The Five “A”s of Meaning Maintenance: Finding Meaning in the Theories of Sense-Making

Across eras and literatures, multiple theories have converged on a broad psychological phenomenon: the common compensation behaviors that follow from violations of our committed understandings. The meaning maintenance model (MMM) offers an integrated account of these behaviors, as well as the overlapping perspectives that address specific aspects of this inconsistency compensation process. According to the MMM, all meaning violations may bottleneck at neurocognitive and psychophysiological systems that detect and react to the experience of inconsistency, which in turn motivates compensatory behaviors. From this perspective, compensation behaviors are understood as palliative efforts to relieve the aversive arousal that follows from any experience that is inconsistent with expected relationships—whether the meaning violation involves a perceptual anomaly or an awareness of a finite human existence. In what follows, we summarize these efforts, the assimilation, accommodation, affirmation, abstraction and assembly behaviors that variously manifest in every corner of our discipline, and academics, more generally.     

“A Community with Diversity of Culture,Wealth, Resources,and Living Experiences”: Defining Neighborhood in an Unincorporated Community

To obtain a better understanding of how people living in an unincorporated region define their neighborhood, a long-term photovoice project was conducted. Thirty-one photovoice sessions and eight structured interviews were coded and analyzed to assess participants’ neighborhood definitions. Participant’s difficulties in identifying the geographic, physical and demographic characteristics of their neighborhood led them to use social interactions, place-mediated values, and civic engagement to define neighborhood.     

Living in the “space of reasons”: The “rationality debate” revisited

Two questions are central to the “rationality debate” in the philosophy of social science. First, should we acknowledge differences in basic norms of epistemic and agential rationality, or in the content of perceptual experience, as the “best explanation” of radical differences in belief and practice? Second, can genuine understanding be achieved between cultures and research traditions that so differ in their beliefs and practices? I survey a number of responses to these questions, and suggest that one of these, “dialogical optimism”, while attractive, is in need of further clarification. Such clarification may be forthcoming if we attend to recent work by John McDowell. McDowell claims that perceptual experience, as our primary mode of epistemic access to the world, must be located within what Sellars termed the “space of reasons” if we are to make sense of our conception of ourselves as thinking creatures. I develop a reading of this claim in terms of a fundamental duality in human perceptual experience, and use this conception of experience to illuminate the dialogical optimist strategy in the rationality debate.     

A Review of: “The Use of Dreams in Couple Counseling”

Avalanche: Heretical Reflections on the Dark and the Light. By W. Brugh Joy, M. D. New York: Ballantine, 1990.

Carnal Acts. By Nancy Mairs. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1990.

Anne Heath is a free-lance writer and artist with a background in journalism, poetry, and radio drama. She is currently working on a book about travel as a rite-of-passage for women in mid-life.

The Untouched Key. By Alice Miller. New York: Doubleday, 1990.

“To blame is to hold on to anger as though it could compensate for what we lost. Nothing can. Only griming can heal us…”

Crisis Intervention Verbatim. By Nira Kfir. (1989). New York: Hemisphere Publishing.

The Japanese Psyche. By Hayao Kawai. Dallas, Texas: Spring Publications, 1988.

The Psychology of C. G. Jung: Vol. 111. Consciousness. By C. A. Meier. Boston: Sigo Press, 1989.

Progress without Loss of Soul: TO-ward a Wholistic Approach Modernization Planning. B y Theodor Abt. Wilmette, Illinois: Chiron Publications, 1989.

Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. By Stephen LaBerge and Howard Reingold. New York: Valentine books, 1990.

“The rapid acceptance of lucid dreaming suggests that it will have a significant impact on the way that dreams are perceived for both the general public and the scientific community.”

Body and Soul: The Other Side of Illness. By Albert Kreinheder. Toronto: Inner Cities. 1991.

Wisdom of the Heart: Working With Women's Dreams. By Karen A. Signell. New York: Bantam Books, 1990.     

Mind Over Matter? The Role of Individual Perceptions in Understanding the Social Ecology of Housing Environments for Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities

There is a disagreement in place‐based research regarding whether objective indicators or individual perceptions of environments are better predictors of well‐being. This study assessed environmental influences on well‐being for 373 individuals with psychiatric disabilities living independently in 66 neighborhoods in the southeastern United States. Three questions were examined utilizing random effects models: (1) How much variance in personal and neighborhood well‐being can be explained by neighborhood membership? (2) What is the relationship between participant perceptions of neighborhood quality and researcher ratings of neighborhood quality? and (3) What is the relative influence of individual perceptions, perceptions aggregated by neighborhood, and researcher ratings of neighborhood quality in predicting personal and neighborhood well‐being? Results indicate that individual perceptions of neighborhood quality were more closely related to well‐being than either aggregated perceptions or researcher ratings. Thus, participants’ perceptions of their neighborhoods were more important indicators of their well‐being than objective ratings made by researchers. Findings have implications for measurement approaches and intervention design in placed‐based research.     

“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.     

“It's such a vicious cycle”: Narrative accounts of the sportsperson with epilepsy

ObjectivesThere is an abundance of quantitative and medical research promoting the benefits of exercise for people with epilepsy. However, the psychosocial barriers and benefits of exercising for the sportsperson/people with epilepsy (SWE) are absent. This research aims to present the narratives of SWE over time and as a result, develop further understanding of the psychosocial impact of exercising with epilepsy.MethodA holistic-content and structural narrative analysis were used to explore the exercise experiences of three SWE over the course of one year. A creative non-fictional technique was used to present first person narratives, therefore providing the SWE's voice for the reader.ResultsNarratives of ‘vicious cycle’ and ‘roller coaster’ presented complex and multi-thematic storied forms, with time and the hidden nature of epilepsy having a strong impact on narrative formation. Vicious cycle presented the cycle of desiring to exercise, but prevented from exercising because of uncontrolled seizures. This resulted in frustration and feelings of a lack of control, which subsequently increased the desire to exercise and created a cycle with no clear end. Roller coaster presented the constant psychosocial and physical undulations that epilepsy can create for a SWE over time.ConclusionThese narratives reveal that exercising with epilepsy has a constant and on-going positive and negative impact on the life of SWE. However, these narratives also show that it may be through the process of acceptance of their body's limitations that a healthier mental and physical state may result for the SWE.     

Psychiatric Treatment of the Homeless in a Group—Based Therapeutic Community: A Preliminary Field Investigation

This preliminary study investigated the effectiveness of a group—based therapeutic community for the homeless. Thirty—seven individuals residing at a homeless shelter participating in a therapeutic community were assessed across time on several variables: psychiatric symptoms, social functioning, and substance abuse. Significant initial improvements in overall distress, psychiatric symptoms, and substance abuse were found. Improvements in social functioning were exhibited in the therapeutic community participants after six months.     

The Hands of the Living God 1 : “Finding the Familiar in the Unfamiliar” 2

This paper represents the fruits of a long friendship and collaboration between Marion Milner and Nina Farhi. At the heart of the paper sits a famous treatment conducted by Milner over a 17-year period. The presentation of clinical material; many drawings, and the questions raised by Milner in one generation and Farhi in another gives shape to a unique and historically and theoretically meaningful document.

Farhi uses the work and her collaboration with Milner to push theory into new ground, to examine the complexity and intersubjectivity of regression and primitive states, to assess the long shadow of maternal destructiveness, and to propose her own ideas of the power of prenatal intersubjective process, the potential (ill or good) for communication before the child is born. Issues of intergenerational communication of trauma and prenatal sensitivity allow Farhi to bring a new dimension to this long-ago case.     

The Thought of Building a Human Community with a Shared Future: Inheritance and Innovation to Marx’ s Thought of Community

Marx’s thought of community has experienced three stages in logic and is rooted in the social fundamental contradictions between productive forces and universal communication in content. It reflects the evolution of history into world history and human’s free and all-round development tending towards the unity of individuals and communities. Faced with the profound changes never seen in a century, the thought of building a human community with a shared future inherits and carries forward Marx’s idea of community in three aspects, i.e., the practice of building a social community, the ultimate focus on human destiny, and the grand vision of promoting historical development in human society. In addition, under the historical context of socialism and capitalism coexisting, the thought of building a human community with a shared future creates and shows a new state of Marx’s idea of community in three aspects, namely, dimension remodeling, path reshaping, and value reinterpretation. It presents a new model for historical significance and human civilization of a world of openness, probability and promise to promote the transformation from the modern society to a human society.     

Brilliant: But What For? Meaning and Subjective Well-Being in the Lives of Intellectually Gifted and Academically High-Achieving Adults

Not much is known today about relationships between giftedness and well-being, particular among adults. The present article examined if highly gifted people manage to live meaningful and happy lives in their adult years. Two aspects of giftedness were taken into account: intellectual giftedness, and academically high achievement. Representatives of both groups were compared with each other and a control group with regard to meaningfulness and subjective well-being, respectively. Furthermore, predictors for both facets of well-being were examined. The sample consisted of 198 Intellectually Gifted, 141 academically High Achievers, and 136 control subjects. Results: High Achievers showed degrees of meaningfulness and subjective well-being that were comparable to those of the control group. The Intellectually Gifted, however, reported significantly lower values in both facets of well-being. Results of hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that Intellectually Gifted and High Achievers follow a different path towards meaningfulness and subjective well-being. Among the Intellectually Gifted, generativity is the strongest predictor for meaningfulness, whereas for the High Achievers, meaningful work is most central to their meaningfulness. As regards subjective well-being, self-compassion was established as the strongest predictor for the Intellectually Gifted, whereas development was the most important predictor for the High Achievers.     

The Problematization of Sexuality among Women Living with HIV and a New Feminist Approach for Understanding and Enhancing Women’s Sexual Lives

In the context of HIV, women’s sexual rights and sexual autonomy are important but frequently overlooked and violated. Guided by community voices, feminist theories, and qualitative empirical research, we reviewed two decades of global quantitative research on sexuality among women living with HIV. In the 32 studies we found, conducted in 25 countries and composed mostly of cis-gender heterosexual women, sexuality was narrowly constructed as sexual behaviours involving risk (namely, penetration) and physiological dysfunctions relating to HIV illness, with far less attention given to the fullness of sexual lives in context, including more positive and rewarding experiences such as satisfaction and pleasure. Findings suggest that women experience declines in sexual activity, function, satisfaction, and pleasure following HIV diagnosis, at least for some period. The extent of such declines, however, is varied, with numerous contextual forces shaping women’s sexual well-being. Clinical markers of HIV (e.g., viral load, CD4 cell count) poorly predicted sexual outcomes, interrupting widely held assumptions about sexuality for women with HIV. Instead, the effects of HIV-related stigma intersecting with inequities related to trauma, violence, intimate relations, substance use, poverty, aging, and other social and cultural conditions primarily influenced the ways in which women experienced and enacted their sexuality. However, studies framed through a medical lens tended to pathologize outcomes as individual “problems,” whereas others driven by a public health agenda remained primarily preoccupied with protecting the public from HIV. In light of these findings, we present a new feminist approach for research, policy, and practice toward understanding and enhancing women’s sexual lives—one that affirms sexual diversity; engages deeply with society, politics, and history; and is grounded in women’s sexual rights.     

Making Sense of the Hands and Mouth: The Role of “Secondary” Cues to Meaning in British Sign Language and English

Successful face-to-face communication involves multiple channels, notably hand gestures in addition to speech for spoken language, and mouth patterns in addition to manual signs for sign language. In four experiments, we assess the extent to which comprehenders of British Sign Language (BSL) and English rely, respectively, on cues from the hands and the mouth in accessing meaning. We created congruent and incongruent combinations of BSL manual signs and mouthings and English speech and gesture by video manipulation and asked participants to carry out a picture-matching task. When participants were instructed to pay attention only to the primary channel, incongruent “secondary” cues still affected performance, showing that these are reliably used for comprehension. When both cues were relevant, the languages diverged: Hand gestures continued to be used in English, but mouth movements did not in BSL. Moreover, non-fluent speakers and signers varied in the use of these cues: Gestures were found to be more important for non-native than native speakers; mouth movements were found to be less important for non-fluent signers. We discuss the results in terms of the information provided by different communicative channels, which combine to provide meaningful information.     

Postnatal Depression: The Role of “Good Mother” Ideals and Maternal Shame in a Community Sample of Mothers in Australia

Sex Roles - Contemporary literature confirms that “good mother” ideology dominates cultural discourses of motherhood in Australia, USA, United Kingdom, and Korea. Within this context,...     

A Review of: “Studies in Meaning 2: Bridging the Personal and Social in Constructivist Psychology”

Abstract

As repertory grids are often used in the making of important decisions about people's lives, it seems reasonable to demand that the technique accurately reflect the mental structure and processes of the person. This need has not gone unnoticed, either by proponents of the grid technique or its critics, but their calls for psychometric rigor are couched in terms of reliability and validity, terms that have specific operational meanings, and have been derived from the theories proposed for standard psychological tests. This article examines the bases and structures of such theories in the context of repertory grid data     

The Inescapability of Ethics and the Impossibility of “Anything Goes”: A Constructivist Model of Ethical Meaning Making

A constructivist model of ethical meaning making is developed. The effort begins by distinguishing three versions of constructivist theory—personal construct psychology, radical constructivism, and social constructionism. Then, the following four premises of an integrated constructivist perspective are presented: (a) People are informationally closed systems, (b) people are active meaning makers, (c) people are social beings, and (d) people construe epistemologically and ontologically. These premises are used to examine and counter criticisms that portray constructivism as endorsing an “anything goes” relativism. This clears a space for the development of a constructivist model of ethical meaning making, outlined in the final section of the article. This model is rooted in personal construct psychology, but is also influenced by radical constructivism and social constructionism.     

“We Need a Song of Hope”: Responding to the COVID-19 Informational and Psychospiritual Needs of Residents of a Gated Community in the Philippines

Journal of Religion and Health - The brutal disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic require dynamic ways of responding, not only to the informational needs of communities,...