SOCIAL MENTALITY AND RESEARCHER THINKERS JOURNAL (SMART JOURNAL), Year 2024 Issue Cilt 10 Sayı 5

Urban Furnıture for Atatürk Unıversıty Campus: Desıgn Processes and Evaluatıons

Firdevs Kulak TorunAlper Torun — 2026-07-16

This study aims to comprehensively evaluate the urban furniture designed by interior architecture students for the Atatürk University campus. The primary goal of the study is to develop a multi-faceted approach in the design process of urban furniture by considering regional characteristics. In this context, a literature review was first conducted to meticulously determine the criteria for urban furniture design, and the workshop studies and design processes of the students were examined in detail within these criteria. The urban furniture designs developed by five different groups were evaluated based on critical criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, aesthetics, material selection, and socio-cultural harmony. The evaluations revealed that while the students' designs were generally found to be successful, some groups particularly struggled with socio-cultural harmony and aesthetic coherence. These findings underscore the importance of regional and cultural context in the design processes. The study emphasizes that urban furniture design in interior architecture education should not be limited to functionality and aesthetics but should also be integrated with regional and cultural elements. In this regard, the study aims to guide students in designing from a broader perspective and to help them develop a more comprehensive approach. It is expected that future studies will further enhance this awareness, encouraging students to prioritize cultural sensitivity in their designs.

A Review on Internationalization in Higher Education

Recep KAYARecep Kaya , — 2026-07-16

Globalization is Economic, Social, Political, Cultural, Technological, Information Sharing, Research Sharing etc. It has entered our lives in all kinds of areas. Nowadays, with globalization, borders have disappeared, efforts to recruit qualified people for the future of the states have become the agenda of world politics, and this task has mostly become the duty of higher education institutions. Reflection of Globalization in Higher Education: As a Result of Internationalization, Student-Lecturer Circulation at the Global Level Has Become the Policies of the States and Work Continues to Improve It. This understanding has given way in many countries of the world to holistic programs that include various strategies in academic, economic and socio-cultural fields as well as political justifications after 1980, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the USSR, the end of the Cold War and increasing globalization. Similarly, internationalization at the institutional level was previously carried out within the framework of limited academic/technical collaborations due to the high costs of cross-border investments. Since the 1990s, developing information technologies, increasing international student demand and economic competition, and the new needs of the globalizing labor market have made internationalization for universities a multifaceted process that includes stakeholders such as faculty members, students, industrial organizations and non-governmental organizations (Arslan and Çalıkoğlu, 2018). Moreover, it has a content that will cover all activities such as International Projects, International Partnerships, Academic Interaction, Scientific Interaction, Technological Interaction, Research Initiatives, the Opportunity of Offering Face-to-Face and Distance Education, Foreign Policy, Public Diplomacy, International Development Assistance Activities, and Economic Benefit. At the end of the study, suggestions were made for the higher education of our country by discussing the recent internationalization practices in the world and in Turkey.

The Function of Civil Society Organizations in the Fight Against Addiction

Ali Tosun — 2026-07-16

It can be stated that addiction, which occurs with substances or materials that people use for certain purposes and is also defined as the loss of control of individuals, causes social problems as well as affecting the lives of individuals. It is seen that the factors that people are addicted to are more than one and this affects the definition of various addictions. It can be said that the fact that addiction threatens the psychological health of individuals along with their physical health has led to various studies in this context. Both public policy instruments and private institutions and organizations have developed road maps to combat addiction.

It can be stated that the concept of combating addiction, which refers to studies and activities aimed at reducing or eliminating addiction, is carried out within the framework of public policies. It can be stated that this situation reveals the need to fight against addiction in terms of civil society as well as in the public framework. It can be said that there are studies carried out by non-governmental organizations with various tools, as well as studies carried out in coordination with public institutions. For this reason, the activities carried out by non-governmental organizations within the scope of the struggle should be based on a realistic basis.

In the study, in addition to public policies within the scope of the fight against addiction, the work of non-governmental organizations was mentioned. It can be said that there are many non-governmental organizations that play a role in the struggle and carry out their activities in the social field accordingly. It is seen that there are organizations established to fight against addiction as well as structures whose task is to help prevent addiction. It can be said that the fight against addiction is based on the strong cooperation of both public institutions and non-governmental organizations and accordingly, the basic policies of the fight against addiction give results.

Reflections of the Changing Perception of Locality on Turkish Cinema After 2020

Münevver Sofuoğlu — 2026-07-16

In recent debates in Turkish cinema, the issue of indigeneity has come to the fore in the context of the problematic of belonging with elements such as provincialism, urbanity, Anatolian lore, traditional arts, religion and historical accumulation. The concept, which has been discussed again especially after 2010, came to the agenda intensively in the mid-1970s and 1990s. Looking at the post-2010 discussions on indigeneity, with the political, social and cultural changes, the stories of characters who are isolated from their surroundings, lonely, out of place, who do not feel they belong or who are in search of a place are reflected in the cinema. Within the scope of these discussions, the views of indigeneity after this period will be followed through the films of Zeki Demirkubuz, N.B. Ceylan, who started making films in the 1990s, and Semih Kaplanoğlu, who made his first feature film in 2001. In this line, in order to see how the nativity debate, which flared up in the 90s and 2010s, has changed and transformed after 2020, Semih Kaplanoğlu's Bağlılık Aslı, Zeki Demirkubuz's Hayat and N.B. Ceylan's Kuru Otlarlar Üstüne On will be discussed. It has been observed that the discussions on indigeneity have generally been stuck in an ideological debate and have not been able to reach a central basis of belonging by capturing an intellectual depth. In this respect, when we look at the discussions on indigeneity in the historical process from the early period of Turkish cinema to the present, we observe that indigenous cinema has a central problematic as an identity. This study will use the literature review method to analyze the concept of indigeneity. The changing perception of indigeneity from the classical period to the present day will be discussed in the films Bağlılık Hasan, Hayat and On Dry Grass, which were released after 2020.

Family Through The Eyes Of Circassian Women: The Example Of Göksun District

Uğur ATALAR — 2026-07-16

This research examines the Circassian family structure and its transformation through the eyes of Circassian women over the age of 65 living in Göksun district of Kahramanmaraş. After the 1864 deportation, Circassians settled in Ottoman lands and tried to preserve their traditional social structures and family concepts. The study details the interactions of Circassians within the family, marriage practices, child rearing styles and the effects of the 'Xabze' (Circassian traditions) system. The research was conducted through semi-structured in-depth interviews using a qualitative approach and phenomenology design. In the study, the data obtained as a result of interviews with 15 participants with high Circassian identity were analyzed with MaxQda data analysis program. Information on the participants' socio-demographic characteristics, perceptions of Circassianism, marriage and child-rearing practices were provided. In addition, the intergenerational transmission of the Circassian family structure and its transformations over time were discussed. The results show that the Circassian family structure is defined by clear rules and boundaries, but modernization and socio-cultural changes have led to transformations in this structure. Traditional values and practices are based on respect and hierarchy within the family, but have become more flexible and open to individual preferences over time. The study provides important findings to understand the dynamics of family structure through the eyes of Circassian women and how these dynamics have evolved in the social and cultural context

Legal Personality of Artificial Intelligence and Meaning of the Consent (In the Context of Consent to Sexual Intercourse and Right to Marriage)

Mehtap Özgenç Kaya — 2026-07-16

This study delves into the legal personality and consent concepts within the rapidly evolving context of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The meteoric rise of artificial intelligence has opened the doors to a brand new era for humanity, while at the same time, it has also left humanity with a complex set of problems awaiting solutions in terms of law and ethics. With its increasingly complex structure, this technological miracle has ceased to be a simple tool and has reached the potential to become an entity capable of making autonomous decisions and even forming emotional bonds. One of the most striking reflections of this transformation is the legal status of artificial intelligence and the resulting discussions of rights and responsibilities. Throughout history, the legal system has been constructed primarily by focusing on humans, who are concrete, biological beings. It particularly focuses on potential scenarios where AI might be involved in complex legal and ethical issues such as sexual intercourse and marriage. The research evaluates the alignment of AI of different types, capacities, and development levels with the current legal framework. Recognizing AI as an entity is crucial for determining its rights and responsibilities. This study examines the type of personality that can be attributed to AI (such as electronic personality, artificial personality) and its legal implications. Additionally, it seeks answers to fundamental questions like how AI consent can be defined, measured, and proven. The findings of the research open up a new area of discussion regarding AI's legal status and consent capacity. In light of these findings, the need to update and develop legal regulations related to AI becomes apparent. Furthermore, considering AI's role and impact on society, ethical and social consequences must be contemplated. Ultimately, this study aims to contribute to academic and political discussions in this field by taking a significant step towards understanding AI's legal personality and consent.

Impacts of AUKUS on Australia's Security

İbrahim Çağrı Erkul — 2026-07-16

AUKUS announced on 15 September 2021 as a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA). Delivery of conventionally armed and nuclear-powered submarines to Australia is central in the AUKUS pact. Despite this central place of nuclear-powered submarines in the pact, it should be considered that it emerged as a response to China's growing military, political, and economic presence in the region. Also, the AUKUS pact reveals a will, which is implementing a strategy that would suppress China in the Indo-Pacific and even implement a containment policy against China. In this respect, the pact is part of a difficult and dangerous goal/policy such as the containment of China. While the AUKUS pact is crucial for the security of the USA and Australia. It also presents a significant opportunity for the UK to expand its global vision following Brexit. This article intends to explain the security challenges posed by China to Australia, the reasons behind the creation of the AUKUS pact, and its impact on Australia's security. In addition, the article justifies the acceptance of the AUKUS pact from Australia's perspective. It also discusses Australia's foreign policy based on realism and interprets the future of the pact based on Australia's security. The article claims that after the declaration of the AUKUS pact, Australia merged its destiny with the UK and especially the USA in the Indo-Pacific. In doing so, Australia has accepted in advance the positive and negative consequences that the pact might bring.

Contemporary Art As An Unrealized Miracle: Accepting Jean Baudrillard

Funda Özşener — 2026-07-16

When the newspaper Libération published Baudrillard’s article Le complot de l'art (The Conspiracy of Art) in 1996, this caused two crises. First, Baudrillard, with the disappointment he caused in the art community, placed himself in a dubious position, not as a thinker but as an artist because of his thoughts. Then, with the opposite effect, his philosophical statements about art became controversial because of his photographs, each of which was considered a work of art. Baudrillard has undoubtedly remained an influential thinker, but this paradox has once again called into question either his artistry or his intellectual power regarding contemporary art that has influenced the masses. As soon as the article was published, it reached many countries around the world. The French thinker openly argued that contemporary art could not exist because of its qualities, and claimed that in societies that had reached a stage beyond aesthetics, the sole function of art would be an activity or deception aimed at concealing the situation in question. However, his work Simulacres et simulation, published in Paris in 1981 and in the United States in 1983 in English, made him a leading actor, especially in the New York art community, and as an aesthetic manifesto, the book led artists to embrace the belief that simulacra could be something artistic. Indeed, this approach was based on a kind of misreading, but the historical outcome did not change. It was as if there was a mutual conspiracy. This study aims to evaluate Baudrillard's articles, Le complot de l'art (The Conspiracy of Art, 1996) and Le Conjuration des Imbéciles (The League of Imbéciles, 1997), which were later published as books, and to evaluate the art world's intellectual and aesthetic misconceptions about the thinker, and to discuss the function of the ideal of art, which is assumed to be a prophecy and will come true, in contemporary society.

A review of work consequences of job embeddedness in Turkey

Melda Keçeci — 2026-07-16

The purpose of this study is to explain the concept of job embeddedness and its effects, which was introduced to the literature in 2001 (Mitchell et al., 2001) in explaining turnover behavior, and to help employers retain their employees through this concept by scanning research examples in national and international publications. Job attitudes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment have been used for many years to explain turnover intention. Unlike these attitudes, job embeddedness both contributes to a more comprehensive explanation of turnover behavior and emphasizes positive psychology as it examines why employees stay at the workplace rather than why they leave. Although the research shows promising and pleasing relationships between job embeddedness and retention, performance, and counter productive work behaviors, new research also show that people who stay stuck in that workplace even though they want to leave may experience both a deterioration in their health and an increase in counter productive work behaviors. In order to examine the development of the concept of job embeddedness in Turkey; academic articles written in Turkish or English, conducted in Turkey between 2001 and 2024, using job embeddedness as the dependent or mediating variable, were scanned through Google Scholar. It has been observed that the research in the local literature is mostly keen on the antecedents of this concept and the ones that have investigated the consequences have reached mostly positive effects. In the discussion part, suggestions have been made for further research on this subject in order to better understand this concept and to develop methods against its possible negative consequences. For these purposes, it was decided that it would be beneficial to write this article in Turkish.

Investigation of Sociology 1 and Sociology 2 Textbooks in Social Sciences High School in terms of Values

Gamze AslanEkrem Ziya Duman — 2026-07-16

In our country, sociology course is taught as a compulsory course in social sciences high schools. Within the scope of the research, the treatment of values in Sociology 1 and Sociology 2 textbooks, which are taught as compulsory courses in social sciences high schools, was examined. In this context, the number of values in the reading passages in the textbooks were revealed. Content analysis was included in the research in which qualitative research method was used. The data of the research consists of reading texts in textbooks. The values in the reading texts were evaluated within the scope of universal and national values. The distribution of universal and national values obtained as a result of the examination in the reading passages was calculated both numerically and proportionally. In this context, while the value numbers in both books are shown as "responsibility (7)", the proportional distributions are shown as "30%". In addition, universal and national values that were not common in the books within the scope of the review were also identified. According to the data obtained, the values considered as universal values are numerically higher in the Sociology 2 book. In terms of values considered as national values, more values were included in the Sociology 1 book, and as a result of the proportional analysis, it was seen that both textbooks had an equal percentage distribution. All data obtained are shown in tables. According to the general evaluation result, it was determined that more value emphasis should be placed in the reading passages in both textbooks.

Challenges and Proposed Solutıons for Foreıgn Language Teachıng to Gıfted Students

Esra Yılmaz Serap Emir — 2026-07-16

Gifted individuals are those who perform above average in general intelligence, creativity and problem solving skills. This study aims to reveal the challenges faced by gifted students and EFL teachers in the foreign language teaching process and their suggestions to these problems. In line with this purpose, the case study design of qualitative research methods was used to learn participants' opinions. Semi-structured interview forms were prepared for both students and teachers. The participant groups consisted of a total of 63 individuals, including 45 Science and Art Center (SAC) students identified as gifted and 18 English teachers working at SAC. The data were analyzed via content analysis. The study showed that despite the high language learning capacity of gifted students, both gifted students and their teachers may face challenges in foreign language teaching process. According to the gifted students, the main problems are curriculum, lack of appropriate materials according to their levels, crowded classes, lack of motivation and lack of practice opportunities. Teachers, on the other hand, mentioned the group-level differences, inadequacy of materials and lack of appropriate educational environments. In order to overcome the challenges they face in the foreign language learning process, both groups suggested differentiated instruction such as enriching curriculum, integrating technology, using individualized teaching methods and reducing class size. These findings provide valuable guidance for developing more effective methods for foreign language teaching and helping gifted students to fully use their potential.

Developing Mathematics Achievement Test for Gifted 6th Grade Students

Gülünay Ergut Kalkan Serap Emir — 2026-07-16

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable mathematics achievement test for gifted 6th-grade students, focusing on topics such as "whole numbers and operations, factors, multiples, and integers." The process began by examining national curriculum standards and creating objectives aligned with Bloom's taxonomy. A 70-item preliminary test form was developed based on these objectives. The items were read aloud and revised for clarity with five 6th-grade students. Expert feedback was gathered from one academic in the Curriculum and Instruction Department, three academics in the field of Gifted Education, and two experienced mathematics teachers. Based on this feedback, eight items were revised, and some questions at the evaluation level were updated to open-ended formats. In the pilot study, the reliability of the multiple-choice section was calculated as 0,91, with an average difficulty index (p) of 0,57 and an average discrimination index (r) of 0,54. For the open-ended section, consistency was determined using the intraclass correlation coefficient, with an average item difficulty of 0,34 and an average item discrimination of 0,47. The final test form, following the pilot study, consists of 30 multiple-choice and 10 open-ended items.

Viewing of Giallo through the Yeşilçam: Understanding the Films Named Kadın Düşmanı (1967), Aşka Susayanlar: Seks ve Cinayet (1972) and Korkunç Tecavüz (1972) in the Context of Italian Yellow Films

M. Özer Özkantar — 2026-07-16

Cinema can be defined as an art that has been rapidly developing and transforming since its invention, evolving under the influence of different cultures and creating new genres and even sub-genres. At this point, especially horror cinema has developed many sub-genres within its own body, and in the cinemas of different countries, these genres have created their own codes and influenced the cinemas of other nations. One of these sub-genres is the Giallo sub-genre, which sprouted in Italian Cinema and takes its roots from literature. Giallo can be defined as a genre that shows the characteristics of the thriller and horror genres, inspired the slasher genre in one aspect, and on the other hand, makes a difference with an aesthetic eroticism and its unique cinematography, use of color and sound. While these productions sometimes feed on detective stories in some aspects, sometimes they contain the violence element of horror cinema, and in these aspects, they take their place in the cinematic climate as hybrid and versatile productions. On the other hand, the giallo genre has also found its place in the cinemas of other countries. In this context, the aim of this study is to reveal the existence of Giallo influence in Turkish Cinema. In this direction, the films named Kadın Düşmanı (1967), Aşka Susayanlar: Seks ve Cinayet (1972) and Korkunç Tecavüz (1972) which have been selected through purposive sampling method, have been analyzed thematically through textual analysis. As a result of the film analyses, it has been hypothesized that the aforementioned films have been indirectly, if not directly, influenced by the Giallo sub-genre, that the directors of the related productions have emulated this genre, and that the Italian Giallo genre has been significantly reflected in the film climate in Yeşilçam.