On “The private life of the psychotherapist” and the psychology of caring

This paper is an extended book review of The private life of the psychotherapist by James Guy, an associate professor of psychology at Biola University. This review discusses the joys, stresses and realities of being a therapist. After an overview of joining, remaining in, and retiring from the profession, the next sections deal with the relation between the core skills of psychotherapy as a generic form and the psychological consequences that they are likely to produce.     

“Method and meaning”: Storytelling as decolonial praxis in the psychology of racialized peoples

In psychology, there is a growing recognition of how racialized groups are often dehumanized and pathologized, and how racist and colonial legacies still inform our research and practices today. In order to dismantle racism within academic institutions we must decolonize and indigenize psychological science. One promising strategy is the use of storytelling methodology wherein participants from racialized groups share their lived experiences. However, the process of how storytelling contributes to decolonization is rarely explained, and decolonization is rarely defined. The present paper systematically reviewed studies that examined racialized individuals’ lived experience using storytelling methodology in order to synthesize conceptualizations of decolonization and of how storytelling contributes to decolonizing psychological research. Findings suggest storytelling meaningfully contributes to decolonial praxis in psychology. Researchers must work consciously and collaboratively, center research around liberating racialized communities, and explicitly define how their study decolonizes in order to be accountable to their community of study and to the colonial history of the lands on which they're situated.     

Children's “naive psychology”: The use of behavioral and situational information for the prediction of behavior

Two studies are reported that concern children's use of situational and behavioral information to predict the behavior of other persons. It was hypothesized that younger subjects would give more weight to the former and older subjects, more weight to the latter type of information. In Experiment 1, subjects were presented with vignettes relevant to assessing actors' athletic abilities and personality traits (generosity/stinginess) as well as information about related situations. Subjects then made predictions for actors' future behavior in the latter situations. Predictions made by older subjects (8–9 years old) were consistent with the previous behavioral information presented, whereas this was true to a lesser degree for predictions made by younger subjects (5–6 years old). In Experiment 2, 5- to 6-year-olds again made behavioral predictions, with the information supplied by the vignettes being either visually salient or not. The results replicated the findings of Experiment 1 and partially supported the idea that young children's tendency not to relate past to future behavior may best be characterized as a production deficiency. However, they also suggest that although young children may indeed show a tendency to see behavior as under external control, they do not automatically accord information about the situation special status when making social judgments. In addition, it seems that conflicting results in the literature may result from the sensitivity to contextual factors of younger children's predictions.     

A review of: “Dementia reconsidered: The person comes first”

Tom Kitwood (1997) Dementia Reconsidered: the Person Comes First, Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press, pp. 160, $14.99 (pb), $45.00 (hb)     

“The Gift of an Apple or the Twist of an Arm”: Negotiation in Couples and Couple Therapy

This paper explores the role of negotiation in couples and couple therapy from a relational perspective, situated at the interface of psychoanalytic and systems theories, that emphasizes intersubjectivity. We consider the clinical processes through which members of a couple may be helped to develop competence in basic elements of intimate communication and negotiation, including reflective listening, mentalization, and recognition. Clinical examples illustrate therapeutic movement from projective-introjective “transference” repetitions within a couple's relationship toward a growing ability to transcend the intrapsychic “demons” that haunt the couple. Specific technical measures are described, including the use of communication “exercises” and “homework” in the context of analytic couple therapy—what we term working from the outside-in and the inside-out—as well as the potential functions of a cotherapist team for particular couples.     

The continuing relevance of “queer” theology for the rest of the field

ABSTRACT

What does it mean to queer theology? How is this task of queering theology relevant to and engaged with mainstream academic theological discourse? What is already queer about theology? What direction should queering theology take in the future? This special issue examines these key questions, among others, which are at the heart of the overall project that has been referred to as “queer theology”. In this introduction to the volume, we outline common strands of thought, and key issues and questions that undergird and interlace the essays in this volume. We also provide a brief history of queer theology, highlighting four themes that we consider essential to the study of queer theology as a whole: (1) the role of witness, (2) the project of disentangling the “real” issues from the incidentals in reactions to a queer presence in the Church, (3) the creative rereading of tradition with an eye toward emancipation and (4) the ways in which queer theology orients the field of theological studies as a whole to what really matters (or ought to matter) for Christians and others seeking to follow the witness of Jesus.     

Stereotypes in social psychology: The “West-East“ differentiation as a reflection of western traditions of thought

Notwithstanding the fact that stereotypes and ethnocentrism constitute central topics of social psychology a cultural psychological question has almost been completely neglected in the discipline’s reflections on its own scientific endeavors: How has Western psychology’s construction of the “Indian“ and the “Eastern psyche“ been influenced by stereotypes that are embedded in culture-specific traditions of European scholarly and non-scholarly thinking? The problems tackled in this article are related to current social and cross-cultural psychological perspectives on the Indian context. In addition, they are related to social and cross-cultural psychological contributions to the well-established differentiation between the “West“ and the “East,“ which many psychologists have become used to and which are the foundation of current psychological theories about so-called “West-East differences.“     

“The unbearable embeddedness of being”: Self psychology,intersubjectivity and large group experiences

Studying the large group from a self psychological perspective is a new area of exploration. The purpose of this work is to consider an expansion of the selfobject concept to include experiences in group. The groupobject is conceived as a function which addresses the inherent group needs of the individual. Just as the selfobject serves to fill in missing aspects of the self, the groupobject fills in missing aspects of the group self. The development of this concept emerged from an ongoing large group experience. It has its roots in the idea that effective group treatment can result from the recognition and support of groupobject as well as selfobject needs.This phrase, first coined by Stolorow and Atwood (1993) represents their attempt to clarify the fallacy of the isolated mind.Contexts of Being. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press, 1993.     

Exploring the Promise of Eudaimonic Well-Being Within the Practice of Health Promotion: The “How” is as Important as the “What”

A brief historical and philosophical analysis suggests that the biomedical model and prevention have been the pillars of health promotion practices with the underlying assumption that these concepts provide answers to people’s health woes. Another observation resulting from this analysis is that biomedical, prevention, and more recently, wellness, do not differ much from each other paradigmatically (e.g., instrumental rationality) and, hence, are severely restricted in their short- and long-term effectiveness for helping people with healthy living and quality of life. It is proposed that eudaimonic well-being—if explored, understood, and implemented in a manner that holds true to the purity of the concept—offers significant promise for shifts in health promotion practices that may lead to transformative health experiences and enhanced quality of life.     

Unpacking “evil”: Claiming the core of the Dark Triad

Understanding the nature of “evil” has been challenging for a number of reasons. A productive psychological approach to this problem has been to study antisocial traits associated with negative outcomes. One such approach has grouped together three antisocial personalities known as the “Dark Triad”: Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy. Researchers have proposed various models to account for the common core of these antisocial personalities – a core that might well be considered the psychological equivalent of the core of “evil” – and these models have not been directly compared, to date. We conducted two studies (total N > 700) to compare the utility of the various models using Canonical Correlation Analyses (CCAs). Results confirm that the HEXACO personality model (and, in particular, the Honesty–Humility factor) is not only the most theoretically parsimonious model, it also best accounts for the empirical overlap between these constructs that represents the core of the Dark Triad. Results also support the idea that the core of the Dark Triad represents an alternative life history strategy.     

The Symbol and the Theory of the Life-World: “The Transcendences of the Life-World and Their Overcoming by Signs and Symbols”

This essay presents a phenomenological analysis of the functioning of symbols as elements of the life-world with the purpose of demonstrating the interrelationship of individual and society. On the basis of Alfred Schutz's theory of the life-world, signs and symbols are viewed as mechanisms by means of which the individual can overcome the transcendences posed by time, space, the world of the Other, and multiple realities which confront him or her. Accordingly, the individual's life-world divides itself into the dimensions of time, space, the social world and various reality spheres which form the boundaries or transcendences that the I has to understand and integrate. Signs and symbols are described as appresentational modes which stand for experiences originating in the different spheres of the life-world within the world of everyday life, within which they can be communicated, thereby establishing intersubjectivity. Schutz's theory of the symbol explains how social entities – such as nations, states or religious groups – are symbolically integrated to become components of the individual's life-world. The following paper reconstructs Schutz's concept of the symbol as a crucial component of his theory of the life-world, which is seen as an outstanding phenomenological contribution to the theory of the sign and the symbol in general.     

Problem and method: The possibility of comparative study—using “Lun Liujia Yaozhi” as an example

On the basis of general characteristics, comparative studies can be restricted by cross-cultural comparison in a narrow sense. In this paper, I take “Chinese philosophy” as an example to investigate the current problems within comparative studies. However, it is possible to embark on comparative study. “Lun Liujia Yaozhi” 论六家要旨 (“Discussion on the Main Points of the Six Schools”) conducts a successful comparison, from which we can extract the comparative method of “Problem and Method,” and it points directly to the basic structure of survival activities, and furnishes the possibility for cross-cultural comparisons.     

The background scenery: “Official” Hungarian philosophy and the Lukács Circle at the turn of the century

This paper is a background study. It gives an overview of the institutions, decisive trends and major achievements of Hungarian philosophy at the beginning of the 20th century. Thus light is shed on the philosophical scenery which forms the background to the Lukács Circle. The paper discusses the relation of the Lukács Circle at the turn of the century to “official” Hungarian philosophy. First, the introduction portrays the various phases of the evolution of Hungarian institutions of philosophy. Then it sketches the institutional scene at the turn of the century. Thirdly, it attempts to determine the relation of the Lukács Circle to the official academic philosophy, and also sketches some of its aspects after 1919–1920.     

The mind of society: Investigating and using the “language of the gods”

The “language of the gods” is conceived as a kind of language more complex than what we associate with human tongues in the strict sense of the term. Certain arbitrary regularities throughout the rational disciplines appear to indicate the existence of this language. The present article explores this new concept and applies it in an attempt to provide a logical clarification of the notions of individual consciousness and physical reality.     

“The Clearing”: Conversations at the Wabash Center

Abstract. The study of religion seeks to understand life and life practices, which means that it is internally suited to dynamic teaching-learning methods such as exploration, conversation, and imaginative construction. Wabash Center hospitality enables reflective conversations about the nature of our craft, the shape of our vocation, and the direction of our discipline.     

Provider gender and moral reasoning: The politics of an “ethics of care”

Women constitute 35% of providers in genetics at the doctoral level. A survey of 682 geneticists in 19 nations showed that gender was the single most important determinant of ethical decision making. Women were less directive and more observant of patient autonomy than men. In the United States, women were twice as likely as men to accede to patient requests for prenatal diagnosis for sex selection. Women now constitute 30% of all medical students, about half of all obstetrical residents, and 94% of master's-level genetic counselors. Evidence that women providers respond differently to some ethical problems suggests that in the future, as more women enter the field, provider-patient relationships may become more egalitarian.