| 1. |
- Blåvarg, Christina
(författare)
-
The alluring nature of episodic odor memory : Sensory and cognitive correlates across age and sex
- 2016
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Episodic memory for olfactory information is still relatively uncharted. The overall purpose of this thesis is to investigate the sensory and cognitive causes of the well-established age-related decline in olfactory episodic odor memory and of the age-independent sex difference in olfactory episodic memory. The purpose of Study I was to investigate the causes of the sex difference in olfactory episodic memory. The results show that the female advantage in episodic recognition memory seems to be explained by women´s higher aptitude in odor identification for familiar odors. With this background, the purpose of Study II was to investigate the age-related decline in olfactory episodic memory, with a particular eye to the role of odor identification. When controlling for the sensory variables olfactory threshold and odor quality discrimination, and the cognitive factor mental speed, the age-related deterioration in odor identification was eliminated. This suggests that changes in basic sensory and cognitive abilities underlie the age-related impairment in odor identification. The purpose of Study III was to investigate the role of recollective experience and intention to memorize for age-related and sex-related differences in episodic odor memory. Younger adults reported more experiences of remembering, and the elderly adults more experiences of feeling of knowing. The participants benefited from intentionality at encoding when the odors were unfamiliar, but intentionality did not affect memory for the familiar odors. The purpose of Study IV was to investigate the role of subjectively perceived qualities of the encoded odors for episodic memory across age and sex. Odors perceived as unpleasant, intense, and irritable were more easily remembered throughout the adult life span. The oldest adults selectively recognized the odors they rated as highly irritable indicating compensatory use of trigeminal activation. Overall, the result suggests that episodic odor memory rely heavily on both sensory and cognitive abilities, but in a different manner depending on demographic factors. The age-related decline appears to be driven by a sensory flattening disabling adequate cognitive processing. The age-independent sex difference on the other hand, is mainly cognitively mediated and driven by cognitive factors such as the ability to verbalize olfactory information.
|
|
| 2. |
- Blåvarg, Ebba Christina, 1967-
(författare)
-
Alluring Artefacts : The Hidden Message about Psychology
- 2022
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to introduce how authors and publishers of textbooks have used the cover to entice readers through color, form, and hidden messages on the subject. The subject serving as an example are Swedish textbooks in psychology. Implicit in addition to the more explicit messages of social and cultural dimensions in the portraying of the subject psychology through these artefacts will be explored. Swedish textbooks in psychology have been around for at least two hundred years and since the 1950s the cover of these textbooks, as well as textbooks in other subjects, have been illustrated. These textbook cover illustrations naturally follow contemporary trends for how textbooks look in terms of design. But, still within the different time frames, they have their own style that signals what this specific book is about and in the case of psychology textbooks, what exactly psychology is about. The analysis will be achieved mainly through discourse analysis, with the inclusion of social construction and social semiotic theories concerning mediated meaning, based on the idea that illustrations and signs play an important role in the forming a possible first impression and an idea of the school subject. The selected textbooks are from early 1950s until the most recent in 2022. The analysis shows how ideas on gender, equality, madness, danger, mysteries, and a possibly unconscious, and unpredictable world of the psyche are portrayed through these cover illustrations. Also noted are how specific illustrations have been used almost as a trademark for some book series and for the subject of psychology over time.BibliografiEco, U. (1979). A theory of semiotics. Indiana University Press.Foucault, M. (1970). The order of things: an archaeology of the human sciences. London.Furhammar, S. (1973). Elementär psykologi. Lärobok för gymnasieskolan. [Elementary Psychology. Textbook for the Gymnasium.] Stegelands.Hacking, Ian (1999). The social construction of what? Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press. Hacking. I. (2002). Historical ontology. Harvard University Press.Kress, G. R. (2010). Multimodality: a social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London: Routledge.Kress G & Van Leeuwen T. (2006). Reading images: the grammar of visual design. New York: Routledge.Levander, M. (1992). Psykologi. Lärobok för gymnasiet. [Psychology. Textbook for The Gymnasium.] Natur & Kultur.Ljunggren, N. (2011). Psykologi: för gymnasiet. [Psychology: for The Gymnasium.] Stockholm: Liber.Lundgren, Mikael (2013). Psykologi - vetenskap eller galenskap?. 2. uppl. . [Psychology – science or insanity?] Lund: Studentlitteratur. Perlmutter D. D. (1994). Visual historical methods: problems, prospects, applications. Historical Methods, 27(4): 167–84.Rose G. (2001). Visual methodologies: an introduction to the interpretation of visual materials. London:Sage; 2001.
|
|
| 3. |
- Blåvarg, Ebba Christina, 1967-
(författare)
-
Buoyant plans and heavy silence - the Swedish case of upper secondary psychology in the 1970s and the 1990s
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Abstracts, ECER 2023.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study aims to analyse the discourse on the school subject psychology, in upper secondary school subject in the national curricula, during 1970s and 1990s as a school subject went through tangible shifts (Blåvarg 2018; Blåvarg, manuscript). The empirical material is drawn from three main discursive spaces that which includes governing documents relating to the subject, the practical, which includes the subject's teaching materials, and the professional, which includes t the 1970s there was an intense activity within all three discursive practices concerning the subject and its content and purpose. Perhaps most prominent durin professional space and the teachers’ debates. During these years, the 1970s, a sharp break with prevailing formation of the subject at the time occurred and a, i on the psychology subject took its place. It was a strongly social and humanistic psychology that expanded within all three practices. The subject became main experiences. Psychotherapy and quasi-therapeutic exercises dominated the subject, which was completely in line with the social development at the time, pr health care, especially mental health care. Following this major transformation of the subject came a palpable absence of activity in all three discursive spac silence prevailed around the subject. This absence of mentioning is particularly visible in the bureaucratic space where psychological aspects and the subject p the silence is also reflected to a certain extent in the professional space. In the practical space and its textbooks, certain aspects of the subject are quickly sile the subject of psychology as a subject of knowledge recede into the background as applied personal development expanded. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The empirical material consists of texts and is drawn from three main discursive spaces. The bureaucratic, which includes various governing documents such as subject inquiries (e.g, Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970; 1979; Skolverket, 1994) The practical space, which includes teaching materials such as the Swedish textbooks in the professional space, which includes the texts from the subject teacher associations (e.g., PS-aktuellt 1976-1982; SOPHIA, 1989-1999). The archives of these t discursively. The archives of these three spaces have been analysed discursively (e.g., Danziger, 1996; Fairclough, 2003; Foucault, 1972). Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Expected findings are expressions of how the intense activity that spurred within the discursive spaces, in parallel to societal changes, in the 1970s altered the su of the subject psychology. These transformations and the associations with private personal growth and therapeutic instances, together with the distancing from p have a role in the marked silence and marginalisation that became prominent in the 1990s around the subject.
|
|
| 4. |
- Blåvarg, Ebba Christina, 1967-
(författare)
-
Changing Times Changing Curricula : The School Subject Psychology in Social and Cultural Context, 1965 – 2011
- 2022
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to introduce how curricula for a school subject can mirror societal changes and trends in various ways. The school subject that serves as an example in this case is psychology at upper secondary level during the time period of 1965 up to 2011 in Sweden. During this time four major and a couple of minor revisions of the curricula took place in Sweden. The outcome of these, as reflected in the subject psychology, will be considered in relation to contemporary societal activities and trends. The studied material consists of curricula, other policy documents, reports, newspaper articles, and journals related to the profession and the subject. Identifying markers and changes within the curricula are set in a larger contextual and societal framework and patterns that are visible running in parallel or in line with each other over time are analyzed. The preliminary results indicate that national as well as global societal trends within the field are mirrored in the curricula, in both more overarching aspects and in subject specific approaches, diction, and content. Two more noticeable occasions when this mirroring is visible are in the 1970s with new ideas about mental illness and its management and treatment, and later in the early 2000s when the marketization of the school began to be increasingly prominent in the Swedish school system. Bibliografi Blåvarg, E. C. 1967. (2018). Psychology in theSwedish Curriculum: Theory, Introspection or Preparation for the Adult,Occupational Life. Teaching Psychology Around the World, 380–391.Skolöverstyrelsen (1965). Lgy 65. Läroplan för gymnasiet. [Curriculum for upper secondary school.] Stockholm, Sweden: SÖ-förlaget URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/50913Skolöverstyrelsen (1965). Lgy 65. Läroplan för gymnasiet. [Curriculum for upper secondary school.] Stockholm, Sweden: SÖ-förlaget URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/50913Skolöverstyrelsen (1970a). Lgy 70. Läroplan för gymnasieskolan. Allmän del. [Curriculum for upper secondary school. 1, General part.] Stockholm, Sweden: Utbildningsförlaget. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/30914Skolöverstyrelsen (1970b). Planeringssupplement 1. Ekonomiska och samhällsorienternde ämnen. Läroplan för gymnasieskolan. Lgy 70.Skolöverstyrelsen (1979). Läroplan för gymnasieskolan. 2, Supplement, 48, Psykologi [Curriculum for upper secondary school. 2, Supplement. Psychology.] Stockholm, Sweden: Skolverket. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/31351Skolverket (1994a). The 1994 curriculum for the non-compulsory school system (Lpf 94). Stockholm, Sweden: Skolverket. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/30806Skolverket (1994b). Läroplaner för det obligatoriska skolväsendet och de frivilliga skolformerna: Lpo 94: Lpf 94 [Curricula for compulsory and non-compulsory schools: Lpo 94: Lpf 94.] Stockholm, Sweden: Skolverket. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/31298Sverige. Skolverket (2000). Gy2000 2000:15 Omvårdnadsprogrammet: programmål, kursplaner, betygskriterier och kommentarer: [OP]. Stockholm: Statens skolverk.Sverige. Skolverket (2000). Gy2000 2000:16 Samhällsvetenskapsprogrammet: programmål, kursplaner, betygskriterier och kommentarer : [SP]. Stockholm: Statens skolverk.Sverige. Skolverket (2000). Gy2000 2000:01 Barn- och fritidsprogrammet: programmål, kursplaner, betygskriterier och kommentarer : [BF]. Stockholm: Statens skolverk.Sverige. Skolverket (2000). Gy2000 2000:19 Programhandledning: programöversikter samt förteckning över ämnen och kurser : [programstrukturer, kurser och kurskoder m.m.]. Stockholm: Statens skolverk.Gy2000 [Elektronisk resurs] 2000:19 Programhandledning: programöversikter samt förteckning över ämnen och kurser : [programstrukturer, kurser och kurskoder m.m.], Statens skolverk, Stockholm, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/2077/30767Skolverket (2011a). Gymnasieskola 2011. [Upper secondary school 2011.] Stockholm, Sweden: Skolverket.Skolverket (2011b). Ämne – psykologi. [Subject – psychology.] Stockholm, Sweden: Skolverket. + a large number of various other sources such as policy papers, new papers, journals, union magazines etc.
|
|
| 5. |
- Blåvarg, Ebba Christina, 1967-
(författare)
-
From a Democratic Future towards Theoretical Retrospection : Psychology in the Upper Secondary School between 1965 and 2017
- 2018
-
Ingår i: ECER 2018. - Bolzano, Italien.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Psychology has been a pre-tertiary school subject in Sweden for close to two hundred years varying in content, form and the intended recipient. Since the upper secondary school reform in the 1960s it is a part of the national curriculum. The purpose of this study is to highlight transformations within in the upper secondary school subject psychology in Sweden in the years of 1965 to 2017 by examining different discourses as provided by syllabi, curricula and other policy documents. In particular, expressions concerning how the subject psychology aim to educate the student into being a mindful democratic citizen, to develop skills that will guide the student in a world described as being in rapid change and with an overflow of information, as well as to develop an awareness and tolerance for themselves, other people and nationalities, all highly relevant issues in today’s society.In the more than one hundred years coming up to the Swedish national upper secondary school reform in 1960s, the subject psychology had been present in various curricula in different contexts. Possibly most common as a part of the philosophy course together with logic (e.g., Snellman, 1837; Sundén & Sjöstedt, 1952; Kungliga Skolöverstyrelsen, 1960), but also as one half of the anthropology course (e.g., Lindhult, 1843), as a part of the Christianity course (Anna Detthowska skolan, 1934) and, as a subject of its own (e.g., Enberg, 1831; Larsson, 1898; Ahlberg, 1925;). In 1965, the curriculum for the modern “gymnasium”, the Swedish equivalent of upper secondary school, was announced and as a result of that psychology was made a subject of its own. (Lgy 65; Skolöverstyrelsen, 1965). The new national upper secondary school aimed to provide a general civic education of the students as well as to serve as a preparation for higher education by making the students develop elementary scientific insight (Larsson & Westberg, 2015, p.137). In this this upper secondary school of 1965, psychology was mandatory for all students and considered an important part of the curriculum, and also an important part in the preparing of the student to be the citizens of the future. Following the 1965 revision three additional major revisions has taken place, Lgy 70, Lpf 94 and Gy 2011 (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970; Skolverket 1994; 2011). Although not mandatory on all university preparatory or vocational programs in Sweden today, psychology still is an upper secondary school subject.The purpose of this study to illuminate portrayed meanings in the school subject psychology in the time period of 1965 – 2017, and to highlight the following:- communicated meaning concerning fostering the future citizens, and related shifts and transformations within the school subject psychology Methods The overall focus in this study of the upper secondary school subject psychology in Sweden is the meaning that is mediated in curricula and other policy documents accompanying the subject. To study what is present, what is emphasized and what is left out and not mentioned in the texts. The methodical aim is to perform a comprehensive archaeological discourse analysis (Foucault, 1969; 1972). To capture the meaning portrayed in the documents surrounding the subject and texts explaining the concept by studying formations and conceptual patterns within the studied material and to uncloak ideas hidden within the school subject psychology and to explore concept displacements and correlations (Foucault, 1969; 1972; Rorty, 1979, 1982). The empirical source material consists of syllabi, curricula and policy documents related to the Upper Secondary School Curriculum of 1965 (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1965), the Upper Secondary School Curriculum of 1970 (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1975), The 1994 Curriculum for the Non-Compulsory School System (Skolverket, 1994) and Upper Secondary School 2011 (Skolverket 2011). These studied syllabi, curricula and policy texts differ in format, length and content. For instance, the curriculum of 1965 is very explicit regarding the content and teaching instructions and the curriculum of 2011 is more abstract and short. Nevertheless, the aim is to grasp the mediated meaning of the curricula, considering that is what school leaders, teachers, students and others come in contact with when searching for information about the subject.Expected outcome and result Expected findings are discourses concerning the motivation behind and educational ambition within the upper secondary school subject psychology. Especially regarding how the aim to educate the student in to being a mindful democratic citizen, to develop skills that will guide the student in a changing world and in a society laden with information, and the development of awareness and tolerance for themselves, other people and nationalities is expressed. For instance, how the subject has transformed from an explicitly student-centered approach emphasizing also student and teacher autonomy towards a more theoretical and factoriented focus and a set course content. Another discourse concerns how the society consistently through the curricula is expressed as rapidly changing with a large flow of information and that the subject psychology is to assist the student to develop an ability to master this, perhaps especially when it comes to dealing with false or misleading information. An issue that seems to be as present and relevant today as in the past. Also, an additional discourse is in relation to the ambition to help students develop tolerance and understanding of both others and their own positions in the group, society and the world, transforms in character throughout the audits of the curricula. Overall, even though the aim of the psychology subject on upper secondary level has in some views remained the same it has also fundamentally changed in its relation to contemporary society and democracy, and the educational ambition with the subject psychology today is another from what it was when it was introduced in the curricula.ReferencesAnna Detthowska skolan (1934). Normalplan för Annaskolan - Detthowska skolan omfattande kurser och böcker. [Curriculum for the Anna school – the Detthowsk school including courses and books.] Stockholm: Bröderna Johanssons boktryckeri.Ahlberg, A. (1925). Lärobok i psykologi. [Textbook in Psychology.] Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksells Förlag.Enberg. L.M. (1831). Försök till en lärobok i psykologien af L-M- Enberg. [Attempt to Textbook in Psychology by L-M Enberg.] Stockholm.
|
|
| 6. |
- Blåvarg, Ebba Christina, 1967-
(författare)
-
From an active future towards an introspective present : Psychology in the upper secondary school between 1965 and 2011
- 2018
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this study is to highlight transformations in the Upper Secondary School subject Psychology in Sweden during 1965 - 2011. In particular, expressions concerning how the subject aim to foster the student towards being a mindful democratic citizen, how the student are todevelop skills that will support navigation in a world of rapid change and an overflow of information, as well as developing awareness and tolerance for themselves, other people andgroups. The analysis will be conducted with a discursive archeological approach in the spirit ofFoucault, with elements of critical discourse analysis. The material being analyzed will be curricula and policy documents related to the Upper Secondary School Curriculum of 1965 (Lgy 65), the Upper Secondary School of 1970 (Lgy 70), The 1994 Curriculum for the Non-Compulsory SchoolSystem (Lpf 94) and Upper Secondary School 2011 (Gy 2011). Expected findings are different discourses concerning how the motivation and educational ambition of the subject psychologyhas changed in relation to the students. How it has transgressed from a student-centered content that targets an active future to a more fact-oriented individual focus here and now. How an ambition to help students develop tolerance and understanding of both others' and their own positions in the group, society and the world changes throughout the audits of the curricula. Also,an additional discourse that can be seen in the curricula is how society consistently is described as rapidly changing with a large flow of information and that the subject psychology can assist thestudent to develop an ability to master this, perhaps especially when it comes to dealing withfalse or misleading information. An issue that seems to be as present today as in the past.Overall, although the psychology subject has in parts remained the same it has alsofundamentally changed in its relation to contemporary society, and the educational ambition withthe subject psychology today is different from what it was when it was introduced in the curricula.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Blåvarg, Ebba Christina, 1967-
(författare)
-
Psykologi på schemat : Formeringen av ett skolämne, 1960–2015
- 2023
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The school subject psychology in Sweden has undergone several extensive transformations during the period 1960–2015. Since the launch of Läroplan för gymnasiet 1965, psychology is a part of the national curriculum for upper secondary level as a standalone school subject in Sweden. However, it has been formulated differently within different discursive practices. This thesis focuses on the formation of the school subject psychology by analyzing texts on the subject from mainly three different practices where the subject is constructed. The first is a bureaucratic space that includes public policy texts developed through cooperation and regulation by way of bureaucratic processes. The second is a practice-oriented space and it includes teaching materials such as textbooks produced by publishers and individual authors. The third practice is a professional space and includes the discourse on the school subject psychology among teachers in the subject teacher’s association, teacher magazines and debate articles. Through a discursive perspective, the source material from these practices have been analyzed both by focusing on each space separately, and in parallel. Overall, the discourse on the school subject psychology has changed dynamically during the focused period, in the different spaces, which is depicted in detail with examples and excerpts. In addition, four overarching discourse orders are presented. First, the overarching empirical and scientific stance that permeated the subject at the beginning of the national curriculum in the 1960s. Later, in the 1990s and 2000s, an inward shift in subject focus, from being useful for understanding the world with a critical view, to critically examining and evaluating various psychological theories. However, perhaps the most unexpected finding are two major orders of discourse that can be seen in between these in time. Firstly, an overall vivid activity in all the practices and the major change that the subject underwent in the 1970s, in conjunction with the subject revision in 1979. And secondly, the extensive and almost absolute silence that followed in relation to the subject psychology. This thesis contributes to the research field by mapping the formation of psychology as a school subject in Sweden through different discursive practices, as well as highlighting various orders of discourse in relation to psychology as a school subject.
|
|
| 10. |
- Blåvarg, Ebba Christina, 1967-
(författare)
-
Revising the Curriculum : The Swedish Case of Upper Secondary Psychology in 2023
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Abstracts, ECER 2023.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The study focuses on the present reform of Swedish Upper Secondary School curricula and in particular the revision of the subject Psychology. Since 2021, the the process of implementing a grading reform where the course grades that were previously valid are to be replaced by subject grades (Skolverket, 2023). Cons must be revised so that each level in a subject build on the previous ones. Today's Swedish curriculum system is made up of various separate courses, wh although within the same subject area, and each of which is graded separately throughout the upper secondary education. An underlying reason for the subjec dispose of the fragmentation of subjects that arose with the course grading system and to open up for more acceptable planning conditions for teachers and stu new grading reform, all Swedish syllabi for upper secondary school must be reworked. For some school subjects such as for instance civics or language, the s the same as before. For other subjects, including Psychology, a major revision is required where the subject content is revised in its entirety. This work is completed in 2024. I will describe and discuss and problematize aspects of tradition, focusing chiefly on the work with the school subject psychology. The research questions concern how a subject change in terms of purpose with the subject and how this can come to light in a curricular revision. In this study s of the subject Psychology, in relation to existing traditions within the subject Psychology and consider it as a subject for Bildung, as a subject for proficiency, a approach to study subject reforms has been previously applied on other subjects such as Swedish (Hultin, 2008). The public drafts of the syllabi for Psycholo relation to the historic formation of the subject (Blåvarg 2018; Blåvarg, manuscript). Also, the outcome of the current referral procedure, where authorities, comment on the proposals, and consequential changes that the referrals give rise to, will be considered in relation to the existing traditions. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The material for this study of the Swedish case of curriculum revision consists of governing document such as national curricula: the Upper Secondary School Cu 1965), the Upper Secondary School of 1970 (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970), Curriculum for Upper Secondary School. 2, Supplement. Psychology (Skolöverstyrelsen 1 Compulsory School System (Skolverket, 1994), Upper Secondary School 2000 (Skolverket 2000), Upper Secondary School 2011 (Skolverket 2011) and Upper S other policy documents, collected referral responses from authorities, organizations, and the public and other process documents from the work with the curriculu the workgroup writing the new syllabi comprehensive records of the formulation process will be added. The overall focus in this study of the upper secondary school subject psychology in Sweden as a case study (e.g., Crowe et al., 2011; Öhman & Öhman, 2012; S manifestation of traditions of Bildung, proficiency and experience (e.g., Hultin, 2008), mediated in the documents accompanying the revision of the subject. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Expected findings are expressions of the various traditions in the subject psychology within the current syllabi and that responses from the referral will correspond experience of the subject. Also, parallels to and reflections of the subject’s historical curricular formation is expected to be evident. Overall, even though the aim o secondary level has in some views remained the same it has also fundamentally changed in its relation to contemporary society and the educational ambition wit seen as distinctly different from what it was in the previous curricula, but that the traditions within the subject are still evident and developing with the subject.
|
|
