally, Chapter 4 will focus on proposed solutions, mainly from within Native Nations, with citations from leading psychologists who specialize in intergenerational trauma in other communities to cross reference material. The goal of this chapter is to look forward to a future that holds the same level of hope and perseverance that members of Native Nations have held in their hearts for generations and to secure a better future for themselves and their children
Garibaldi sul Gianicolo: Monuments, Memory and the Imperial Legacy of the Risorgimento in Italian Rome
No full textThesis (B.A. in Art History)--John Cabot University, Spring 2024.On September 20th, 1895, the inauguration of the Giuseppe Garibaldi monument brought thousands to the summit of the Janiculum Hill. The date marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Rome’s annexation into Italy and commemorated the “Hero of the Two Worlds” as the pre-eminent symbol of the unified nation. However, despite the monument’s ongoing impact on its surrounding urban landscape, it has been continuously neglected out of dedicated scholarship. When approached, most often constrained by univocal interpretations of its meaning, the monument is said to represent the deep anticlerical nature of the Liberal government that set it in place. This thesis, looking to destabilize misguided historicization and further critical engagement, intends to present how Garibaldi's urban presence is emblematic of and indissociable from the imperialist ambitions that informed pre- and post-unification Italy. Considering Garibaldi as the nation's foremost hero in the nineteenth century, we set out to understand how his figure is manipulated through public commemoration to serve a Liberal agenda. The present research derives its novelty from integrating bodies of literature on nationalism, colonialism, migration, and memory into an art historical analysis of the Risorgimento manifest in Rome
The Reconstructed Bildungsroman: Black Folklore and "Paired Characters" in Beloved and Swing Time
No full textThesis (B.A. in English Literature)--John Cabot University, Fall 2024.Beloved by Toni Morrison and Swing Time by Zadie Smith are contemporary bildungsromane, that use African folklore/mythology and paired characters to contribute to the evolution of the genre, by representing the postcolonial experiences of Black women in the diaspora. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Zadie Smith’s Swing Time, the novels reconstruct the convention of the bildungsroman using African folklore/myth and paired characters. Beloved by Toni Morrison uses the myths of the Yoruba abiku and Igbo ogbanje and the African folk tradition of the trickster to characterize the antagonist, Beloved, and exemplify the protagonist’s, Sethe’s, internal struggle due to the traumas of slavery. Sethe’s paired character, Denver, works as a catalyst for Sethe’s stalled development. Swing Time by Zadie Smith uses the folk traditions of the Sene-Gambian kankurang and the Ghanaian Sankofa to work as catalysts and epiphanies for the unnamed protagonist, which structures her bildung, as well as represents her internal conflict. The paired character, Tracey, works as a force to reveal the protagonist’s complex identity conflict. The protagonists in these stories are unconventional because of their identities as Black women in the diaspora, however, through the reconstruction of the convention their bildungsroman becomes possible
Political Inclusion of Roma: Optimizing the National Roma and Sinti equality, inclusion and participation strategy (2021-2030)
No full textThesis (B.A. in Political Science)--John Cabot University, Fall 2024.This research investigates the political participation of the Roma communities in Italy within the framework of the new National Roma and Sinti equality, inclusion and participation strategy (2021-2030). Previous studies have already addressed several issues surrounding the Roma, ranging from being accused of causing an emergency because of their lifestyle and precarious living conditions in institutionalized camps to debates on their legal status, citizenship, antigypsyism, and the limitations of the previous National Strategy (2012-2021). However, insufficient attention has been given to political inclusion as a means for Roma empowerment. This study aims to suggest optimizations to the current National Strategy (2021- 2030) to address antigypsyism through the promotion of political inclusion. A qualitative approach to data-collection is employed, combining semi-structured interviews with the analysis of existing documents. The theoretical discussion critiques Kymlicka’s liberal multiculturalism, advocating a political process perspective to address the Roma’s diverse identity and activism while avoiding tokenism in representation. The findings of this research clearly show a discontinuity between the normative side presented by the National Strategy (2021-2030) and the way in which the strategy is being implemented to foster Roma participation. This research is of importance as it attempts to address the political emancipation of a historically vulnerable group, by providing suggestions to improve an already existing strategy, and it conveys the message that marginalised communities, like the Roma, must be genuinely included in policy formulation
Compassionate Bodies, Compassionate Minds: Psychophysiological Concomitants of Compassion-Focused Therapy
No full textThe evolutionary approach has been increasingly used to deepen our understanding of human psychology. In this chapter, in line with the evolution-informed bio-psycho-social approach of compassion-focused therapy (CFT), we will conceptualize compassion as a purely human motivational system evolved from the caregiving motivation. This evolutionary framework will help us understand the psychophysiological changes that compassion generates in our organism, particularly in the parasympathetic nervous system, and how these can be voluntarily induced and used to promote therapeutic change. Several case narratives will illustrate the psychophysiological and emotional impact of helping clients experience compassion for themselves and others. Using a neurovisceral integration model, we will suggest how activating a compassionate motivation, both toward self and others, will promote emotional regulation and feelings of intra- and inter-personal safeness. Improved self-regulation will help clients respond flexibly and more courageously to changing and challenging environments, one being precisely the therapeutic path
Nature as Teacher and Preacher: Examining Natural Religion in the works of the British Romantics, American Transcendentalists, and Global Postmodernists
No full textThesis (B.A. in English Literature, Minor in Philosophy)--John Cabot University, Spring 2024.The objective of this thesis is to analyze how nature served as an alternative source of knowledge to that of academic or scientific knowledge in three literary time periods: 18th century British Romanticism, 19th century American Transcendentalism, and 20th century Global Postmodernism. Using the poems of William Wordsworth, particularly “Tintern Abbey” and “The Tables Turned”, of William Blake, focusing on “Auguries of Innocence”, and the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, including The Divinity School Address, of selected chapters from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, and of Walt Whitman’s poem “Eidólons” from the Deathbed edition of Leaves of Grass, and of Italo Calvino’s short story “The Distance of the Moon” in Cosmicomics, I denote how each author gleaned moral, philosophical, psychological, spiritual, emotional, sensual and religious insight in their experiences of nature. In Wordsworth, I identify his invention of pantheism as a worship of nature over an omnipotent God by abandoning Christian scripture in favor of poetry through the reflections of the mind on memory. In Blake, I examine a denunciation of the material world, still in favor of nature, but of one that can only be accessed as a mental cavern in our soul, in which we must see beyond the destructive eye of our corporeal existence into eternity. In Emerson, who will build upon Blake’s ideas, I observe a renovation in his assertion that we must embrace the material world, but at the same time, it is only through our transparent eye (that is, our mental faculty of reason) that we can access truth in nature. In Thoreau and Whitman, I will emphasize an integration of the body into nature that Emerson overlooked. We must sensually engage with nature in order to merge the immanent with the transcendent; the mind with matter; the body with soul. Lastly, I will turn to Calvino as a symbol for the severance between the scientific and poetic imaginative world, which is an essential facet of the human’s relationship with natur