Theistic existential psychotherapy.

Recently, the dichotomy between psychotherapy and spirituality has weakened as scholars and practitioners have begun to acknowledge the value of spiritual factors in clients’ lives. This article integrates I. D. Yalom’s (1980) existential psychotherapy with the theistic worldview and with the assumptions and ideas of theistic scholars such as Kierkegaard. The philosophical foundations of Yalom’s existential psychotherapy are contrasted with those of theism. A theistic reconceptualization of existential personality theory is presented, and the existential approach to treatment is reconsidered in light of theism. Finally, a case vignette involving fear of love loss is presented to illustrate how a theistic perspective can enhance the practice of existential psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The existential neurosis.

This is an attempt to clarify existential literature by distinguishing among the relevant behavioral manifestations those that are psychopathological and those that signify mental health. Existential neurosis emerges as chronic meaninglessness, apathy, and aimlessness. The premorbid identity out of which this neurosis may come involves definition of self as nothing more than an embodiment of biological needs and a player of social roles. The premorbid identity can be undermined, producing existential neurosis, by stresses such as threat of imminent death, social upheaval, and acute awareness of superficiality. Discussion of the premorbid identity leads to postulation of the ideal identity as expressive of not only the biological and social sides of man, but the psychological side as well. The psychological side includes symbolization, imagination, and judgment. Developmental hypotheses for premorbid and ideal identities are presented, and general implications of the position are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of temporal perspective on the attribution process.

Examined in 4 experiments with 194 undergraduates, whether people's causal analyses of events change with time. It was found that as temporal distance from an event increased, Ss both interpreted their own behavior and outcomes as being more due to situational influences and perceived their behavior to have been more similar to the behavior of others. Also, differences in the attributions of actors and observers narrowed as the temporal distance from the target event increased. Two possible explanations for the tendency of Ss to view their past behavior as being more normative and situationally caused were considered: (a) features of the situation (ground) became more salient or available as temporal distance from the event increased; and (b) the need to see oneself as exercising effective control over situations diminished with time. Results are seen as more consistent with the latter than the former explanation, but the likelihood of multiple influences is emphasized. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The existential concept of death.

Comments on B. Vandenburg's (see record 1992-12211-001) article on epistemology and an existentialist consideration of development. If the existentialist prospects of death are to be included in a beyond-epistemic consideration of developmental issues, it is necessary to examine the status of the concept of death as an existential given, not subject to developmental changes over the life span. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of controversy on cognitive perspective taking.

Theorists have posited that controversy among peers in which a person is forced to take the perspectives of others is vital for cognitive and moral development. There is no direct evidence, however, relating controversy and perspective taking. In the present study, 30 undergraduates expressed an opinion about a moral issue and discussed their opinion and reasoning with a confederate (an undergraduate) who always used social order (Kohlberg Stage 4) reasoning. In the controversy condition, the confederate had the opposing opinion and in the no-controversy condition, the same opinion. Compared to those in the no-controversy condition, Ss in the controversy condition indicated more accurate understanding of the structure of the confederate's reasoning than did those in the no-controversy condition. Ss in the no-controversy condition, however, rated that they believed they understood the other's reasoning more than did those in the controversy condition. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The existential psychotherapy of phobias.

Describes the existential psychotherapy of phobic patients. The failure of much contemporary psychotherapy is based in an insufficient psychology of the phobic process. The phobic mechanism is intentional and derives from the focused awareness patients have of their own vulnerability in a certain situation and an attempt to preempt the situation by the creation of a mythology that permits a degree of control and a concomitant loss of awareness of the experience to be avoided. The psychotherapy of phobic patients is comprised of 5 stages. Patients must be assured as to the correctness, integrity, and limited effect of their anxiety. They then come to see the intentionality and integrity in their phobic structures and subsequently recognize their power over the process should they be willing to restructure their way of being in the world. The 4th step occurs with the reclamation of the specific knowledge and feelings that patients have attempted to render unconscious. The final stage is the constant attentiveness to the interpersonal process and the suffering and survival of the primary difficulty. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religion and the morality of mentality.

Christian doctrine considers mental states important in judging a person's moral status, whereas Jewish doctrine considers them less important. The authors provide evidence from 4 studies that American Jews and Protestants differ in the moral import they attribute to mental states (honoring one's parents, thinking about having a sexual affair, and thinking about harming an animal). Although Protestants and Jews rated the moral status of the actions equally, Protestants rated a target person with inappropriate mental states more negatively than did Jews. These differences in moral judgment were partially mediated by Protestants' beliefs that mental states are controllable and likely to lead to action and were strongly related to agreement with general statements claiming that thoughts are morally relevant. These religious differences were not related to differences in collectivistic (interdependent) and individualistic (independent) tendencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consider the scientific study of morality.

Comments on I. Prilleltensky's (see record 1997-04451-002) proposed framework for examining the moral dimensions of psychology. It is stated that, although American psychologists need to deal more explicitly with values and morality, Prilleltensky's framework is both ill-conceived (as based on a problematic assumption about the nature of morality) and ill-advised (psychologists may become advocates for social, economic, and political ideologies being rejected by those who have lived with such in formerly communist states). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On scientific morality.

Agrees with N. Haan's (see record 1983-22367-001) argument that values, including moral values, underlie the scientific enterprise. However, the present author disagrees with Haan's view that a debate on moral principles and ideals would somehow help to guarantee the scientific status of research on morality. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of existential shame in the healing endeavor.

A clinical case of a 35-yr-old male patient illustrates that the presence of therapeutic shame provides the sine qua non for a meaningful examination of the existential dilemmas of human existence by the therapeutic participants. It is argued that there is a crucial interrelationship between how the analyst uses shame and the patient's willingness to express and to work through despair. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety as an existential phenomenon. An existential analytic approach to understanding and therapy of anxieties

From the existential analytical point of view, anxiety is considered to be a basic theme of existence. The experience of being threatened is most commonly related to the physical and material aspects of life. But on a deeper level anxiety deals with the search for foundational and supporting structures for existence. When one loses the sense of safety of being held and of having shelter in a world that does not offer ultimate securities, one is prone to anxiety. Anxiety can therefore be perceived as a subjective parameter of feeling threatened in the existential structures. This paper gives an outline of an existential analytical approach to the understanding of fear and anxiety, a basic classification of anxieties, and an overview of the following specific methods of an existential treatment search for foundational structures of existence, personal position-taking, dereflexion (Frankl) and paradoxical intention (Frankl).     

The attribution of morality.

In 2 experiments, 40 undergraduates received information about a stimulus person and then attributed a given level of morality to that person. Attributions of morality based on the stimulus person's immoral (as opposed to moral) behavior were relatively unaffected by situational demands surrounding the behavior. That is, a person who stole or committed adultery was judged to be relatively immoral, regardless of situational pressures that appeared to facilitate the behavior. Varying the type of situational demand (reward vs cost) did not alter this effect. Unlike morality attributions, causal attributions based on moral and immoral behavior were affected by situational demands to an equal extent. Results also indicate that impressions of morality formed in one context readily generalized to other aspects of morality. For example, a person who committed adultery was thought to be more likely to lie and steal than one who was not adulterous. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An existential look at B. F. Skinner.

Perhaps surprisingly, radical behaviorism has much in common with the modern rebellion against classical philosophy known as existentialism. Similarities could have been shaped by a verbal community that included Skinner. Radical behaviorism is seen as part of a discussion becoming increasingly reliable in its treatment of human behavior, and as an effective philosophy of science. The concept of despair is discussed, followed by a consideration of modernist thinking in general. Six dimensions of inquiry on which radical behaviorism and existentialism share similar positions are treated, and the concept of freedom is discussed. Skinner's lifelong devotion to writing is viewed as a bridge linking science with art. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating visions of reality: Interpersonal diagnosis and the existential vision.

The visions of reality underlying psychotherapeutic schools are considered as cognitive structures, and T. Leary's (1957) interpersonal diagnosis model is employed to systematize previously discussed visions and to generate additional visions. This serves to identify commonalities among therapeutic world views, intervention styles, personality patterns, and types of psychopathology and to further psychotherapy integration by stressing the need for flexibility as the therapist offers each client a re-vision of his or her experienced reality. Every individual is ultimately responsible for choosing his or her own "reality" and the identity that is embedded in it. Promoting self-direction and flexibility by enhancing awareness of these existential choices is at the core of therapeutic effectiveness and is fostered through metacommunication and beneficial challenge to the client's constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit theories and conceptions of morality.

In this article, the authors propose that individuals' moral beliefs are linked to their implicit theories about the nature (i.e., malleability) of their social-moral reality. Specifically, it was hypothesized that when individuals believe in a fixed reality (entity theory), they tend to hold moral beliefs in which duties within the given system are seen as fundamental. In contrast, when individuals believe in a malleable reality (incremental theory), one that can be shaped by individuals, they hold moral beliefs that focus on moral principles, such as human rights, around which that reality should be organized. Results from 5 studies supported the proposed framework: Implicit theories about the malleability of one's social-moral reality predicted duty-based vs. rights-based moral beliefs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and existential therapies: Toward an integration.

Cognitive and existential therapies are typically viewed as so diverse in their assumptions as to be largely incompatible, representing opposite ends of the psychotherapeutic spectrum. The purpose of this article is to show how a merging of these therapies may contribute to a greater range of options for therapists. The authors attempt to show the surprisingly wide number of connections between these two schools. Comparisons and suggestions are made in the areas of the therapeutic relationship, interpersonal and environmental factors, sociotropy and autonomy, and meaning-making. Existential therapy is especially helpful in understanding the formation and identification of ontological core schemas, and an extensive list of these is provided. A case example involving a 32-yr-old female client with depression is provided that illustrates the integration of these two approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of role perspective and client psychiatric history on locus of problem.

90 female undergraduates listened to a taped therapy interview in which the client asserted that her situation caused her problems and were told either that the client was chronic or being seen for the 1st time. Experimental Ss assumed the role of either the counselor or the client, whereas control Ss were not instructed to assume any role. Counselor-role Ss rated the client's problems as being significantly more personality based than control or client-role Ss. The chronic client's problems were viewed as being significantly more personality based than were the "first time in therapy" client's problems. Control Ss, like the counselor-perspective Ss, saw the problem as more personality located than the client-perspective Ss when the person was described as chronic. Conversely, control Ss and client-perspective Ss saw the problem as more situationally located than the counselor-perspective Ss when the person was described as a 1st-time client. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

高校师德问题分析及对策思考

相对于高等教育的快速发展而言，高校教师的职业道德建设已经明显滞后，高校教师中出现了许多师德失范的现象。本文对教师职业道德存在的问题及原因作了分析，并对加强师德建设提出了一些对策建议。     

The past makes the present meaningful: Nostalgia as an existential resource.

The present research tested the proposition that nostalgia serves an existential function by bolstering a sense of meaning in life. Study 1 found that nostalgia was positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. Study 2 experimentally demonstrated that nostalgia increases a sense of meaning in life. In both studies, the link between nostalgia and increased meaning in life was mediated by feelings of social connectedness. Study 3 evidenced that threatened meaning increases nostalgia. Study 4 illustrated that nostalgia, in turn, reduces defensiveness following a meaning threat. Finally, Studies 5 and 6 showed that nostalgia disrupts the link between meaning deficits and compromised psychological well-being. Collectively, these findings indicate that the provision of existential meaning is a pivotal function of nostalgia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)