Parent–child relationships during the divorce process; from attachment theory and intergenerational perspective

This study examined four possible predictors of parental satisfaction in the first year after divorce: Attachment style, parenting style, perception of own parents parenting, and the ex-spouses assessment of the quality of the parents parenting. Findings among 49 divorced couples showed that the mothers satisfaction was anchored in themselves and their behavior, fathers satisfaction in their perceptions of their mothers and ex-wives. Among mothers, the less dismissing their attachment style and the greater the centrality of the child in their parenting style, the more satisfaction they tended to report. Among fathers, greater satisfaction was predicted by more education, perception of their own mother as less overprotective, and their perception of their ex-wifes approval of the quality of their fathering.     

Enforced Disappearances and Torture Today: A View from Analytical Psychology

Enforced disappearance represents the quintessence of human rights violations with a strong psychological component. Bodies vanishing have a deterrent effect by terrorizing and paralyzing the entire society. However, the absence of those bodies is overly present in the inner experience of the families of the disappeared, who are victims in their turn. A state of severe psychological deterioration affects the relatives of the disappeared: depression, anxiety, powerlessness, guilt, post-traumatic stress disorder, inability to mourn, even suicide are the consequences of the unbearable uncertainty about the fate of the loved one. But the disappeared persons, notwithstanding the absence of their bodies, continue to be more present than ever in the inner experience of those who have loved them. For the families of the disappeared, to regain psychological equilibrium is a fine balance between the need to remember and the necessity to forget. The author affirms that, at a social and political level, to cultivate a collective memory of enforced disappearance is an ethical duty which validates the actual occurrence of the atrocities, helps prevent repetition and alleviates the transgenerational transmission of trauma.     

On children's interpretations of negation

French children between 4 and 10 years old were asked to draw representations of French negative sentences. The results indicated that in most cases only the verb is negated when the noun phrase to the right of the negation is introduced by a definite article, but when the noun phrase is introduced by an indefinite article, it is most often the noun phrase itself that is negated. This effect is clear even in 4-year-olds, and it serves to demonstrate that the interpretation of negative sentences depends on phenomena of surface structure as well as of deep structure.     

Neutrality And Feminist Perspective: Can They Co-Exist In Family Therapy?

An argument is forwarded for the integration of feminist and systemic perspectives, specifically focusing on neutrality. The position taken is that both feminist principles and systemic practice have indispensable merits when applied to relationship-oriented therapy. Issues of abuse in family therapy are presented by promotion of a view that judgment against the abuser and a neutral investigative process can both be achieved. A neutral stance and circularity contribute to process maps, hypothesis generation, and gaining influence with all family members. Cecchin's updated perspective of neutrality as curiosity about multiple perspectives is emphasized. A case example demonstrates integration of neutrality and a feminist perspective.     

The usefulness of the averaging rule in consumer studies: A partial replication with an eye at neuroeconomics

IntroductionInformation Integration Theory models how different pieces of information are combined by people into unified judgments. Its contribution to decision-making and to consumer studies distinctly relies on a set of empirically established algebraic models for reflecting the cognitive structure of judgments and decisions (cognitive algebra). Among these, the averaging model has particular properties, allowing for operationally distinguishing between the elusive notions of psychological value and importance.ObjectivesThe main goal of the paper is to support the applicability and robustness of the averaging model in consumer studies, by partially replicating a published study that documented averaging. Additionally, it tentatively explores potential contributions of the averaging model to neuroeconomics, by simultaneously recording ratings and electroencephalographic (EEG) responses.MethodsTwenty-five participants rated on a satisfaction scale (format 0-20) a set of experimental conditions arising from the full factorial combination of three levels of sneakers’ branded models and three levels of purchase prices, expanded with conditions in which brands were presented in isolation (sub-design). Simultaneous electrophysiological monitoring was performed with an EEG mask (international system 10-20, referenced to the mastoid apophyses). Segmentation and processing of evoked response potentials were done in Matlab. Both ratings and magnitudes of event-related potentials (ERP) components were analyzed through inspection of the factorial plots with the support of repeated-measures ANOVAs.ResultsThe rating responses revealed an averaging model, with equal weighting in a cluster of subjects and differential weighting in another, but more overall importance of the branded model variable in both cases. The only tentative suggestions of relevant neural correlates involved the LPP and P300 components of the ERP and a reduced number of EEG channels (P4, P3, Fz and T3).ConclusionsThe averaging model is robustly applicable and useful in consumer studies, both for measurement (value and importance) and consumer segmentation (cognitively based clusterization) purposes. While calling attention to the later components of the ERP at specific topographies, the paucity of EEG results suggests that ERP peak amplitude may not be a useful measure for the purpose. Apart from that, a functional measurement approach to neuroeconomics seems feasible in principle and an explorable path in the future.     

Jungian socioanalysis,social dreaming and the emerging complexity of Europe1

This paper presents central elements of what we have termed Jungian socioanalysis – an emerging theory combining analytical psychology, complexity theories, sociological theories, socio- and psychoanalysis, social dreaming, group analysis and affect theories consisting of five assumptions (see also Odde & Vestergaard 2021). Jungian socioanalysis develops a process approach, as opposed to a systems approach, to sociality. In this paper we focus mostly on one of the five assumptions, namely that Jungian socioanalysis explores social fields ‘from within’ through smaller groups, treating group processes as a vehicle to gain a psychosocial and cultural understanding of larger social entities. We give an example of this approach with a presentation of two local social dreaming experiences in Denmark, focusing on Europe in transition. We show that the most significant outcome doesn't rely on the specific content of the dreams, but rather on the engagement in the social dreaming process itself, resulting in transformative image-affects. The paper ends with reflections on how these social dreaming experiences inform a Jungian socioanalysis, pointing to enabling intersubjective meetings, or present moments, opening for a deeper understanding from within the group as opposed to a systems approach. The paper is a revised version of a presentation at the 2018 European Congress in Avignon.