The plural self and a Taoist orientation in two cultures

A positive association between having a Taoist orientation to life and unity in the subjective perception of the self was found in samples of both American (n = 99) and Turkish (n = 100) respondents.     

On the nature of the plural self

In a sample of 100 college students, those with a higher score on a measure of having a plural self-concept scored higher on a test of self-monitoring and lower on a test of tolerance for ambiguity, but variance accounted for is small.     

The plural taboo

The human incest taboo is here conceptualized as a plural, gender-related psychological reality whose major strands are (1) an instinctual female incest inhibition and (2) a cultural father incest prohibition. These strands are experienced in a plural phenomenology - as a mother taboo, father taboo, daughter taboo, son taboo, and brother-sister taboo. The instinctual inhibition can be demonstrated in a wide range of plant and animal life, not just humans. The cultural prohibition would appear to have originated out of the instinctual inhibition after humans realized the existence of the previously unrecognized father-daughter relationship. The individual ontology of the taboos is explained in terms of object relations theory; the inhibition and prohibition are seen as psychodynamically unique and their differences are compared. It is proposed that the fuller realization of the plural nature of the incest taboo will not only maximize human ability to prevent actual incest but also lead to greater effectiveness for both males and females in the arena of sexual politics. Finally, the notion of the plural taboo is a clinical standpoint from which to explore sexual transference and countertransference in psychotherapy.     

Masculinities, plural

Masculinity cannot be regarded as a single entity. Both within Western culture and across cultures, a wide variety of masculinities are easily observable. Yet masculinity is so often contrasted with femininity that the many differences among men are at times obscured. To in part correct this deficiency, various "psychologies" of men are explored, as well as the cultural components that shape a society's ideas of what constitutes masculinity. Male heterosexuality and homosexuality are also examined, as are a number of the fantasies and fears that men typically experience. What cannot be left out of any exploration of male psychology are those sources of strength that permit so many men to fiercely protect their families and, when called upon, to fight their country's wars. Nonetheless, the differences between individual men are significant and can even be said to be vast.     

Expressivism and plural truth

Contemporary expressivists typically deny that all true judgments must represent reality. Many instead adopt truth minimalism, according to which there is no substantive property of judgments in virtue of which they are true. In this article, I suggest that expressivists would be better suited to adopt truth pluralism, or the view that there is more than one substantive property of judgments in virtue of which judgments are true. My point is not that an expressivism that takes this form is true, but that it more readily accommodates the motivations that typically lead expressivists to their view in the first place.     

The self system

Recent findings of infant research suggest that the self may be regarded as a self-regulating system. The "identity self", that is, the totality of self representations, serves as the internal reference system around which all life-historical identity vacillations revolve.     

The dynamic self

The paper describes various aspects of the dynamic energy of the self, as experienced personally and in clinical work. It discusses the inherent and archetypal force there is in the self, expressed in several ways, for example in some poetry, and in spirituality. The dynamic power of the self is shown at work in the process of individuation, including its vicissitudes of pain and working through doubts, envies and other shadow factors.     

The social self

Pastoral Psychology -     

Meaning matters in children's plural productions

The English plural is about the number of individuals in a set of like kinds. Two-year-old children use the plural but do not do so in all obligatory contexts. The present report asks whether the limitations on their production of the plural are related to aspects of meaning. In two Experiments plural productions were elicited from 2-year-old children for sets of size two and four and for instances of basic-level categories that were either similar or identical. Children were much more likely to produce the plural of these well-known nouns when there were four rather than two and when the instances were identical rather than merely similar. The results provide new evidence on children's acquisition of the English plural, showing that children's early productions are not just limited by knowledge of the noun and its plural form but also is limited by properties of the labeled sets in ways that are relevant to the underlying meaning of the plural.     

A new principle of plural harm

Philosophical Studies - According to the counterfactual comparative account (CCA), an event harms a person if and only if it makes things worse for her. Cases of overdetermination and preemption...     

The self in prejudice

The self as a psychological construct, and the self in relation to the other has been discussed in psychological and sociological literature for decades, but not much attention has been given to the psychological development of the self in relation to the social construction of prejudice. The primary aim of this article is to explore the self in prejudice and thus the psychological processes involved in the development of self within the social context. Consequently, the aim is to explore the self in the construction and expression of prejudice from both a social and psychological approach, and to explain selfhood influences at the individual, group and community levels. I use the conceptual framework of Kohut's self psychology as a lens to present the development of the self and thus the idea of the development of the self in relation to the other. In such exploration of self in prejudice, I present some of my ideas which include prejudice as an outcome of self-definition in the context of the other, as well as linking self in prejudice and group dynamics to attachment theory and the notion of “selfgroup’ in terms of overidentification with the in-group. While the social and the psychological in terms of the development of the self cannot be separated, I have therefore attempted to merge at some point the two bodies of thought in relation to the self in prejudice.     

The essential moral self

It has often been suggested that the mind is central to personal identity. But do all parts of the mind contribute equally? Across five experiments, we demonstrate that moral traits—more than any other mental faculty—are considered the most essential part of identity, the self, and the soul. Memory, especially emotional and autobiographical memory, is also fairly important. Lower-level cognition and perception have the most tenuous connection to identity, rivaling that of purely physical traits. These findings suggest that folk notions of personal identity are largely informed by the mental faculties affecting social relationships, with a particularly keen focus on moral traits.     

The self in cyberspace

Abstract: Jung's concept of the Self is compared with current theories of identity formation in post‐modern society concerning the question: is the self constituted through experience and cultural influences—as it is argued by current theories in the social sciences—or is it already preformed inside the person, as Jung argues? The impact of communication media on the formation of identity in today's societies is discussed with a focus on internet communication and virtual realities. The resulting types of identities are conceptualized as polycentric which has surprising parallels to Jung's idea of the Self. The epistemology of constructivism and parallels in Jung's thought are demonstrated. Jung's work in this respect often appears contradictory in itself but this can be dealt with by a postmodern approach which accepts a plurality of truths.     

The self in analysis

This paper develops a theoretical and clinical approach to the self which is non-essentialist and post-modem. Briefly, it offers a framework for theorizing Self based on hermeneutics and psychological constructivism. It then develops a critique of the essentialist Jungian theory of Self in which the Self is frequently described as a human subject with views, intentions and desires of its own. With this is background, a post-modern Jungian framework for Self is advanced, with a brief clinical account of the self in analysis.