When do stereotypes become really consensual? Investigating the group-based dynamics of the consensualization process

Although it has long been recognized that stereotypes achieve much of their force from being shared by members of social groups, relatively little empirical work has examined the process by which such consensus is reached. This paper tests predictions derived from self-categorization theory that stereotype consensus will be enhanced (a) by factors which make the shared social identity of perceivers salient and (b) by group interaction that is premised upon that shared identity. In Experiment 1 (N=40) the consensus of ingroup stereotypes is enhanced where an ingroup is judged after (rather than before) an outgroup. In Experiment 2 (N=80) when only one group is judged, group interaction is shown to enhance the consensus of outgroup stereotypes more than those of the ingroup—an apparent ‘outgroup consensus effect’. In Experiment 3 (N=135) this asymmetry is extinguished and group interaction found to produce equally high consensus in both ingroup and outgroup stereotypes when the ingroup is explicitly contrasted from an outgroup. Implications for alternative models of consensus development are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Love discourses, sexed discourses: Luce Irigaray's Être deux

Luce Irigaray's Être deux (1997) synthesises her linguistic research with an interpretation of Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Lévinas. The linguistic research focuses on consistency both of an individual subject's discourse, and of the overall research findings (rather than the presence of inconsistency in those findings) to reinforce Irigaray's argument that there is a relationship between sexual difference and sexed language use. Previously in her work, Irigaray's philosophical and linguistic research were held more distinct. Être deux speculates on the extent to which a discursive analysis of the texts of Merleau-Ponty, Sartre and Lévinas might support the concept of a masculine relationship to language. While it is certainly the case that some degree of what Irigaray deems masculinity can be located in their texts, this analysis occurs through an unnecessary de-emphasis of the discursive complexity of these texts, a complexity Irigaray has been at pains to demonstrate in the methodological orientation of her earlier work on the history of philosophy.     

Effects of early child‐care on cognition,language, and task‐related behaviours at 18 months: An English study

This study investigated the effects of different characteristics of early child‐care in England on the development of cognition, language, and task‐related attention and behaviour (orientation/engagement and emotion regulation during the Bayley assessment) at 18 months. Data were drawn from a prospective longitudinal study of 1,201 infants. As found in previous studies, socio‐demographic characteristics and maternal caregiving (especially ‘opportunities for stimulation’) were significant predictors of all child outcomes. There were also effects of quantity of individual and group care, and quality of non‐maternal care. Controlling for demographics and maternal caregiving, more hours of group care (nurseries) were related to higher cognitive scores, while more hours of individual care (e.g., grandparents, nannies etc.) were related to lower orientation/engagement scores. Non‐maternal caregiving was observed in a subsample of 345 children, and after controlling for all covariates as well as quantity and stability of care, quality of care was found to be predictive of higher cognitive ability and better orientation/engagement. Although the effect sizes were small in magnitude, in line with other similar studies, such modest effects from a large English sample are important when viewed in light of the widespread use of non‐maternal care during infancy and early childhood.     

Adult Male Perpetrators’ Perspectives on What Prevention Approaches Work Best for Young Boys at Risk of Future Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

As part of a 2-year ethnographic study, 49 adult men who had been convicted of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration were interviewed on what they thought would have prevented them from engaging in perpetration behaviors, or rather what they believed prevention with young boys needed to include in order to prevent future IPV perpetration. The authors’ open-ended interviews yielded five main themes: (a) messages about healthy relationship behaviors, (b) the need to promote respect for women, (c) teaching effective skills for communicating and managing anger, (d) programs that provide role models and are school-based, and (e) addressing the impact of experiencing violence as a child. The authors conclude that prevention efforts focused on changing both attitudes regarding IPV and behaviors might be most effective for reducing perpetration, and that greater attention needs to be paid towards prevention among youth most at risk of IPV perpetration, those experiencing violence in their homes.     

Myriad Philosophical Methodologies

This article offers an overview of philosophical methodologies. In an attempt to avoid a certain circularity, the article itself tries to avoid consciously or solely deploying and engaging with any current standard notion of what constitutes a philosophical method or philosophy itself. It hopes to find some of the possible places in which philosophy occurs, and this turns out to include (at least) such endeavours as literature, art, poetry, and linguistics. From here it considers how almost anything—for example, conversation, everyday life, and love—can also be philosophy. An attempt is made to identify some characteristic feature of philosophy as it occurs in all such forms. In the end, the simultaneous enacting of a peculiar optimism and particular humility both, in the search for knowledge, is put forward as potentially sufficient to at least begin to identify philosophy across its many guises.     

Beyond the therapeutic hour: an exploratory pilot study of using technology to enhance alliance and engagement within face-to-face psychotherapy

In this paper we introduce and investigate the capacity for a novel, technologically advanced system (goACT) to enhance face-to-face psychotherapy. Specifically, we explore the capacity for goACT to enhance therapeutic alliance (TA) and engagement, and reduce distress. Using a mixed-methods, multiple-baseline design we present the first study to examine the utility, effectiveness and user experience of goACT in a university psychology clinic setting. The introduction of between-session goACT use was staggered across patients (N = 7). Patients completed weekly measures of mood, patient-rated TA and clinician-rated engagement. Semi-structured interviews were used to qualitatively understand user experience of the system. Methodological limitations impacted the generalisability of multiple-baseline findings, yet qualitative results provide a significant contribution to the literature and groundwork upon which further study can be built. Results indicated that goACT built engagement and TA via novel change processes that were associated with expanding the parameters of the therapeutic encounter beyond the one-hour session. Change processes that underpin the qualitative success of goACT are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications. goACT is likely to be a useful tool for enhancing the quality and quantity of traditional face-to-face psychotherapy.     

The Lost Analyst and the Phoenix: Image,Word, Myth,and the Journey from Dissociation to Integration

ABSTRACT

The Phoenix myth is commonly thought of as a simple Egyptian parable of re-incarnation. In contrast, this analytic dyad found that the visual images evoked by its elaborated mythemes (sub-plots) related to the various existential moods and affects characteristic of trauma identified by Stolorow (2007 Stolorow, R. D. (2007), Trauma and Human Experience: Autobiographical, Psychoanalytic, and Philosophical Reflections [Psychoanalytic Book Series, Vol. 23]. New York: The Analytic Press. [Google Scholar]), suggesting a psychological purpose, that of emotional self-renewal. Mythology has most consistently been adopted for use in Jung’s analytical psychology, but this article demonstrates this myth’s usefulness with a contemporary relational psychoanalytic approach, that of intersubjective-systems theory. This was effective for an analysand whose former analysis had been abruptly terminated. It was found that the dialogic exploration of possible meaning in the mythemes brought dissociated experience into language, assisted with the emotional integration of the trauma, and restored the analysand’s diminished sense-of-being. Images bring together diverse somatic, cognitive, and verbal information, normally separated into different communication “codes” (Bucci, 1997a Bucci, W. (1997a), Symptoms and symbols: A multiple code theory of somatization. Psychoanal. Inq., 17: 151–172.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This ancient myth’s longevity may be due to a useful psychological function; its images can aid the organizing of unformulated unconscious chaotic experience and assist in the process of bringing dissociated or preverbal emotions and moods into language. The utility of the Phoenix myth in a relational dialogical process that helps symbolize unsymbolized unconscious content could assist in work with other survivors of catastrophic loss.     

Spirituality and Post-Stroke Aphasia Recovery

Journal of Religion and Health - The role of spirituality in post-stroke aphasia recovery has been ignored despite its potential contribution to positive health outcomes, particularly stroke...