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This article presents the third study of a series that has been designed to manifest consciousness and to measure developed competence. The emphasis of the main hypothesis of this experiment has been put on the students ability to adapt to the main idea of a given story and to express his comprehension verbally. The way the two students of the previous two experiments have been able to accomplish the experimental task is reflected in the state attractors of the produced fitness landscapes. The student who has continued to follow the analytic-descriptive approach has focused on the conditions of that part of the study that relates to a critic of empiricism. Since it has been shown that the process of naming the resulting state attractors provides a sound theoretical basis, it can be concluded that the student has not been conscious of this purpose and consequently has been unable to abstract the criticism of empiricism. In contrast, the other student has continued to follow the synthetic-reflective approach. The produced narrative has made it evident that this student has been able to abstract the criticism of idealism. It follows that the proper outcome is "rationalism," which is validating that the degree of developed competence can be approached in a direct and obvious manner. (Author/SLD)

A dialogue between two secondary school students engaged in solving a problem is the basis for the assertion that the students differ in their problem solving capabilities; that is, they reduce the complexity of the situation in different ways. The discussion also suggests that students do not use the same form of competence. They make sense of the complex situation in different ways. It is also maintained that existing theories are able to explain different aspects of the problem solving process and competence. However, because no single theory encompasses all the aspects, a more comprehensive theory is proposed. This theory encompasses the notion that the person, through ideas, is able to consider and anticipate problem solving operations, thus displaying competence. More precisely, the person is in control through four processes: (1) efficacy, the degree to which the person experiences the feeling of control of the problem solving process itself; (2) achievement, the degree to which the person experiences that he or she is approaching the goal; (3) ruggedness, the degree of difficulty the person feels he or she has to overcome to solve the problem; and (4) availability, the degree to which the person feels that he or she has access to vital resources. With this frame of reference, an interpretation of the two students' problem solving processes is carried out using Perspective Text Analysis (B. Bierschenk and I. Bierschenk, 1993), a technique for making visible the structural relations of texts. It is also suggested that it is possible to apply catastrophe theory to make a model of problem-solving behavior. (Contains 8 figures and 29 references.) (Author/SLD)

Since "enemy imgaes" are important ingredients in preparedness for war, they merit study by researchers interested in peace education and in the psychology of peace and war. This study postulates that images of enemy groups, whether they be foreign countries or various subgroups within one's own country, are an important psychological construct to the willingness of persons to support the use of military force or warfare. The study examines the phenomenon of enemy images among university students in four countries--Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the USSR. The study employed the use of an associative technique in which students were given a verbal stimulus (such as "The United States" or "The Soviet Union) and asked to write all the the words that occurred to them during a two minute period. Seven stimuli were used: the future, avoiding war, enemies of our country, peace, the United States, the Soviet Union, and human rights. The study was conducted during 1988 and 1989. Results included the finding that the attitudes of the university students from the four countries cannot be said to be greatly characterized by negative and stereotyped images of foreign countries or other foreign groups as enemies, or by militaristic attitudes in general. A 32-item list of references is included. (DB)

As a part of a cross-national project this study examined enemy images among 200 Danish college students, using an associative technique. Students were given 2 minutes to write down quickly all the words that occurred to them after hearing a specific stimulus expression "enemies of our country." One of the main results noted was the few students searched for "enemies" outside of the country. Instead, civil and domestic problems inside Denmark were brought into focus, such as "social and economic problems" and "we ourselves," pointing to a certain polarized everyday consciousness among the respondents. Negative associations to the Soviet Union and the United States were almost negligible, as were the associations given to avoiding war by military means. Such use of the enemy concept (for an internal and non-military use mainly) is possibly caused by the retreat of cold war rhetoric in the late 1980s, but could also be interpreted along with other studies showing no stereotypes of nationality (East or West) among ordinary people concerning questions of peace and war. Preliminary comparative data from the Soviet Union and Sweden indicated that the neutral Swedes had the most intact image of an external enemy and the Danes seemed to react more like the Soviets, with both groups looking for the enemy in their own countries. The technique of written associations appeared to be a useful instrument. (Author/ABL)