Harvard Graduate School of Education: Information Session @ San Francisco

Harvard Graduate School of Education: Information Session @ San Francisco

Yesterday, I participated in the information session for Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) programs. Actually, I’m intrigued by HGSE, especially Human Development and Education (Ed.D.), Human Development and Psychology (Ed.M.) and Mind, Brain, and Education (Ed.M.). After graduation from JFKU, I plan to go to the one of three (I’ll apply for the 2013-2014 academic year), but I needed more information. In that sense, yesterday’s information session was very helpful for me, so I’d like to share the information I got there.

1 What’s the difference between Ed.D. and Ed.L.D?

Ed.D is a really, really research based program.

2 Essay is critical for admission. You need to clarify at least the following questions.

-Who you are? What’s your experience? What brought you to HGSE?

-What’s your interest? What do you want to learn at HGSE?

-What’s your career vision? What do you want to do after HGSE?

In addition to the above questions, if you plan to apply for Ed.D programs, you need to make clear the following questions.

-What’s your research topic?

-Who do you want to work with?

3 Three Recommendation Letters

-Usually, the two are academic and the other is experiential.

4 Interview is only for Ed.L.D program.

5 Human development and psychology in Ed.M has a lot of research opportunities. The number of this program is the largest in HGSE.

If you apply for HGSE, please feel free to comment or contact me. Let’s share the information each other. Yohei

“The Origin of Minds”: Theory of Other Minds

I was really intrigued by the theory of other minds (ToOM). It is my understanding that ToOM is like an empathetic ability to understand other feelings, emotions, sensations, and thoughts. I totally acknowledge that ToOM can be called “Mind Read.” Because I’ve met many people who pointed out my emotion or feeling in that moment in a very precise way. 

However, I always had the following question: Why are they able to put themselves in my shoes so skillfully? After reading the mechanism of ToOM, I had an assumption in terms of neuroscience that they might have strong neuron networks to grasp “stimulus (I’m looking at a candy),” “state change (I’m motivated to eat it),” “behavior (I’m eating it),” “outcome (I feel happy).” How much robust network do they create?    

Reference

The Origin of Minds: Evolution, Uniqueness, and the New Science of the Self

Skinner's Model: Conditioning and Reinforcer

              Regarding the primary model of pathology in behaviorism, conditioning and reinforcement are the key concepts to adjust negative behaviors. Thus, I’d like to describe the mechanism of conditioning and reinforcement in the following.

              In the first place, Frager & Fadiman (2002) explicates that “the conditioning that takes place depends on what occurs after the behavior has been completed” (p. 252). The following example illustrates the idea of the conditioning. I have one client who wants to break the habit of biting his nail. But it seems difficult for him to stop that quickly because he has this habit for many years. So, I decided to give him a cigarette which is his favorite thing when he wants to bite his nail. Once he was able to stop biting his nail, I gave him a cigarette. Gradually, his negative habit was modified by the cigarettes. This reward may not be desirable, but the conditioning (especially, operant conditioning) is roughly the above process. To explain more about the characteristics of the conditioning, there are mainly three points. The first is that “conditioning can and does take place without awareness” (Frager & Fadiman, 2002, p. 253). In other words, our recognitions are affected by our past perceptions, and we are not aware of learning to respond to a conditioned response in our daily life. The second is that “conditioning is maintained in spite of awareness” (p. 253). To put it another way, we can be conditioned even though we perceive the process of conditioning. In a sense, we may not resist the conditioned responses by using awareness. The last is that “conditioning is less effective when the subject is aware but uncooperative” (p. 253). This means that a positive cooperation is required to modify a negative conditioning to positive one.

              In the second place, this is Skinner’s view: our all behaviors are created by a mixture of positive and negative reinforcers. Here, I’d like to clarify the meaning of both positive and negative reinforcers. In a word, a positive reinforcer is a stimulus that serves to increase the likelihood of the response that produces it. For instance, ice cream could be a positive reinforcer when we feel hot, and if we eat it, we tend to behave in the same way again on similar occasions. On the other hand, a negative reinforcer is a stimulus that works for decreasing the likelihood of the response that produces it (Frager & Fadiman, 2002). For example, turning off the radio when we attempt to work, and if turning off the radio increases the quality of our work, the stimulus of turning off the radio is a negative reinforcer.

              As the above described, the mechanism of conditioning and reinforcement will be key when we modify a certain habit.  

Reference

1 Personality and Personal Growth (6th Edition)

Mimic Wilber’s Writing and Speaking Style: Activate My Mirror Neuron

Seven months have passed since I came to USA. Honestly speaking, I’m still struggling with English every day (especially, when I express my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sensations, it is still difficult for me to convey the deep sense of them to others), but my English seems to be improved, compared with the level right after my coming here, I want to believe so…

Actually, I have continued to copy (type) Wilber’s books every day in order to acquire his writing skill. In addition to that, I started to watch a Wilber’s DVD or videos and mimic his speaking style. This is a kind of shadowing method.

I hope that my mirror neuron will be activated, and I’ll be like Wilber someday. Please laugh at me, if I come to write and speak English like Ken Wilber. I think most people’s writing and speaking style are affected by someone else. That could be by parents, friends, teachers, etc. Fortunately or unfortunately, I grew up in Japan (Chinese characters, hiragana, katakana culture) for 25 years, so in a sense, my English is not strongly affected by someone else. This may mean that I can be anyone…

Where is the first force situated on Ken Wilber’s spectrum of consciousness model?

Ken Wilber’s spectrum of consciousness model comprises the following four levels: shadow, ego, existential, and mind. To come right to the point, the behavioral force is situated on the existential level. In this level, Wilber (1975) expounds that human beings are identified with their psychophysical organism, and the organism is regarded as the existence in space and time. Put Wilber’s remarks more simply, in this level, human beings come to acquire rational thought and will power which separate self and other, and organism and environment.

This description of human beings is almost the same as behaviorism’s definition. The basic concept in behaviorism is that human beings have thinking ability, and their thoughts, emotions, and feelings are all considered as “behaviors.” In other words, human beings obtain a rational mind to differentiate the internal world from the outer environment, though human thoughts are reduced to the word “behaviors.”

Although Wilber’s spectrum of consciousness model doesn’t directly refer to behaviorism, for the reasons mentioned above, I think the first force (behaviorism) is categorized into the existential level in Wilber’s model.  

Reference:

1 Wilber, K. (1975). Psychologia perennis: The spectrum of consciousness. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 7(2), 105-132.

2 The Spectrum of Consciousness