On Dignity,a Sense of Dignity,and Inspirational Shame

ABSTRACT

The word dignity encompasses more than we can say of it. It is difficult to define, and yet we work with it every day in our offices. I explore various ideas about dignity, and then examine the place of dignity in the process of analysis and therapy. I draw out psychological components of dignity that are often strong themes in our psychoanalytic work. Many patients come to therapy as a result of assaults on their dignity, or from the effects of family situations that are so corrosive that they never developed a sense of their own dignity. For these patients, I think of therapy as a process of either finding or restoring dignity.     

The Effect of Manipulating Training Demands and Consequences on Experiences of Pressure in Elite Netball

Testing the efficacy of a pressure training framework (Stoker, Lindsay, Butt, Bawden, &; Maynard, 2016 Stoker, M., Lindsay, P., Butt, J., Bawden, M., &; Maynard, I. (2016). Elite coaches' experiences of creating pressure training environments. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 47(3), 262–281.[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the present study investigated whether manipulating training demands and consequences altered experiences of pressure. Elite Netballers (M_age = 26.14 years) performed a Netball exercise in a randomized, within-subject design with four conditions: a control, consequences, demands, and demands plus consequences condition. Compared with the control, self-reported pressure was significantly higher in the consequences and demands plus consequences condition but not in the demands condition. The findings provide mixed support for manipulating demands and strong support for manipulating consequences as a means for producing pressure.     

Broadening the Contours of Attachment Experience and Implicit Relational Knowledge: Reply to Commentaries by Dr. Kaplan and Dr. Nahum

Replies to Dr. Kaplan and Dr. Nahum (this issue) focus on the complexly layered aspects of both attachment dimensions and clinical engagement. Attachment is looked at in the context of multiple self states. Thus, despite the predominant annihilation anxiety that accompanies disorganized attachment, there may also be self experiences of shame and humiliation generated by dependency needs. In response to the Boston Change Process Study Group, the paper proposes the idea that there is “something more” than implicit relational knowledge— something that is not subsumed under that theoretical paradigm. In keeping with the theme of multiple self states, “dissociation” and “enactment” are believed to be useful concepts in providing a path for transformative relational experience.     

The Dynamics of a Genetic Counseling Peer Supervision Group

Supervision is a practice that is utilized by a variety of practitioners to hone their counseling skills. Genetic counselors have embraced the supervision process, and some seek out supervision in a group setting with peers. Researchers have described the structure and content of genetic counseling peer supervision groups, and provided evidence for the benefits of seeking peer supervision. This study aimed to describe the interpersonal aspects of one genetic counseling peer supervision group, including personality traits and group dynamics, and how those factors influenced our experiences within the group. We also describe how the process of evaluating these factors impacted us individually and collectively. There was consensus that the group was a safe and trusting one, which was united by similar goals and mutual respect. Members reported gaining insights about how their own personality functioned within the group milieu, and also how the group setting impacted them. Based on our experiences, we recommend that other peer supervision groups consider similar self-evaluations on a periodic basis, both to enhance group functioning and to allow for increased self-awareness and professional growth.     

Embodied learning: Teaching sexuality and religion to a changing student body

Sexuality, more so than other subject areas, magnifies the embodied nature of teaching and learning as well as conspicuously silences open dialogue given its taboo status in many religious and theological contexts. Yet, student learning about sexuality that incorporates knowledge of and about religion, in particular, may greatly improve the public discourse about sexuality through our students as responsible citizens and as leaders in their chosen professions. To bridge this gap, through a year‐long collaboration, a group of professors and instructors with expertise and experience teaching sexuality and religion in a variety of disciplines and diverse institutional and religious contexts developed, tested, and refined classroom teaching strategies to shift from a content‐based “subject matter” to an embodied learning experience, resulting in perspective transformation as a primary student‐learning outcome. Findings in the form of “guiding questions,” encourage instructors to attend to contextual, experiential, and performative aspects of the classroom environment.     

Contributions of Loss Events to Loss Distress and Trauma Symptoms in Recently Resettled Refugee Women at Risk

This research examined contributions of loss events to loss distress and trauma symptoms (accounting for trauma events) for refugee women at risk. Participants (N?=?104) responded to the Multidimensional Loss Scale (loss events and distress) and Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (trauma events and symptoms). Loss events contributed uniquely to loss distress (explaining additional 50.8% variance), and made a unique contribution to trauma symptoms (explaining additional 5.2% variance) approximately equal to trauma events. Appropriate response to psychic distress in refugee women at risk requires assessment of both loss and trauma and consideration of cultural differences in ways loss is expressed and meaning ascribed to symptoms.     

Perception of speech reflects optimal use of probabilistic speech cues

Listeners are exquisitely sensitive to fine-grained acoustic detail within phonetic categories for sounds and words. Here we show that this sensitivity is optimal given the probabilistic nature of speech cues. We manipulated the probability distribution of one probabilistic cue, voice onset time (VOT), which differentiates word initial labial stops in English (e.g., "beach" and "peach"). Participants categorized words from distributions of VOT with wide or narrow variances. Uncertainty about word identity was measured by four-alternative forced-choice judgments and by the probability of looks to pictures. Both measures closely reflected the posterior probability of the word given the likelihood distributions of VOT, suggesting that listeners are sensitive to these distributions.     

Do individuals with autism process words in context? Evidence from language-mediated eye-movements

It is widely argued that people with autism have difficulty processing ambiguous linguistic information in context. To investigate this claim, we recorded the eye-movements of 24 adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and 24 language-matched peers as they monitored spoken sentences for words corresponding to objects on a computer display. Following a target word, participants looked more at a competitor object sharing the same onset than at phonologically unrelated objects. This effect was, however, mediated by the sentence context such that participants looked less at the phonological competitor if it was semantically incongruous with the preceding verb. Contrary to predictions, the two groups evidenced similar effects of context on eye-movements. Instead, across both groups, the effect of sentence context was reduced in individuals with relatively poor language skills. Implications for the weak central coherence account of autism are discussed.     

Two ways to be complex and why they matter: implications for attitude strength and lying

Integrative complexity broadly measures the structural complexity of statements. This breadth, although beneficial in multiple ways, can potentially hamper the development of specific theories. In response, the authors developed a model of complex thinking, focusing on 2 different ways that people can be complex within the integrative complexity system and subsequently developed measurements of each of these 2 routes: Dialectical complexity focuses on a dialectical tension between 2 or more competing perspectives, whereas elaborative complexity focuses on complexly elaborating on 1 singular perspective. The authors posit that many variables have different effects on these 2 forms of complexity and subsequently test this idea in 2 different theoretical domains. In Studies 1a, 1b, and 2, the authors demonstrate that variables related to attitude strength (e.g., domain importance, extremism, domain accessibility) decrease dialectical complexity but increase elaborative complexity. In Study 3, the authors show that counterattitudinal lying decreases dialectical complexity but increases elaborative complexity, implicating a strategic (as opposed to a cognitive strain) view of the lying-complexity relationship. The authors argue that this dual demonstration across 2 different theoretical domains helps establish the utility of the new model and measurements as well as offer the potential to reconcile apparent conflicts in the area of cognitive complexity.     

Crisis decision theory: decisions in the face of negative events

How do people respond to negative life events? Crisis decision theory combines the strengths of coping theories with research on decision making to predict the responses people choose under negative circumstances. The theory integrates literatures on coping, health behavior, and decision making, among others, into 3 stages that describe the process of responding to negative events: (a) assessing the severity of the negative event, (b) determining response options, and (c) evaluating response options. The author reviews and organizes the relevant research on factors that shape information processing at each stage and that ultimately predict decisions in the face of negative events. Finally, the author presents a critique of crisis decision theory and discusses areas for future research.