Things fall apart. The cultural complex in contemporary times1

These extraordinary months due to COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests, set as they are against a backdrop of the increasingly worrying climate emergency, have brought fear, anxiety and discord across the globe. But we have also experienced a deepening of our understanding of our connectedness, protests against injustice, expressions of social concern and a demand for change. The concept of the cultural complex as developed by Singer & Kimbles (2004) offers a helpful means of connecting the psychology of the individual psyche and the political phenomena of power relations. Using a small example to illustrate how it might operate at a local level, I suggest that a fundamental shift is taking place raising profound levels of anxiety as we move from the known to the unknown. The bipolar nature of these complexes means the extremes are surfacing bringing fears of the very real possibility of more entrenched attacks on democracy from the far right and the hunkering down behind armed borders. But there is also hope that different ways of living together may be developing from the ground up, ways that are rooted in our sense of interdependence – with each other and our planetary home.     

被动性社交网站使用与青少年体像烦恼的关系:体像比较和体像自我差异的中介作用

为探讨被动性社交网站使用和青少年体像烦恼的关系,基于社会比较理论和自我差异理论,采用被动性社交网站使用问卷、社交网站体像比较量表、理想体像问卷和体像烦恼量表,对789名初、高中生进行调查。结果表明：（1）被动性社交网站使用对青少年体像烦恼具有显著的正向预测作用;（2）体像比较和体像自我差异能在被动性社交网站使用和体像烦恼的关系中起中介作用;（3）在被动性社交网站使用与体像烦恼的关系中,女生的体像比较和体像自我差异起并行中介作用,而对男生而言,体像比较和体像自我差异起链式中介作用。研究结果表明被动性社交网站使用不仅能直接影响青少年的体像烦恼,还可通过体像比较和体像自我差异的间接作用对青少年体像烦恼产生影响,且中介路径存在性别差异。     

自我-朋友冲突情境下智慧推理的文化差异及其机制

相对于面对自己的人际冲突, 以独立自我为主的西方人在面对朋友的人际冲突时表现更智慧(所罗门悖论)。在以互依自我为主的中国人身上所罗门悖论是否会有不同特点?研究1通过在线平台招募中美两国被试, 随机分配到自我与朋友冲突组考察其智慧推理水平, 并考察自我类型的影响。对齐法与方差分析的结果均显示美国文化下朋友组智慧推理显著高于自我组, 而中国文化下两组差异不显著, 进一步分析发现中国文化下独立自我与冲突类型的交互项显著预测智慧推理。在此基础上, 研究2~4在中国文化背景下, 通过启动不同自我类型, 考察个体在自我或朋友冲突组中的智慧推理差异, 结果显示启动独立自我的朋友组显著高于自我组, 而启动互依自我的两组差异不显著。研究表明所罗门悖论可能只存在独立自我高的人身上, 并不具有普适性。可见心理学研究除了关注样本多样性问题外, 更需关注使用单一样本却默认结论具有文化普适性的研究者。     

听觉线索与个体差异对音乐紧张感加工的影响

音乐无他, 张弛而已。音乐紧张感架起了客观音响与主观体验之间的桥梁, 是音乐情绪产生的前提和基础。音乐紧张感加工的影响因素主要来自客体与主体两方面。研究发现, 声学要素与调性结构是影响音乐紧张感诱发的声音线索, 而文化背景与音乐能力是影响听者对紧张感加工的个体因素。未来需要对时间结构与长时程调性结构诱发的紧张感及其机制进行深入探究, 这将有助于深化我们对音乐紧张感与情绪加工的认识。     

从个体到集体：心理学视角下的集体记忆

基于拓展思维的社会互动主义视角, 采用流行病学研究思路, 记忆的形成与维护构成了集体记忆心理学研究的核心问题。相关研究一方面以“对话”为研究语境, 系统阐释了集体记忆形成中的社会传染、检索诱发遗忘、共享现实和网络聚合等心理机制; 另一方面, 聚焦于既存的记忆, 阐释了集体记忆有效性的心理原则, 同时, 记忆的身份关联性得到了确证。集体记忆心理学研究仍需拓展视野, 加强对文化记忆的有效性研究, 密切关注媒介技术变革引发的记忆变化, 积极推进本土化研究。     

Engagement and Interaction: A Comparison Between Supported Employment and ATCs

The interaction and engagement patterns of 13 supported employees and 38 regular Adult Training Centre (ATC) attenders were compared. Data were obtained through direct observation within 13 employment sites and a representative sample of ATC organised activities. Results indicated that individual involvement was significantly higher in employment, compared to ATCs, but that the ATC group experienced significantly more social interaction, mainly due to higher levels of task specific dialogue between individuals and the service staff within ATCs. A breakdown of with whom interactions occurred revealed that individuals in ATCs tended to interact more often with care staff than anyone else. Individuals tended to interact more often during work with their non-disabled co-workers and a substantial proportion of time was spent interacting with the public. These findings suggest that the supported employment option yields advantages for individuals in some key aspects of community integration, compared to ATCs.     

From “4Rs and 2Ss” to “Amaka Amasanyufu” (Happy Families): Adapting a U.S.-based Evidence-Based Intervention to the Uganda Context

In Uganda, one in five children presents mental health challenges, including disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs). DBDs can persist through adulthood and result in negative outcomes. Effective interventions for DBDs have been developed and tested in high-poverty communities in developed countries. Yet, most African countries, such as Uganda, lack such interventions. This paper describes the adaptation process of an evidence-based intervention of U.S. origin to optimize fit to context with intervention fidelity, as part of a randomized trial conducted with youth that exhibit behavioral challenges and their caregivers in 30 schools in Uganda. The process involved: initial meetings with headteachers and teachers to introduce the study and the main concepts of the intervention; initial manual review focusing on 4Rs and 2Ss content by the Uganda team; engagement of community stakeholders for additional feedback on content and cultural relevance; final revision of the manual; and collection of children’s drawings for the illustration of the manual. This paper describes both similarities and differences between the original and adapted intervention content and methods of delivery. The findings also highlight the importance of involving community stakeholders in the adaptation process.     

Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of Depression,Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) across cultures

Cross-culturally measurement invariant instruments are useful for the assessment of mental symptoms across cultures. The current study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) (DASS) across Pakistan and Germany. German participants were recruited through an online survey (N = 1323), while Pakistani participants were recruited through online survey or paper-and-pencil survey (N = 1841). The DASS-21 showed good reliability, construct and structure validity in both countries. The DASS-21 indicated partial weak (stress subscale) and partial strong measurement invariance (depression and anxiety subscales) between both countries. Latent mean comparison of depression and anxiety symptoms between Pakistani and German students indicated that Pakistani university students experience more symptoms of depression and anxiety. Results suggest that the DASS-21 could be used in Pakistan and Germany, but caution should be taken when making direct comparisons between the two countries.     

Displacement trauma: complex states of personal,collective and intergenerational fragmentation and their intergenerational transmission

Originally presented at the Journal’s one day conference entitled ‘Displacement: Contemporary Traumatic Experience’ held in London in November 2019, this paper expands on the author’s theory of the implicit psychological organizing gestalt, an associated pattern of psychic functions which operate in an integrated way to simultaneously structure and organize our experience of self-cohesion and self-continuity. The gestalt, which implicitly links the formation of psychic skin, body image, cultural skin and both personal and cultural identity with place, functions as an emergent non-conscious permanent presence or background ‘constant’. It develops over time and emerges out of embodied emotional experiencing with the total environment – both human and non-human. The author argues that it is the rupture of this gestalt and the disorganizing consequences of its loss which underlies the experience of displacement trauma. If disruptions in the formation of the gestalt and/or its later rupture remain unrecognized and unrepresented then the absence creates a void which can be intergenerationally transmitted. Case material is presented which describes this and which highlights the ways in which the gestalt can contribute to our understanding of collective displacement anxiety, cultural trauma and cultural complexes.     

Archetypal images emerging in the therapy of Lithuanian cancer patients

The goal of this paper is to show through clinical examples how archetypal images connected with nature emerged in Lithuanian cancer patients, to analyze how these images helped them to get in touch with their emotions and meaningful personal experiences, and to discuss how these archetypal images are related to the Lithuanian cultural unconscious, and may also assist the psychological treatment of cancer. The analyzed examples permit the preliminary conclusion that when ill with cancer, a person's psyche generates universal archetypal images that constitute an important part of the process of coping psychologically with the disease.