The process of scapegoating in a neonatal nurses' group

This paper reviews the literature on scapegoating, elaborating on the underlying mechanisms before describing the process of scapegoating as it occurred in a neonatal nurse support group. Illustrative vignettes are used to discuss how scapegoating was used by group members to avoid painful feelings arising from their care of extremely ill infants. Group process is related to the stages of the group's development as feelings were addressed more directly and the need to use scapegoating as a defense decreased.     

Proposed Revisions of the By-Laws of the American Group Psychotherapy Association,Inc.

Abstract

The social constructs of the group, the group self of an individual member, and the moral order of the group as a whole are described as basic, interrelated concepts essential to our understanding of scapegoating. Two patterns of scapegoating are then introduced: one concerns antagonistic, the other, agonistic relations of scapegoat to scapegoaters. A series of case examples are presented, one involves an advocacy group of socio-cultural “outsiders;” the other three pertain to scapegoating in therapy group settings. The case materials illustrate the meaning and usefulness of an intersubjective/social constructivist perspective on the problem of scapegoating.     

Limited Goals in Short-Term Group Psychotherapy with Institutionalized Delinquent Adolescent Boys

This paper applies a specific view of familylike dynamics to psychoanalytic group psychotherapy. Pathological forms of protectiveness and scapegoating are both involved in which the symptomatic individuals maintain an enmeshment with the group which saves them from anxieties associated with change. As the scapegoat, the problem patient becomes the spokesperson for a group transference involving the therapist(s), group members, and a developmentally internalized family. The primary technical error is the tendency for the therapist, in the guise of appropriate technique, to unconsciously collude with a scapegoating process thereby discouraging differentiation and growth. Viewing the group from the perspective of pathological versus healthy forms of family interaction helps to highlight certain problems in the therapist's interventions.     

On scapegoating in therapy groups: a social constructivist and intersubjective outlook.

The social constructs of the group, the group self of an individual member, and the moral order of the group as a whole are described as basic, interrelated concepts essential to our understanding of scapegoating. Two patterns of scapegoating are then introduced: one concerns antagonistic, the other, agonistic relations of scapegoat to scapegoaters. A series of case examples are presented, one involves an advocacy group of socio-cultural "outsiders;" the other three pertain to scapegoating in therapy group settings. The case materials illustrate the meaning and usefulness of an intersubjective/social constructivist perspective on the problem of scapegoating.     

Managing the aftermath: Scapegoating as crisis communication strategy

Should firms struggling with a brand crisis use scapegoating, the assignment of blame to another entity? Across three studies, we offer evidence of the value of scapegoating. We show that when firms use scapegoating, they reduce consumers' attributions of a firm's crisis responsibility, controllability, and stability. Compared to other strategies, including no response, denial, apology, and justification, scapegoating is most effective at reducing these attributions. However, attributions of crisis controllability seem more influential in reducing a firm's crisis responsibility. Scapegoating also increases consumers' word‐of‐mouth (WOM) intentions more than the no response strategy, but not more than denial, apology, and justification. The effect of scapegoating, however, depends on the scapegoat type. Whereas using an underdog scapegoat such as a regular company employee or a small partner firm can backfire and result in negative WOM intentions, the use of topdog scapegoats seems to have more positive effects. When firms use topdog scapegoats, such as the top management of a large firm, negative WOM intentions likely decrease. This type of effect seems to occur due to a reduction in the firm's crisis responsibility that scapegoating engenders.     

The danger of Durkheim: Ambiguity in the theory of social effervescence

The purpose of this article is to shed light on an ambiguity in Émile Durkheim's theory of social effervescence. Durkheim's failure to distinguish two kinds of effervescence at the heart of the religious rite has left a dangerous legacy in the study of religion. If his work is read, however, in light of René Girard's theory of the violent origins of religion, his analysis of la société can retain the distinction between the effervescence of the crowd in scapegoating and the effervescence of protecting the victims of scapegoating. This thesis is tested by briefly comparing some contemporary essays on Durkheim.     

Millenarism in Greco-Roman Palestine

The purpose of this article is to shed light on an ambiguity in Émile Durkheim's theory of social effervescence. Durkheim's failure to distinguish two kinds of effervescence at the heart of the religious rite has left a dangerous legacy in the study of religion. If his work is read, however, in light of René Girard's theory of the violent origins of religion, his analysis of la société can retain the distinction between the effervescence of the crowd in scapegoating and the effervescence of protecting the victims of scapegoating. This thesis is tested by briefly comparing some contemporary essays on Durkheim.     

Scapegoating: Dynamics and Interventions in Group Counseling

Scapegoating in group counseling may be understood from the perspective of 3 levels of group functioning: intrapsychic, interpersonal, and the group as an entity. Intense scapegoating interactions tend to trigger defense mechanisms among group members. The article reviews a progressive 3‐stage conceptualization of group development that contributes to a more complete understanding of the means to initiate therapeutic change of the phenomenon. Various interventions outlined in the article can assist the group counselor in effectively responding to scapegoating in group counseling.     

A dual-motive model of scapegoating: displacing blame to reduce guilt or increase control

The authors present a model that specifies 2 psychological motives underlying scapegoating, defined as attributing inordinate blame for a negative outcome to a target individual or group, (a) maintaining perceived personal moral value by minimizing feelings of guilt over one's responsibility for a negative outcome and (b) maintaining perceived personal control by obtaining a clear explanation for a negative outcome that otherwise seems inexplicable. Three studies supported hypotheses derived from this dual-motive model. Framing a negative outcome (environmental destruction or climate change) as caused by one's own harmful actions (value threat) or unknown sources (control threat) both increased scapegoating, and these effects occurred indirectly through feelings of guilt and perceived personal control, respectively (Study 1), and were differentially moderated by affirmations of moral value and personal control (Study 2). Also, scapegoating in response to value threat versus control threat produced divergent, theoretically specified effects on self-perceptions and behavioral intentions (Study 3).     

Group process and group phenomena on the Internet.

This article identifies group processes and group phenomena in discussion lists on the Internet and examines the differences and similarities with the processes in small and large groups. Group dynamics and phenomena, such as boundaries, cohesion, transference, scapegoating, and the leader's role are addressed. Large group features, such as alienation, vulnerability, and the vast amount of issues discussed in parallel are described. There are similarities between the discussion list and small groups on issues of cohesion and group norms, and in the psychological mechanisms of transference and scapegoating. There are differences regarding the contract, boundaries, leaving the group, and extra-group socialization. Although many of the phenomena described resemble a large group, a discussion list on the Internet maintains the illusion of being a small group and frequently acts like one. While a virtual therapy group would be somewhat different from a real group, it could nonetheless be useful.     

亲子三角关系和心理韧性在父母冲突与青少年问题行为之间的作用:一个有调节的中介模型

为了考察三种亲子三角关系在父母冲突与青少年问题行为之间的中介作用,以及心理韧性在其中的调节作用,本研究对647名初中生进行了问卷调查。有调节的中介模型结果显示,（1）在控制了年龄和性别之后,父母冲突对青少年问题行为的正向预测作用显著;（2）亲子三角关系中的“替罪羊”和“跨代同盟”在父母冲突与青少年问题行为之间的中介作用显著,“亲职化”的中介作用不显著;（3）心理韧性对“父母冲突→替罪羊\跨代同盟→问题行为”的后半段具有显著的调节作用。上述结果表明,父母冲突可以通过“替罪羊”和“跨代同盟”间接影响青少年问题行为,高度卷入“替罪羊”或“跨代同盟”之后高心理韧性的青少年出现的问题行为要少于低心理韧性的同龄人。     

亲子三角关系的性别差异

亲子三角关系指父母发生冲突时,子女主动或被动卷入其中而形成的不平衡的“父亲—子女—母亲”三角关系,通常包括代罪羔羊、亲职化和跨代联盟三大类型,与儿童青少年的内外化行为问题等密切关联。在有关亲子三角关系的发生特点及其影响是否具有性别一致性的问题上,既有研究结论尚存在分歧。这可能与人口学变量的差异和性别角色观念的变迁等因素有关。国内大陆在该领域的研究近乎为零。未来需通过开展本土研究,细化人口学变量和综合运用多种测量方法与指标,采用追踪设计等厘清该问题。     

Scapegoating in group psychotherapy

The purpose of this paper is to describe and illuminate the phenomenon of scapegoating in group psychotherapy. Specifically, the role of projective identification - on both individual and group-wide bases - in the evolution of the deviant is delineated. Individual, interpersonal, and whole-group interventions are presented along with the technique of functional subgrouping, a relatively new and particularly potent group intervention. Several case vignettes are detailed for illustration.     

Indications for selecting family or individual therapy

Indications for either individual therapy or family therapy as treatments of first choice are identified at the initial family assessment.
A family approach is suggested in (1) scapegoating systems where the symptom is essential to the family homeostasis; (2) enmeshed families where communications are confused and diffuse; (3) paranoid-schizoid families where the family denies the symptoms and (4) families in a current acute shared crisis.
Individual treatment is indicated when (1) the patient has suffered traumatic separations; (2) separate help is asked for; (3) the therapist considers individuation necessary and (4) unusual life experience. Clinical examples are given.     

On Being Church in the New Millennium: The Challenge and Gift of Gay Believers

Abstract

Taking his childhood experiences in the American South as a starting point, Lindsey explores the scapegoating of marginalized groups. Vicious processes of social exclusion are resisted by those targeted as ‘demeaned outsiders’. However, their experience gives them a special knowledge of how structures of power function. Gay Christians are in a position to translate this knowledge into a call for radical transformation that is vital for the survival of the church. The gift gay believers offer is a vision of the church as it might become; an imagined community of the future rather than a memorial of the past.     

Journal Reviews

Astor , James and Pawson , Michael . (London.) ‘The value of psychometric testing in the investigation of infertility.’Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology Black , D. (London). ‘Some thoughts on the future of analytical psychology, or the exclamation-mark of Dr Schwartz-Salant.’Harvest Casement , A. (London). ‘Psychoanalysis may work, but what is it?’The Economist De Koning , A. (Tilburg). ‘Reflections on the heart’ in The Changing Reality of Modern Man Ghadiali , H. N. (Stafford). ‘The process of scapegoating.’The Midland Journal of Psychotherapy Hillman , J. (Dallas). Egalitarian Typologies versus the Perception of the Unique Hillman , J. (Thompson, Connecticut), Kugler , P. (Buffalo, New York). ‘The autonomous psyche. A communication to Goodheart from the bi-personal field of Paul Kugler and James Hillman.’Spring Hubback , J. (London). ‘Body language and the self: the search for psychic truth.’Chiron Rothenberg , R. E. (Pacific Palisades). ‘Psychic wounds and body scars.’Spring Ryce -Menuhin , J. (London). ‘A sonata in the sand.’Harvest Zahner -Roloff , L. (Chicago). ‘The therapies of performance: The Dionysian, Hermetic and Apollonian archetypes of poetry therapy.’Psychotherapeia and Psychiatry in Practice     

Individual risk factors or group dynamics? An investigation of the scapegoat hypothesis of victimization in school classes

Three studies are reported, which attempt operational and constructive replications of a report by Schuster (1999 Schuster, B. 1999. Outsiders at school: The prevalence of bullying and its relation with social status. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 2: 175–190. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), supporting a scapegoating model of victimization. Peer nominations of victims, and bullies, were obtained from pupils aged 8 to 13 years in 67 classes. In only 27 classes (40%) were one or two victims identified by Schuster's original criterion, and fewer when using a criterion of approximately one standard deviation above the mean. The distribution of victims over classes approached that expected by a chance model of individual risk factors, possibly moderated (or exacerbated) by the number of bullies in a class, as well as the broader social context within which such risk factors operate. The findings do not support Schuster's scapegoating theory of victimization; the implications for school-based intervention are considered.     

Families and the professional network: an attempted classification of professional network actions which can hinder change

Many families, willingly or unwillingly, collect a professional network which can act either to facilitate or to hinder natural growth within the family. This article offers a classification of network actions that can contribute to a family's stuckness and incompetence. These include the network advance, invasion, freeze, scapegoating, over-protection and the classic multi-agency mirror. Recognizing and dealing with network problems from the perspective of a clinic is briefly considered.     

Hostility in group psychotherapy

To run a psychodynamic group therapeutically, the leader must understand the meanings and functions of hostility. Fundamental to this task is the leader's awareness of his or her bias toward hostility as a constructive or destructive feeling and willingness to serve as a lightening rod for it. This paper discusses the sources of hostility during different stages of group development. The therapeutic handling of hostility is discussed under the following topics: theoretical considerations, defensive functions, and communicative functions. Case examples illustrate the proper handling of contractual violations, scapegoating, and narcissistic injury. Countertransference reactions to anger and rage in the group are discussed.