Relational spirituality,differentiation of self,and virtue as predictors of intercultural development

The present study tested the relationships between spirituality, differentiation of self (DoS), virtue (gratitude and forgiveness), and intercultural development among graduate trainees in the helping professions. A relational model of spiritual dwelling and seeking and the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity were used to conceptualise the study. Data were collected in a sample (N?=?174) of graduate students in counselling psychology, marriage and family therapy, ministry professions, and theology at a Protestant-affiliated university. Results supported the hypotheses that quest religiosity, DoS, and gratitude would be positively associated with intercultural development and spiritual grandiosity would be negatively associated with intercultural development. Intrinsic religiosity was not related to intercultural development. DoS mediated the relationship between gratitude and intercultural development. Contrary to hypotheses, forgiveness was largely uncorrelated with intercultural development. Implications are considered for training in intercultural competence, particularly with highly religious trainees.     

Posttraumatic growth and religion in Rwanda: individual well-being vs. collective false consciousness

Some scholars include changes in spirituality, such as a greater commitment to their religious beliefs or an enhanced understanding of spiritual matters, in the definition of posttraumatic growth; others conclude that questions of spirituality should be excluded from this definition. This article highlights the fundamental difference of religion to other domains of posttraumatic growth because religions are ideologies (and other domains of growth are not). As ideologies, it is argued that religions can affect different levels of identity in different ways. Based on testimonial evidence from Rwandan genocide survivors, the article demonstrates that although religious beliefs can bring existential comfort at the individual level, they can also lead to a state of false consciousness at the collective level. In Rwanda, the dominant religious ideology facilitated the spiritual and moral climate in which genocide became possible. Today, religious interpretations of the Rwandan Patriotic Front's (RPF) leadership provide spiritual backing to a government which has become increasingly authoritarian.     

The Impact of Virginia Satir on Prevention of Destructive Behaviors and Promotion of Wellness

SUMMARY

This paper reviews the impact of Virginia Satir's communication work as reflected in the Say It Straight program for prevention of destructive behaviors and promotion of wellness with young people, parents and other adults in many settings such as classrooms, student support groups, juvenile detention, cooperative learning teams, chemical dependency treatment and prison. Results of 13 years of research and training with the Say It Straight program show the applicability of Virginia's work in preventing alcohol/drug related school suspensions, juvenile criminal offenses, precocious sexuality/pregnancy, and in promoting good communication skills, self-esteem, positive relationships, and quality of life.     

Happiness is a warm abstract thought: Self-construal abstractness and subjective well-being

Research investigating the relationship between self-construals and subjective well-being has traditionally focused on understanding how dimensions such as positivity–negativity and internality–externality relate to well-being. This paper presents two studies that investigate how a potentially important yet unexamined dimension, the abstractness versus concreteness of people's self-construals, is related to life satisfaction. Study 1 showed that happier people tend to think about themselves with higher level of abstraction than less happy people, even after controlling for the overall valence and internality of their construals. Study 2 found that people randomly assigned to think about themselves in abstract rather than concrete terms reported greater pre- to post-manipulation increases in reports of life satisfaction. Implications of these findings for understanding individual differences in well-being are discussed, and directions for future research are presented.     

Theory of mind and its relationship with behavioural inhibition in Chilean preschools / Teoría de la mente y su relación con inhibición conductual en pre-escolares chilenos

Abstract

This study’s main objective was to determine whether the five-step theory of mind scale is associated with responses to behavioural inhibition tasks. The data collected for this were the responses to the scale given by 65 Chilean children aged three to five from medium-low socioeconomic levels, and were derived from the changing locations, happy-sad Stroop, day-night and Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) tasks they carried out. Results showed that there was a significant association between the five-step theory of mind scale and behavioural inhibition (r = .28) and behavioural inhibition with the false belief task (r = .31), controlling for age, sex and language. These data support the emergence model as the best model to describe the relationship between theory of mind and behavioural inhibition. Finally, the results are discussed and future lines of study in this subject are put forward.     

The grand reversal: On the corso and ricorso of human way of life

The rapidly emerging pattern of globally interconnected society is characterized by the transition from labor to knowledge as a major new form of capital. The underlying cause of this momentous transformation is the powerful process of reintegration of all previously deintegrated, atomized or specialized ways. After an outswing (corso) of progressive specialization we are encountering (first time in human history) the beginning of a rebound (ricorso) towards the final integration.

We study three basic historical divisions which have now exhausted their progressive potential: (1) Division of task is being replaced by the reintegration of task; this is manifested by rapidly declining number of separate parts in our products. (2) Division of labor is being replaced by the reintegration of labor; this is manifested by the narrowing of the gap between producer and consumer, ultimately leading towards widespread self‐production and self‐service of products. (3) Division of knowledge is being replaced by the reintegration of knowledge; this is manifested by declining hierarchies, multifunctionality and self‐management and narrowing of the gap between employees and owners of enterprises.

The implications of these reintegrative processes affect not only the economic, social and political dimensions of the emerging society, but the very way of life of humans on this planet.     

Self As System: Comparing the Grounded Theory of Protecting Self and Autopoiesis

The author compares the theoretical elements of her grounded theory, Protecting Self: Experiencing Organizational Change, with autopoiesis, a biological theory of living systems. Autopoiesis, meaning self-production, is a closed system that recursively generates the same organization, components, and network of processes from which they are produced. A cautious extrapolation of theoretical similarities between the two theories is presented, including self-referentiality, self-maintenance, circularity, individuality, and the maintenance of identity. The author concludes that this comparison provides a thought-provoking argument that supports the difficult process of individual and organizational learning, growth, and change.     

早期气质对焦虑退缩行为的影响：社会适应的背景性作用

本追踪研究从发展的角度探讨了焦虑退缩行为与儿童的社会适应之间的关系, 并探讨了气质对焦虑退缩行为的影响。共132名儿童参与了本研究, 2岁时测查了儿童气质, 7岁和11岁时测查了儿童的焦虑退缩行为和社会适应。结果发现, 7岁时焦虑退缩行为与社会适应之间的相关不显著, 11岁时焦虑退缩与积极的适应结果呈负相关, 与消极的适应结果呈正相关; 儿童2岁时的行为接近显著预测儿童7岁和11岁时的焦虑退缩行为, 且儿童2岁时的自我调节能力能够调节行为接近与11岁时的焦虑退缩之间的关系。研究表明, 从7岁到11岁, 焦虑退缩行为对社会适应的影响变得消极, 在对焦虑退缩行为的预测中, 存在不同气质特质之间的交互作用。     

EMBODIED COGNITION IN CLASSICAL RABBINIC LITERATURE

Challenging earlier cognitivist approaches, recent theories of embodied cognition argue that the human mind and its functions are best understood as intimately bound up with the human body and its physiological dimensions. Some scholars have suggested that such theories, in departing from some core assumptions of the Western philosophical tradition, display significant similarities to certain non‐Western traditions of thought, such as Buddhism. This essay extends such parallels to the Jewish tradition and argues that, in particular, classical rabbinic thought presents a profoundly nondualistic account of the body–soul relation in its connection to cognition, action, and embodiment. Classical rabbinic texts therefore model the possibility of engaging with ‘Western’ conceptions such as God and the soul, while doing so in a manner that resonates strongly with many aspects of contemporary scientific theories. Thus, beyond their value as historical documents, insight into the texts and concepts of classical rabbinic Judaism can contribute to the further development of new theories of intellect and cognition.     

Why Ferenczi today? The contribution of Sándor Ferenczi to the understanding and healing of psychic suffering

A society undergoing rapid change, which doubts its own possibilities of survival, calls into question the worth of psychoanalytical theory and practice. The author emphasizes that the Ferenczian clinical evolution could be a source of inspiration for reinvigorating our trust in the prodromes of the Freudian paradigm, and thus for relaunching the authoritativeness of our thought and our psychotherapeutic method. In this light the author examines the affective and cognitive qualities that render Ferenczi a mentor of our possible future development, taking into consideration the following aspects: the communicative and intersubjective perspective that denotes Ferenczi's thought since his first writings; the receptive, reflective, and self‐reflective capacities which have progressively accompanied his own commitment and clinical attitude; and his elective work on trauma and “the traumatic”, including the algogenic messages transmitted during the healing process by analysts in fear (and perhaps terror) of their own regression and countertransferential catastrophe. In particular, these last events (central in the Ferenczian vision) are today specifically stimulated by new forms of pathology which search for, with our help, a resolution of the apathetic pain and the tearing apart of the identity that characterize the suffering of patients.