This paper explores the question concerning the relationship between basic and higher layers of experience and self-experience. The latter distinction implicitly presupposes the idea of a univocal foundation. After explaining the formal ontological law of foundation, an attempt is made to clarify how the idea of foundation may be suitable to understand the relationship among moments, or layers, of self-experience. To this aim, the phenomenological descriptions of self- and world-experience in dementia and schizophrenia are compared. The comparison between these two, (...) in many ways radically different, pathologies allows us to highlight both the potentialities and the limits of resorting to the foundational relationship for the description of lived experience. Taking the challenges coming from the description of dementia and schizophrenia into serious consideration, the meaning of the “stratified” account of self-experience will be eventually reassessed, and a way to complement the idea of foundation among layers will be proposed. (shrink)

In this article, I explore how methods of investigation can allow us either to appreciate the intact cognitive and social abilities of people with Alzheimer’s disease or unwittingly obscure those same abilities. Specifically, I shall assert that (1) the biomedical- quantitative approach, while being generally appropriate for drug efficacy studies, does not allow us to appreciate the many significant strengths possessed by people diagnosed with dementia, (2) qualitative/narrative approaches do so admirably, and (3) understanding the cognitive and social strengths of (...) people diagnosed is of paramount importance for developing optimal care giving approaches and reveals strikingly the shared humanity of those diagnosed with dementia and those deemed healthy. (shrink)

Children’s learning within the home can be characterised by variety in the cognitive, behavioural and affective contributions of both mother and child, as well as by the wider environmental influences on family functioning. The concept of scaffolding may be useful for understanding home learning processes and provide a framework for new knowledge in order to develop a better understanding of what is required for successful learning at home. The research has three main aims based on an adaptation of the Process-Person- (...) Context-Time model of development. The first aim was to investigate the role of the child’s behaviour during scaffolding interactions, test the inter-relationship between the child’s and mother’s behaviours and to identify how variations in these behaviours impact mutual intersubjectivity. The second aim was to examine how person characteristics of the mother and child, along with the home environment, contribute to the process of scaffolding across time. The third aim was to conduct a preliminary study in Russia and to test cross-cultural patterns and their determinants between UK and Russian families. A longitudinal cross-cultural design has been adopted with two-time point measurements in England, approximately seven months apart, and cross-sectional design in Russia. Using non-probability sampling methodology, 68 dyads were recruited for the English sample and 16 dyads took part in the Russian study. The research used cross-informant methodology to collect data during home visits and through observation of scaffolding interactions during simple problem-solving tasks. The results contribute to the base of existing knowledge with a number of findings: 1) the scaffolding process is bidirectional with unique contributions from mother and child; 2) intersubjectivity within the dyad is important in understanding scaffolding interactions across time; 3) individual differences in maternal emotional and social abilities, but not parenting aspects, predict maternal scaffolding behaviour; 4) child’s cognitive and emotional abilities explained their behaviour later in time; 5) number of siblings played an important role in the mother’s and child’s behaviour, while household chaos was not significant; 6) the cultural context plays a unique role in shaping scaffolding practices within families. (shrink)