Personhood in a World of Forgetfulness: An Ethnography of the Self-Process Among Alzheimer's Patients

This article assesses the self-construct of Alzheimer's patients residing in a care facility, using qualitative research methods to determine whether a sense of personhood was retained despite the deteriorative consequences of the disease. Through systematic observations of patient actions and interviews with family members and staff, the study assessed the patients' experience of self. The self was conceptualized in social constructionist terms emphasizing how patients configure meaning in seemingly trivial everyday aspects of residential care. The research developed ways of understanding the patients' humanity, confirming that a self-process was sustained despite the effects of the disease. The article explores implications of a contemporary approach to treatment of patients as transformed, yet distinctive, human beings with valid relational and cultural lives.     

The Role of Group Experiences in the Healing Process of Massive Childhood Holocaust Trauma

This paper proposes that Holocaust child survivors profoundly benefit from participating in a variety of group modalities. From participant observation and interviews we demonstrate that affiliation in organizations, social events, commemorations, rituals, and particular therapeutic groups each contributes to the well-being of Holocaust child survivors. Mourning is enhanced by joining forces with others from a historical event that left many children orphans, bereft of a home, a community, a country, and an identity. Group participants achieve individuation and ego integration, and gain clarity about the complex psychological consequences of surviving the Holocaust. A fragmented identity is restored through the opportunity of interacting with others whose identity has been ruptured by similar cataclysmic events.Senior Research Fellow, Graduate Center of CUNY. Codirector, Psychotherapy with Generations of the Holocaust and Related Traumas, Training Institute for Mental Health. Codirector, Child Development ResearchSenior Member and Faculty, National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. Codirector, Child Development Research     

少数民族认同研究的现状

从“认同“的概念界定及其嬗变出发,介绍了西方研究者在民族认同的发展、民族认同与心理健康、民族认同与文化适应、民族认同与人格发展等方面的研究,并且概括了民族认同的一些研究策略.文章最后指出,在西部大开发的社会背景下,民族心理研究,尤其是宏观层面民族认同心理的研究对我国的现实意义.     

Psychological Groups and Political Psychology: A Response to Huddy's "Critical Examination of Social Identity Theory"

In a recent article in this journal, Leonie Huddy (2001) asks whether the social identity approach developed by Tajfel, Turner, and their collaborators can "advance the study of identity within political science" (p. 128). She concludes that "various shortcomings and omissions in its research program" (p. 128) hinder the application of the approach to political phenomena. This paper presents a response to Huddy's evaluation of the social identity approach. Several aspects of her account of social identity work are challenged, especially her suggestion that it ignores subjective aspects of group membership. The interpretation of the minimal group paradigm is discussed in detail, as are issues of identity choice, salience, and variations in identity strength. The treatment of groups as process in social identity theory and self–categorization theory is given particular emphasis.     

Understanding Native American healing practices

Counselor cultural competency with respect to Native Americans requires understanding of common healing practices and ceremonies and of their spiritual significance. Historical trauma serves as a general backdrop for Native America experience and identity. Particular tribal practices and the individual's degree of affiliation with such practices provide a more specific context for client worldview. Knowledge of the symbolic significance of common ceremonies and healing practices will support counseling efforts to be relevant and effective with respect to Native American clients. Direct interaction and involvement with Native American communities facilitate a deeper understanding of Native American cultural identity and healing practices.     

The role of social categorization and identity threat in the perception of migrants

This paper investigates how the categorization of migrant workers shapes their reception. In an experiment with Northern Irish Protestants we manipulated the representation of Poland to make the Catholicism of Polish migrants either more, or less, salient. Furthermore, judgements of Polish migrants were obtained under conditions designed to encourage participants to believe that sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland was either resolved, or still a strong feature of the present social landscape. Overall, results showed that when Poland's Catholicism was salient, participants were less welcoming of Polish migrants. Furthermore, this effect was mediated by increases in the level of symbolic threat participants believed the migrants posed to participants' (Protestant) community identity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bestowal Without Appraisal: Problems in Frankfurt’s Characterization of Love and Personal Identity

Harry Frankfurt characterizes love as “a disinterested concern for the existence of what is loved, and for what is good for it.” As such, he views romantic love as an inauthentic paradigm for love since such love desires reciprocation, sexual gratification and so on. I argue that Frankfurt’s conception of love is (a) too general—he does not distinguish between the type of love one has for one’s partner, one’s country, a moral ideal, etc., (b) it overemphasizes the role of bestowal at the expense of the part played by appraisal and (c) it is insufficiently social. Certain forms of love, romantic love and friendship for instance, are defined largely in terms of reciprocation. For Frankfurt, reciprocation is somewhat of an accidental feature of love. This deficiency in Frankfurt’s conception of love can be traced to a problem in his conception of selfhood which I argue is insufficiently social in nature.

Dynamical agents: Consciousness, causation, and two specters of epiphenomenalism

The aim of this paper is to defend the causal efficacy of consciousness against two specters of epiphenomenalism. We argue that these challenges are best met, on the one hand, by rejecting all forms of consciousness-body dualism, and on the other, by adopting a dynamical systems approach to understanding the causal efficacy of conscious experience. We argue that this non-reductive identity theory provides the theoretical resources for reconciling the reality and efficacy of consciousness with the neurophysiology of the brain and body.

同性恋认同发展的理论模型述评

本质论取向的阶段模型和社会建构论取向的影响因素模型是早期的同性恋认同发展理论,两者对性倾向是否为人类的本质属性产生了激烈的争论。当代发展心理学从生态化理论、毕生发展观、生命历程观出发试图对这两种研究取向进行整合,并提出了相应的模型。未来的研究应该注意同性恋认同发展多样性的特点,正确理解对外暴露在认同发展中的作用,并把纵向研究作为以后的研究方向。最后,提出了中国同性恋认同的特点和本土化研究的假设