Genuine Self Research Articles

Minimally Invasive Injectable Cosmetic Procedures Increase Feelings of Authenticity.

Minimally invasive cosmetic dermatology procedures continue to be increasingly popular; however, the extant literature has poorly documented the psychological antecedents of interest in cosmetic procedures and their psychological consequences. To better inform dermatologists on their patients' motivations for cosmetic enhancement. In a general population survey, an online representative sample of 984 Americans reported the extent to which they feel authentic using the validated authenticity scale and whether they were interested in undergoing a cosmetic procedure. In a prospective dermatology office survey, 102 participants reported their feelings of authenticity immediately before and 2 weeks after receiving a minimally invasive injectable cosmetic procedure. In the general population survey, participants interested in cosmetic procedures felt significantly less authentic than participants who were not interested (p = .003). In the prospective dermatology office survey, participants felt significantly more authentic 2 weeks after their minimally invasive injectable cosmetic procedure than before (p = .018). Lower feelings of authenticity are associated with interest in cosmetic procedures. Participants felt more authentic 2 weeks after receiving a minimally invasive injectable cosmetic procedure. Cosmetic procedures may present patients with an opportunity to feel more like their real, genuine selves.

Pride Body: Racialized Gay and Queer Men’s Physique Preparation for Canadian Pride Events

This research explores why racialized queer and gay men work out prior to Pride events in Pride Toronto and Fierté Montréal. The findings show that muscular aesthetics are a type of gay social capital, and participants acknowledge that this may also increase undesired attention and limitations because of their racialized bodies. Participants voice the paradox of the “unspoken rule,” which derives from ideas of authenticity and superficiality. To be one’s most genuine self, racialized queer and gay men must achieve a high physical bodily aesthetic but may lose identity and agency. Yet, they transform their bodies as a daily dedication to their own well-being. Most seem to be aware of the contradictions and tensions in developing a muscled body, which is a personal journey each of them went through to find their own understanding and meaning.

Impact of Awe on Prosocial Behavior and Authenticity for Personal Growth and Communal Well-being

Awe, characterized by feelings of vastness and accommodation, can lead to both positive and negative valence emotions. The experience of awe triggers self-transcendence, driving individuals to seek greater meaning in their lives and fostering a sense of interconnectedness with others. Self-transcendence promotes authenticity by aligning actions with one's genuine self, reducing the fear of disapproval or inauthentic behavior within social groups. As a result, individuals who experience awe are more inclined to exhibit authentic prosocial behavior, benefiting both themselves and society. This paper explores the profound impact of awe on prosocial behavior and authenticity. It delves into the intricate relationship between awe, self-transcendence, authenticity, and prosociality, highlighting the significance of seeking awe-inspiring experiences for personal growth and communal well-being.

Creating an Immortal Body in the External Void: The Alchemical Way of Wang Dongting 汪東亭 (1839–1917)

This paper explores the teachings of Wang Dongting 汪東亭 (1839–1917), a leading master of the Western school (xipai 西派) of internal alchemy (neidan 內丹), who developed an innovative method of alchemical cultivation that focused on creating the immortal body in the external space outside of the physical body. Wang developed a concept of two Heavens and four yin-yangs, presenting the perfect immortal and corrupted ordinary worlds as two parallel universes existing simultaneously. The two Heavens express themselves as humans' two selves, an ordinary self and its physical body given to us by our parents, and the eternal "body of law." Wang maintained that alchemists must abandon the ordinary self and exclusively cultivate the body of law, achieving immortality by separating the body of law from the physical body and "teaching" the latter to exist on its own. According to Wang's method, alchemists form a new immortal body by unifying their genuine selves with external space. To do it, practitioners first focus on breathing outside the physical body, then naturally follow breathing, then forget about it and go into deep concentration, oblivion, and even sleep. They finally awaken in an actual dream of this new immortal reality. Practitioners not only create a new immortal body outside the physical one, but also make a choice between the ordinary world of death and the immortal world of life, aiming to leave our fallen world entirely, forget about it, and never return.

The Role of Patanjali Yoga in Communication: A Critical Study

Yoga has the power to change this and turn challenges into possibilities. It can also influence people’s positive perspectives. To reach greater goals, one can improve cognition, use setbacks as stepping stones, and advance in life. Yoga has a methodical approach to self-realization that is not time-bound. A constant effort is made to improve oneself. We must learn to become “Observers” if we are to develop our personalities and progress towards harmonious perfection, much like a doctor must first become an observer before engaging in clinical practise and treating patients. A rational and scientific method of self-discovery is yoga philosophy. Adibhautik, Adidaivik, and Adyatmik are the three elements of human life that yoga addresses. The philosophical definition of communication states that it is an inward quest for the genuine self or a means of obtaining the true knowledge. It suggests that communication and yoga philosophy must be connected. An outline of the connections between Patanjali Yoga Philosophy and Communication is presented in this review essay.

Reflecting upon Coriolanus as Being-in-and-for-Mother through the Gaze of Existential Semiotics

This study applies Tarasti’s existential semiotics, arguing that the protagonist of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (c. 1608) develops into a becoming subject through transcendental acts of negation and affirmation. First, Coriolanus discovers himself amidst Dasein’s objective signs. Coriolanus is then thrown into negation as experiencing humiliation, when his already-established ascendency to consulship is destroyed by conspiracy. His movement, however, persists and follows affirmation, whereby he finds a supra-individual signification. Furthermore, the study portrays, through Z-model, subjectivity phases leading Coriolanus from M1 to S1. It reasons that Coriolanus’s mother, Volumnia, as a transcendental idea or pre-sign, intrudes into the Dasein of the whole of Rome, becoming ‘actualised’ as an act-sign, precluding Coriolanus’s war against Rome through her speech and prostration. Besides, Volumnia’s impact as a post-sign pertains to Coriolanus’s noble embrace of his death. The article concludes that Coriolanus, through acknowledgement of M(Other)’s opinions, validating his genuine self, eventually emerges as a geno-sign.

The Impact of Digital World on Our Identity

Identity means the overall discernment about oneself. It consists of our devotion, conviction, philosophy, attributes, feelings and other likely things. Identity is not somewhat which is innate rather it is wrought up in the hurly-burly of our life. Earlier it had an effect from only countable factors i.e personal and social identity but however with the emersion of social networking sites in the 21st century a new-fangled element has been added to the impression of identity formation i.e, digital identity. Here a significant inquiry is “are you the unchanged person in online or offline mode”? This digital identity had actually become our jiffy self which we modified from time to time in order to take delivery of indulgence that with the upshot we have vanished our genuine self while determining the phony one. We are racing gratuitously while closing the eyes to the veracity that “everything is not everybody’s goblet.” Earlier we had to first put up with something that is palpable for recognition but in the contemporary society individuals are having a prospect to depict themselves speciously for their naming, say it their profession, bonding status, age, likes, dislikes and like supplementary things. As a result, identity is susceptible to identity crises for the reason that people are having added than an identity to present and supervise. People are paying more consideration to the stance of others allied to themselves and in order to present themselves upto the keenness of others so that positive reception will come from all corners. People are all set to cross any limits particularly in case of the teens. The central part of the paper is to bring light the sequel of social media in the formation of identity. This paper will also underline how this identity is subject to deformation with the erroneous impact and badly chosen ways to contract with social media.

Spinoza’s Evanescent Self

Selfhood is a topic of great interest in early modern philosophy. In this essay, I will discuss Spinoza’s radical position on the topic of selfhood. Whereas for Descartes and Leibniz, there is a manifold of thinking substances, for Spinoza, there is, crucially only one: God (1p14; 2p1). Minds, for Spinoza, do not have substantial status, they are instead merely complexes of ideas (2p15), and thus complex modes of the one substance: God. Observations such as these often lead Spinoza’s readers to the conclusion that, whereas for Descartes as for Leibniz, human beings have robust or genuine selves, this is not so for Spinoza. However, this reductionist interpretation is also challenged—in recent times most intriguingly by Koistinen (2009). Koistinen has argued that there are, fundamentally, human selves of whom agency can be predicated in Spinozism. In this paper I discuss to what extent this is true. In section 1, I introduce the reductionist interpretation of selfhood in Spinoza’s thought. In section 2.1, I present and criticize Koistinen’s proposal. In section 2.2, I acknowledge the strength of Koistinen’s view that insofar as human beings act, they are God somehow. In section 3, I propose an alternative reading of human selfhood in terms of witnessing being acted out rather than in terms of being an agent. This view isprima facieparadoxical. In section 4, I nonetheless support it by highlighting that Spinoza seems to have seen practical benefits in knowing oneself to be acted out by God. I conclude the essay by pointing out some comparative directions for future research.

To Self-Verify or Self-Enhance? Effects of Self-Presentation and Authentic Leadership on Felt Trust

When it comes to self-presentation, people may present their genuine selves or reveal only positive attributes, but most research has examined these behaviors separately. The self-presentation literature has also failed to distinguish between truthful and fabricated efforts to enhance one’s self-image. In this study, we developed and tested an integrated theoretical model that examines the simultaneous effects of self-verification (genuine self-presentation) versus self-enhancement (i.e., self-promotion and self-aggrandizement) on employee outcomes. Using a multi-source, three-wave survey design and a sample of 115 working groups (i.e., 115 supervisors and their 555 employees), we found that self-verification and self-promotion enhanced task performance via felt trust, whereas self-aggrandizement demonstrated negative indirect effects. In addition, self-verification was positively related to felt trust and task performance when authentic leadership was higher rather than lower. In contrast, self-promotion was positively associated with felt trust and task performance when authentic leadership was lower rather than higher.

FICTION, EMPATHY, AND GENDER DIVERSITY

To better understand how using a novel in a child and youth care classroom impacts empathy in relation to gender diversity, a qualitative study was constructed. Data were gathered using an online questionnaire administered to child and youth care practitioner students. These students had engaged with the novel Scarborough (Hernandez, C. [2017]. Scarborough: A novel. Arsenal Pulp) in a course about foundational therapeutic knowledge. The study sought to identify: (a) what perceptions and emotions were evoked by engaging with the narrative of a young person exploring gender; (b) what, if any, aspects of empathetic connection emerged in relation to this exploration; and (c) what, if any, connections were made to the theoretical material taught in the course. The study incorporated child-and-youth-care-specific and critical social theory frameworks, and theorized about evocative objects and the concept of empathetic distress. The findings suggest that novel-based teaching can elicit from students, or help them express, higher-order empathy in relation to gender diversity, and that a narrative about the struggle to live as one’s genuine self is one possible pathway towards achieving this empathetic connection. Additional research is needed to investigate these preliminary findings and to address bias in the existing literature on adult education and the use of fiction.

Drapers and Gardeners

This article examines Martin Heidegger's concept of conscience in Being and Time as it is manifested by the characters Don Draper from the television series Mad Men (Matthew Weiner, 2007-2013) and Chauncey Gardiner in the film Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979). The article suggests that Draper hears and occasionally responds to what Heidegger terms the “call of conscience,” whereas Gardiner neither hears this call nor responds to it. Gardiner poses a problem case for Heidegger’s account of Dasein by virtue of failing to exhibit conscience. A question latent in Gardiner’s makeup is what causes him to be this way. The contrast of the characters Draper and Gardiner is approached through the lens of the portrayal of secret identity in filmic media. Both characters live public lives that are at odds with their genuine selves, but they react to this disconnect differently. Core concepts addressed vis-a-vis Heidegger’s account of conscience include facticity, falling, discourse, authenticity, and death. The article concludes that Draper hears and responds to conscience’s call because he has a discursive comprehension of the disconnect between his true self and the public life he has lived; a crucial component of the phenomenon of conscience according to Heidegger is the existential capacity for discourse. Gardiner, in contrast, does not hear conscience at all because his Dasein lacks the discursive element that conscience requires in order to be activated. Gardiner’s being-in-the-world is such that he fails to understand the divide between his lived self and his public self. For Gardiner, these are the same.

Suzanne Miyamoto, PhD, RN, FAAN

Suzanne Miyamoto, PhD, RN, FAAN

Painting the Pain: Visualization of Trinh T. Minh-ha's "Lovecidal"

In her work, <em>Lovecidal: Walking with the Disappeared</em>, Trinh T Minh-ha sketches postcolonial global societies wherein wars, violence, and injustice are still rife. Through utilizing photos, poems, and prose, Minh-ha multi-modally features societies’ production of stereotypes for political agendas and marginalized people’s struggles to find their belonging. Her work is centered on her coined concept, “lovecidal,” which combines love and suicide. <em>Lovecidal</em> is open to multiple interpretations. This painting features my interpretation of lovecidal, which signifies denial and suicide of one’s soul to a better fit into the society that individual lives. In fact, it is nearly impossible for one to express genuine self in any societies. Stereotypes, discriminations, expectations, financial constraints, competition, and policies all collaboratively necessitates that individuals kill their personalities, desires, interests, and dreams. The aim of the painting is to visualize the vicarious pain of “lovecidal” at individual level, to which anybody can relate to some extent.

An Eriksonian Psycho-Social Response to Confucius on the Development of Virtue in Boys and Men

As the exemplar of how men should live, for over six hundred years Confucius has contributed greatly to the formation of the mindset and identity of Korean males. His life and teachings that emphasize the values of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity have long been regarded as the quintessential frame of reference for males in Korea to emulate. Yet at the same time, some of the legacies of Confucius connote oppression because of their overemphasis on the enhancement of human cognition and will to the neglect of the robustness and usefulness of emotion. It is quite probable that the oppressive mechanism inherent in Confucian teachings on human development—i.e., the rigid and regulatory characteristic that overemphasizes or obsesses about rites, rules, decency, and norms—comes to a large extent from Confucius’s own relational and emotional vulnerability toward his parents. This paper suggests that Erik Erikson’s view on the psychosocial dimension of human development can usefully complement what Confucius did not pay much attention to in his lifelong efforts to cultivate human virtue. Indeed, Erikson shows that the robustness of emotion precedes the enrichment of cognition as well as the reinforcement of will and that it is nurtured by one’s caring and constructive relationships with significant others. In this regard, the caregiver’s role is to help males in Korea reconcile with their genuine selves in which cognition and will are in harmony with emotion.

The role of spiritual leadership in fostering inclusive workplaces

PurposeInclusion is of critical importance to creating healthier workplaces, if the ongoing dynamic of workforce diversity is taken for granted. The purpose of this paper is to designate the role of spiritual leadership in fostering more humane and inclusive workplaces.Design/methodology/approachThe authors review the extant literature on two distinct research streams, inclusion and inclusive leadership, and spiritual leadership, elaborate a mediation model, identify antecedents and outcomes, and articulate a set of propositions reflecting key findings.FindingsThe authors advance a conceptual model according to which inclusive practices founded on spiritual values will mediate the positive relationship between spiritual leadership and a climate for inclusion. They argue that calling and membership as components of spiritual wellbeing will reinforce employees’ experience of both uniqueness and belongingness, thus affecting their perceptions of inclusion and inducing multi-level beneficial outcomes.Practical implicationsSpiritual leadership assumes a preeminent role in embracing and valuing diversity: it embodies a potential for positioning inclusive ideals more strategically, in view of enabling employees unfold their genuine selves and experience integration in work settings.Social implicationsSpiritual leadership helps inclusive goals to be situated in their societal context; inclusion is thus viewed as both an organizational and societal good, embedded in social contexts, and pertinent to corporate vision, mission and philosophy.Originality/valueThe paper examines spiritual leadership as a predictor of climates for inclusion. Drawing on spiritual values, spiritual leaders display a strong potential for inclusion, facilitating diverse employees to experience feelings of both belongingness and uniqueness in work settings that assume high societal relevance.

Transformative Existential Experiences and the Mental Growth Stages Illustrated by Case Reports

The article describes part of an on-going research on the processes of mental liberation and growth. The original research material is based on qualitative research methods and ethnographic in-depth interviews with drug-addicted persons undergoing treatment. The material is further analysed within a framework presented in Kazimierz Dabrowski's theory: mental growth through positive disintegration. This framework was found to be useful in the analysis of the participants’ mental growth processes particularly due to the integration of human's transcending ability. Participants contribute in describing how transformative existential experiences may promote the process of mental growth. Importance of activating the mental transcending ability is shown to be central in the recovery process. One profound transformative existential experience is described as the possibility to be who you are, an identity experience which elicited the genuine self. The study sheds light on human mental development when the therapy included activation of the spiritual/religious dimension.

The Validity of the Vision: The Scholar’s “Fight to Find the Lost Element”

In the context of Anorld’s poetic landscape, the “forest glade” is gone and the “glimmering sea is far beyond the reach of people who are wandering in the “darkling plain” where the genuine self is buried. The inability to find the genuine self, brought about by loss of hope, made the inhabitants of the “burning plain” continue their oscillations between the frustrating world and what they unconsciously felt to be its essential existence. It is actually because of this lack of courage that Empedocles suspends his own life. The inhabitants of the “burning desert” wait passively, and the culture simultaneously wait for the light; they are shown as awaiting some revolution, but they are in a mood of “not being” or in a continual disappointment, without specific purpose. The aim of this essay is to show the changes in the passive, meditative mood of Arnold’s characters who begin the active life of the quest to find the genuine self. This quest begins with the story of “The Scholar Gipsy”.

Pioneers of “Dawnism” in Victorian Desert

Arnold more than any other Victorian writer sums up for the reader the most typical qualities of the age. He shows the movement of thought in man in relation to the age. Arnold depicts the intellectual, cultural, religious and literary confusion of the age and calls it the “darkling plain. Throughout Arnold’s poetic career he tries to connect internal integrity with the social lives of men who are alone in an alien world. “The Scholar Gipsy” brings a sense of contemplation back to the frozen minds of the Victorian Utilitarianism. Although the images of hopes in “The Scholar Gipsy” done by the visionary quest and the Tyrian Trader put an end to the life-long doubt-stricken Victorian men, they are only the demonstrations without any palpable, real application in the wasteland of the age. Sohrab in Sohrab and Rustum is a servant of God who struggles to enter the territory of his father. It is his own lost origin to which he enters and consequently finds peace and joins the ‘All.’ Here, Sohrab is the son who is under the ageis of Thomas Arnold, the father, a triumphant practical spirit guiding the inhabitants of the darkness to the light. If “The Scholar Gipsy” is the renovation of man’s spirit from the uncertainty through the suggestion of a vision, and a ‘beacon of hope.’ Sohrab and Rustum is Arnold’s achieved vision and the real capture of the genuine self through the open involvement of the committed traveller in the way of perfection. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p340

L’Antipsychiatrie, symptôme de la postmodernité ?

BackgroundCurrent practices that deal with mental suffering are tinged with liberal discourses; as is seen by the striking publication of the DSM V (2013). If the manual's launch in the international scene caused considerable outcry a few years ago, the DSM III (1980), its forefather marked a new trend in psychiatry that replaced the hitherto paramount paradigm of “psychopathological structures” (1926–1977). MethodFocusing our article on the concept of metanoia together with the testimony of the antipsychiatry muse, Mary Barnes, we propose an analysis of the enigmatic filiation between two different discourses: the antipsychiatry discourse and that of mental health. ResultsAlthough this movement appears in a wave of multifocal contestations that characterizes the sixties and the seventies, an era filled by counter-cultural trends, it also stems from the meetings between a few tormented souls and intellectuals pursuing a gateway through the context of a modern society perceived as alienating. It's also from a social angle that one can analyze a part of postmodernity, through the expressions of madness that affect shifting subjects destined for unlimited, in essence devastating, enjoyment… DiscussionIn Kingsley Hall, Laing conceptualizes and experiments various ways to break loose from normality, the only real alienation. Beyond its clinical intent, this antipsychiatric discourse achieves its peak by conceding knowledge to the madman, the only one who is mentally sane. The madman would be the model one could reach thanks to the metanoia, a trip that would permit the one who experiences it to find his/her true self. The antipsychiatry discourse can be understood as a symptom, an early-warning message announcing the contemporary model of mental health: new psychiatric classifications and discursive changes impacting psychopathological expressions. ConclusionAntipsychiatry and mental health discourses seem to share an aim of improving the person by taking him/her back to his/her genuine self. By following this project, the person could have been released from social alienation in the sixties and today, from mental disorders. So if some antipsychiatric avatars pad postmodernity, what are the remaining alternatives between “ordinary madness” and a health project focused on an always more perfectible individual?

Issues of Diagnosis and Care For The Transgender Patient: Is the DSM-5 on Point?

The experience of individuals who happen to be transgender is one that reflects a complex constellation of powerful influences both within and outside of the health care system in the United States. Profound stigma, prejudice, misunderstanding, and hate for these individuals are just a few examples of the formidable challenges that potently shape their lives. The combination of exposed vulnerabilities in the expression of their true selves, and the often hostile environment where this transformation occurs creates the perfect storm for the onset of serious psychiatric illnesses. Oddly enough, the pathology is often not wrought in the experience of the genuine self but more so in what happens to that self in the context of a violent environment. This article explores these factors in the context of psychiatric diagnosis in the DSM-5.