Denial Strategies Research Articles

Media Representation of the Discrimination against the Roma in Eastern Europe: The Case of Slovenia

The aim of this article is to show how the thematic and form structures of the news report work to legitimate and naturalize discrimination against the Roma. The syntactic structure of discriminatory discourse offered the readers categories which differed very little: the headline and the lead constructed a closed interpretation of the situation and the rest of the news report strengthened, legitimated and naturalized this interpretation especially with its use of evaluation. In order to create a coherent meaning of the news text, journalists first reduced the definition of the situation to only one event, which presented the majority population in a positive light. To construct only one, natural dominant interpretation of the ethnic discrimination they selectively (mis)used information, used discourse of difference with colonization of common-sense language, and the strategies of denial of discriminatory discourse. The majority population was the dominant group, responsible for the process of doing and saying as actors and sayers. The study of the Slovenia media adheres to the analytic paradigm of critical discourse analysis (CDA).

Too close to home: Dioxin contamination of breast milk and the political agenda

Both the Canadian and U.S. governments have determined that breast-fed infants are among the populations most exposed to dioxins, receiving levels of exposure orders of magnitude above those considered acceptable. In light of the political controversy associated with dioxins and the cultural significance of breast milk as a symbol of purity, one might have expected dioxin contamination of breast milk to achieve prominence on both the popular and governmental agendas. Yet as this article demonstrates, this issue has received less media and governmental attention than other environmental issues believed to present comparable or lower health risks. Consistent with recent literature on agenda denial strategies, there is some evidence that efforts by environmental groups to publicize levels of breast milk contamination have been rebuffed by government officials, physicians, and breastfeeding advocacy groups fearful that women will stop breastfeeding. However, what is more striking is just how seldom environmentalists have attempted to reframe this issue. The article argues that North American environmentalists have consciously chosen not to press the dramatic issue of breast milk contamination out of concern that mothers would discontinue breastfeeding, as well as personal anxiety about an issue that fundamentally challenges conceptions of our own bodies and our relationships with our children. Their self-restraint challenges the depiction by some authors of environmental groups as eager to capitalize on any opportunity to provoke public concern and outrage to advance their agenda. The case study also suggests that the literature on agenda setting must look beyond active strategies of agenda denial by economically and politically powerful interests, to the role of shared cultural values in shaping – and restricting – the political agenda.

The political origins of South Korea's economic crisis: Is democratization to blame?

Different explanations have been presented regarding the recent economic crisis in South Korea. After critically evaluating these explanations, the article modifies and refines the dominant model, the mea culpa paradigm, to develop a political, interactive and integrative explanation of the crisis. The economic breakdown during the Kim Young Sam regime in Korea (1993–98) was mainly due to the Kim government's failure to carry out its well‐intended economic reforms, particularly chaebol reforms. The reasons for the failure of the economic reforms, in turn, consist of a set of political factors, including President Kim's distinctive leadership style encapsulated by ‘decretistic populism’, the chaebôl's effective cultural strategies of agenda denial and an anti‐reform campaign by conservative social forces. In this respect, the economic crisis in Korea is also a political crisis. The article refutes a popular interpretation within Korea that blames democracy for the economic crisis, demonstrating that there is at best a very tenuous relationship between the democratization in the country since 1987 and the economic crisis. To overcome the crisis, the current Kim Dae Jung government in Korea should avoid decretistic populism, forge and maintain a constructive alliance with civil society groups and develop a solid coalition for economic reform.

Theoretical Antecedents to HIV Risk Perception

BACKGROUND: HIV risk perceptions have been unreliable in predicting behavioral change, suggesting that significantfactors which may contribute to HIV risk perception remain unknown. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to describe HIV risk perceptions of two discordant samples and theorize about possible antecedents to their HIV risk perception. STUDY DESIGN: The multiethnic samples consist of female college students (n = 286) and female HIV seronegative injecting drug users (n = 101). Secondary analysis of two data sets was conductedfor this comparative descriptive study. RESULTS: Approximately 90% of college students and 60.4% of injecting drug users appraised their HIV risk as nil or small Injecting drug users were 3.1 times more likely than college students to perceive some risk of HIV infection and 28.8 times more likely to perceive a large or great risk. CONCLUSION: Both samples minimized their HIV risk. HIV risk perception appears to be based on cognitive antecedents in addition to risky HIV-related sexual and drug-use behavior. It is theorized that both samples used the cognitive coping strategies of denial; distancing, and downward comparison to minimize their HIV risk perception.

Les contradictions de la "société punitive" : le cas britannique

Contradictions of the Punitive Society. This paper sets out an analytical account of contemporary penal policies and the role of criminological ideas within them. The analysis suggests that the character of recent crime control policy is not so much punitive as ambivalent. The social fact of high crime rates, together with the increasingly recognized limits of state action as a means of governing crime, has created a new predicament for policy makers and for politicians. The article identifies adaptive and denial strategies, as well as the different criminologies that accompany them, and outlines a durkheimian account of social development that situates these developments sociologically.

Silence and survival: Working with strategies of denial in families of traumatized pre-school children

Silence and denial about previous traumatic experiences are common features in families exposed to organized violence. Mutual protection between family members, and especially between parents and children, is seen as the fundament for the silencing of traumatic experiences. This strategy is suggested to have adaptive advantages in dangerous situations in general, where it serves the function of saving the child's internal representations of his/her parents as secure bases. If, however, the dangerous situation escalates and a psychic trauma cannot be avoided, the strategy of mutual silence concerning the event(s) becomes an obstacle for giving traumatized children parental support and professional treatment. It is argued that clinicians need to take seriously the strong reasons families have for upholding their strategy of denial, if they want to help traumatized families to a better functioning. A case presentation is made to illustrate how it is possible to use refugee children's re-enacting play as a source of information about past traumatic events in order to change destructive post-traumatic family dynamics and improve parental support to the child.

The Punitive Society: Penology, Criminology and the History of the Present

This paper, which is a reworked version of the inaugural lecture of the Chair of Penology delivered on 24 May 1995 at the University of Edinburgh, sets out an account ofthe relationship between penology and criminology which reverses the conventional understanding ofthe relationship between these two disciplines. Instead ofviewing penology as an applied sub-discipline of criminology, it is argued that criminological ideas should be viewed as part of the object ofstudy of penological research, insofar as criminology comes to function within penal practices. This conception of penology is illustrated by an analytical account of contemporary penal policies and the role of criminological ideas within them. The analysis suggests that the character of recent crime control policy is not so much punitive as ambivalent. The social fact of high crime rates, together with the increasingly recognised limits of state action as a means of governing crime, have created a new predicament for policy makers and for politicians. The article identifies adaptive strategies and strategies of denial, as well as the different criminologies that accompany them, and outlines a Durkheimian account ofsocial development that situates these developments sociologically.

Coping and psychosocial adaptation: longitudinal effects over time and stages in breast cancer.

This study examined the relationship between coping and psychosocial adaptation in cancer patients over time and across distinct clinical events. In a prospective longitudinal study 74 patients with breast cancer were observed for 3 to 5 years at 3- to 6-month intervals. A total of 684 interviews were conducted at different observation points. Three rating scales were used to assess coping and adjustment: first, the Bernese Coping Modes, an observer rating scale devised to elicit 26 coping modes aggregated in this paper as the five Basic Coping Strategies of support, self-control, denial, diverting, and negative-emotional; second, an observer rating scale to ascertain psychosocial adaptation; and third, a self-rating scale as a measure of either emotional distress or well-being. a) When aggregated in illness stages, coping and distress data on the observed clinical time points showed greater variability than time measures alone (analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures p < .001). b) A significant relationship between the Basic Coping Strategies and psychosocial adaptation was demonstrated using discriminant and correlational analysis. Furthermore, in stage-dependent Pearson r correlations (p < .05 to .001), a clear-cut relationship was found for hospitalization, chemotherapy, and rehabilitation, but not for convalescence and metastasis. c) A positive relationship was demonstrated between psychosocial adaptation and strategies that can be generally categorized as good forms of coping such as support and self-control, and, to a lesser degree, diverting and denial. Conversely, poor coping exerted a negative effect on almost all illness stages and on most criteria of adjustment. In long-term studies on psychosocial adaptation and coping, stage-related measures should be preferred to time measures alone. The implications of different strategies for the psychological treatment of cancer patients are discussed.

THE LIMITS OF THE SOVEREIGN STATE: Strategies of Crime Control in Contemporary Society

The article offers a descriptive analysis of strategies of crime control in contemporary Britain and elsewhere. It argues that the normality of high crime rates and the limitations of criminal justice agencies have created a new predicament for governments. The response to this predicament has been recurring ambivalence that helps explain the volatile and contradictory character of recent crime control policy. The article identifies adaptive strategies (responsibilization, defining deviance down, and redefining organizational success) and strategies of denial (the punitive sovereign response), as well as the different criminologies that accompany them.

Coping and psychological distress in women with HIV/AIDS

The relationship between coping strategies and anxiety and depression was investigated in 29 women patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, at a psychiatric AIDS clinic. The women were divided on the basis of risk factor, intravenous drug use (IVDU), and nonintravenous drug use (non-IVDU), and coping strategies were compared. Based on a battery of psychological tests, the coping strategies of self-blaming denial, wish-fulfilling fantasy, emotional expression, and threat minimization were significantly related to greater anxiety and depression. There was no difference in coping strategies between the IVDUs and non-IVDUs, and none of the coping strategies employed appeared to be associated with less anxiety or depression. This may have been due to the psychiatric AIDS clinic sample, possibly representing the more distressed group of HIV/AIDS patients, for whom coping strategies were overwhelmed.

Some psychoanalytical experiences with the new fertility techniques

Abstract The contingencies in life histories of one male and two female patients of their wish to engage in new techniques for fertility and procreation are explored. Remarkable denial strategies defending narcissistic vulnerabilities were found in all cases. Although they are in fact quite stressful and at best moderately succesful the new medical-technical solutions can acquire magic qualities warding off unresolved conflicts around omnipotence and gender differentiation. In the treatment-process transference undergoes distinct shifts in quality, intensity as well as object when oedipal and pre-oedipal conflicts tend to be acted out with the administering physician. As to the fate of the psychic development of children begotten in these new forms of procreation and parenting, e.g. lesbian couples, much is yet unclear; though complex and fluid defenses coloured by denial and magical qualities towards the father introject have been observed.

Discourse and the Denial of Racism

Within the broader framework of a research programme on the reproduction of racism in discourse and communication, the present article examines the prominent role of the denial of racism, especially among the elites, in much contemporary text and talk about ethnic relations. After a conceptual analysis of denial strategies in interpersonal impression formation on the one hand, and within the social-political context of minority and immigration management on the other, various types of denial are examined in everyday conversations, press reports and parliamentary debates. Among these forms of denial are disclaimers, mitigation, euphemism, excuses, blaming the victim, reversal and other moves of defence, face-keeping and positive self-presentation in negative discourse about minorities, immigrants and (other) anti-racists.

Subjective well-being and coping with adversity

This paper is concerned with identifying coping strategies which are effective in minimising the impact of adverse life events on subjective well-being and, in particular, on negative affect. Data are drawn from the 1983 and 1985 waves of the Victorian (Australian) Quality of Life Panel Study (N=734). Respondents completed a life events inventory (Henderson et al., 1981) and were then asked to identify the most adverse event they had dealt with in the last two years. They responded to a coping strategies inventory (Moos et al., 1984), indicating how they had dealt with this event. Instrumental, problem-solving strategies proved most effective in dealing with adversity related to work and finances, health, and personal relationships. Contrary to expectation, affective regulation strategies were ineffective, while avoidance and denial strategies were harmful.

Distortion and Lying as Defense Processes in the Adolescent Child Molester

Abstract The article proposes that the adolescent child molester universally engages in the defense processes of distortion and lying in an attempt to avoid the extremely aversive consequences of acknowledging his offense. It is suggested that these processes are interrelated and difficult to distinguish from one another. A theoretical rationale is presented as to the function and origin of the processes. Six specific denial strategies which are common manifestations of distortion and lying are outlined. The ideas presented are based on clinical observation of 42 adolescent child molesters in an outpatient setting.

Psychological Distress in Reaction to Lung Cancer as a Function of Spousal Support and Coping Strategy

This study investigated the roles of spousal support and coping strategies in mediating the reaction of psychological distress to lung cancer. A battery of tests was administered to 60 lung cancer patients and their spouses one month after diagnosis and to 44 of the couples four months after diagnosis. Three models of analysis were used to test the hypotheses. Results showed that support was significantly related not only to psychological distress per se but to change in distress as well. The coping strategies of wish-fulfilling fantasy, self-blaming denial, and emotional expression were significantly related to greater distress. Moreover, wish-fulfilling fantasy was significantly related to change in distress. Thc results support the interpretations that the spouse's support serves a beneficial function for lung cancer patients in ameliorating psychological distress and that wish-fulfilling fantasy is an especially detrimental strategy for coping with psychological distress.

Constructs and coping: physicians' responses to patient death.

This paper explores the relationship between physicians' personal orientations toward death and their responses to patient death. A group of 25 pediatric residents were asked to complete the Threat Index and to respond to vignettes depicting personal death. Consistent with predictions derived from personal construct theory, particular death orientations were associated with various behavioral and psychophysiological reactions. Residents with high death threat and anxiety were more likely to adopt avoidance and denial strategies and to experience fewer psychophysiological symptoms when faced with a patient's death. Implications of these findings for further research and treatment are discussed.

Audience effects of apologia

Subjects read a set of charges against the moral character of a fictitious person and then, if assigned to a treatment group, read either part or all of one of four speeches constructed so as to enact a particular rhetorical stance—a particular kind of apologia. All subjects responded to a series of dependent measures assessing the perceived credibility, perceived culpability and perceived rhetorical stance of the apologist. The results indicated that subjects could differentiate among the four stances and that they responded more positively to denial strategies than to bolstering strategies; the apologias that employed denial strategies were the most effective both in repairing damage to perceived credibility and in reversing perceptions of culpability.

The apology of Richard M. Nixon

On August 8, 1974, having been toppled from power by the Watergate scandal, Richard M. Nixon became the first President to resign his office before completing his term. In his resignation speech, Mr. Nixon attempted to vindicate himself before the American people. Analysis of Mr. Nixon's address reveals that his strategies of denial of intent and transcendence to a larger context were largely unsuccessful in securing closure with his audience.