The Self System: Toward a New Understanding of the Whole Person (Part 2)

Abstract

Of all psychology concepts, perhaps none has a more lengthy history or engendered more controversy and ambiguity than that of the self. Indeed, the self has come to mean so many things that it hardly means anything at all. Consequently, there is currently no single theory integrating all the various meanings of the self concept. Therefore, the primary purpose of this article is to develop an overarching metapsychology by which all aspects of the self can be understood.

To accomplish this purpose, this article engages in a hermeneutic analysis of the self as it appears in cognitive-behavior psychology, the psychoanalytic theories of ego and self psychology, and humanistic–existential theories of the self. In so doing, it is possible to identify three principle concepts by which the various aspects of the self can be compared and classified: the Conflation Frame, the collapsing of entity, intellect, and identity into a single rendering of the self; the Integral Interface, the overriding theoretical framework within which each of these aspects of self can be differentiated and subsumed; and the Integral Axes, the two fundamental tracks by which the individual grows and develops, which consist of self-actualization and self-emancipation.     

The added value of the positive: A literature review of positive psychology interventions in organizations

This paper systematically reviews research investigating the effects of positive psychology interventions applied in the organizational context. We characterize a positive psychology intervention as any intentional activity or method that is based on (a) the cultivation of positive subjective experiences, (b) the building of positive individual traits, or (c) the building of civic virtue and positive institutions. A systematic literature search identified 15 studies that examined the effects of such an intervention in organizational contexts. Subsequent analyses of those studies revealed that positive psychology interventions seem to be a promising tool for enhancing employee well-being and performance. As a side-effect, positive psychology interventions also tend to diminish stress and burnout and to a lesser extent depression and anxiety. Implications of those findings for theory and praxis and recommendations for future research on positive psychology interventions in organizations are discussed.     

Some philosophical directions towards a simple theory of the self

In the act of self-observation, an individual becomes simultaneously observer and observed, subject and object. While some philosophical psychologists have dismissed thisreflexivity, the present author proposes that it isthe essential feature of the self, making it the basis of a new, conceptually simple, structural and dynamic theory of the self. Drawing from psychopathology, poetry and literature, the author portrays normal and disordered psychological states as disturbances in reflexivity. Qualitative and quantitative variations in this core function are proposed to define discreet spectra of psychological situations. The author briefly examines the theories and practices of psychoanalytic and existential psychology, and proposes clinical applications of the new views here depicted. He attempts to show that inherent limits to our simultaneous knowledge of both aspects of the reflexive duality limit the precision and validity of all psychological theorization.     

Relationality in Kohut's psychology of the self

In this essay, I will posit that Kohut's psychology of the self portrays relationality and that its relationality can be categorized into the explicit aspects. I will also put forth the six aspects of relationality contained in Kohut's psychology of the self as relational, dynamic, wholistic, unilateral, mutual, and doxological and they can be summarized as following: (1) Relational: Narcissism is not self-love but is a particular kind of object relationship; (2) Dynamic: The most central self is dynamic or agentic and not defined in substantival attributes; (3) Wholistic: The whole of the self is important; (4) Unilateral: In order for one's self to develop, one is in need of and at the receptive end of another's empathy; (5) Mutual: Others’ empathy is needed in maintaining the health of the developed selves; and (6) Doxological: Joy and thanksgiving are natural expression of developed selves.     

A continuing sense of self in the lived experience of dementia

ABSTRACT

Diagnosis with dementia often leads to an overwhelming fear of loss of self, which is assumed in the social discourse about the condition. After my own diagnosis with dementia in 1995, I reflected on this fear from a Christian theological perspective and was nonetheless able to discover a sense of hope. Highlighting what remains in dementia, as seen through the lens of the lived experience, provides a counter-story to the views of outside observers, which have dominated the literature to date. Although people with dementia experience a change in their cognitive sense of self, there are still important aspects of self that remain, which are: a sense of being an embodied self, in relationships with others and with God, and being able to find meaning in the present moment. By demonstrating that people living with dementia have a continuing sense of self, the aim is to prompt improved pastoral care and ministry.     

Narrating the self: Freud,Dennett and complexity theory

Abstract

Adopting a materialist approach to the mind has far reaching implications for many presuppositions regarding the properties of the brain, including those that have traditionally been consigned to “the mental” aspect of human being. One such presupposition is the conception of the disembodied self. In this article we aim to account for the self as a material entity, in that it is wholly the result of the physiological functioning of the embodied brain. Furthermore, we attempt to account for the structure of the self by invoking the logic of the narrative. While our conception of narrative selfhood incorporates the work of both Freud and Dennett, we offer a critique of these two theorists and then proceed to amend their theories by means of complexity theory. We argue that the self can be characterised as a complex system, which allows us to account for the structure of the material self.     

Including others in the self

We propose that to some extent, people treat the resources, perspectives, and identities of close others as their own. This proposal is supported by allocation, attribution, response time, and memory experiments. Recently, we have applied this idea to deepening understanding of feeling “too close” (including too much of the other in the self leading to feeling controlled or a loss of identity), the effects of relationship loss (it is distressing to the extent that the former partner was included in the self, liberating to the extent that the former partner was preventing self-expansion), ingroup identification (including ingroup in the self), and the effect of outgroup friendships on outgroup attitudes (including outgroup member in the self entails including outgroup member's identity in the self).     

Aspects of identity: From the inner-outer metaphor to a tetrapartite model of the self

Abstract

We review a program of research on identity orientations – the relative importance or value that individuals place on various identity attributes when constructing their self-definitions. We first provide a brief history of the development of our measure of identity orientations – the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire (AIQ) – after which we present our tetrapartite model of the self that distinguishes among individual, relational, public, and collective aspects of identity. We then review previous research on how the four identity orientations uniquely influence cognition, emotion, and behavior, and close by highlighting what we see as interesting and important directions for future research.     

The cultural psychology of Kohut's self psychology

Contrary to criticism, Heinz Kohut's self psychology does not support an absorption into self nor a morally neutral response to society. Kohut's psychology of the self and narcissism aims toward an analysis of contemporary Western culture that will restore it. In the process of assisting individuals and culture to recover from the vicissitudes of narcissism, Kohut has introduced a new type of cultural psychology, a culture of empathy.     

Reconstruction of the self: Life-span-oriented group psychotherapy

Abstract

Traumatic events affect the individual at many levels of functioning. They can have profound and lingering consequences for self-identity. Affective, cognitive, and behavioral components of the functioning of the self are experienced as disjointed, producing at times a sense of a lack of control of the self and a feeling of schism between the pre- and posttrauma identities. Therapeutic interventions drawing on constructivist theory and integrative techniques are useful in helping the traumatized individual regain self-understanding and mastery. The design and operation of a life-span-oriented group developed for work with individuals who have posttraumatic stress disorder are described. Guidelines for the structure and process of the group are provided, as are principles for technique selection and use within a structured, self-reflective group format.     

Show me what threatens you,and I can tell who you are: Perception of threat and the self

Abstract

This article proposes a methodical way to understand the self from the angle of psychologically meaningful threat. On the basis of systematic cross-cultural examination of threats to core self-motives, this comprises the notion of self as being most reliably described by instances in which a person shows a motivated response to information from the social environment. Building on accounts of cultural differences in self- construal, this approach allows insight into self-related processes, because motivated responses to self-threat should depend on how the self is defined in the social space. The research conducted from this approach has examined cultural differences to threats to freedom, belonging and consistency. For people with a collectivistic cultural background, as well as for those with a more interdependent self-construal within a given culture, responses to freedom, belonging and consistency threats were less intense, particularly when threats were directed at the individual sense of self. Looking at the self from this perspective further allows for insight into underlying mechanisms into self-related processes, as well as for more direct information on the influence of context on what constitutes the self.     

The stigma of the self

Abstract

After recounting some personal life experiences that sensitized him to the kind of stigma that Erving Goffman systematically explored in his 1963 classic, Stigma, the author, who Is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, introduces hit concept of the stigma of the self. Paradoxically, the stigma of the self may occur when a person is treated as merely normal, and as only a social self and when, a? a consequence, there does not seem to be any recognition of what D. W. Winnicott has termed the true self. Drawing on his studies of the self [in his recently published The Singles Scene: A Psychoanalytic Study of the Breakdown of Intimacy(Alper, 1995)] the author explores the dynamics of what he calls intimacy hunger, an unappreciated but powerful need that, especially after a sufficient period of deprivation has elapsed, cannot be satuifed by a purely social substitute.     

The selfobject as immortal self

This paper begins by defining the selfobject and elucidating its role in the structuring of the self for each unique individual. The self becomes a repository of the memory images of emotional experiences with significant others. This process of internalization through which the self is continually nourished, and which enables it to grow, goes on throughout life. However, as a case example illustrates, the ability to internalize a selfobject depends on the ability to receive and to give love. Once the selfobject is incorporated into the self of “an other” it is perpetuated in another, is perpetuated, analogous to the transmission of genetic material. Each individual carries others within himself or herself and has the potentiality for continuing to live within the self of another. This is a kind of immortality. She is the author of many articles and books, most recentlyAppointment in Vienna (St. Martin's Press).     

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.     

Ego,self and otherness

The concept of self has been introduced as a core concept in several contemporary psychoanalytical theories. This study undertakes a critical examination of the historical and theoretical presuppositions of the concept of self and its corollary, the object. The proposed thesis is that the concept of self on a theoretical level has grown out of ego-psychology and the ambition is to bring consistency into the ambiguous concept of the ego left by Freud. On a clinical level, the concept of self is seen as an attempt to adjust psychoanalytical theory and technique to what, broadly speaking, we call non-neurotic patients. While the concept of self on a theoretical level dates back to Hartmann, it was left to those following the tradition of ego-psychology to work out the implications for our understanding of the pathology of the self and its proper treatment. The work of Heinz Kohut is seen as an exponent for those analysts who have been wrestling with the task of adjusting psychoanalytical theory and technique to our understanding and treatment of non-neurotic patients. A re-reading of the Freudian concept of the ego allows the author to present an alternative to ego-psychology and self psychology. While the concept of the self implies a re-centred theory of subjectivity, the author points to the de-centeredness of classical psychoanalytical thinking. Freud did not find an independent concept of the self necessary. On the contrary, psychoanalytical theory rejected the idea of the psyche as a complete and unified entity. Defining the ego as a representative of the divided psyche encompassing the other, the author suggests that incorporating contributions from French psychoanalytical thinking and the ideas of Winnicott places the self as a concept in accordance with classical psychoanalytical thinking.     

Dreams as portraits of self and group interaction

Dreams presented in group psychotherapy portray different aspects of the dialectic between the group and the individual. A self psychology perspective emphasizes the interplay between the current self-state of the group-as-a-whole and the selfobject needs of the individual. With this focus in mind, the therapist should help the group to deepen its awareness and capacity to reflect on emerging new abilities ("forward edge") which dream imagery conveys and the needed human responsiveness that can actualize these abilities and thus help the individual and the group to break and transform chains of repetition compulsion. We illustrate this approach with two clinical examples.     

'Divinity expresses the self ...' An investigation.

The self is more than conscious identity and location (i.e., the ego) because it includes and expresses the full range of the psyche, all conscious and unconscious elements included, and it is responsible for the unity of the psyche as a whole. Beyond this, the self concept sets up the basis for the linkage between analytical psychology and religious doctrines of transcendence. It has been stated by critics and sympathizers that Jung was a 'mystic', or a throwback to pre-Enlightenment medievalism, who equated the self with God, mixed up categories of transcendence and immanence, and put the psyche on a symbolic par with Divinity. While this does contain a kernel of truth about his late views, it is not quite as straightforward as it sounds. This essay(1) explores the complex relation of the self to the transcendent (Divinity), as Jung understood these terms and employed them, focusing especially on a critical passage from his last major work, Mysterium Coniunctionis. The notion of self as imago Dei grasps the paradoxical nature of the self, a coincidentia oppositorum that is at once personal and impersonal, embodying a pattern of Divinity that also is revealed as a coincidentia oppositorum, immanent and transcendent. Jung posits, moreover, a dynamic interactive relation between the self and the transcendence it mirrors. Altogether, this combination of features regarding the self sets Jung's psychology apart from humanistic and personalistic psychologies and secular depth psychologies such as those descended from Freud on the one side, and on the other side it also separates it from pre-Enlightenment dogmatic psychologies such as those belonging to religious fundamentalisms. This essay attempts to explore and to explicate the subtle space between purely secular and religious doctrines and to make the case that Jung's depth psychology represents a post-Enlightenment, post-secular, post-humanistic vision of the human as a material/spiritual being whose psyche links earth and heaven, the here and the beyond, the finite and the infinite. It is a radical attempt to break out of modernity without regressing to medievalism.