Roczniki Filozoficzne

Because of the terminological confusion in the field of human development the article deals with: 1° — the history of the learning on the developmental factors (opinions of Aristotle, Rousseau, Beneke, the nativism and empirism, theory of convergence), 2° — the criticism of old opinions about convergence and with the originating of the four factors theory: organic makings, environment, the child’s own activity, as well as teaching and education at school (S. Szuman), 3° — discussion with the four factors theory, stating that: a) it resolves into two factors, the endogenous and the exogenous ones, as in the convergence, b) one cannot replace the cooperation of the factors by the dialectical interaction between them, c) the interaction between the factors of development does not consist in their hierarchisation in such a way that the environment moulds the organic makings, i.e. changes them through its own activity, and the latter is directed by teaching and education at school, d) school does not play a decisive role in development, because the efficacy of its influence depends on the voluntary collaboration of the pupils with the school, e) none of the four factors determines decisively the collaboration between pupil and school, f) one should not add factors of development, (e.g. those of fate or stress), for each of the factors varies divalently, either positively or negatively, g) finally the four factors theory does not take into consideration the impact of the fate lot, which changes by superior authority the action of the remaining factors. These statements lead to the consideration 4° — of the possibility of an improvement of the learning on the development factors. The question is here is one of the determination of the third development factor, which breaks down the convergence of the endo- and exogenous factors. This third factor ean be neither man’s own activity (S. Szuman), as a manifestation of the aspiration to independence, nor the „factor of stability” (J. Piaget) as ’’maximum of individual activity”. Instead the third factor appraises the tendences of the first and second factor and develops the personality on a higher level of a creative self-improvement (K. Dąbrowski). Therefore we can call it the personality or persogenous factor. To end with the author formulates some conclusions from the effected discussion about the four factors theory of human development.

This article is am outline of the development of the konwledge about the relation of the psychic phenomena to the bodily ones from Antiquity to the Enlightenment. Already communities of the primitive cultures disposed of a certain knowledge. One ascribed life on human pattern to all creatures which revealed strength had influence upon man.When in Greece in the VI c. appeared the rudiments of learning, also the problem we are concerned with, was put on a new plane. Particulary important was the then created concept of nature. It was namely an expression of the conviction that all the properties of every being, and particularly of a human being, result from its own inner structure, which lets it self examine and describe in a rational way. The classic Greek culture created many variants of the solution of the problem concerning the relation of the psyche to the matter, and they all exerted influence on the modern conceptions.The development of the modern natural science, mathematized in the XVII and XVIII c. brought an increased knowledge of the build and the functions of human body, and particulary of the nervous system. The relation between the psyche and the nervous system, which was already known in the antiquity, has become now obvious, while the definition of the essence of this relation was still a problem. It was approached from the theoretical side and hypotheses were created, from which the following are worth noticing: the Cartesian dualism, the psychophysical parallelism, the hypothesis of „sympathy”, the vitalism, the brow- nism. At the same timy any experiments ware being made, which demonstrated i.a. the fact of the coexistence of feeling with the action of the stimulus on the nerve (v. Haller), also the appearance of definite psychic troubles in case of an injury of the brain (Mofgagni). The monistic solutions as well as the utmost dualistic ones — as the history of learning shows — did not stand the test of time. The purely theoretical speculations, which took no account of experiments and scientific facts, did not survive either.

In the paper five different approaches to the problems of research into the psychology of thinking are presented. Two of them are basic: the learning and cognitive theories, and the three additional ones are: the developmental, structural and simulation ones by computers. All approaches have empirical character and they are not in opposition to each other although the most disputable is the relation between the learning and the cognitive approach. The paper tries to show ways to find bases for common terminology and perspectives for research. All approaches have been evaluated in the paper from the point of view of their experimental possibilities. Stress is put on the idea that progress in the research about thinking process is possible only by many different experimental and theoretical approaches.

With reference to the actual discussion among psychologists (particularly between the Sovietic psychologists and those of the Piaget school) on the subject of the possibility to accelerate the intellectual development of children by teaching — the participants of the seminary on the psychology of thinking in the Catholic University of Lublin took up collective investigations, the aim of which was the verification, if, and to what extent, the children who have not yet developed a logical ability of classification will, by suitable teaching, make progress, in comparison with children who have not been trained and are on the same level of ability to classification. 241 children have been subjected to the experiment. In this, 196 normal children in the age from 4 to 7, and 45 mentally deficient ones from the I and II grade of a special school. Two almost identical groups have been selected: a basic group, which was to be taught and a control group, which was not to be taught. All the children, the taught and the not taught ones, have been tested three times: at the beginning of the experiment (in order to select the groups), at the end of the teaching in order to ascertain and a month later (in order to verify the reliability of the results of the progress achieved). The children have been taught in groups of 4—5 during 6 successive days, with two lessons of 20 minutes each dayly. 7 persons were testing and teaching, who had been prepared very carefully. The teaching material had been so selected, as to refer to the same operations as the diagnostic material, but to differ from it in all the other respects.After completion of the teaching, it has been found, that all the children of the basic group (the taught ones), the normal as well as those subnormal, had made a progress, statistically significant (P < 0,001 or 0,01). On the other hand the children who had been taught showed almost no difference between the first and the second examination.The results of the investigation of the ability to classification, a month after the completion of the teaching, have showed a lack of statistically significant differences, which testifies that the effect of teaching proved sufficiently stable. Differences statistically significant have not appeared either in the children who had not been taught. It is interesting that the mentally deficient children from the basic group (the taught ones) acquired in that time a progress in the conceptual classification up to the mark of confidence 0,05, which would indicate that the teaching had stimulated their retarded development. Certain minimal differences to disadvantage appeared among the four — year — old children, which one can explain by lack of sufficient maturity. In this connection one can consider their learning as one which is superficial, not based on the comprehension of activities, and therefore easily vanishing. One can also explain by lack of maturity the differences in the acquired progress according to the age of the children. In the notionel classification, e.g. 50% of the four years old children have not made any progress, and the remaining 50% have not the made the highest progress (3 substages).Where as among the seven-year-old children 50% have acquired the highest progress (3 substages) and of the remaining 50% no child has a zero result.What role is played in the development by maturation, and what by teaching — may by proved by further investigations. Our investigations proved undeniably, that by planned exercising of the children in logical activities we can accelerate the development of those faculties and this in a sifficiently lasting manner: of course with an appropriate degree of mental maturity.

The paper presents the results of investigations into the relationship between religious attitudes and personality characteristics. Intensity is to be understood in this study as the characteristic of religious attitude expressing the strength and determination with which the individual concerned stands by this attitude.The degree of intensity was measured by means of the religious attitude scale constructed by the author. Personality was investigated with the R. B. Cattells’s 16-factor personality questionnaire, in its Polish version by M. Choynowski and M. Nowakowska, standardized on Polish population. The investigations were anonymous; the testees consisted of individuals aged 23—35, university graduates or approaching graduation. 60% were students of Arts; the others (40%) represented ’’sciences”. As to their social background, the population investigated represented, more or less equally, three environments: intelligentsia, workmen, rural.The answer to the query was sought in the way of emphasizing the differences in the personality traits of the individuals differing as to the intensity of religious attitude. With that view, three experimental groups were formed: positive high intensity (30 women, 20 men), low intensity (30 women, 20 men), and negative high intensity (N = 16). The groups were then investigated from the point of view of personality.The answer to the query was sought in the way of emphasizing the differences between the intensity of religious attitude, and personality. This is revealed by the level of the differences noted between the mean personality traits in individuals with high religious intensity, and in those showing low religious intensity. Significant differences (pu = 0.05) appeared in 11 (out of 16) personality factors, and concerned: the level of emotional maturity (C), the degree of desurgency (F—), super-ego level (G+), sensitivity level (I+), suspiciousness level (L), degree of unconventionality in thought and deed (M+), mode of contact with the environment (N—), self-assurance (0+), degree of radicalism (Qi + ), degree of self-control (Q3—) and psychic tension level (Q4+). Assuming as a basis the factors of the second degree, intergroup differences were observed regarding the level of introversion, that of anxiety, and the degree of personality integration.The observed data show the high positive religious intensity group to possess, on an average, more emotional maturity, stronger and more markedly stressed super-ego, greater self-control, introspectiveness, higher sensitivity and self-possession in the contacts with the environment. The low intensity group is characterized by opposite features, in particular by deeper anxiety, lesser self-assurance, higher nervous tension (ergic) - and less personality integration. The high negative intensity group shows characteristics similar to the high positive intensity group as regards the factors indicating the level of anxiety and personality integration; they differ, on the other hand, in the characteristics connected with certain attitudes (the negative group evinces less conventionalism and conservatism).Lastly, it must be emphasized that the differences ascertained appeared only in the traits etiologically considered as acquired — environmental —, while no difference was found in the constitutional ones (A, E; H, Q2). This allows the conclusion that the intensity of religious attitudes is not dependent on constitutional traits, but is connected with the development of the environmental traits of personality.

Differential diagnostic problems based on the data derived from MMPI data have been discussed. The group of 1180 psychiatric cases and 200 normals served as a validity samples. Special attention has been paid to the malingering group composed of mental patients with psychiatric diagnosis ’simulation’, prisoners and control experimental fakers. The objective devices consisting of different profiles’s characteristics have been evaluated as to their value in differential diagnosis.

The author has carried out investigations on the reliability and validity of the Psyche Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale for the testing of normal and retarded children.The investigations carried out so far among children with normal mental development show a low stability of the I.Q. in children, of 2—7 months of age (M. Cavanaugh et al., A. Pakulska-Podstolak), moderate in children of 8—12 months (A. Pakulska-Podstolak, see Table 1), 12—18, and 18—24 months (Cavanaugh et al.). This concerns conventional I.Q.;- revised I.Q. has not yet been investigated. The dependability of the scale is not known either. The Psyche Cattell Scale is a homogenic method.The author’s own investigations comprised a sample of 52 children, aged 8 months — 7 years, slightly, moderately, markedly and deeply' mentally retarded, due to developing L. Down’s disease. The results show a relatively high stability of revised I.Q. at the end of one year (0.843±0.034; P< 0.001), also at the end of two years (0.715±0.089; P< 0.001). Hence the conclusion the that Psyche Cattell Scale is a stable instrument for testing mentally retarded children.The investigations revealed that the Psyche Cattell Scale possess a high diagnostic validity for the diagnosis of mental deficiency in infants. Earlier investigations on the prognostic validity of the method showed that in infants with normal, or little different from normal, mental development, it is not possible to determine, before they are one year of age, the I.Q. which they will obtain later in the Stanford-Binet Scale, 1937; starting from 14 months of age, the infants’ further development can be foreseen to some extent, which is suggested by either moderate (P. Cattell, M. Cavanaugh et al.) or high coefficients of correlation (P. Cattell). The author’s investigations show a high prognostic validity of the Psyche Cattell Scale when applied to mentally dificient children. This is revealed by high coefficients of correlation of the revised I.Q. in Psyche Cattell and Stan- for-Binet Scale, 1937, obtained in the course of investigations carried out in intervals of 30 months (0.877+0.043) and six years (0.870+0.046). These investigations also show a large agreement of diagnoses established after three years and 11 months, with the first diagnosis in the case of mentally deficient infants.

The article presents the results of investigations on the factors causing invalids to be satisfied with their work. The population tested consisted of members of blind’s work-cooperatives. Nine factors were found to affect the invalids’ attitudes towards their professional work: 1) duration of work, 2) degree of monotony, 3) certainty of work, 4) salary, 5) relations with fellow-workers, 6) relations with employers and superiors, 7) share in the management of the cooperative, 8) recognition and esteem by those possessing normal sight, 9) increasing professional qualifications. In order to ascertain the hierarchy of these in the invalids’ motivations, a questionnaire was used, based on the principle that each factor was confronted in turn with all the others, and the testee placed in the situation of compulsory choice between opposed alternative factors. Each choice of a given factor by the teste was given a point. The total of the points won by a factor ranged from 0 to 8, and was a measure of its importance as compared with- the remaining factors. The testee had at his disposal 36 points, corresponding to the number of choices he had to make in answering the questionnaire. The investigations revealed the following scale of preference: 1) certainty of work, 2) good relations with fellow-workers, 3) possibility of acquiring further qualifications, 4) recognition and esteem by those possessing normal sight, 5) good relations with superiors, 6) good salary, 7) share in the management of the cooperative, 8) little monotony of work, 9) short worktime. Certain differences appeared in the choices, due to the age, degree of education, civil status of the testees. The top rank given to the factors: certainty of work, good relations with fellow-workers, acquiring further qualifications, and acquiring the recognition and esteem from the seeing, appears in all age- and education-groups among the testees. These factors are decisive for the professional rehabilitation of the blind, and therefore, they should be taken into account in the process of employing them and organizing their work.