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Safety and contagion in acute psychiatric wards: How the milieu is implicated in the occurrence of clustered safety incidents Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2024-02-15 Krysia Canvin, Lyn Brierley-Jones, Lauren Ramsey, John Baker, Kathryn Berzins
In psychiatry, clustered safety incidents are often attributed to behavioural contagion. Drawing on Kindermann and Skinner’s conceptual work in our analysis of staff accounts, we explored whether clustered safety incidents could be attributable to contagion and the role played by staff and the psychiatric milieu (as a physical, cultural, and therapeutic space). Our analysis suggests that whether the
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Freudian naturalism and the assessment of psychoanalysis as a natural science: Psychic phenomenon as process Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2024-02-15 Vitor Orquiza de Carvalho, Nelson Ernesto Coelho
The long-enduring problem of assessing psychoanalysis as a science is still under debate and perhaps this is because the focus has been more on questions of demarcation than an evaluation of the qualities proper to this psychological approach. Here we outline this discussion and attempt to clarify Freud’s conceptions of natural science and naturalism. We show that Freud commits himself to a nonreductionist
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Integrating affection, emotion, and aesthetics into a General Theory of Learning Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2024-02-14 Felipe Sánchez, Christian Sebastián
Every learning process is an affective experience. Affect is central in experiencing learning as uncertainty. This article proposes an internal integration of affect into the learning process. The main concepts of learning are articulated with a take on the reflection framework and a dynamic and social understanding of affection, emotions, and aesthetic experiences, helping to integrate concepts like
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Hearing voices, but whose? Constructions of schizophrenia in introductory psychology textbooks Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Jessica Senior, Andrea LaMarre
Introductory psychology courses have a broad reach; their textbooks are instrumental in disseminating information about mental distress. In this study, we present the theoretical implications of a Foucauldian discourse analysis of constructions of schizophrenia in six introductory psychology textbooks assigned in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia. We identify three interconnected discursive constructions
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On the conceptual grounds of subjective rectification: Responsibility, choice, and freedom in Lacanian psychoanalysis Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2024-01-04 Emma Acke, Reitske Meganck
This study aims to investigate the conceptual grounds on which subjective rectification and the interweaving of the therapeutic and epistemic demand rely, specifically the assumption that the subject is involved in their own suffering. This perspective presupposes a subject with a certain degree of freedom and choice. Drawing on Freud’s choice of neurosis, Lacan’s unsoundable decision of being and
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A paradigmatic “inoutsider” scholar in African psychology: Tribute to Professor Thomas Leonard (Len) Holdstock Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-05-05 Augustine Nwoye, Lesiba Baloyi
This comment aims to memorialize Professor Thomas Len Holdstock (1934–2022). Professor Holdstock was an eminent foundational scholar in the fledgling field of African psychology. His pioneer contri...
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The national nature of globalization and the global nature of nationalism: Historically and methodologically entangled Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Michael Billig
It is often assumed that psychological globalization produces tolerant, cosmopolitan outlooks, which deglobalization is now replacing with intolerance and narrow nationalism. This article argues th...
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The politics of Chinese immigrants’ double unbelonging and deglobalization Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Zhipeng Gao
This study theorizes the politics of belonging, drawing on the case of Chinese immigrants. In the heyday of globalization, Chinese immigrants used to enjoy a high degree of transnational mobility a...
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Dehumanization and a psychology of deglobalization: Double binds and movements beyond radicalization and racialized mis-interpellation Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Iram Khawaja, Tina Wilchen Christensen, Line Lerche Mørck
This article seeks to conceptualize and analyze how processes of deglobalization are interdependently connected with processes of dehumanization, double bind, and racialization in the field of radi...
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Introduction: Theorizing the psychology of deglobalization Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Zhipeng Gao, Thomas Teo
The unprecedented pace and scope of globalization over the past half century have had major impacts on the field of psychology. We observe that since the 2008 financial crisis, there have been incr...
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In the aftermath of globalization: Antiglobalizing and deglobalizing forms of subjectivity Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Thomas Teo
After explaining the meaning of mentality, sources of globalization are discussed. Globalization, and antiglobalizing and deglobalizing mentalities, are understood as grounded in the historical, ma...
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Revisioning psychology and deglobalisation: The case of Brexit Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Paul Stenner, Eleni Andreouli
This article approaches the theme of the psychology of de/globalisation by taking up the example of Brexit as an historical conjuncture that hinges upon troublesome questions of sovereignty. Operat...
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Deglobalization and the political psychology of white supremacy Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Catarina Kinnvall, Pasko Kisić Merino
This article is concerned with the psychological dimensions of deglobalization and white supremacy as related to fantasies of “whiteness.” The (re)construction of narratives and myths are contested...
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Filling in the vacuous flesh: Embodiment, constitution, and interoception Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-04-29 Wei Chen, Xianjie Ping, Da Dong
To many scientists and philosophers, embodied cognition lacks validity, since it fails to offer extraordinary evidence. In this article, we claim that the development of one possible evidence-based...
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Social technologies in and out of psychology Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-04-17 Tim Beck, Emaline Friedman
Data on human behavior have become a highly valuable commodity under contemporary capitalism. Psychology’s stronghold on knowledge about individuals is thus threatened by new enterprises that lack ...
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What is so special about conspiracy theories? Conceptually distinguishing beliefs in conspiracy theories from conspiracy beliefs in psychological research Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-03-20 Kenzo Nera, Céline Schöpfer
In psychological research, conspiracy theories are often defined as explanations of events involving the hidden action of a malevolent group. Such a definition raises a false negative problem, as i...
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The epistemic and pragmatic function of dichotomous claims based on statistical hypothesis tests Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-03-16 Duygu Uygun Tunç, Mehmet Necip Tunç, Daniël Lakens
Researchers commonly make dichotomous claims based on continuous test statistics. Many have branded the practice as a misuse of statistics and criticize scientists for the widespread application of...
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Theory as behaviour: Why empathy research needs horizontal, mutualistic habits of seeing Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-03-16 Christa Avram
I propose that theory, typically understood as a mere intellectual position, is also a habit of seeing (in the Deweyan sense). It is a form of behaviour organized through person–environment collabo...
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Why is one study technique superior to another? Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-03-06 David Trafimow
Reviewers on manuscripts or grant proposals often react positively if authors use in-favor study techniques and negatively if authors use not-in-favor study techniques. A tacit assumption is that t...
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Psychological resilience: Connecting contemporary psychology to ancient practical philosophy Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-02-17 Joel Owen
Over the last five decades, a substantial and increasing number of scholarly studies have appeared on the topic of resilience, but relatively little attention has been paid to the way in which it r...
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Going round in squares: Theory-based measurement requires a theory of measurement Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-01-27 Fred Hasselman
In their article on theory-based measurement, Borgstede and Eggert (2023) argue that a substantive formal psychological theory that is capable of predicting expected measurement outcomes for the th...
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Meaningful measurement requires substantive formal theory Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-01-27 Matthias Borgstede, Frank Eggert
In this article, we take the opportunity to elaborate on some aspects of our article “Squaring the Circle: From Latent Variables to Theory-Based Measurement” (Borgstede & Eggert, 2023) that gave ri...
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Why force a square peg into a round hole? The ongoing (pseudo-)problem of psychological measurement Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-01-27 Kathleen L. Slaney
In this commentary on Borgstede and Eggert’s article “Squaring the Circle: From Latent Variables to Theory-Based Measurement,” (2023) three problematic areas of their proposed psychological measure...
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Self-knowledge as self-improvement in Plato’s dialogues and cognitive behavioural therapy Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Chloe Bamboulis
Some researchers who examine the similarities between philosophy and psychology conclude that engaging in philosophy can improve one’s mental health, instead of, or in addition to, traditional form...
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Worth-Conscious theory: Understanding the role of birthright self-worth and application to clinical practice Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Dawna Daigneault, Chris Brown
In this article, we introduce a theory of worth consciousness that builds on the research from self-worth with attention to the importance of honoring birthright self-worth (BSW), which is foundati...
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Imagination in perception and art Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-11-25 Anders Essom-Stenz, Tone Roald
The phenomenon of imagination plays an important though ambiguous role in philosophy and psychology. In this article, we describe its prereflective aspects, elucidating a form of imagination with d...
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Psychology: Where history, culture, and biology meet Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-11-21 Tim Newton
This article argues that the same epistemological assumptions cannot be confidently applied in the transition from the biological to the social arenas of psychology, as a consequence of the sociocu...
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Squaring the circle: From latent variables to theory-based measurement Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-10-25 Matthias Borgstede, Frank Eggert
Psychometrics builds on the fundamental premise that psychological attributes are unobservable and need to be inferred from observable behavior. Consequently, psychometric procedures consist primar...
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Making therapy more transparent: On Kevin R. Smith’s therapeutic ethics Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-10-18 Michiel Meijer
This review essay describes, analyzes, and evaluates Kevin R. Smith’s two supplementary short books, The Ethical Visions of Psychotherapy (2021) and Therapeutic Ethics in Context and in Dialogue (2...
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Learning, digital technologies, and sociomaterial approaches: A critical reflection from the perspective of materialist dialectics Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-10-13 Haris Psaros
In this article, I attempt to critically reflect on sociomaterial approaches to learning, especially as it is conducted with digital technologies. By pursuing detailed ethnographic case studies, th...
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A social ontology of grief Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-10-13 Alfred Sköld
This article outlines a social ontology of grief. With the point of departure in a relational understanding of subjectivity and an intergenerational notion of death awareness, the author develops a...
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A theoretical model of projects in motivated behavior Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-10-13 Vinicius Coscioni, Maria Paula Paixão, Marco Antônio Pereira Teixeira
This article introduces a theoretical model of projects in motivated behavior. It begins with the discussion of two theoretical traditions that conceived a project as either an anticipation of acti...
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Embodying cognitive ethology Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-10-11 Helen L. Ma, Michael R. W. Dawson, Ruby S. Prinsen, Dana A. Hayward
Cognitive psychology considers the environment as providing information, not affecting fundamental information processes. Thus, cognitive psychology’s traditional paradigms study responses to preci...
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Gerd Jüttemann’s “Historical Psychology”: Why it should have succeeded, why it was ignored, and what that means for the future Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-09-21 Fabian Hutmacher
Over recent years, several publications have drawn attention to the fact that mainstream psychology has neglected cross-temporal variability and the historicity of the human psyche. One of the earl...
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Theorising embodied interaction in coaching: A Merleau-Pontian perspective on embodied practice Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-09-16 Peter Jackson
Coaching has expanded as a method of facilitating individual change, performance, and learning. It is generally described in terms of its functions, referring to cognitive and organisational psycho...
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Gordon Pask’s second-order cybernetics and Lev Vygotsky’s cultural historical theory: Understanding the role of the internet in developing human thinking Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-09-16 Shantanu Tilak, Michael Glassman
This three-part article reinforces crosscurrents between cybernetician Gordon Pask’s work towards creating responsive machines applied to theater and education, and Vygotsky’s theory, to advance so...
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Metaphor and the scientific method: Why Lacan’s perspective isn’t helpful yet Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-09-02 Paul H. Thibodeau
Keefer (2022) argues that theoretical commitments to conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) impede research on metaphor in psychology. To jumpstart the field, he suggests adopting Lacan’s perspective. I ...
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Chasing complexity in metaphor research: A response to Thibodeau (2022) Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-09-02 Lucas A. Keefer
Thibodeau (2022) offers a thoughtful critique of my article (Keefer, 2022), attempting to bridge literatures on conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and Lacan’s theory of metaphor. In this response, I ...
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Kurt Lewin’s ideas are alive! But why doesn’t anybody recognize them? Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-08-24 Paul C. Endrejat, Bernard Burnes
Although Kurt Lewin is a key figure in the history of organizational behavior, only a few scholars or practitioners can explain why he earned this status. In order to shine light on this dissonance...
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Aesthetic motifs and the materiality of motives Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-08-24 Mads Bank, Emma S. B. de Neergaard, Morten Nissen
This article discusses how working with aesthetic motifs can be used for cultivating motives for young drug-users and to move social work with drug users beyond a problematic framing as “treatment”...
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Beyond an abstract and technical conception of psychotherapy: The indispensable role of practical wisdom Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-08-02 Blaine J. Fowers, Lukas F. Novak, Alexander J. Calder, Robert K. Sommer
The work of psychotherapy is complex and seems to resist algorithmic formulation. Psychotherapy theory, technique, and research help to manage this complexity to some degree, but clinical excellenc...
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The unappreciated relevance of auxiliary assumptions for evaluating theory-based interventions in health psychology Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-07-25 Tom St Quinton, David Trafimow
The use of theory in health behavior change interventions has been recently questioned with mixed results found for theory-based intervention effectiveness. But theory testing in intervention depen...
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A confusion of tongues: Trauma, fantasy, and dissociation in Lacanian theory and the imperative for social change Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-07-16 Jenny Logan
Discussions of treatment and recovery from child sexual abuse often focus on the therapeutic aspects of speech and witness. Using concepts from Lacanian theory and from Sandor Ferenczi’s account of...
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Cross purposes and crossed wires: A reply to Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-07-07 Raya A. Jones
The article (Jones, 2022) on which Burr and King (2022) comment represents my theoretical work in the field of history and philosophy of psychology. Their commentary conveys certain misunderstanding of its nature and contains some inaccuracies. This reply clarifies the original article’s purposes and attributes the misunderstanding to differing agendas or motivations for comparing theories.
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Contrasts and synergies: A comment on Jones (2022) Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-07-07 Viv Burr, Nigel King
In response to Jones’s (2022) article, we argue that if we understand personal construct psychology as being less rationalistic and more holistic than is often assumed, important synergies between it and Jungian analytical psychology can be observed. We argue that the two theories can be considered to align with each other on a number of points. These include taking a similar epistemological position
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Capturing minds: Towards a methods critique of questionnaire-based mental health surveys Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-06-29 Ger Wackers, Marthe Schille-Rognmo
Mental health surveys of general populations use psychometric instruments derived from psychiatric symptom checklists and assessment scales. Mental health surveys of this type have become so ubiquitous and influential that the psychometric methods that are at the heart of them seem to be beyond reproach. Are these the right tools to do the job of capturing the minds of general populations? This article
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Communication in youth mental health clinical encounters: Introducing the agential stance Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-06-22 Clara Bergen, Lisa Bortolotti, Katherine Tallent, Matthew Broome, Michael Larkin, Rachel Temple, Catherine Fadashe, Carmen Lee, Michele C. Lim, Rose McCabe
When young people seek support from mental health care practitioners, the encounters may affect the young people’s sense of self, and in particular undermine their sense of agency. For this study, an interdisciplinary team of academics and young people collaboratively analysed video-recorded encounters between young people and mental healthcare practitioners in emergency services. They identified five
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Indigenous psychology in Africa: Centrality of culture, misunderstandings, and global positioning Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-06-22 Seth Oppong
I present here an assessment of African Psychology (AP) to give insights about how it has been conceptualised and practised thus far as well as what its future holds. I begin with a focus on the centrality of culture and how AP treats the concept of culture. I will then attempt to respond to some concerns often raised by Africa-based psychologists who do not operate in and from a multiracial space
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Identifying and mapping professional identities among Swedish ambulance nurses: A multiple qualitative case study Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-06-14 Jan Grimell, Mats Holmberg
Research on ambulance culture and identity is globally scant and nonexistent within a Swedish context. This study on Swedish ambulance nurses serves as a first step and an important entry point into this topic. The purpose was to describe professional ambulance identities among four participants who had served between several years and decades in the ambulance services. Qualitative data was obtained
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Where psychological science meets moral theory: Linking up motivational primitives with normative ethics Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Antonio Fabio Bella
The main normative moral theories in Western thought, from deontology to virtue and consequentialist ethics, revolve around conceptions of the moral right, good, and worth. However, a few elementary psychological motives lie at a deeper level. In the present article, I outline the key tenets of regulatory focus, regulatory mode, and the hedonic principle (approach/avoidance), which I define as “motivational
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Erratum to “The “placebo” paradox and the emotion paradox: Challenges to psychological explanation” Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-05-24
Hutchinson, P. (2020). The “placebo” paradox and the emotion paradox: Challenges to psychological explanation. Theory & Psychology, 30(5), 617–637. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354320928139
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Whose metaphor? Rethinking conceptual metaphor in Lacanian terms Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-05-21 Lucas A. Keefer
Recent research on the psychology of metaphor is based primarily on the cognitivist framework provided by conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). This approach has been generative and does much to explain the pervasive role that metaphoric language plays in everyday life. However, interest in metaphor is not limited to this cognitive approach; Lacan accorded metaphor a central role in
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Equivocating on unconsciousness Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-05-02 Dylan LaValley
In the language used by those who take an empirical approach to the study of consciousness, the subliminal–supraliminal binary and the unconscious–conscious process binary are treated as one and the same, despite the unconscious–conscious process distinction having a historical association to a different meaning. The historical meaning of the unconscious–conscious process distinction may then become
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Not self-aware? Psychological antecedents and consequences of alienating from one’s actual motives, emotions, and goals Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-04-23 Farhood Malekzad, Marius Jais, Gina Hernandez, Hugo Kehr, Markus Quirin
Philosophers and scientists have been puzzling over the potential antecedents and consequences of self-awareness or its relative absence since time immemorial. One major reason is the difficulty of identifying individuals’ actual needs, emotions, or goals and thus making statements about their level of self-awareness. Drawing on a “duality of mind” approach, we review our research that quantified discrepancies
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Thinking in opposites: The psychologies of Carl Gustav Jung and George Kelly Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-04-23 Raya A. Jones
The psychologies independently founded by Jung and by Kelly exemplify traditional approaches to personality and the self. Both assume a primacy of the private world and posit “opposites” as a fundamental feature of the personality structure, though they differ in their conceptions of this structure and the level of analysis at which opposites matter. The main dimensions for the present comparison of
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Making sense of charges of scientism in psychology and beyond: Logical and epistemological implications Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-04-11 Barbara S. Held
Charges of scientism in mainstream psychology are on the rise among theoretical psychologists, yet not much attention has been paid to the diverse meanings and applications of the term “scientism.” In examining scientism’s relation to such contrast classes as pseudoscience, bad science, and antiscience, I focus on whether allegations of psychology’s scientism are made with the goal of supplementing
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On the ontology of language: A critique of trait theory Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-04-05 Frederik M. Bjerregaard-Nielsen, Tone Roald
In this article, we present a comparative analysis of the ontological assumptions about language at play within structural linguistics and trait theory. The ontological discussions demonstrate a fundamental incongruence between trait theory’s aim of description and its assumptions about language. This discussion guides a broader analysis of the structuring effect of the ontology of language within
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Beyond the specific factors versus common factors debate: Lacan’s four discourses informing Wampold and Imel’s contextual model of psychotherapy efficacy Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-04-02 Christopher R. Bell
This article is a critical reflection on the limitations of current metatheoretical models of psychotherapy efficacy that have emerged from the historic specific factors versus common factors debate. It argues that while Wampold and Imel’s (2015) contextual model of psychotherapy efficacy does capture the importance of the real relationship occurring across diverse modalities of psychotherapy, it inadequately
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The sociomaterial force theory of identity Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-03-19 Daniel Sullivan, Harrison J. Schmitt, Alexis N. Goad
Foundational theories in social psychology tend to focus on the individual’s phenomenological experience, and to conceive of the environment and the individual as discrete entities. To overcome the ontological and epistemological limitations of such perspectives, we propose a theory rooted in culturally oriented existential philosophy. This sociomaterial force theory of identity emphasizes the reciprocal
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On the nature of implicit motives Theory Psychol. (IF 1.553) Pub Date : 2022-03-19 Lieke Joske Franci Asma
David McClelland’s research on the different kinds of (implicit) motives and how to measure them has had a substantial influence on contemporary psychology of motivation. He did not, however, reflect on the nature of implicit motives in much detail. In this article, I fill this gap. I argue that implicit motives should not be understood as mental states the agent has no introspective access to. Instead