On analytic listening

Multiple dimensions of the listening process as implemented in the analytic process are discussed. Listening is not the same as hearing; it is done with the mind rather than just the ears. Listening seeks meaning, specifically the meaning in the mind of the patient. The meaning of words is often obscure, ambiguous, and uncertain, and their deeper implications can only be approached over time through uncovering associative linkages. Listening takes place in multiple perspectives--subjective/objective, active/passive, dynamic/genetic, etc. Listening is also contextually related to dimensions of the analytic relation, including transference, alliance, and real relation. Modalities of listening related to each are explored for both analyst and analysand, and aspects of listening empathically and listening to silence are discussed.     

Predicting the Presence and Search for Life Meaning: Test of an Attachment Theory-Driven Model

To date, little is known about how perceptions of life meaning are formed, although recent evidence suggests that “basic attitudes about the meaning of existence are commonly rooted in evolved biological factors and conjointly influenced through people’s experiences with life” (Steger et al. in J Posit Psychol 6:181–191, 2011a). In line with this view, we proposed that multidimensional aspects of adult attachment security and trait authenticity would independently predict perceptions regarding the presence and search for life meaning. Correlational findings largely supported hypothesized relationships among these variables. Regression findings further demonstrated that adult attachment orientations and trait authenticity uniquely predicted the presence of life meaning, and made more modest contributions to the search for meaning. In both predictions, experiences of self-alienation appeared to function as a mediator of the relationship between attachment security and meaning in life perceptions. Implications of our findings for advancing understanding of the formation of these perceptions are discussed.     

Purpose and Meaning in Highly Active Seniors

The authors investigated the sources of meaning for active seniors. Results indicated that seniors who were most active were relatively high in a wide range of sources of meaning as well as in life satisfaction in general. The importance of meaning and purpose in relation to counseling with older adults is discussed.     

Construction of a Meaning Effectiveness Model: A new interpretation of meaning in life

This paper aims to determine the precise meaning of the word “meaning” in the context of the sense of meaning and to explain the characteristics of meaning and meaning in life. Using ordinary language analysis and phenomenology, this paper defines meaning as the possibility of something to realize its goal: the effectiveness of a thing in realizing the goal. Thus, this paper aims to establish a Meaning Effectiveness Model (MEM), which regards meaning as a function of goal and effectiveness to explain the meaning phenomena, including degree, frequency, stability, adaptive functions, and emerging conditions of meaning. Within the framework of MEM, meaning in life is divided into meaning within life and the meaning of life itself, which have different characteristics. The relationship between the model and existing meaning theories is also discussed.     

Unraveling the Wonder of the Ordinary: A Narrative Analysis of Meaning Construction in Memories of Familiar Routines

Familiar routines may be a source of meaning, but just as well become habitual and lose meaning. To understand this paradox, a narrative approach was used to explore how meaning is constructed in memories of familiar routines. Two types were distinguished: routines of transition and routines of harmony. Results show how meaning construction may relate to the contrast between instrumental acts in the memories and their higher purpose. In routines of transition, meaning may emerge through a temporal transformation, while routines of harmony may become meaningful through the awareness of contrasting evaluations within the routine or a contrasting wider context.     

Conversational construction of new meaning configurations in organizational innovation: A generative approach

Abstract

Organizational innovation is approached as a joint conversational event where new configurations of meaning are constructed. The emphasis in this article is on understanding the social dynamic processes of creating new meaning. A perspectivistic approach is developed which looks at how actors speak from their perspectives and give form to the sense-making process through discursive practices. The innovation process is documented, using an interpretive research, in two case studies: the creation of a young high tech firm and the internal development of a manufacturing unit of a multinational corporation. Three theoretical propositions derived from the cases are discussed and interwoven with existing literature: generative characteristics of conversations, the experiential profundity which can be seen as inherently social-relational, and the paradoxical nature of innovation. These propositions are summarized in conceptual charts; their use lies in multiplying and developing them into new ones as new contexts are explored.     

A Path to Teacher Happiness? A Sense of Meaning Affects Teacher–Student Relationships,Which Affect Job Satisfaction

Meaningful work and meaningful relationships at work have been highlighted for their potential desirable consequences for employees and organizations. The present research focuses on teaching, as a potentially meaningful occupation, and suggests that teachers’ sense of meaning at work affects teacher–student relationships, which in turn affect teachers’ job satisfaction. This hypothesized path is examined in two complementary studies. In Study 1, 312 teachers completed self-report measures of their sense of meaning at work, perceived relationships with students, and job satisfaction. Results, based on structural equation modeling analysis, showed a good fit of the data to the theoretical model. In Study 2, 120 teachers completed daily measures of their sense of meaning at work, relationships with students, and job satisfaction. Results, based on HLM analyses, confirmed daily effects of teachers’ sense of meaning on teacher–student relationships, and daily effects of perceived teacher–student relationships on teachers’ job satisfaction. These findings point to a potential path through which teachers’ sense of meaning at work may affect work outcomes and attitudes. The theoretical and practical implications for the effects of meaningfulness and relationships at work for researchers, educators, and organizations are discussed.     

Reported Contact with the Dead, Religious Involvement, and Death Anxiety in Late Life

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between contact with the dead and death anxiety. The data come from an ongoing nationwide survey of older adults. A conceptual model is developed that contains the following theoretical linkages: (1) making contact with the dead instills a deeper appreciation of the connection that exists among all people; (2) this fundamental sense of connectedness with others fosters a deeper sense of religious meaning in life; and (3) individuals with a deeper sense of religious meaning in life are less likely to experience feelings of death anxiety than people who have not been able to find meaning in life through religion. The findings from this study provide support for each of these relationships. The theoretical implications of these hypotheses are discussed.     

自尊的认知加工偏向研究述评

随着认识心理学的发展,人们从认知的角度对自尊进行了拓展性的研究。主要揭示不同自尊水平对认知加工偏向的影响,找出低自尊水平的认知加工特点并期望通过选择性训练来提升个体的自尊水平。关于自尊的认知加工偏向的心理机制主要是心境一致性效应和特质一致性效应。虽然这一取向的研究具有巨大的实践意义,但是还没有取得阶段性成果。     

Is Literal Meaning Conventional?

This paper argues that the literal meaning of words in a natural language is less conventional than usually assumed. Conventionality is defined in terms that are relative to reasons; norms that are determined by reasons are not conventions. The paper argues that in most cases, the literal meaning of words—as it applies to their definite extension—is not conventional. Conventional variations of meaning are typically present in borderline cases, of what I call the extension-range of literal meaning. Finally, some putative and one or two genuine exceptions are discussed.     

仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪增强控制感：双路径机制

以中国普米族人的传统文化仪式“敬锅庄”为例, 采用回忆任务、创设新颖仪式等方法考察仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪对普米族青少年及成人的控制感的影响。结果表明, 熟悉敬锅庄仪式的动作、象征意义或者具有更多情感体验的青少年的控制感更强。仪式动作与象征意义对控制感的影响存在双路径机制：仪式动作直接增强个体的控制感, 象征意义通过积极情绪间接增强个体的控制感。象征意义与控制感的关系还因仪式主体不同有所区别：祈求庇佑通过积极情绪间接增强青少年的控制感, 表达感恩通过积极情绪间接增强成年人的控制感。研究结果对探究仪式动作、象征意义和积极情绪对个体控制感的影响有重要启示。     

Personal Growth and Meaning in Life Among First-Time Mothers and Grandmothers

This cross-sectional study examined personal growth and meaning in life among mothers and grandmothers who recently went through major transitions in a woman’s life. It investigated the contribution of the internal resources of perception of self (self-esteem) and perceived characteristics of the situation (cognitive appraisal of threat, challenge, and self-efficacy) and the external resource of perceived social support, as well as two background variables: age, and frequency of meetings between mothers and grandmothers. Participants were 152 first-time mothers 6–24?months after delivery, and their own mothers who were first-time grandmothers (n?=?152). The results showed differential contributions to meaning in life and personal growth in the two generations, indicating that the proposed variables can indeed explain growth and meaning in life in these life stages. They reveal not only the similarities and differences between the response of mothers and grandmothers to these parallel life transitions, but also how information about one generation may help explain the response of the other. The different patterns of associations which emerged for growth and meaning in life are also discussed.     

Chimpanzee language research: Status and potential

The impact of ape-language research upon current thought pertaining to language and man in relationship to the apes is discussed within an evolutionary framework. Studies of apes can reveal certain requisites to the language skills of humans. Social adaptations are thought to be important to the evolution of those requisites. A review of ape-language research is made, with emphasis given to the problems of controls where work is doneen face with the subjects, as where Ameslan (signing) is the system employed. The need for careful definition of what is a “word,” and the need for tracing through experience how responses come to acquire meaning, hence “wordness,” is emphasized. Levels of wordness are discussed which emerge initially from basic operants and performatives. Evidence is reported in support of the conclusion that it is through direct experience, through the pragmatic application and use of instruments, and through important social relationships that word learning is facilitated. Finally, it is noted that an important step of validation in our own work is in the successful application of methods emanating therefrom to work with mentally retarded children.     

Intrusive Thoughts and Psychological Adjustment to Breast Cancer: Exploring the Moderating and Mediating Role of Global Meaning and Emotional Expressivity

The aim of this study was to investigate the moderating and mediating role of global meaning and emotional expressivity in the relationship between intrusive thoughts and psychological adjustment (as indicated by mental health status) in a sample of breast cancer patients (N = 153). Coping with cancer was also included as an intervening variable to be tested. Moderating effects were explored using a series of hierarchical regression analysis, while multiple mediated effects were tested through bootstrapping procedures. Results showed that global personal meaning had both direct and indirect (mediating) effects on psychological adjustment. Emotional expressivity had neither moderating nor mediating effects on psychological adjustment. These results indicated that a strong sense of personal meaning and purpose in life, and an integrated understanding of self and life may lessen the impact of intrusive thoughts on breast cancer patients’ psychological adjustment and mental health status. Implications of the findings for clinical practice and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

The Meaning of Lives and the Meaning of Things

Meaning in life is an important aspect of human well-being and motivation. But as the notion of ‘meaning in life’ is not easily assimilated to that of semantic meaning, it is difficult to define. While meaning in life is standardly discussed in terms of meaningful ways of living, I here take the alternative approach of discussing the meaningfulness of things for agents. I claim that such meaningfulness, or significance, consists in the ways in which things invite agent-relevant responses. Meaningfulness in that sense is important for understanding, not just meaning in life for mature human beings, but also meaning for children, meaning in the arts, the continuity between ‘mere’ living and living meaningfully, and the connection between meaning in life and semantic meaning.     

AN ESSAY ON DREAMING,PSYCHICAL WORKING OUT AND WORKING THROUGH2

In this paper the author attempts to expand the idea put forward by Freud who considered dreams as a special form of unconscious thinking. It is the author's contention that the psychical working‐out function performed by dreams is a form of unconscious thinking, which transforms affects into memories and mental structures. He also attempts to clarify the way in which meaning is built and transformed in mental life. In that respect the unconscious internal world is seen as a form of unconscious thinking, a private theatre where meaning is generated and transformed. He focuses on what happens to feelings in dreams in connection with the meanings as a result of and an expression of the several stages of working through. The dream world is described as the setting where the mind gives expressive pictorial representation to the emotions involved in a conflict: a first step towards thinkability. The dreamwork also constitutes a process through which meaning is apprehended, built on and transformed at an expressive non‐discursive level, based on representation through figurative/pictorial images. The author draws on Meltzer's formulation to conjecture that the working‐through function of dreams, mainly in response to interpretations, is performed by a process of progression in formal qualities of the representations made available by dreaming in the form he has called affective pictograms. It is through progression in formal qualities of the representation that the thinking capabilities of the affective life develop and become part of the process of what is called metaphorically the metabolisation of emotional life. This process takes place through migration of meaning across various levels of mental process. In this perspective the analyst'sinterpretations of dreams effect what linguists call transmutation of the symbolic basis, a process that is necessary to help the mind to improve its capacity to think. Something expressed on the evocative plane and condensed into a pictographic image is then transformed into verbal language that expresses meaning. These conceptions are illustrated by a detailed clinical case.     

Meaning and object in Freud's theory of language

This article sets out to challenge the interpretation of Freud's views on the origins of the meaning of language according to which meaning always originates from an act of naming. In Freud's terms, word‐presentations would originally denote object‐ or thing‐presentations and gain meaning through this reference. This interpretation claims that this view was already expressed in Freud's On Aphasia (1891) and influenced all his later theory of language. To oppose this claim, three conceptions proposed by Freud are discussed that strongly suggest the participation of language in the construction of the field of objects: a metapsychological hypothesis (the concepts of word‐, thing‐, and object‐presentation), the explanation of a psychopathological phenomenon (the genesis of a fetishistic object‐choice), and a concept concerning the foundations of the psychoanalytic method of dream interpretation (secondary elaboration). As a conclusion, it is argued that Freud's early views in On Aphasia (1891) can be alternatively understood such as to allow for a different view of language and its relationship with objects.