Extended family constellations workshop efficacy on intuition measure and experience

This study explored the efficacy of an intuition-oriented family constellations process workshop in influencing intuition and consciousness of extended family constellations. Participants were eight white South Africans (male = 1, female = 7; age range = 36 to 62 years). They took a pre-test and post-test measure on their intuition gains from the family constellations process in addition to responding to semi-structured questions on their perceptions and experiences of intuition and ancestral connections. Results suggest the participants experienced gains in intuition and experienced some, variable, form of ancestral connection. Intuition was described as a holistic, inspirational, bodily experience, flowing from an unknown or indeterminate source. Additionally, ancestral connection was experienced bodily and as a felt sense of energy. Results suggest the participants to have experienced gains in intuition and some level of ancestral connection.     

Do brands of a feather flock together? Some exploratory findings on the role of individual brands in brand constellation choice

In this paper, consumers' choice of brand constellations (eg Big Mac and Coke at McDonald's) are investigated by examining the roles of individual brands. The author proposes that marketers need to look beyond perceived fit between brands within a brand constellation. Therefore, this paper explores empirically how individual brand evaluations at product level and at brand level affect brand constellation choice. It is shown that brands do not have to be equally attractive in order to be included in brand constellations. For instance, a weak brand may complement a strong brand. Theoretical and marketing implications are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theory and the Object: Making Sense of Adorno’s Concept of Mediation

Abstract

This article examines Adorno’s use of the notion of mediation, which at first glance appears to be problematic and aporetic. While the emergence of such a concept marks Adorno’s renewed interest in Hegelian philosophy, and a distancing from Walter Benjamin’s thought, the understanding of mediation should not be reduced to the Hegelian model. This article will argue that Adorno introduces such a concept to explain theory’s necessity and verifiability, as well as the experience of the object. Only by taking these two issues (the mediation between concepts and between subject and object) in their interconnection is it possible to explain the role of mediation in Adorno. I will argue that the idea of ‘constellations’ put forward in the Dialectics furnishes us with a model of mediation that goes beyond its original Hegelian formulation.     

《乾卦》爻辞中星宿信息钩沉

先贤用天象来解释乾卦六龙,但由于未涉及具体的星宿证据,不能断定乾卦爻辞只能来自与苍龙有关的天象。本文发现乾卦爻辞中按天象出现的先后顺序,除了容易被泛哲理化解释的“龙”之外,还隐含着五个星宿信息,即天田、健闭、天渊、鱼、天渊,因此可断言这些爻辞的原型来自天象。     

Compensating strategies in collaborative remembering in very old couples

This study investigates collaborative memory performance in very old married couples working in two types of participant constellations, and with two types of memory tasks, i.e. working as couples, or as individuals in episodic or semantic memory tasks. Sixty-two old married couples were a priori classified as high or low on two dimensions suggested to be important for successful collaboration, i.e. responsibility (how division of responsibility was organized) and agreement (how they mutually agreed on each other's view). The episodic memory task was immediate recall of short stories. The semantic memory tasks were to answer questions about names, places, and concepts. The results suggested that: (1) groups outperformed a single individual, but (2) groups in general suffered from collaboration relative to the predicted potential in episodic tasks only, thus replicating earlier results. Nevertheless, (3) the couples scoring high on division of responsibility achieved the same productivity as nominal pairs (i.e. the predicted potential); (4) the couples scoring high on the agreement dimension showed that they were not as affected by collaboration, but then performed less well in "absolute" performance. Finally, the results were discussed in terms of optimal compensation strategies, especially for elderly couples.     

Affective Constellations for Countertransference Awareness Following a Client's Suicide Attempt

Effective counseling with suicidal clients requires the development and maintenance of a strong therapeutic alliance. However, unmanaged countertransference (CT) can inhibit the alliance. This article provides strategies for enhancing CT awareness in counselors to support alliance building with clients after a client suicide attempt. The authors define CT in the context of suicide, introduce affective constellations as a method for CT awareness, and apply the method to a case vignette. A figure for self‐reflection and supervision is provided.