The dynamics,processes, mechanisms,and functioning of personality: An overview of the field

Personality psychology has long focused on structural trait models, but it can also offer a rich understanding of the dynamics, processes, mechanisms, and functioning of individual differences or entire persons. The field of personality dynamics, which works towards such an understanding, has experienced a renaissance in the last two decades. This review article seeks to act as a primer of that field. It covers its historical roots, summarizes current research strands – along with their theoretical backbones and methodologies – in an accessible way, and sketches some considerations for the future. In doing so, we introduce relevant concepts, give an overview of different topics and phenomena subsumed under the broad umbrella term ‘dynamics’, and highlight the interdisciplinarity as well as applied relevance of the field. We hope this article can serve as a useful overview for scholars within and outside of personality psychology who are interested in the dynamic nature of human behaviour and experience.     

A Typology of Burnout in Professional Counselors

The authors used a cluster analysis procedure and the Counselor Burnout Inventory (S. M. Lee et al., 2007) to identify professional counselors' burnout types. Three clusters were identified: well‐adjusted, persevering, and disconnected counselors. The results also indicated that counselors' job satisfaction and self‐esteem were good discriminators between the 3 clusters. Implications for counselors are discussed.     

TOTALITARIANISM – THE INTERNAL WORLD AND THE POLITICAL MIND1

This paper explores how totalitarianism can develop and become a stable structure both as a state of mind and as a political system. Using Shakespeare's Macbeth as an example the author draws attention to the universal nature of the temptations that power brings with it and which can lead to totalitarian domination. Aspects of Macbeth's mental life are compared with dictators such as Hitler and Stalin. A clinical example is then given which further illustrates and explores the phenomenon of totalitarian ways of thinking as encountered in the consulting room showing how individuals can assert their power through the use of omnipotent destructiveness. This type of destructiveness is more effective when the patient is freed from guilt and the mental mechanisms of psychic retreats are used to maintain their totalitarian systems.     

Epistemic Pluralism

In this paper epistemic pluralism concerning knowledge is taken to be the claim that very different facts may constitute knowledge. The paper argues for pluralism by arguing that very different facts can constitute the knowledge-making links between beliefs and facts. If pluralism is right, we need not anxiously seek a unified account of the links between beliefs and facts that partly constitute knowledge in different cases of knowledge. The paper argues that no good reasons have been put forward in favour of believing in a unified maker of knowledge. It then appeals to the role of knowledge in order to argue that we have positive reason to embrace pluralism.