Amae,intimacy, and the early moral self

I believe the universal aspects of Doi's concept of amae have a dual origin in the biologically based motives of infancy and in the expectable adpative experiences of the caregiving relationship. Our theory, arising from recent research, is that the necessary intimacy of this relationship and the exercise of these motives leads to early relationship motives and early moral motives. These in turn find representational coherence in the 3-year-old's narrative self that contains a continual internal dialogue with one or more significant others who are comforting, encouraging, watchful, and critical. The narrative self may also contain an “executive sense of we,” giving the child more of a sense of obligation and power. Many emotionally engaging experiences in infancy are stored as procedural knowledge and are influential later as an “affective core of self” without being accessible to consciousness. Amae also seems based on procedural knowledge. Future research in Japan and the United States will benefit from operationalizing concepts related to amae and to emotional availability. Effects of gender, temperament, and conflicts within and across generations can then be examined.     

On the nature of the plural self

In a sample of 100 college students, those with a higher score on a measure of having a plural self-concept scored higher on a test of self-monitoring and lower on a test of tolerance for ambiguity, but variance accounted for is small.     

On the capacity to suffer one's self

Problems in the establishment of the sense of a ‘psychic’ skin, in the ways described by Bick and Meltzer for example, commonly give rise to distortions in the capacity for self‐experiences as a consequence of difficulties in relation to projective and identificatory processes. These latter may acquire a markedly adhesive character as a defence against the anxieties that arise. This makes for considerable technical difficulties in an analysis. This essay addresses the nature of these problems and considers some of the ways in which they may be approached clinically.     

Kaufman on alienation

It is claimed that Arnold S. Kaufman's article ‘On Alienation’ (Inquiry, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1965, pp. 141–65) shows no understanding of the concept of alienation, and the authors undertake to contrast the concept as Hegel and Marx develop it and Fromm and Mills re‐state it, with Kaufman's interpretations of Marx, Fromm and Mills. They contrast the Marxist self‐realization framework with Kaufman's want‐satisfaction framework, and argue that in Marx alienation is necessarily concerned solely with labor, is unavoidable because a necessary stage of self‐development, and has inseparable sociological and moral aspects. They claim that Kaufman's article shows no understanding of any of these points.     

On the devalued self and implications for treatment

A survey of the self theories of several illustrious clinicians suggests that—despite its increasing interest for contemporary dynamic psychotherapists —a holistic self psychology has little practical utility. Rather, it is a variant of structural theory, involving a component of a nontraditional structure of the self, that appears to be of the most practical use. Therapy in this mode combines both steadfast positive regard and planful functioning of the therapist as a beneficial model or ideal image.     

Relational schemas and the developing self: perceptions of mother and of self as joint predictors of early adolescents' self-esteem

This 1-year longitudinal study examined early adolescents' (N=278, age 11-13 years) perceptions of their mother's behavior (affection, knowledge of child's activities, and psychological control) and of how they react to their mother (trust in mother, defiance, and debilitation) as predictors of self-esteem among peers. Perceived maternal affection predicted self-esteem for girls; perceived psychological control forecast lower self-esteem for boys. Perceptions of self as untrusting, defiant, or debilitated led to lower self-esteem. Furthermore, perceived maternal behavior interacted with perceived self-reactions to predict self-esteem: Perceived debilitation led to reduced self-esteem only under high perceived maternal psychological control; perceived defiance predicted lower self-esteem only under low perceived maternal knowledge. The prediction of self-esteem is clearly enhanced when perceived self-reactions are included along with perceived maternal behavior as predictors. Combinations of perceived maternal behavior and perceived self-reactions--relational schemas--warrant increased attention as possible influences on the developing self.     

Suicide as escape from self

Suicide is analyzed in terms of motivations to escape from aversive self-awareness. The causal chain begins with events that fall severely short of standards and expectations. These failures are attributed internally, which makes self-awareness painful. Awareness of the self's inadequacies generates negative affect, and the individual therefore desires to escape from self-awareness and the associated affect. The person tries to achieve a state of cognitive deconstruction (constricted temporal focus, concrete thinking, immediate or proximal goals, cognitive rigidity, and rejection of meaning), which helps prevent meaningful self-awareness and emotion. The deconstructed state brings irrationality and disinhibition, making drastic measures seem acceptable. Suicide can be seen as an ultimate step in the effort to escape from self and world.