Generosity: a psychological and interpersonal motivational factor of therapeutic relevance

This paper examines the role of generosity in analysis. Generosity represents a complex constellation of cognitions and affects that is antithetical to those states of super-ego harshness that characterize many forms of human psychopathology. In development, generosity is evoked by idealization, and a dynamic axis of idealization-generosity promotes relational proximity between the child and its caretakers, and eventually fosters separation and individuation. Generosity is highly sensitive to adverse conditions, and requires environmental conditions that are conducive to psychosomatic well-being. The imaginal basis of generosity is rooted in the myth of the 'hero and the return', which is the mythic foundation of the analyst's role as psychopomp. It is argued that the generosity of the analyst is a cardinal therapeutic factor in treatment.     

群体内疚:界定、心理机制、行动倾向及干预策略

当个体认为内群体为外群体受到的不道德伤害负有责任时会体验到群体内疚。该情绪常见的触发情境包括过往历史的伤害事件、当下的群际冲突、不公正的社会关系及未来的伤害事件。群体认同、内群体责任和不当性评估是影响群体内疚产生的三大心理机制。群体内疚会导致施害群体对受害群体表现出积极行动,如友善态度,冲突和解、群体补偿及群际支持。通过群体肯定、自我肯定、促进共同认同、强调内群体责任及展现已有补偿行为等干预策略可以引发施害群体的群体内疚。未来的研究应澄清群体内疚的成因机制,进一步探索群体内疚与补偿行为间的作用关系。     

Performance and motivational deficits of helplessness: the role of motivational orientations

The present study examined the hypothesis that the effect of failure feedback in producing learned helplessness would depend on the motivational orientation of a child. Extrinsically motivated children were predicted to exhibit performance decrement following a failure experience, whereas the opposite was predicted for intrinsically motivated children. In addition, success feedback was predicted to enhance subsequent performance only for the intrinsic group. Following success, failure, or no feedback on an activity reflecting spatial skills (an incomplete picture task), subjects' performance on an activity tapping different skills (i.e., anagrams) provided by a second experimenter served as the primary measure of helplessness. Subjects' intrinsic motivation in performing the incomplete picture task, a similar task (embedded figures) and a dissimilar task (dots-to-dots) was also examined. The results supported the predictions on both performance and intrinsic motivation measures. The results are discussed in terms of implications for learned helplessness as well as cognitive evaluation theories.     

The sick and the dead: The development of psychological theory on necrophilia from Krafft-Ebing to the present

Researchers dealing with necrophilia over the past century have conducted their investigations using a great variety of methodological strategies and theoretical formulations. The multiplicity of approaches has been partially responsible for the diverse nature of speculations on the etiology, essence, and evolution of necrophilia, and for the accumulation of case histories and an aggregation of data from which it is exceedingly difficult to draw generalizations. There are only two assumptions on which most of the investigators agree. One is that necrophilia is exceedingly rare. The other is that the literature on the subject is severely limited. This paper not only questions the first assumption but establishes that the second is demonstrably false. It also attempts to locate some measure of constancy among the several theoretical lines on necrophilia that have emerged since the time of Krafft-Ebing, to evaluate their effect on scholarship, and to provide some sense of the directions taken by more recent investigators.     

On the function of weak phantasmata in perception: Phenomenological,psychological and neurological clues for the transcendental function of imagination in perception

Weak phantasmata have a decisive and specifically transcendental function in our everyday perception. This paper provides several different arguments for this claim based on evidence from both empirical psychology and phenomenology.I would like to express my gratitude to Bill McKenna for his help with the English text and his critical remarks. This paper was presented in the Cork Roundtable for Philosophy in March 2003, at University College, Cork, and I would like to thank Julia Jansen, Tony O’Connor and the other participants for their constructive critique.     

The dark side of forgiveness: the tendency to forgive predicts continued psychological and physical aggression in marriage

Despite a burgeoning literature that documents numerous positive implications of forgiveness, scholars know very little about the potential negative implications of forgiveness. In particular, the tendency to express forgiveness may lead offenders to feel free to offend again by removing unwanted consequences for their behavior (e.g., anger, criticism, rejection, loneliness) that would otherwise discourage reoffending. Consistent with this possibility, the current longitudinal study of newlywed couples revealed a positive association between spouses' reports of their tendencies to express forgiveness to their partners and those partners' reports of psychological and physical aggression. Specifically, although spouses who reported being relatively more forgiving experienced psychological and physical aggression that remained stable over the first 4 years of marriage, spouses who reported being relatively less forgiving experienced declines in both forms of aggression over time. These findings join just a few others in demonstrating that forgiveness is not a panacea.     

Exploratory behavior as a function of motivational orientations and task conditions

Twenty-four boys and 24 girls from the 5th and 10th grades, one-half of whom were predominantly intrinsically motivated (IM) while the other half were predominantly extrinsically motivated (EM), were given an interesting task under task-imposed, task-offered and neutral conditions, and their exploratory behavior was observed during an intermission period. IM Ss both explored less and showed less satisfaction under the task-imposed condition than under the other two conditions, preferred a high level of difficulty across all conditions and showed higher diversive curiosity at 15 yr than at 10 yr of age. EM Ss explored about the same amount in all conditions, were less satisfied under the task-imposed condition than under the other conditions, preferred lower-difficulty tasks in the neutral condition than in the other conditions, showed more diversive curiosity at 10 yr than at 15 yr of age and showed more specific curiosity at 15 yr than at 10 yr of age. Personality integration and variation seeking appear to characterize relatively IM persons more than relatively EM persons. Age and gender differences are discussed, and conceptual analysis of performance expectations as a function of IM, task conditions and personality domains is offered.     

From psychological need satisfaction to intentional behavior: testing a motivational sequence in two behavioral contexts

The present study tested a motivational sequence in which global-level psychological need satisfaction from self-determination theory influenced intentions and behavior directly and indirectly through contextual-level motivation and situational-level decision-making constructs from the theory of planned behavior. Two samples of university students (N = 511) completed measures of global-level psychological need satisfaction, contextual-level autonomous motivation, and situational-level attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intentions, and behavior in two behavioral contexts: exercise and dieting. A structural equation model supported the proposed sequence in both samples. The indirect effect was present for exercise behavior, whereas both direct and indirect effects were found for dieting behavior. Findings independently supported the component theories and provided a comprehensive integrated explanation of volitional behavior.     

Drivers of technology adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic: The motivational role of psychological needs and emotions for pre-service teachers

Social Psychology of Education - The vital role of motivation becomes even more evident when considering the digital transformation of learning and teaching environments, especially with the effect...     

On the investigation of primed and chronic autonomous and heteronomous motivational orientations

Four studies examined primed and chronic autonomous and heteronomous motivations. Study 1 showed that autonomy and heteronomy can be primed and influence perceptions and behavior in a way consistent with consciously regulated motives. In Study 2, a measure of chronic motivation was developed and its construct validity and reliability were assessed. In Study 3, the chronicity measure predicted behavior while consciously regulated motives predicted intention but not behavior. Results of Study 4 replicated results of the priming manipulation in Study 1. However, this effect was moderated by level of motivational chronicity. The priming effect was found to be stronger for non-chronics than for chronics. Overall, the findings suggest that autonomous and heteronomous motivations can be regulated automatically as well as consciously.     

Pride and perseverance: the motivational role of pride

Perseverance toward goals that carry short-term costs is an important component of adaptive functioning. The present experiments examine the role that the emotion pride may play in mediating such perseverance. Across 2 studies, pride led to greater perseverance on an effortful and hedonically negative task believed to be related to the initial source of pride. In addition, the causal efficacy of pride was further demonstrated through dissociating its effects from related alternative mechanisms. Study 1 differentiated the effects of pride from self-efficacy. Study 2 differentiated the effects of pride from general positive affect. Taken together, these findings provide support for the proposed motivational function of pride in which this emotion serves as an incentive to persevere on a task despite initial costs.     

Sensing the presence of the deceased: A narrative review

Researchers have reported that bereaved people often continue to sense the presence of the deceased. A particular collection of such experiences can be identified as instilling a perception that the deceased person is in some manner present in the company of the bereaved person. The aim of the current review was to synthesise the results on this topic to provide a comprehensive over-view for practitioners working with bereaved people who report these experiences. The studies were reviewed in terms of the nature of the experiences described, the provision of explanatory models to understand the significance of these experiences, describing any culturally specific aspects of these experiences, discussion of the personal impact of having the experiences, and for recommendations of how people who have these experiences can be supported.     

More dead than dead: perceptions of persons in the persistent vegetative state

Patients in persistent vegetative state (PVS) may be biologically alive, but these experiments indicate that people see PVS as a state curiously more dead than dead. Experiment 1 found that PVS patients were perceived to have less mental capacity than the dead. Experiment 2 explained this effect as an outgrowth of afterlife beliefs, and the tendency to focus on the bodies of PVS patients at the expense of their minds. Experiment 3 found that PVS is also perceived as “worse” than death: people deem early death better than being in PVS. These studies suggest that people perceive the minds of PVS patients as less valuable than those of the dead – ironically, this effect is especially robust for those high in religiosity.     

On the ethics of psychological research

Three philosophical positions on the nature of ethics were examined and contrasted within the context of psychological research: (a) teleology, which involves the balancing of the costs and benefits associated with an action as a means of developing general ethical rules; (b) deontology, which involves the rational adherence to rigid, universal rules that hold irrespective of the situation or consequences; and (c) skepticism, which involves denying the ability to apply universal rules and asserting the individuality of moral codes. Two experiments investigated the degree to which judgments of the ethicality of psychological research are affected by the consequences of the research and judge's ethical ideology. Subjects judged experiments that investigated obedience to an authority as generally less moral and more threatening to the participants' dignity and welfare when the proportion of total obedience was high rather than low. The proportion of participants (10 vs 40%) who were described as “psychologically upset” by the research did not affect moral judgments. These results were obtained across two different obedience situations (Milgram's study and a Watergate study) and different subject populations (high school and college students, males and females). As suggested by philosophers, a judge's ethical ideology determined how the perceived benefits and costs of the research were correlated with moral judgments. Teleologists weighed scientific benefits heavily, deontologists weighed participants' costs heavily, and skeptics weighed both heavily.     

On the motivational effects of positive verbal reinforcement on performance: Toward an inverted-U relationship

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the motivational effects of positive verbal reinforcement on the performance of a qualitative task. Male subjects performed on a task consisting of 24 slides that allowed them to test their decision-making abilities in simulated situations. Subjects performed under one of five noncontingent verbal reinforcement ratios (.00, .25, .50, .75, or 1.00). Subjects' accuracy and reaction times to each of the 24 slide stimuli were recorded and transformed into a total performance index. In line with an inverted-U hypothesis, it was hypothesized that if motivational effects of positive verbal reinforcement exist, they should induce a curvilinear relationship between reinforcement ratio and performance. This hypothesis was supported by the results of a trend analysis that showed that only the quadratic curvilinear term was significant. Inspection of means revealed the presence of an inverted-U curve such that performance gradually increased from ratio 0 and reached a maximum at ratio .50, following which a decrease in performance was obtained for ratios .75 and 1.00. Results support a motivational interpretation of the effects of positive verbal reinforcement on performance. Findings are discussed in light of the interaction between motivational and attentional processes.     

Response bias in deaf and hearing subjects as a function of motivational factors

This experiment assessed the effect of different payoff matrices on 6 deaf and 6 hearing subjects on a visual brightness discrimination task. Subjects were required to make forced-choice responses to three different monetary payoff conditions, designed to induce a liberal, a conservative, and an equal-bias response criterion, respectively. The results showed that the deaf did not select the superior response strategies they had exhibited in a previous study (Bross, 1979) on the effect of changes in stimulus probability. Furthermore, the deaf earned significantly less money than the controls for all three conditions, indicating that the introduction of motivational demands affects their response strategies adversely.