Listening to Both Sides of the Therapeutic Dyad: Self-Disclosure of Gay Male Therapists and Reflections From Their Gay Male Clients

Clinicians vary as to their beliefs about the use of self-disclosure in psychotherapy depending on theoretical framework, experience level, and the problem focus. Given the limited number of studies examining therapeutic pairs (client and clinician), this study used qualitative methodology to interview gay male therapists and their gay male clients about how therapist self-disclosures affected their therapy. Results show that clients often felt aware of therapist self-disclosures, whether explicit or implicit, and believed the disclosures assisted them in feeling connected to their therapists and served to normalize the clients’ experiences. Limitations to the study are discussed.     

行为博弈与社会交换

行为博弈与社会交换看似两个毫无关联的现象和研究领域,却有着内在的、实质性的联系。行为博弈也是一种社会交换或以社会交换为机制,社会交换则表现为一种行为博弈或有着内在的博弈性质。行为博弈与社会交换互为表里、互为机制、水乳交融,行为博弈是社会交换的行为博弈,社会交换是行为博弈的社会交换。以行为博弈的眼光来看待社会交换或以社会交换的意识来研究行为博弈,跨领域的研究洞视,各自互为对方启动了一方别开生面的研究天地,为枯燥乏味的传统博弈研究和死水微澜的社会交换领域凭添了一丝新鲜气息。     

Vygotsky and beyond: horizons for the future of psychology / Vygotski y más allá: horizontes para el futuro de la psicología

In this article some usually overlooked aspects of Vygotsky’s work are presented. First, the understanding of the mediation system as a trans-organic, extended branch of the psychological system. Second, the semantic nature of conscience and the systemic neuropsychological organization of higher functions. Third, the leading role played in the psychic system by directive functions. Fourth, the understanding of human evolution as open and permanently provisional. Last, a reference is made to the role of psychology in the process of human auto-evolution, which Vygotsky viewed as a mission.     

Brain-inspired distributed cognitive architecture

In this paper we present a brain-inspired cognitive architecture that incorporates sensory processing, classification, contextual prediction, and emotional tagging. The cognitive architecture is implemented as three modular web-servers, meaning that it can be deployed centrally or across a network for servers. The experiments reveal two distinct operations of behaviour, namely high- and low-salience modes of operations, which closely model attention in the brain. In addition to modelling the cortex, we have demonstrated that a bio-inspired architecture introduced processing efficiencies. The software has been published as an open source platform, and can be easily extended by future research teams. This research lays the foundations for bio-realistic attention direction and sensory selection, and we believe that it is a key step towards achieving a bio-realistic artificial intelligent system.     

The phenotype of loneliness

Goossens' review (2012, this issue) nicely maps the progression of scientific research from its early focus on loneliness as a dysphoric state that results from the discrepancy between a person's ideal and actual social relationships to its current emphasis on the centrality of loneliness to our very nature as a social species, and he argues that developmental science throughout Europe has a great deal to contribute to our understanding of this construct. He concludes that psychologists should care about research on loneliness for five reasons: (i) it is a well-defined phenotype; (ii) it shows both high stability and individual differences in rates of change across years; (iii) it has adaptive value and evolutionary significance; (iv) it has a genetic substrate that is moderated by social environments; and (v) it has self-maintaining features that can lead to adverse mental health outcomes. Goossens' review is rife with information and ideas. We focus here on two additional important reasons and on the phenotype of loneliness.     

时间距离与大学生自我-品牌联结的价值偏好——基于解释水平的研究

自我-品牌联结指消费者使用品牌构建、强化和表达自我的程度。本文试图通过未来时间距离下自我品牌价值偏好的研究,揭示出大学生消费价值观的发展变化。实验1通过操纵时间距离揭示了大学生消费价值观的变化,结果表明：在近期时间距离下,大学生功能性价值的自我-品牌联结强于象征性价值,在未来时间距离下,象征性价值则强于功能性价值。实验2通过操纵成败反馈情景启动自我认知探讨了其发生机制,结果表明：在积极反馈情境下,随着时间距离延伸,大学生象征性价值的自我品牌联结逐渐强于功能性价值;而在消极反馈情景下无论近期还是远期,功能性价值一直强于象征性价值。结论：随着时间距离延伸,大学生消费价值观从实用主义过渡到理想主义,其机制是积极自我认知偏向的启动。     

The Influence of Acceptance Goals on Relational Perceptions

We examined whether relational perceptions (social involvement, relational value, interaction experience) differ depending on interaction acceptance goals (establish, maintain, or repair). Results indicated that relational perceptions were more positive in the maintain condition compared to the establish condition, which in turn was more positive than the repair condition. The data also supported a moderated mediation model: the indirect effects of social involvement and relational value on the relationship between acceptance goals and participant’s interaction experience were contingent on self-esteem. These findings identify boundary conditions that influence the impact of acceptance goals on how much people experience an interaction positively. The findings provide an integrated framework outlining the potential relationship between acceptance goals, relational perceptions, interaction experience, and self-esteem.     

‘Familiar friends’: Catholic mother–daughter narratives

The main theoretical and practical focus of this paper is on the Catholic mother–daughter relationship, and how connections between women shape, and are shaped in, and through this nexus. It is contended that it is imperative that we begin to understand different representations of connections among, and between women, including that of mothers and daughters, as they compose part of the changing yet continual dialect of our (religious) feminine identities. The intent is to embrace the contradictions and polarities, which are apparent in these inter-generational relations. This article is set in middle class suburban Melbourne Australia, and spans the period from the early to late twentieth century. Conversations between an Anglo-Saxon Catholic mother and daughter act as a catalyst to discuss the matrilineal pedagogical dimensions that mark female relations within social and religious discourses.     

Age differences in life stories and neuroticism mediate age differences in subjective well-being

We examined whether age differences in life stories and personality traits mediated age differences in subjective well-being. One hundred one young, 77 middle-aged, and 81 older participants completed measures of subjective well-being and personality traits. They described chapters and specific memories in their life stories and rated these on emotional tone and positive and negative self-event connections. Older participants scored higher on subjective well-being, rated their life stories as more positive, and scored lower on neuroticism compared with both young and middle-aged participants. Age differences in subjective well-being were mediated by life stories and neuroticism, with neuroticism being the strongest mediator. We suggest that changes in personality may enable older individuals to interpret events and themselves in a positive light, which help enhance their subjective well-being.     

How to (and how not to) think about top-down influences on visual perception

The question of whether cognition can influence perception has a long history in neuroscience and philosophy. Here, we outline a novel approach to this issue, arguing that it should be viewed within the framework of top-down information-processing. This approach leads to a reversal of the standard explanatory order of the cognitive penetration debate: we suggest studying top-down processing at various levels without preconceptions of perception or cognition. Once a clear picture has emerged about which processes have influences on those at lower levels, we can re-address the extent to which they should be considered perceptual or cognitive. Using top-down processing within the visual system as a model for higher-level influences, we argue that the current evidence indicates clear constraints on top-down influences at all stages of information processing; it does, however, not support the notion of a boundary between specific types of information-processing as proposed by the cognitive impenetrability hypothesis.