Aggression,sex role measures,and Kohut's psychology of the self

Recent controversies concerning the relationship between aggression and sex role development were evaluated in light of Heinz Kohut's psychoanalytic psychology of the self. Masculinity roughly corresponded to grandiose elements of Kohut's bipolar self while femininity was linked to its idealizing sector. As predicted, self-reported aggressiveness reflected an immature grandiosity; and associations of assertiveness with both masculine and grandiose personality styles supported Kohut's claim that adjustment can evolve out of more aggressive forms of self-functioning. Socially desirable forms of femininity had the advantage of being incompatible with aggressiveness, but they also failed to promote assertiveness. Androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated sex roles displayed largely predictable parallels with synthetic, internal, external, and archaic narcissistic styles. As in previous research, therefore, Kohut's theory proved useful in examining the mental health implications of traditional sex roles.Data reported in this project were included in the master's thesis of the first author.     

The cultural psychology of Kohut's self psychology

Contrary to criticism, Heinz Kohut's self psychology does not support an absorption into self nor a morally neutral response to society. Kohut's psychology of the self and narcissism aims toward an analysis of contemporary Western culture that will restore it. In the process of assisting individuals and culture to recover from the vicissitudes of narcissism, Kohut has introduced a new type of cultural psychology, a culture of empathy.     

Relationality in Kohut's psychology of the self

In this essay, I will posit that Kohut's psychology of the self portrays relationality and that its relationality can be categorized into the explicit aspects. I will also put forth the six aspects of relationality contained in Kohut's psychology of the self as relational, dynamic, wholistic, unilateral, mutual, and doxological and they can be summarized as following: (1) Relational: Narcissism is not self-love but is a particular kind of object relationship; (2) Dynamic: The most central self is dynamic or agentic and not defined in substantival attributes; (3) Wholistic: The whole of the self is important; (4) Unilateral: In order for one's self to develop, one is in need of and at the receptive end of another's empathy; (5) Mutual: Others’ empathy is needed in maintaining the health of the developed selves; and (6) Doxological: Joy and thanksgiving are natural expression of developed selves.     

Glossolalia and the psychology of the self and narcissism

A survey of the religious and psychological literature on glossolalia (speaking in tongues) reviews the various ways that have been used to try to understand this fascinating practice. At the present time an impasse has been reached: glossolalists can no longer be viewed as suffering from psychopathological disorders or from sociological deprivation. Insights derived from the psychology of the self and narcissism, as presented in the works of Heinz Kohut and D.W. Winnicott, are used to suggest new approaches to understand glossolalia.     

Kohut's case of Mr Z: overcoming countertransference in self psychology

This paper has attempted to discover if the two analyses of Mr. Z by Kohut do in fact substantiate the clinical efficacy of his theoretical model. A brief overview was presented, as were critical assessments. The major point was developed, that a creative working-through of a complementary countertransference was largely responsible for the success of a second analysis after a first phase was seriously undercut by interfering material which rigidified the therapist's interpretation. It was concluded by noting how Kohut's need to overcome the countertransference played a vital role in catalyzing the evolution of his new theory.     

Uses and limitations of Kohut's self psychology in the treatment of borderline patients

The treatment of borderline patients provides a setting in which the analyst can evaluate the clinical usefulness of Kohut's theories. The issues that arise in this treatment can also highlight aspects of Kohut's theories that are incomplete and require other theoretical models in order to understand the patient optimally.     

Paranoia and narcissism in psychoanalytic theory. Contributions of self psychology to the theory and therapy of the paranoid disorders

Many factors go into a choice of a therapeutic focus: the patient's psychopathology; the therapist's training, countertransference reactions, and ideological beliefs; and, importantly, a decision about what seems most amenable to treatment and change. As a theory, self psychology describes one aspect of the paranoid process; as such, it is an incomplete theory that complements rather than invalidates more classical theories. As a technique, however, it suggests a style and focus conducive to working with paranoid patients, one that is markedly supportive, nonconfrontational, yet also interpretive. In this context, it must be remembered how difficult it is to treat paranoid patients psychotherapeutically, much less to keep them in treatment. The strategies discussed above do not wholly replace other dynamic approaches (e.g., counterprojective techniques), nor are they universally applicable. Some patients may be more amenable than others. However, the techniques provide a very supportive framework that may help the therapist to be more available to and in contact with the paranoid patient. More broadly, this paper's application of self psychology to the theory and therapy of the paranoid disorders further illustrates the practical utility of this approach. Attention to the narcissistic developmental line, interpersonal selfobject relationships, intrapsychic conflicts and deficits, and empathic immersion in the patients's world are important adjuncts to the psychotherapy of paranoid patients. Rather than an either/or dichotomy, the principle of overdetermination suggests a both/and relationship between self psychology and traditional theory, such that the self psychological approach complements rather than contradicts the classical psychoanalytic theory. The vicissitudes of the self simply add another perspective or vantage point from which to understand and respond to the patient, one which has perhaps more applicability for preoedipally disordered patients.     

The self as a central tenet of our psychology: New perspectives on the self

Abstract

The self is fundamental to psychology and yet it is as broad as it is foundational. Numerous concepts fall into the examination of the self and has resulted in many reviews of those individual aspects but few of the self as a whole. In this special issue, we offer an avenue for authors to engage in reviews of those such individual aspects to try to draw attention to new and novel approaches to what is an integral component of our psychology.     

Sex Role Identity, Androgyny, and Sex Role Transcendence: A Sex Role Strain Analysis

This paper first reviews three different theoretical constructs concerning the psychological significance of sex role related characteristics in personality functioning: sex role identity, androgyny, and sex role transcendence. A new conceptual analysis concerning sex-typing, sex role strain analysis, is presented. According to this analysis, the relationship between sex role related personality characteristics and psychological adjustment, especially self-esteem, is moderated by two variables: perception of the ideal member of the same sex, and sex role salience. These two variables', taken in conjunction with real self-concept, generate five sex role strain outcomes. The constructs of sex role identity, androgyny, and sex role transcendence are interpreted in terms of this sex role strain analysis. The implications of this analysis for current research and for understanding the dynamics of both individual and social change in sex roles are briefly described.     

Narcissists as "Victims": the role of narcissism in the perception of transgressions

Narcissism is a set of traits that are motivated by the desire to establish and maintain a grandiose self-image. Consistent with this conceptualization, the authors hypothesized that narcissistic people perceive themselves to be the victims of other people's inter-personal transgressions more frequently than do less narcissistic people. In a 14-day diary study, the authors found that narcissism (particularly in its exploitiveness/entitlement dimension) was associated positively with the number and frequency of transgressions that respondents reported. The narcissism-victimization relationship appears to result, at least in part, from biased recall or self-presentation. The exploitiveness/entitlement dimension of narcissism may be particularly useful for explaining why narcissistic people report higher rates of interpersonal transgressions in their daily lives.     

Entrepreneurial personality: The role of narcissism

Research has established a number of personality features and behaviours associated with business creation and success. The similarities between these traits and narcissism, a concept with roots in clinical psychology and psychiatry, led the authors to conduct this study, which proposes to measure whether entrepreneurs score higher on a narcissism scale than other vocational groups. The second goal of this study is to measure the role of narcissism on intention to start a business. Student entrepreneurs have been compared with non-entrepreneur students, city workers, and employees and managers from a branch of a large financial institution. Then, students filled out measures of general self-efficacy, locus of control and risk propensity as well as a narcissism scale. Results indicate that student entrepreneurs score significantly higher than all other vocational groups on a measure of narcissism. Results also indicate that narcissism is positively correlated with general self-efficacy, locus of control and risk propensity. Moreover, narcissism plays a significant role in explaining entrepreneurial intentions, even after controlling for self-efficacy, locus of control and risk propensity. Overall, these findings shed new light on the underlying personality traits of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial intentions and suggest new directions in the study of entrepreneurs’ personality profile.     

Personality and job satisfaction: The role of narcissism

Narcissism has been studied in relation to leadership and productivity in the workplace. However, few studies have been conducted on how narcissism influences work attitudes. The first goal of this study is to measure the association between narcissism and the five factor model (FFM) of personality in an organizational sample. The second goal is to measure the influence of narcissism on job satisfaction when controlling for FFM traits. A total of 224 employees from a public organization have filled out self-rating measures of job satisfaction, FFM traits and a measure of narcissism. Results indicated that narcissism was positively correlated with FFM extraversion and openness to experience and negatively correlated with agreeableness. Narcissism had a significant influence on job satisfaction, even when controlling for FFM traits. We believe that these results stress the importance of better understanding the role of narcissism in employee attitudes in order to weigh the pros and cons of hiring or promoting narcissistic employees.     

Building Bridges: Teresa of Avila and self psychology

Utilizing concepts from self psychology, the author demonstrates the ways in which God functioned as a selfobject for Teresa of Avila. In addition, parallels are drawn between the spiritual journey as described by Teresa of Avila and the psychotherapeutic journey. Building bridges between the psychological and spiritual realms of experience can greatly increase our understanding of each, and enable us to help our clients become more integrated, whole persons.     

From archaic narcissism to empathy for the self: the evolution of new capacities in psychoanalysis

The concept of the selfobject was central to Heinz Kohut's psychology of the self. With an eye to studying the development of narcissism and its implications for the growth of new psychic structure, this concept is reviewed and reassessed. Post-Kohutian complexities regarding its definition and use extend our consideration of the development of narcissism beyond archaic configurations toward further evolution of the self and the nature of mature narcissism. The hypothesis is offered that developing narcissism and the growth of self-regulation impact the acquisition of new structure and new capacities through the emergence of newly potentiated aspects of the self. The implications of these emergent qualities of the self are examined in the context of our understanding of self-esteem regulation, the state of the self, and the goals of psychoanalysis. A clinical example illustrates how technique and process in an analysis may be organized around the development of such new capacities.     

Further assessment of the construct validity of four measures of narcissism: replication and extension

CT. The authors build on earlier research by L. S. Mullins and R. E. Kopelman (1988) and R. E. Kopelman and L. S. Mullins (1992) to reexamine the construct validity of four narcissism scales: the Margolis-Thomas Measure of Narcissism (MT; H. D. Margolis & V. A. Thomas, 1980), the Narcissistic Personality Disorder Scale (NPDS; H. U. Ashby, R. R. Lee, & E. H. Duke, 1979), the Narcissism-Hypersensitivity subscale of the MMPI, Scale 5, Masculinity-Femininity (NHMF; K. Serkownek, 1975), and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; R. Raskin & C. S. Hall, 1979). The present analysis included the revised NPI and its factors along with four measures of satisfaction and a number of other previously assessed variables. The MT exhibited the strongest validity, correlating positively with conceptually related constructs such as Machiavellianism, nonsignificantly with unrelated measures like the need to achieve, and inversely with all four satisfaction scales. Contrasts between the NPI and NPDS and NHMF seemed to parallel recent differentiations between overt and covert narcissism, but data for the NPI factors suggested instead that the four narcissism scales helped describe a complex psychological continuum related to adjustment.     

Ambiguity and the dialogical self: In search for a dialogical psychology

Abstract

It is intuitively felt that ambiguity plays a crucial role in human beings' everyday life and in psychologists' theoretical and applied work. However, ambiguity remains essentially non-problematised in psychological science since its foundation. This article analyses positivist and social constructionist perspectives on ambiguity in the context of their epistemological and ontological fundamental assumptions. The relational thesis of social constructionism is further analysed and it is argued that it constitutes a “weak thesis” concerning the relational constitution of human beings. In the second part, a dialogical alternative is elaborated. In this perspective, ambiguity is placed in the context of relationship and both are brought to an ontological ground. Therefore, it is argued, ambiguity is a fundamental property of human experience and plays a fundamental role in the constitution of (inter)subjective processes. The impact of this thesis on dialogical perspective on self is elaborated.