Interpersonal Phenomena Research Articles

Interpersonal effects of suffering in older adult caregiving relationships.

Examining the interpersonal effects of suffering in the context of family caregiving is an important step to a broader understanding of how exposure to suffering affects humans. In this review article, the authors first describe existing evidence that being exposed to the suffering of a care recipient (conceptualized as psychological distress, physical symptoms, and existential/spiritual distress) directly influences caregivers' emotional experiences. Drawing from past theory and research, the authors propose that caregivers experience similar, complementary, and/or defensive emotions in response to care recipient suffering through mechanisms such as cognitive empathy, mimicry, and conditioned learning, placing caregivers at risk for psychological and physical morbidity. The authors then describe how gender, relationship closeness, caregiving efficacy, and individual differences in emotion regulation moderate these processes. Finally, the authors provide directions for future research to deepen understanding of interpersonal phenomena among older adults, and they discuss implications for clinical interventions to alleviate the suffering of both caregivers and care recipients.

Individualism and Collectivism: Implications for Women

This essay examines the nature and dynamics of individualism and collectivism as social and interpersonal phenomena. It considers the importance of affirming the true self as a key feature of individualism as conceived by Donald Capps. By means of cultural and gender analysis, the essay explores aspects of self-affirmation among women, especially Korean American women in both individualist and collectivist societies. It ultimately proposes a “self-affirming collectivism” that promotes the authentic individual self as imago Dei whose unique identity is expressed within community.

Dimensions of evaluation

In the past two decades or so, a number of researchers from various fields within linguistics have turned their attention to interpersonal phenomena, such as the linguistic expression of speaker opinion or evaluation (also called stance or appraisal), or the encoding of subjectivity in language and its diachronic development (subjectification/subjectivization). Many linguists have offered categorizations of evaluative meaning, based on authentic discourse data, but no connection has been made with cognitive approaches to appraisal processes. This paper offers a first meta-theoretical exploration of such issues. It compares dimensions of evaluation that have been identified in linguistic and cognitive studies, and also examines how psychological research into basic emotions can be related to linguistic research on affect. On the basis of these comparisons a proposal for a new classification of evaluative meanings is made. The focus of this paper is on only one aspect of the highly complex phenomenon of evaluation, namely potential evaluative dimensions, although other relevant issues will also be touched upon, including the pragmatics of evaluation (evaluation and context).

Social support and the perception of geographical slant

The visual perception of geographical slant is influenced by physiological resources, such as physical fitness, age, and being physically refreshed. In two studies we tested whether a psychosocial resource, social support, can also affect the visual perception of slants. Participants accompanied by a friend estimated a hill to be less steep when compared to participants who were alone (Study 1). Similarly, participants who thought of a supportive friend during an imagery task saw a hill as less steep than participants who either thought of a neutral person or a disliked person (Study 2). In both studies, the effects of social relationships on visual perception appear to be mediated by relationship quality (i.e., relationship duration, interpersonal closeness, warmth). Artifacts such as mood, social desirability, and social facilitation did not account for these effects. This research demonstrates that an interpersonal phenomenon, social support, can influence visual perception.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Jealousy

Abstract Jealousy is a multidimensional cognitive, emotional, behavioral and interpersonal phenomenon. Jealousy can be a destructive and often dangerous emotional and interpersonal response to threats to a valued relationship. Despite the importance of jealousy as an issue for couples, there has been relatively little attention to this problem. Jealousy is aformof angry, agitated worry, whose goal is to anticipate and avoid surprise and betrayal. A meta–emotional model is described, emphasizing the normalization of jealous emotion, distinguishing between “feeling” and “acting on” jealousy and linking jealousy to emotional processing, intolerance of uncertainty and thought fusion. Mindfulness and acceptance based approaches can be used that emphasize cultivating a capacity to distance and de–center from disturbing thoughts and feelings, overcoming attempts at experiential avoidance that may amplify jealousy, disrupting thought–reality fusion, and establishing a non–judgmental observing stance, from which a...

Why are friends special? Implementing a social interaction simulation task to probe the neural correlates of friendship

Friendships form one of the most proximal contexts with a critical role in mental health and social and psychological development. Yet, the neurobiological basis of this crucial developmental factor is largely uninvestigated. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the interaction with friends is associated with specific activity increases in brain areas known to be involved in interpersonal phenomena, such as empathy, and in reward expectancy. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we assessed neural activity in a social interaction simulation task implementing the factors ‘type of relationship’ (peers vs. familiar celebrities) and ‘emotional valence’ (positive (liked), negative (disliked), and neutral (neither liked nor disliked)). In this design, all stimuli were selected individually for each of the 28 participants and positive peers constituted the friends. Participants were asked to approach a stimulus, to avoid it, or remain neutral. Behavioral results confirmed the expectations in the sense that the participants approached positive stimuli more often than they approached neutral, which were also more often approached than negative stimuli. Moreover, peers were more often approached than celebrities were. Imaging results revealed, among others, three regions of particular interest as selectively more strongly activated when subjects interacted with their friends than with other peers and celebrities: the amygdala and hippocampus, the nucleus accumbens, and the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex. These results might highlight the role of empathy and reward-related processes in friendship. Thus, we may have identified a potential mechanism by which friendships exert such a critical role in development and mental health.

Cross-Continental Divides Regarding Survival, Play, and Enactment: Reply to Commentaries by Keene, Ilahi, and Coen

The author distinguishes between the ways that the Independent Group and Relational Theorists conceptualize object survival, play, enactment, and mutuality. American relational theory is simultaneously focused on both the patient's and analyst's experience and the patient's inner representational world. Interaction is informed by and informs our understanding of the patient's conflicts including forms of enactment. In contrast, analysts from the Independent Group tend to view the American interest in interpersonal phenomena and perceptual dimensions of the patient's experience as a distraction from unconscious representations. For relational analysts in the United States, maternal functions of reverie emphasized by the Independent Group are seen as one dimension of the analyst's complex subjectivity, which may be used in containment and interpretation. For relationally oriented analysts containment itself is postulated as to some degree porous unlike the notion of analytic functions of reverie emphasized by the Independent Group. The author tries to focus on these points of divergence and overlap between the two theoretical orientations and their application to case material.

Notes on the journey to empirically based classification: Some details and a broader picture.

This commentary elaborates on threads picked up by Sheets and Craighead (2007). In moving forward toward an empirically based classification of personality pathology, it will be important to collect data that go beyond either self-report or clinician report and include the multiple perspectives that are necessary to capture an interpersonal phenomenon. Once we have strong data sets, theory-driven statistical models, such as confirmatory factor models, should be considered. Finally, as we consider how to understand personality disorders, we should not forget the mounting evidence that Axis I disorders are strongly related to personality constructs. This latter point seems especially clear when self-regulatory theories are considered. If we keep such issues in mind while traveling, the journey may prove smoother.

The individual, the group and society: Their psychoanalytic inquiry*

Classical psychoanalysis tended to pose a sharp opposition between “internal” and “external,” arguing that the psychoanalytic inquiry should refer only to the internal, and that any attempt to interpret human affairs in terms of the external—i.e., of group, institutional, social, political, and cultural phenomena—implies leaving the strictly psychoanalytic field altogether. The author considers this to be a false dichotomy, which does not correspond with the actual functioning of human beings, since we cannot identify mind with the intrapersonal, understood as those processes which take place within the limits of an individual organism. If we define the mind field as the set of symbolization, communication, and symbolic transformation processes, it is obvious that interpersonal and transpersonal phenomena—whether group, institutional, social, or cultural—are necessarily mental. Besides, clinical observation shows that these are also subject to the conflict dynamics and defensive processes that Freud originally discovered and studied in the intrapersonal field. Therefore, most of the “external” phenomena and processes are also unconscious, both in the descriptive sense—i.e., they are out of consciousness at a given moment—and in the dynamic sense—i.e., they are kept out of consciousness as a consequence of an active effort to prevent their recognition by the subjects involved. In this phenomenon of false consciousness, there is a confluence of the Freudian concept of repression and the Marxist one of ideology. The inquiry of this unconscious dimension is the ultimate goal of psychoanalytic research. Conversely, the external is also internal, since not only is the individual psychic structure constituted from the internalization of the experience of relations that take place in the interpersonal, group, institutional, and social fields, but also the inter- and transpersonal processes pervade the individual, thus determining his or her experience and behavior, and becoming the deepest stratum of the unconscious. The individual, the group, and society thus become one and the same matrix, extending in all directions in space and time. This should be the object of the analytic inquiry.

Parental Support, Perceived Stress, and Illness-Related Variables Among First-Year College Students

The recognition and study of illness as a fundamentally interpersonal phenomenon represents an understudied area in relationship research. This study examined interpersonal factors affecting illness (i.e., symptoms, attitudes, and responses) in first-year college students. Three hundred ninety freshmen from 2 research sites completed measures of perceived stress, parental support received and desired, symptom frequency, illness attitudes (release, consideration), and illness responses (consult, denial). Ninety-seven students also returned follow-up surveys at the end of the semester re-measuring stress and symptoms as well as number of illnesses and visits to a health care facility. Desired parental support predicted the attitude that ill persons should receive extra consideration and the illness response of denying symptoms. Received support predicted a willingness to consult medical help, not to deny symptoms, and reduced stress at Time 2. Consult was predicted by consideration, as well as an interaction between symptoms and the release attitude. At Time 2, stress was positively predicted by Time 1 stress. Time 1 symptoms predicted Time 2 symptoms and number of reported illnesses. Finally, with a sample of 25, the consideration attitude predicted the number of reported visits to a health care facility at Time 2.

Self‐Monitoring: Individual Differences in Orientations to the Social World

In their articles in this special section of the Journal of Personality, the authors have focused their attention on the role of individual differences in self-monitoring for a variety of interpersonal phenomena. In so doing, the authors have provided an overview of the theoretical and empirical contributions of the psychology of self-monitoring to the domains of interest: close relationships, consumer behavior, behavior in the workplace, and social interaction. As each of the contributing authors to this special section suggests, much more theoretical and empirical work is in order if the impact of individual differences in self-monitoring for the phenomena reviewed here is to be fully appreciated. Moreover, the four domains of interest represented in this special section by no means exhaust the areas to which theorists and researchers have applied or can apply the psychology of individual differences in self-monitoring. Given the large nomological network that currently exists involving the self-monitoring construct, it is anticipated that the breadth and depth of applications of the psychology of self-monitoring will only continue to expand as it has in the last 30 years since the appearance of the construct in the literature.

Social and existential alienation experienced by people with long‐term mental illness

The aim of this study was to explore how people suffering from long-term mental illness and who live in the community experience their daily lives. The study was based on an ethnographic framework involving participant observations with 23 individuals from two rehabilitation centres and interviews with six women and two men. The observational notes and interviews were recorded, transcribed into the data and analysed based on the phases of hermeneutic interpretation. The process consisted of identifying tentative interpretations that highlighted various impediments that prevent people with long-term mental illness from having an active life. The impediments can also be interpreted as a form of alienation, an interpersonal phenomenon and a consequence due to of the lack of social acceptance towards mental illness. The participants expressed concern about the future and lack of hope. Viewing themselves as being 'odd' is not a symptom of mental illness, but rather evidence of experiencing existential and social alienation not only as a consequence of other people's reactions but also their own negative attitudes towards mental illness and effects of their cognitive dysfunction.

Psychological Mindedness: A Neglected Developmental Line in Permissions to Think

Psychological mindedness is the capacity to self-reflect and to think of oneself and others as motivated by internal states. It is one aspect of thinking, a prerequisite for understanding intrapsychic and interpersonal phenomena and for insight and insight-oriented therapeutic interventions. This article outlines the development and permissions and nurturance psychological mindedness requires. Such a conceptualization allows one to consider deconfusion of the Child in terms of activating more mature ego state networks rather than in terms of insight into some specific content.

Empathy as an Interpersonal Phenomenon

The purpose of this study was to find the constituents of empathizers' and targets' experiences of empathy. We analyzed 28 empathizers' and 28 targets' narrative accounts of situations when they had experienced empathy. From both perspectives, the constituents of empathy included that (1) the empathizer understands the target's situation and emotions, (2) the target experiences one or more emotions, (3) the empathizer perceives a similarity between what the target is experiencing and something the empathizer has experienced previously, and (4) the empathizer is concerned for the target's well-being. The data suggested that actions associated with the fourth constituent - concern - make empathy an interpersonal phenomenon.

Trust in Organizational Superiors: Systemic and Collective Considerations

The social-psychological literature on trust in organizational superiors implies that it is an interpersonal phenomenon, based on the superior’s behaviours and on subordinates’ perceptions of the superior’s behaviours and qualities. The sociological literature, in contrast, implies that trust in a superior is a property of the system in which the superior-subordinate relationship is embedded. In this article, we suggest that trust is both an interpersonal and a collective phenomenon and focus on the linkages between three levels of trust: the system level, the group level, and the individual level. We use a longitudinal quantitative analysis of cadets’ trust in their team commanders and a qualitative analysis of critical incidents of trust building and erosion to develop and support three propositions. First, trust in a superior reflects subordinates’ trust in the system that the superior represents. Second, subordinates employ criteria derived from systemic properties such as collective identities and values to evaluate the trustworthiness of their superior. Third, team processes play a major role in the social construction of trust in a superior and in translating systemic considerations into criteria for evaluating superiors’ trustworthiness.

An Attachment Perspective on Reunions in Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Psychoanalysis has been slow to acknowledge attachment theory as one of its own. Yet traditions of observational and representational research associated with it have much to offer in shedding light on intrapsychic as well as interpersonal phenomena. This paper explores these traditions and their potential clinical utility for couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy. In particular, attention is drawn to behaviour and representations associated with the experience of reunion in therapy sessions.

Louis Sander and Contemporary Psychoanalysis An Introduction

Louis Sander's bold and ambitious theoretical synthesis deserves careful attention from psychoanalysts of all persuasions. Sander's cutting-edge approach draws on infant observation research, nonlinear dynamic systems theories, and current biology, physics, and other “hard” sciences. He is rethinking the psychoanalytic approach to psychic structure, motivation, and therapeutic action. In so doing, he updates Freud's project of linking psychoanalysis with scientific paradigms, but without reductionism, epistemological naivete, or an implicit antipsychological attitude. Sander emphasizes the dynamic relationships between elements in systems. His method draws parallels between the different levels of the functioning of natural systems, starting with the basic “biological” level of cells and organs and moving toward the psychic and interpersonal phenomena that are of greatest interest to psychoanalysts. In this way, he opens a window for a broad and inclusive “relational metapsychology.”

The creation of new figurative expressions: psycholinguistic evidence in Italian children, adolescents and adults.

According to a developmental model of figurative language acquisition--the global elaboration model (Levorato & Cacciari, 1995)--the metalinguistic awareness necessary to use figurative language in a creative way is acquired late, and is subsequent to the ability to comprehend and produce figurative expressions. One hundred and eight children aged 9;6, one hundred and twenty-four children aged 11;3, one hundred and twelve adolescents aged 18;5 and one hundred adults participated in Experiment 1 which studied the development of metalinguistic awareness through an elicitation task. The subjects produced a high percentage of figurative expressions with a clear developmental trend that is concluded in adolescence. In addition, Experiment 2 showed that the production of comprehensible, appropriate and novel metaphors, as they were rated by adult judges, also increased with age. These results show that the ability to use figurative language in a creative and sensible way requires a long developmental time span and is strictly connected with the ability to reflect on language as a complex cognitive and interpersonal phenomenon.

Contributions of Psychophysiology to Research on Adult Attachment: Review and Recommendations

Despite the increasing use of psychophysiological measures to investigate social and interpersonal phenomena, few studies of adult romantic attachment have taken advantage of this approach. In this article I argue for a biologically-specific, theory-based integration of psychophysiological measures into adult attachment research. This approach would help elucidate the normative psychobiological properties of the attachment system, which have received little study in humans. Specifically, it would allow researchers to test targeted hypotheses regarding affect and arousal regulation in attachment relationships. I provide a general introduction to 2 biological systems that hold particular promise for adult attachment research: the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis of the endocrine system. I highlight the relevance of these systems for attachment phenomena and review findings from selected social psychophysiological research. I conclude by outlining a tentative theoretical model of the psychobiology of adult attachment and identifying specific directions for future research.

Machines Drumming

If 'groove' was originally a representation of the joy of human physical experience expressed through physical motion, then what has happened to the concept of groove since we have delegated this task to machines? Initially, drumming and musical groove were interactive, interpersonal phenomena rooted in one's physical experiences and memories. The introduction, and subsequently, widespread use of automatic rhythmical devices, such as the drum machine and music sequencing software, has problematised the definition of groove.