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Kierkegaard and Narrative Self-Development: A Contemporary Philosophical and Neuroscientific Approach
Get PDFThesis advisor: Micah LottThe looming question about life’s meaning is more salient in our modern era of advanced technological developments and social structures. Søren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth-century author and philosopher, perceived this modern dilemma and provided a meaningful answer to the urgent existential struggle by developing an extensive understanding of selfhood and establishing a comprehensive method for self-development. This thesis argues that empirical evidence from contemporary neuroscience and psychology substantiates Kierkegaard’s explanation of the self and self-development. I explain in chapter one that, even with the vast amount of knowledge that modernity has brought, we cannot seem to reach the heart of the matter about life’s meaning, and deaths from despair are currently at an all-time high. In chapter two, I explain that Kierkegaard works out a detailed concept of selfhood that emphasizes the importance of self-conscious awareness, contemplative inwardness, and the power of transcendence. This requires that people know themselves and their character, which also creates significance in life through embracing the task of freedom. In chapter three, I argue that Kierkegaard’s conception of the self is teleological, and to guide self-development properly over time, a person must aim to become a single individual that imitates the intentions of Christ. I argue in chapter four that knowing the self as a single individual and imitating Christ’s intentions becomes easier when selfhood is structured in narrative self-identity. I establish the practice of narrative-self-talk as a tool to guide self-development towards the Kierkegaardian telos that focuses on maintaining explicit conscious awareness of the self as a single individual. Chapter five shows that the Kierkegaardian concepts of teleological selfhood and narrative self-development are supported by evidence from psychology and neuroscience. Furthermore, this evidence shows the method to be highly efficient and effective for shaping a person’s habits, schemas, and character. In chapter six, I conclude by showing that this empirically backed methodological approach ultimately provides meaning to life by generating belonging, coherence, and significance while also satisfying the human need for transcendence in life.Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Philosophy
Discernment at the Periphery: Race, Coloniality, and the Demonic
Get PDFThesis advisor: Andrew L. PrevotAlthough underemphasized by contemporary theologians, demonology haunts some of the most important theological and social questions of our time. Specifically, demonology is a necessary site of Christian reflection in light of the contemporary social and theological problems of colonialism and anti-Black racism. This dissertation charts pathways for a contextual, prophetic, and decolonial Christian demonology for the 21st theology. This dissertation first retrieves underappreciated attempts to revive demonology among 20th century American and European theologians. This theological tradition, which I dub “Euro-American political demonology” endorses possibilities for Christian demonology as a political theological doctrine in a world of violence and systemic injustice. The second chapter, drawing from Black studies and decolonial theory, analyzes the precise role of Christian demonology in the emergence of the anti-Black colonial reality. Returning to Euro-American political demonology, the third chapter assesses whether this demonological tradition responsibly and effectively speaks to the anti-Black colonial context, putting these thinkers in conversation with liberation, postcolonial, and decolonial theologies. I determine that Euro-American approaches demonology, while instructive, do not take sufficient account of the modern anti-Black colonial context, nor the particular implication of demonology in the emergence of that very social reality. Aligning with emerging decolonial approaches to theology, the final two chapters turn to Black and womanist reflections on demonology, demonization, and the practice of discerning the spirits. For Black American populations, demonology has remained a salient language for articulating resistance and healing in a world of demonizing, anti-Black, violence. Womanist theology, in particular, approaches demonology in the context of the difficult praxis of Black persons discerning their divine dignity living under a colonial matrix that demonizes Black flesh. The final chapter traces the themes of demonology and discernment in the literature of James Baldwin, commending Baldwin as a resource for decolonial approaches to demonology. Baldwin, particularly through his literary work exhibits a Black grammar of the demonic which frames the drama of discerning the spirits. For Baldwin, discernment is an embodied and communal praxis of embracing possibilities of Divine love and resisting the powers of anti-Black coloniality.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Theology
Measuring Students’ Perceptions of Student Teaching University Supervisors: Scenario-Based Scale Development Using Rasch and Guttman Facet Theory
Get PDFThesis advisor: Larry H. LudlowIn the field of teacher education, it is well documented that the most influential part is the clinical component, often referred to as student teaching or the practicum experience (Cochran-Smith, 1991; Darling-Hammond, 2014; Evertson, 1990). During the practicum, there exists a triad of three individuals: a university supervisor, a K-12 classroom teacher (often referred to as the cooperating teacher), and the teacher candidate. While much research has been conducted on teacher candidates and the cooperating teacher role, there has been a lack of research on the role of the university supervisor. The lack of measurement instruments to assess the quality of the university supervisor puts teacher education programs at a disadvantage, both from a programmatic improvement standpoint, as well as meeting accreditation requirements. This dissertation provides an answer to this issue, creating a new instrument that assesses the quality of the university supervisor, from the perspective of teacher candidates. This instrument is constructed under the Rasch-Guttman Scenario (RGS) framework, as most clearly defined by Ludlow, Baez-Cruz, et al. (2020). The RGS framework derives its influence from the works of George Rasch (1960/80) as well as Louis Guttman’s facet theory (Guttman 1954; Guttman 1957). The result is a new scale, entitled the University Supervisor Quality (USQ) scale, consisting of nine scenario items. All nine items include four facets that comprise the construct of university supervisor quality: resourcefulness, constructive feedback, mentorship, and collaboration. The results of this dissertation suggest that the utilization of the RGS framework is successful for developing a scale about university supervisor quality. In addition, the use of cognitive interviews provide valuable insight into the development of scales using the RGS framework. This scale has the potential for use in teacher education programs for evaluating the quality of their supervisors, and to utilize as evidence for accreditation purposes.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation
Information frictions in macro-finance:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Rosen ValchevI study how economic conditions and strategic incentives affect belief formation of rational agents with a limited information processing capacity. I study the impact of cognitive and information frictions on individual risk taking, investment and portfolio choice, and their implications on aggregate macroeconomic fluctuations. In my first chapter "Rational Overoptimism and Moral hazard in Credit Booms" I develop a framework in which over optimism in credit booms originates from rational decisions of managers. Because of moral hazard, managers pay too little attention to the aggregate conditions that generate risk, leading them to over borrow and over invest during booms. Periods of low risk premia predict higher default rates, higher probability of crises and systematic negative banks excess returns, in line with existing evidence. I document a negative relation between the convexity of CEO's compensation and their information on a larger sample of firms, which is consistent with my theory. My model implies that compensation regulation can play an important role in macro prudential policy. In my second chapter "Biased Surveys" Rosen Valchev and I improve on the standard tests for the FIRE hypothesis by allowing for both public and private information, and find new interesting results. First, we propose a new empirical strategy that can accommodate this richer information structure, and find that the true degree of information rigidity is about a third higher than previously estimated. Second, we find that individual forecasts over-react to private information but under-react to public information. We show that this is consistent with a theory of strategic diversification incentives in forecast reporting, where forecasters are rational but report a biased measure of their true expectations. This has two effects. First, it generates what looks like behavioral “over-reaction” in expectations, and second biases the information rigidity estimate further downward. Overall, our results caution against the use of survey of forecasts as a direct measure of expectations, and suggest that the true underlying beliefs are rational, but suffer from a much larger degree of imperfect information than previously thought. This has particularly profound implications for monetary policy, where inflation expectations play a key role. I explore further how economic incentives shape beliefs in my third chapter "International Trade and Portfolio Diversification". I show that information choice can explain the puzzling positive relation between bilateral investment and trade across countries. I present a model of endogenous information with both investment in assets and income from trade. While standard model of risk-hedging would require agents to invest in non-trading countries to diversify income risk, I show that limited information capacity and preferences for early resolution of uncertainty reverse this result. The intuition is that investors collect more information on trading partners to reduce income uncertainty, and therefore perceive their equity as less risky. I find that allowing for information choice reduces the role of risk hedging on portfolio decisions. I test my model’s implied relation between trade and attention in the data and find robust empirical support.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Economics
A Shout in the Street
Get PDFThesis advisor: Suzanne Matson“A Shout in the Street” is a poetry collection that seeks to explore the ways in which a lyric speaker determines their linguistic relationship to the world. The collection mediates between personal memory and external representations of beauty, searching for a connection, or at least an opening to constitute the self within. At the heart of this project is the speaker’s longing for that which cannot be named — a word, poem, or hand that lies just outside of reach.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: English
A Short Cultural History of the Thoreau Society
Get PDFThesis advisor: Min SongThe Thoreau Society is the oldest literary society for an American author in the United States, as well as an important force for environmental preservation in Concord, Massachusetts. Since its founding in 1941 the society has used Thoreau's texts, philosophy, and character to bring people together and, during the 1950s, save Walden Pond from future development. In doing so I argue the society essentially bridged literature and environmentalism in a way that created tangible change. Though they are a complicated group that can and should be seen from a critical lens, their triumphs speak to a broader connection between writing and preservation that alters how present-day readers view Thoreau's work. Thus, the thesis will demonstrate how examining the origins, dynamics, tactics, motivations, and achievements of the society grants a clearer understanding not just of how Walden Pond came to be preserved in Concord, but how Thoreau has come to exist in a modern light.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: English
From Human Dignity to the Common Good: A Study of Jacques Maritain's Integral Humanism
Get PDFThesis advisor: Jeffrey BloechlAccording to Catholic social doctrine, there are two principles which serve as foundational pillars of social thought and action: the dignity of human being and the primacy of the common good. Each human person has unique and endless worth in the eye of God, since “God created each human person in His image, in the image of God he created humankind, male and female. He created them” (Genesis, 1: 27). God creates all things and wanted them to participate in His glory and happiness (well-being). Thus, by their nature, all human beings want to be happy. To reach happiness is “something final and self-sufficient and the end of our actions” (NE 1097b20), but we should not forget that by nature man is a part of the greater order. How can one defend both the dignity of the human person and the primacy of the common good? To defend the dignity of human person the first question must be answered what is meant a human person, since the ways in which we understand ourselves as persons have direct effects on the ways in which we organize ourselves collectively in the political communities. To answer what is a human person we will understand how Maritain makes the distinction between individual and person, and what it is that constitutes a human person. It leads to understand the whole human being, soul and body, is a person. Man is as a part of the greater order.
According to Aristotle and followed by Aquinas, every creature is only a part of the whole perfection of the universe, just as one instrument in an orchestra is a part of the whole perfection of the harmony. “Society is a whole composed of persons is to say that society is a whole composed of wholes” (Evans and Ward, The Social and Political Philosophy of Jacques Maritain, p. 85).
Because the relationship between the common good and the dignity of the human person is the relationship of our dignity of finality and our dignity of nature. We distinguish between the human acts and the acts of human being in order to understand the notion of Aquinas’s the human act. Then, we will understand why Maritain defends natural law as an antidote for a secular society and present crisis of pluralist society.
According to Maritain, the deepest result of the crisis from the modern to the present time is man’s natural community in the natural law and his innate ordination to the transcendent as the source of ultimate value have been casted into doubt. Thus, the only appropriate way to reconcile the common good and my good is to turn God into my private good as a kind of a good infinitely shareable, as if there were commensurability between my finite and infinite goodness. To make this reconciliation into the present age, “you must love your neighbor as, like yourselves,” ordered to a common good.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Philosophy
Measuring Psychological Safety, High-Reliability (HRO) Perception and Safety Reporting Intentions Among Pediatric Nurses:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Judith VesseyPurpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between psychological safety, perception of working in a high reliability organization (HRO) and safety event reporting intentions among pediatric nurses working in acute care. Background: The quality and safety of patient care is dependent upon nurses to report safety events and near-misses in order to address systems’ issues and identify improvement opportunities. To encourage feedback and promote reporting, many health care organizations have adopted the high reliability framework and strategies to promote team psychological safety. A dearth of literature exists on how the pediatric nurse perceives their workplace. This study addressed this gap by measuring the pediatric nurse’s level of psychological safety, perception of whether or not they work in an HRO and their safety event reporting intentions. Methods: Using nonprobability convenience sampling, data were collected from pediatric nurses (N=244) during a one-time, anonymous, 10-minute web-based survey. The survey was distributed to members of the Society of Pediatric Nurses (SPN) and by members of the National Pediatric Nurse Scientist Collaborative (NPNSC) to their respective constituent groups. The online survey comprised of four sections: a demographic form, the Safety Organizing Scale (SOS), the Team Psychological Safety Scale, and the Intention to Report Safety Events Scale. A two-part statistical model was fit using logistic regression and linear regression.
Results: Psychological safety was found to have a positive and statistically significant relationship with Intention to Report Safety Events Scores (p<0.01; β=0.274). The findings also revealed that when all other variables were excluded from the statistical model, a positive and statistically significant relationship between HRO perception and safety event reporting intentions (p=0.034) existed. The logistic regression model revealed that the odds of a pediatric nurse achieving the highest safety reporting intention score of 7 increased by a factor of 0.3 with each additional year of practice.
Conclusions: The findings demonstrated that a nurse’s perception of whether they work in a high reliability setting and how psychologically safe they feel profoundly effects their attitude towards safety event reporting. This work advances the state of the science by demonstrating how workplace culture, and specifically psychological safety and the HRO framework, influences reporting intentions. The information gained from this study will be useful to organizational leaders and professional groups who seek to improve patient safety reporting systems, communication strategies and existing workplace cultures.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing.Discipline: Nursing
Accommodation or Coercion: China's Choices of Alliance Balancing Strategies
No full textThesis advisor: Robert RossGreat powers use alliances to amass capabilities. As such, alliance balancing strategies are important part of a balance-of-power system. In order to seek security, great powers frequently employ alliance balancing strategies, which can take two forms: to divide hostile alliances or prevent those from forming (i.e. wedge strategies), and to bind their own allies (i.e. binding strategies). When choosing these strategies, great powers face two options: accommodation and coercion. This dissertation explores the question of how great powers choose between these two options. I argue that a great power chooses its wedge strategies based on two factors: its leverage over its target and the degree of security cooperation between its target and its adversary. When the great power’s leverage is strong, it will opt for accommodative wedge strategies, despite the degree of security cooperation between its target and its adversary. Meanwhile the great power is likely to use coercive wedge strategies as its complementary strategy. When the great power’s leverage is weak, it will evaluate the degree of security cooperation between its target and its adversary. When such cooperation is at a high level, the great power will choose coercive wedge strategies as its primary strategy and accommodative ones as its complementary strategy. In contrast, a great power’s choice of its binding strategies is determined by its leverage over its target and its fear of being abandoned by its target. When its leverage is strong, the great power will choose coercive binding strategies as its primary strategy and accommodative ones as its complementary strategy, despite the fear of abandonment. When its leverage is low, the great power will assess its fear of abandonment. Strong fear of abandonment will lead the great power to choose accommodative binding strategies as its primary strategy and coercive ones as its complementary strategy. I test this theory using qualitative cases studies of China’s choices of its alliance balancing strategies. These cases include variation in China’s strategic choices that allows me to test the explanatory power of my theory. I examine these cases drawing on archives, government documents, newspapers, and secondary materials from China and the United States. I conclude this dissertation with a summary of my findings and a discussion on implications and future research avenues.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Political Science
Local and Bulk Measurements in Novel Magnetically Frustrated Materials:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Michael J. GrafQuantum spin liquids (QSL)’s have been one of the most hotly researched areas ofcondensed matter physics for the past decade. Yet, science has yet to unconditionally identify any one system as harboring a QSL state. This is because QSL’s are largely defined as systems whose electronic spins do not undergo a thermodynamic transition as T→0. Quantum spin liquids remain fully paramagnetic, including dynamical spin fluctuations, at T=0. As a result, distinguishing a QSL system from a conventionally disordered system remains an outstanding challenge. If a system spin freezes or magnetically orders, it cannot be a QSL. In this thesis I present published experiments I have performed on QSL candidate materials. By using muon spin rotation (μSR) and AC magnetic susceptibility I have evaluated the ground states of several candidates for the absence of long-range magnetic disorder and low-temperature spin-fluctuations. For the systems which order or spin-freeze, my research provided key knowledge to the field of frustrated magnetism. The systems I studied are as follows: The geometrically frustrated systems NaYbO2 and LiYbO2; the Kitaev honeycomb systems Cu2IrO3 and Ag3LiIr2O6; and the metallic kagome system KV3Sb5. Each of these systems brought new physics to the field of frustrated magnetism. NaYbO2 is a promising QSL candidate. LiYbO2 harbors an usual form of spiral incommensurate order that has a staggered transition. Cu2IrO3 has charge state disorder that results in a magnetically inhonogenious state. Ag3LiIr2O6 illustrates the role structural disorder plays in disguising long-range magnetic order. And finally, KV3Sb5 isn’t conventionally magnetic at all; our measurements ruled out ionic magnetism and uncovered a type-II superconductor. Our measurements on KV3Sb5 stimulated further research into KV3Sb5 and it’s unconventional electronic states.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Physics