Poststructuralism: Its relationship to depth psychology and the unconscious nature of language

Young, Julie Pacifica Graduate Institute 2008 해외공개박사

Poststructuralism is a theory that has roots in continental philosophy. This theoretical dissertation explores the tradition of continental philosophy by reviewing, among other topics, structuralism and hermeneutics, humanism and phenomenology, and the representation of psychic images. The goal throughout the review of literature is to find how poststructuralists' critical theories came to be. In very broad strokes, the dissertation shows how philosophies of language are the basis of poststructuralism. It is proposed that depth psychology derives from and contributes to the same philosophies of language that inform poststructuralist theory. In poststructuralism, language is the unconscious. Theorists who adhere in varying degrees to this viewpoint, besides Freud and Jung, are Saussure, Husserl, Heidegger, Foucault, Derrida, and Kristeva. Their ideas are the heart of the review of literature. A case study is presented. Poststructuralism is described as theory in action by means of a chapter on the revolutionary Events of May '68 in Paris. The discourse of poststructuralist ideas is heard through the words of situationists and students. Their story presents poststructuralism as a response to the loss of poetic meaning in language and in life. The revolution, as a critique of consumerism, capitalism, and the Western ego, is an affirmation of imagination and desire in language. What happens on a cultural level reflects the relationship between language and personal subjectivity. Poststructuralism is therefore shown to be relevant to the study of depth psychology, especially the conceptual branch of depth psychology known as archetypal psychology. Parallels are drawn between ideas of the founder of archetypal psychology, James Hillman, and those of poststructuralists. If one seeks to more fully understand Hillman's concern about language in depth psychology today, or if one seeks to read post-Freudian and post-Jungian writers, poststructuralism is relevant. Critical theories emphasize depth psychology's connection with language and the unconscious.

Positive psychology and second language motivation: Empirically validating a model of positive L2 self

Lake, J Temple University 2015 해외박사(DDOD)

Positive psychology is rapidly developing as a field in psychology. Many constructs associated with positive psychology have been developed but relationships have not been demonstrated to second language (L2) learning or L2 learning motivation. The main purpose of this study was to explore empirically some core constructs of positive psychology and L2 learning motivation by testing a structural model of the causal relationships among levels of self-concept, and L2 proficiency. In order to do that, it was first necessary to validate measureable components of each of the levels. The self-concept constructs were: a global positive self-concept, a domain-specific positive L2 self, and L2 skill specific self-efficacy. The various self-constructs were organized into finer levels of specificity, from the global to L2 domain to L2 domain skills. A structural model was created from three latent variables that were in turn created from measured variables at each level of specificity. For the latent positive self-concept the measured variables consisted of flourishing, hope, and curiosity. For the latent variable of positive L2 self the measured variables consisted of an interested-in-L2 self, passion-for-L2-learning self, and L2 mastery goal orientation. For the latent motivational variable of L2 self-efficacy the measured variables were L2 speaking self-efficacy, L2 listening self-efficacy, and L2 reading self-efficacy. The measured variables were based on adapted or newly created self-reports. To demonstrate that the model holds beyond self-reports, objective L2 proficiency measures were also modeled with the latent variables of positive self-concept and positive L2 self. To demonstrate the generalizability of the self-model with L2 proficiency, a cross-validation study was done with two different objective measures of L2 proficiency, TOEIC and TOEIC Bridge. The results for the study were all positive for the creation of composite variables and fit to causal models. Latent variables were created for a composite positive self-concept, a composite positive L2 self, and a composite L2 motivation variable. The positive self-concept and positive L2 self also fit a model that included an objective measure of L2 proficiency. Finally, structural equation modeling confirmed causal relationships among positive self-concept, positive L2 self with both L2 motivation and with L2 proficiency. This study showed how constructs from the rapidly expanding field of positive psychology can be integrated with second language motivation. This study showed one way positive psychology can be applied to second language learning and suggests that positive psychology might invigorate future L2 motivation studies.

Folk psychology, folk morality

Knobe, Joshua Michael Princeton University 2006 해외박사(DDOD)

The phrase 'folk psychology' refers to the ordinary psychology we use to understand each other and ourselves. Although folk psychology may initially seem to be a rather simple sort of thing, it can actually be surprisingly difficult to figure out precisely how it works. One common view is that folk psychology is best understood as a tool for predicting and explaining behavior. The key idea here is that, if we attribute mental states to other people, we will be able to do a better job of predicting and explaining the behaviors they subsequently perform. Philosophers who hold this view often suggest that folk psychology is something like a scientific theory. The present dissertation argues for a radically different view. It suggests that folk psychology might be better understood as a kind of multi-purpose tool. Specifically, the claim is that folk psychology should be understood as a tool not only for generating predictions and explanations but also for generating moral judgments. The dissertation begins with a general theoretical defense of this approach. It then proceeds to apply the approach to three major aspects of folk psychology. The first of these is people's ordinary concept of intentional action. A series of experiments demonstrate that people's attributions of intentional action in particular cases can actually be influenced by their moral beliefs. This result suggests that moral considerations may actually be playing a role in the concept of intentional action itself. The second aspect is our ordinary practice of reason explanation. Here again, a series of experiments demonstrate the role of moral considerations and thereby suggest that morality may play a role in the relevant concepts. The final aspect to be considered is people's practice of causal attribution. Moral considerations have long been known to play a role in this practice; the claim defended here is that this role is best understood in terms of the nature of the concept of causation itself.

Boundary-work in United States psychology: A study of three interdisciplinary programs

Root, Michael J University of New Hampshire 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Between 1970 and 2000 scientists from three interdisciplinary programs---evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, and chaos theory---contributed to changing U.S. psychology's disciplinary boundaries. These interdisciplinary scientists brought about this change through their conceptual, material, and social practices. Psychologists used "boundary-work" as a means to control the influx of these various practices. Boundary-work connotes activities that promote scientists' epistemic authority in society. Boundary-work also serves to demarcate a science's particular collection of knowledge from other collections. Through their boundary-work activities, various psychologists resisted some of the practices of these interdisciplinary scientists while making accommodations for other types of practices. These resistances and accommodations illustrate the ways in which psychologists conveyed their epistemic authority and demarcated their discipline's boundaries between these three decades. The purpose of my dissertation is to describe psychologists' boundary-work in reaction to the introduction of these interdisciplinary programs' practices between 1970 and 2000. First, I present an overview of psychology's complex disciplinary boundaries. I then use the history of psychology and sociology of scientific knowledge literature to describe the nature of boundary-work activities. Next, I present the foundational components and a brief history of each interdisciplinary program. Fourth, I outline each program's conceptual, material, and social practices. Lastly, I discuss psychologists' resistances and accommodations to each interdisciplinary program's practices with reference to how they affected psychology's disciplinary boundaries. My results indicate that certain psychologists most often resisted evolutionary psychologists', cognitive scientists', and chaos theorists' conceptual practices. Psychologists' resistances seemed ineffective in preventing these conceptual practices from entering the discipline and did not stop other psychologists from using them. Accommodations occurred for all types of practices for all three programs, indicating that psychology's disciplinary boundaries are relatively permeable. I argue that psychologists made accommodations for these practices to increase their epistemic authority within the scientific community and throughout society. Finally, I discuss the advantages of writing psychology's history through an examination of psychologists' boundary-work.

Moral psychology and the socialization of helping in evangelical Christian families

Fasoli, Allison Ann The University of Chicago 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

Comparative research in cultural psychology has documented variations in moral psychology across and within societies. Such variations suggest that the ontogenetic process of moral acquisition cannot be accomplished solely through internal developmental mechanisms of the individual mind. Rather, moral acquisition must also involve the individual's engagement with cultural meaning systems. In this way, findings from cultural psychology strongly implicate the role of cultural processes in children's moral development. However, the nature of these processes remains unclear. The current study aims to address this issue. This study is framed within traditions of moral psychology that seek to understand the origins, development, and nature of individuals' moral functioning. However, in order to investigate culture as a process of developmental change, it is necessary to break the bounds of the moral psychology tradition to incorporate ethnographic and language-interaction analyses—the prototypical methods of the language socialization paradigm in anthropology. The current research combined ethnographic, psychological, and language-interaction methods to investigate the socialization of "helping" among elementary school-aged children being raised in an evangelical Christian community as a case study in moral psychology. Findings suggest that the provision of reflective frameworks for evaluating moral responses is an important cultural process of children's moral development in this community. Moreover, children's moral thinking may itself be rooted in everyday interaction experiences that children co-construct and internalize. This research contributes to cultural psychology and moral development research by suggesting how culturally organized socialization processes interact with children's spontaneous moral concepts to contribute to the development of moral thinking. This research further contributes to research on the psychology of "liberals" and "conservatives" by elucidating the cultural context for interpreting the moral reasoning of evangelical Christians as a response to predicaments of modern society. Through this lens, both "liberal morality" and "conservative morality" can be recognized as two types of responses to the basic tension regarding the bonds of social cohesion in organic societies that prioritize the individual (cf. Durkheim, 1893/1997). Throughout and across levels of analysis, this research foregrounds the systematic, cognitive nature morality to provide a platform for theorizing the roles of moral reasoning (or reflection) and moral intuitions in moral development.

Before Eden: Religion and the evolved mind

Bulbulia, Joseph Abdul Princeton University 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

Evolutionary psychologists view the human mind as an intricately designed artifact, produced by natural selection, and organized to promote the survival interests of human beings living in the ancestral environment. Researchers use this understanding to generate theories explaining how human beings think, feel, and behave. This dissertation examines whether evolutionary psychology sheds any light on why many persons believe in gods, feel various obligations and duties to them, and act according to these understandings. Chapter 1 outlines the methodological principles on which evolutionary psychology is based and defends this explanatory approach against some plausible objections. I present evolutionary psychology as ordinary cognitive psychology informed by the perspectives of modern evolutionary biology. Evolutionary psychology employs adaptivist reasoning strategies to enhance and extend cognitive psychological understandings of how the mind works. Chapter 2 analyzes Stewart Guthrie's anthropomorphic theory of religion, which draws on evolutionary reasoning to account for why many persons mistakenly perceive supernatural beings that are not really there. Chapter 3 explores a theological argument that uses evolutionary reasoning to support the opposite conclusion: evolution vindicates religious commitment by disclosing how our highly refined cognitive capacities equip us to perceive actual supernatural realities in our midst. At the end of this chapter, I argue that evolutionary psychology cannot produce metaphysical conclusions, and hence cannot tell us whether the gods exist. Chapter 4 sketches some of the main features of current work in the cognitive psychology of religion, and suggests a few lines along which that work may be extended. One line develops out of an analogy between religion and language. I use current research on the language faculty to suggest how some of the faculties underlying religious commitment probably work. Another line emerges out of a consideration of the probable impact of selection pressures on mind-design. In the Conclusion I argue that optimism about evolutionary psychology's capacity to illuminate properties of religious commitment is warranted, but should be balanced by a sober assessment of how little we presently understand the mind even with its aid.

Application of sport psychology to music performance: A study based on a review of sport psychology literature and selected interviews with professional musicians

Bellon, Dominique Arizona State University 2006 해외박사(DDOD)

Sport psychology is a booming field. Specialists in all areas of sports are now aware that mental preparation of athletes is as important as physical preparation because what makes the difference between two equally skilled athletes in a competition is his or her mental readiness to perform. The principles of sport psychology translate very well to the field of music performance because the highly competitive field of music performance involves a similar pressure to perform well at a given time when the pressure is on. Playing a musical instrument or singing also demands a high degree of muscular control and coordination that can either be facilitated or inhibited by the musician's mental disposition. This study takes advantage of the extensive research and rapid advancement of sport psychology by applying its concepts to music performance. After surveying the major sport psychology literature, the author formulated a set of interview questions. Six performing musicians from different areas of music performance, different cultural backgrounds, and different career stages were interviewed. The sample of musicians included an orchestra musician, a singer, a collaborative pianist and a conductor. They also represented the United States, France, Puerto Rico and Quebec. In this paper the author describes the main principles of sport psychology: goal setting, pre-event routines, visualization, focus, arousal regulation (energy levels), and optimal performance. Then, based on the interviews, the author applies these principles to music performance. The interviews allow the author to explore the extent to which selected professional musicians apply sport psychology principles. It also helps to determine how the concepts can be adapted to best serve musicians and can be use as a basis for further studies. The document is organized into seven chapters: (I) Introduction; (II) Structure of the Preparation---for a competition or a performance---(topics covered: Goal Setting, Organization of the Practice Sessions and Pre-Event Routine); (III) Tools for Enhancement (this includes all the different types of imagery or visualization); (IV) Interference; (V) Psychological Skills leading to Optimal Performance (topics covered: Energy Level Regulation and Focus); (VI) Optimal Performance (includes the concept: "being in the zone"); and (VII) Conclusion.

Three problems of folk psychology: Meaning, character, and domain

Fagan, Tyler K University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2012 해외박사(DDOD)

Folk psychology has been an object of great philosophical interest for the last 50 years, but it remains obscure in many fundamental respects. One finds little consensus on what folk psychology is, how it works, and who uses it and how. My dissertation aims to resolve some of this confusion by addressing three major problems about folk psychology, pertaining respectively to its meaning, character, and domain. In the first chapter I discuss what I call the Meaning Problem. Despite the term "folk psychology" having wide currency, its meaning remains obscure. I note that the term's usage pattern comprises two distinct strands that echo a proposal by Stich and Ravenscroft to separate the internal sense of the term "folk psychology" from its external sense. I argue that respecting this separation makes sense of the two strands of usage and provides a useful division of labor. I argue that an internal meaning for "folk psychology" worth wanting must be specific enough to capture the phenomenon cognitive scientists care about---what they call mindreading---but general enough to leave room for debate on the many still-unsettled questions about that phenomenon. By focusing the rest of my dissertation on mindreading, I am free to set aside whether folk psychology is true or accurate. This is a problem that is properly about the external sense of "folk psychology"; and while the internal sense is not entirely unrelated to this problem, the issues I address in chapters two through four can be pursued in isolation from it. In chapter two, I turn to the debate over this capacity's character. Traditionally, this debate has pitted "theory theorists" against "simulationists." Theory theorists argue that mindreading involves the application of a theory, perhaps tacitly held, about the behaviors and thoughts of others. Simulationists argue that what underwrites our social reasoning is a capacity to simulate the way others think and act. Some simulationists argue that mirror neurons provide a neurological ground for simulationist accounts, lending them empirical support. But to assess this claim, one must first understand what it would take for anything to provide a neurological ground for simulationism, which in turn requires a clear and plausible view of what simulation itself is---and such a view is largely missing from the debate. I sketch a more respectable picture of simulation, on the basis of which I am able to rehabilitate the mirror neuron hypothesis. But even if mirror neurons do represent a victory for simulationism, that victory has a decidedly limited scope. In chapter three I take up the problem of establishing folk psychology's domain. This problem must be divided into two components: the first is specifying the role mindreading plays in the cognitive lives of normally functioning adult humans. The second part of the problem is whether other sorts of creatures can read minds as well. Those working on the Domain Problem can be roughly grouped into inflationist and deflationist camps. Inflationists argue that animals and prelinguistic infants may have a serious claim to be mindreaders; deflationists disagree. Of course, whether such creatures actually do so is another matter, and that is my focus in chapter four. While the Domain Problem is an empirical matter for science to settle, I argue that philosophers can still contribute in at least three major ways: generating novel hypotheses and experimental paradigms, evaluating pre-empirical principles used to guide research, and carefully interpreting contentious data. To illustrate this claim (and follow my own advice), I discuss some actual cases from the scientific literature. I next criticize two pre-empirical principles one often finds being invoked in mindreading debates---one stems from anxiety about anthropomorphism, while the other is a descendant of Morgan's Canon. Finally, drawing on work by Elliott Sober and others, I show how appeals to parsimony should (and should not) be used in interpreting the results of mindreading research. Taken individually, these cases show that philosophers can do meaningful work on the Domain Problem. Taken together, they provide tentative support for inflationism about mindreading in nonlinguistic creatures. I close chapter four by sketching some of my project's implications in areas outside cognitive science. Our practices and attitudes concerning the treatment of animals, for instance, are shaped by our beliefs about how animal minds work, and the ethical justification of those practices and attitudes depends on the accuracy of those beliefs. A warranted move toward inflationism should therefore change, for the better, some of the ways we think about and interact with our fellow creatures. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

DDC의 심리학분야 전개변천고

조원용 한양대학교 교육대학원 1985 국내석사

Multicultural Research in Forensic Psychology: Where Are We Now?

Agular, Rebecca J University of Rhode Island ProQuest Dissertations 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

Introduction: Forensic psychology is one of the fastest-growing areas in psychology. Over the past few decades, forensic psychology research has had significant impact on legal outcomes and clinical practice. Further, the population served by forensic psychologists has become increasingly diverse. However, past reviews of forensic psychology research indicates cultural factors are not always prominent variables of interest. Accordingly, this study examined how cultural variables are captured within forensic psychology research, and identified the proportion of articles in major forensic psychology journals focused on multicultural research. This study aimed to extend previous work by examining the incorporation of cultural variables capturing a number of sociocultural groups, as well as trends in multicultural considerations within forensic psychology. The primary methodology that was applied – content analysis – is frequently used to study scholarly work and trends within psychology. As was intended here, content analysis often provides insight, reflection, feedback, and critique, and highlights areas for growth and continued development. Methods: Given the present study’s focus on forensic psychology research, journal selection was confined to outlets that exclusively or primarily address forensic psychology topics. Eight specialist journals were selected as they are among the most frequently cited within the field of forensic psychology, suggesting that articles published within these journals are considered to be influential and relevant to psychology and law scholars. All original articles from the above eight identified journals published from 2015 to 2017 were pooled for article selection. As the present study was interested in examining the incorporation of cultural variables into forensic psychology research, theoretical, review, and research articles were selected for inclusion in the sample. Sixty articles were randomly selected to create the subset of articles from the eight journals to create the dataset of articles to be coded. This random selection process provided an equally distributed, likely representative, and sufficiently large sample of 480 articles comprising the total data base for the analyses. To examine how culture is captured in these articles, this study focused on the presence of the following cultural groups as they are used as topic areas or variables within forensic psychology research: age/generation, race/ethnicity, religion/spirituality, language, sexual orientation, gender identity and diversity, socioeconomic status, ability/disability status, neighborhood, immigration, and indigenous heritage. Articles were coded by four researchers who used a coding sheet and accompanying codebook designed for the purposes of this study. Acceptable inter-rater reliability was achieved as reflected in kappa coefficients ranging from .84 to .98 for items. All sections of articles were coded to examine inclusion of cultural variables. Additionally, articles were categorized as multiculturally-focused when: 1) theoretical and review articles had cultural variables mentioned in the title and/or in the stated aims/purpose of the article; or 2) research articles had cultural variables present in the title and/or aims and hypotheses of the study. Coding sheet items were designed to collect categorical data and descriptive analyses, specifically frequency statistics, were conducted to address study aims. Results: The final sample was comprised of 462 articles; 76 articles were classified as theoretical or review papers (2015, n = 22; 2016, n = 24; 2017, n = 30), and 386 as research articles (2015, n = 118; 2016, n = 148; 2017, n = 120). Results revealed a mean of about three cultural variables incorporated into articles as a whole, with a standard deviation of 1.6, and a range of 0 to 9. Almost all articles (96%) incorporated at least one cultural variable. Out of the study sample of 462 articles, 44% (n = 203) were classified as multiculturally-focused. Areas of notable strengths include high rates of cultural inclusion within sample demographics and common incorporation of certain variables, specifically for age/generation, gender identity, and race/ethnicity. Findings suggest that forensic psychology research has a limited and selective focus of cultural inclusion. General inclusion of cultural variables in any section of articles was notably higher than rates of multiculturally-focused articles. Additionally, results suggest a disproportionate representation of cultural variables within reporting of participant demographics and an overrepresentation of majority groups. Conclusions: It is hoped the present study serves as a call to action for the field of forensic psychology. The current findings have identified a number of areas for improvement of cultural research within forensic psychology; mainly, that the field needs to better incorporate culture into all aspects of its research. This study generated both positive outcomes but also areas of concern, and it is hoped that in particular, identifying areas requiring attention will challenge the field to grow, adapt, and develop in its approach to conducting cultural research.