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Existential Poverty: Welfare Dependency, Learned Helplessness and Psychological Capital
Abstract
Being in existential poverty means living in a state of, or near, persistent material poverty while also being socially excluded, marginalized, or disadvantaged. It is a life-disempowering experience, one that privileges both immediacy over the future, and welfare over work. This results in learned helplessness, manifesting as a lack of will to take control of life. The existentialist explanation is that those in this mental state do not have an authentic way of life. Positive Psychology, and its offshoot, Positive Organizational Behavior, provide the cognitive change strategies that focus on building in people their sense of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, resilience, and subjective well-being, as well as their emotional intelligence, all of which are mental attributes that have demonstrable positive impacts on human performance. This can enable people to pursue gainful, meaningful, and sustained self-actualizing vocation, so lifting them out of persistent material poverty. The public policy challenges are (1) to determine whether it is in the public interest to redress the negative agental consequences of welfare dependency; (2) to redesign the features of social assistance programs that exacerbate learned helplessness amongst beneficiaries; and (3) to determine how best to reduce the psychologically incapacitating effects of welfare dependency.
... When living in an environment with stress, difficulties, and limited social and material resources, PsyCap is a protective factor that facilitates active coping behavior and psychological processes (Zhang et al., 2019;Yang et al., 2020). Previous studies have found that PsyCap is closely related to strengthened resilience, psychological wellbeing, and life satisfaction (Pramanik and Biswal, 2020), and those who embrace higher PsyCap are less likely to experience negative psychological effects such as anxiety, depression, and learned helplessness in adversity (Dixon and Frolova, 2011). In Chinese culture, self-actualization, a Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org ...
Objectives
Self-neglect in older adults has become an important public health issue and is associated with negative health outcomes and increased morbidity and mortality. Social support has been recognized as a prominent predictor of self-neglect, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. This study aims to investigate and illustrate the associations among social support, psychological capital, and self-neglect.Methods
This study used a cross-sectional convenience sampling design. A total of 511 older adults were recruited in Chinese communities. Spearman’s correlation coefficient and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were performed to assess the influencing factors of self-neglect. A structural equation model was applied to test the hypothesized mediation model.ResultsSocial support and psychological capital were found to be negatively related to self-neglect. Social support and psychological capital explained 5.1 and 11.9% of the incremental variances of older adults’ self-neglect, respectively. Psychological capital acts as a mediator between social support and self-neglect.Conclusion
Self-neglect among older adults is a rising problem in China. Social support and higher psychological capital could decrease the risk of self-neglect in older adults. It is crucial to improve social networks and facilitate psychological interventions to reduce such self-neglect.
... The complex associations revealed in this study between social support and worry suggest that people need more emotional and psychological comforting; the kind of support that emphasizes a lack of independence and reliance on others may be helpful practically but detrimental to human well-being (Kitayama et al., 2010). Such findings fit veteran notions of learned-helplessness and the importance of perceived control in individuals' experiences of well-being versus distress (Dixon and Frolova, 2011). ...
This study tested a model accounting for worries among 275 adults during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. The main hypothesis posited that psychological and instrumental social support will mediate the association between emotional intelligence and worry, controlling for the level of exposure to the virus risk and demographics. The results showed that social support mediated the above association: social support showed a negative association with worries while instrumental support showed a positive one. The results are discussed in light of existing findings and theories.
... Psychological capital. Psychological capital contained four elements: self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience [7,14,44]. In indigenous studies, Chiang and Chen extracted these four items from the TDCYP survey to assess psychological capital [44], according to the definitions of Brooks & Goldstein [45], Luthans [46], Luthans et al. [47], and Luthans et al. [14]. ...
This study’s main purpose was to explore the effects of active leisure participation on poor children’s psychological capital, while also investigating the mediated effect of peer support. The sample consisted of 483 economically disadvantaged children, selected and analysed from the Taiwan Database of Children and Youth in Poverty (fifth wave). The study employed partial least squares-structural equation modelling to analyse the relationship between the variables: active leisure participation (exercise and nature travel), peer support, and psychological capital in economically disadvantaged children. The results showed that active leisure participation improved psychological capital and peer support in economically disadvantaged students; and peer support was an important mediator between the other two variables.
... Although there have certainly been claims that those who are impoverished experience learned helplessness (Dixon & Frolova, 2011), less attention has been paid to the possibility that the profession of social work and its practitioners face learned helplessness when they address poverty. Barber (1986) noted that learned helplessness theory "is particularly suited to social work clientele because of its focus on the loss of control over valued outcomes" (p. ...
Addressing poverty is not only a part of social work; in many ways the profession is defined by its interface with poverty. The Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers unequivocally directs social workers to engage in social justice work specifically related to poverty. The Council on Social Work Education has clearly stated that poverty needs to be a part of the educational framework in accredited programs. Despite this, there is evidence from the literature that neither the profession nor its educational programs have fulfilled their expressed commitments to addressing poverty. The intersection of critical theory, anti-oppressive social work theory, learned helplessness theory, and hope theory offers insights and perspective on needed dimensions in poverty alleviation to enable practice within the mission, ethics, and values of the social work profession.
... Relying on a third party in order to live creates a sense of helplessness. Such arguments can also be found outside migration literature with scholars such as Dixon and Frolova (2011) analysing the effects of welfare dependency and the negative impact it has on the recipient such as social exclusion and disempowerment. Although at times the distribution does not go as smoothly as it should, with asylum seekers having to wait longer to receive it, they do not ask the MoI to clarify what causes the issue. ...
... By introducing a sense of dependency within a person or a community, motivation to succeed can be impaired and become part of a cycle of helplessness. Dixon and Frolova (2011) found that "The existentialist explanation for this lack of will to take control of life is that those in existential poverty do not have an authentic and, thus, fulfilling, a way of life." Inheriting, developing or having an ingrained concept of being poor existentially thereby losing hope for a better outcome is far worse than the fact of being financially poor. ...
The development of a strategic plan for an African village can seem a daunting task, especially if the village is one created from diverse beginnings and different cultural origins, where ethnicity, language and custom are not homogenous. In this article the authors explore the outcomes of the traditional top down approach. They contrast this with a collaborative approach, bottom up, and propose the use of management strategies more commonly found in an industrial environment. Deploying a case study approach the development and implementation of a strategic plan for a post-leprosy rehabilitation village near Elmina in Ghana, West Africa is described and evaluated. Learned helplessness is often an outcome of intervention aid. By approaching a project with a top down approach, the dependency of a community can become ingrained. However a partnership approach with the villagers is hoped to engender a sense of ownership in the community, motivating optimism. The authors believe that the possibility of engagement with the village is greatly strengthened using collaborative approach, and that this is key to a successful outcome. The concept, strategy and initial results as well as the ongoing sustainability of the strategy are described. The underlying hypothesis is that by empowering an impoverished and disenfranchised community with tried and trusted, modern management methods, engagement as well as success can be achieved.
... CARE Jordan reported that the average monthly income of refugees living in four urban centers in northern Jordan was about $260; the average monthly income for Jordanians is estimated at $500. Prolonged existence in this state of material poverty may lead to a phenomenon that Dixon and Frolova (2011) referred to as existential poverty. Existential poverty is characterized by feelings of helplessness and a lack of control over one's life (Teodorescu & Erev, 2014). ...
The focus of this paper is to compare access to higher education by Syrian refugees in Jordan and Germany. Background of the Syrian refugee crisis and its scope are provided before delving into a description of the university-age population among Syrian refugees in both countries. The nature of access to higher education in both countries is first examined before conducting a comparative analysis of the two. Implications and recommendations for policy and practice are provided.
... Of note, numerous social and environmental factors interact with cognition to affect problem-solving skills and housing outcomes. For example, experiences of poverty, social isolation, and stigma may contribute to consumers' learned helplessness (Dixon, 2011), which may manifest as a willingness to accept any available housing option, regardless of quality. Moreover, a lack of monetary and social resources can lead to eviction from supported housing, regardless of problem-solving skills. ...
Few interventions train homeless consumers in housing-related independent living skills. To inform the development of such interventions for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Supported Housing consumers with serious mental illness, we examined these consumers’ problem-solving skills and deficits. We performed semistructured interviews and cognitive tests with 20 consumers who retained housing for ≥1 year (“stayers”) and 20 consumers who lost housing in <1 year (“exiters”). Salient types of problems were identified in the qualitative data; we categorized problem-solving approaches by complexity level and identified differences in problem-solving complexity by consumers’ housing outcomes. Instrumental (e.g., money management), interpersonal, and health-related problems were prominent in consumers’ narratives. Cognition was poor among stayers and exiters. Problem-solving approaches were highly relevant to day-to-day functioning in supported housing. There was a trend toward greater problem-solving complexity in stayers versus exiters. These data explore potential challenges faced in supported housing and help inform the development of a Veterans Affairs-based housing-focused skills training intervention.
... Resilience is also a concept that fits with the political agenda of the current (2013) UK Government to pull back the State and foster independence. One criticism of having a large Welfare State is that it encourages dependence in those who receive it and discourages community virtues of charity and altruism: the criticism has been made in relation to countries noted for large Welfare States, such as Sweden [6] as well as to the UK [7,8] and to the United States [9], which has far smaller welfare provision from the State. The present UK Government would prefer community welfare to be looked after by the community itself; this is sometimes described as the big-society agenda [10]. ...
It has been suggested that Public Health professionals focus on community resilience in tackling chronic problems, such as poverty and deprivation; is this approach useful?
Resilience is always i) of something ii) to something iii) to an endpoint, as in i) a rubber ball, ii) to a blunt force, iii) to its original shape. "Community resilience" might be: of a neighbourhood, to a flu pandemic, with the endpoint, to return to normality. In these two examples, the endpoint is as-you-were. This is unsuitable for some examples of resilience. A child that is resilient to an abusive upbringing has an endpoint of living a happy life despite that upbringing: this is an as-you-should-be endpoint. Similarly, a chronically deprived community cannot have the endpoint of returning to chronic deprivation: so what is its endpoint? Roughly, it is an as-you-should-be endpoint: to provide an environment for inhabitants to live well. Thus resilient communities will be those that do this in the face of challenges. How can they be identified?One method uses statistical outliers, neighbourhoods that do better than would be expected on a range of outcomes given a range of stressors. This method tells us that a neighbourhood is resilient but not why it is. In response, a number of researchers have attributed characteristics to resilient communities; however, these generally fail to distinguish characteristics of a good community from those of a resilient one. Making this distinction is difficult and we have not seen it successfully done; more importantly, it is arguably unnecessary.There already exist approaches in Public Health to assessing and developing communities faced with chronic problems, typically tied to notions such as Social Capital. Community resilience to chronic problems, if it makes sense at all, is likely to be a property that emerges from the various assets in a community such as human capital, built capital and natural capital.
Public Health professionals working with deprived neighbourhoods would be better to focus on what neighbourhoods have or could develop as social capital for living well, rather than on the vague and tangential notion of community resilience.
Approximately one third of the world's 1.2 billion poorest people on earth live in India. It is home to more people living in poverty than any other country in the world. Although overall poverty rates in India have decreased in the past several decades because of India's emphasis on poverty reduction and community development since independence, the number of people at or below the poverty line remains in the hundreds of millions. Poverty in India, as in many developing countries, is not just the absence of income but the presence of an ongoing state of helplessness, hopelessness, powerlessness, inequality, and marginalization of the poor. This article examines how Lay Counselor Training and Family Life Education can have a potentially powerful and long-lasting impact on the socio-economic development of individuals, families, and communities in India. The authors highlight how professionally trained Indian counselors and family life educators, in cooperation with NGO's and professionals from other areas of the world, can help reduce poverty and enhance healthy human development through the training of lay persons in both rural and urban areas, and how these efforts can, in turn, potentially augment the economic conditions of families and communities. These effects become mutually reinforcing since the economic development of families and communities is also likely to enhance the mental and emotional health of family members and the overall resilience of the family. Hence, a multimodal approach to poverty reduction is needed. In this article India serves as an example for other developing countries.
Socioeconomic inequalities in health persist despite major investments in illness prevention campaigns and universal healthcare systems. In this context, the increased risks of chronic diseases of specific sub-groups of vulnerable populations should be further investigated. The objective of this qualitative study is to examine the interaction between socioeconomic status (SES) and body weight in order to understand underprivileged women's increased vulnerability to chronic diseases after menopause. By drawing specifically on Pierre Bourdieu's sociocultural theory of practice, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted from May to December of 2013 to investigate the health practices of clinically overweight, postmenopausal women living an underprivileged life in Canada. Findings emphasise that poor life conditions undermine personal investment in preventive health and weight loss, showing the importance for policy makers to bring stronger consideration on upstream determinants of health.
Why is it that individuals with the most talent are not always the most successful? Why are others over-achievers? Based on 30 years of research with over 1 million participants. Dr. Martin Seligman and his colleagues have uncovered a significant new predictor of achievement—optimistic expecta- tions. Ability and motivation are not always enough in the absence of optimistic exjjectations, particularly in situations that require persistence to overcome adversity, such as sales. In other words, research has finally turned common sense wisdom into scientific fact: Expectations of success or failure are often self-fulfilling prophecies. Moreover, this fact has been taken a step further— expectations can now be measured quantitatively and training programs can transform pessimism into optimism. The benefits of optimism have been proven—increased motivation, superior achieve- ment in various domains (including greater sales productivity), and better physical health. These findings have important implications for salesperson selection, training, and organization design. Why is it that individuals with the most talent are not always tbe most successful? Why are oth- ers over-achievers? Why does the best 20 percent of a sales force typically bring in about 80 percent of the sales? One important clue to the answers is
In these turbulent times, we propose the importance of developing the psychological capital dimension of resiliency. After providing the theoretical background and meaning of psychological capital in general and resiliency in particular, the authors present proactive and reactive human resource development (HRD) strategies for its development. The proactive HRD includes increasing psychological assets, decreasing risk factors, and facilitating processes that allow human resources to enhance their resilience. The reactive HRD largely draws from a broaden-and-build model of positive emotions and self-enhancement, external attribution, and hardiness. The article includes specific guidelines for HRD applications and an agenda for future needed research.
We subscribe to the assumption that the self is fundamentally relational—that is, entangled with significant others—such that key elements of the self are experienced in relation to significant others, even when others are not present. In our socialcognitive model of transference, transference occurs when a mental representation of a significant other is activated by cues in a new person that resemble the other. As a result, the self in relation to this significant other is activated, eliciting changes in affect, expectancies, motivations, and behaviors, as well as in the nature of the working self-concept, all reflecting the version of the self one is when with the significant other. Moreover, when people experience a threat to either a significant other relationship or the self in the context of an encounter with a new person who triggers transference, this sets into motion self-regulatory processes, which play out in relations with the new person. Overall, we argue that the evocation of prior experiences with significant others tells us something about the nature of the self, affect, and self-regulation that has implications for both resiliency and vulnerability.
W. Wilson's (1967) review of the area of subjective well-being (SWB) advanced several conclusions regarding those who report high levels of "happiness." A number of his conclusions have been overturned: youth and modest aspirations no longer are seen as prerequisites of SWB. E. Diener's (1984) review placed greater emphasis on theories that stressed psychological factors. In the current article, the authors review current evidence for Wilson's conclusions and discuss modern theories of SWB that stress dispositional influences, adaptation, goals, and coping strategies. The next steps in the evolution of the field are to comprehend the interaction of psychological factors with life circumstances in producing SWB, to understand the causal pathways leading to happiness, understand the processes underlying adaptation to events, and develop theories that explain why certain variables differentially influence the different components of SWB (life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper was published as Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2008, 55 (3), pp. 385-399. It is available from http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385. Doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385 Metadata only entry This article describes the development of a measure of dispositional authenticity and tests whether authenticity is related to well-being, as predicted by several counseling psychology perspectives. Scales were designed to measure a tripartite conception of authenticity, comprising self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence, which was supported with exploratory factor analysis. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor loadings were invariant across sample, ethnicity, and gender. The scale showed substantial discriminant validity from the Big Five personality traits, nonsignificant correlations with social desirability, and 2- and 4-week test-retest correlations ranging from r = .78 to .91. Each subscale was strongly related to self-esteem and aspects of both subjective and psychological well-being. This article provides the first direct test of several theoretical models that view authenticity as integral to well-being.
Resiliency and resilience theory is presented as three waves of resiliency inquiry. The identification of resilient qualities was the first wave characterized through phenomenological identification of developmental assets and protective factors. The second wave described resilience as a disruptive and reintegrative process for accessing resilient qualities. The third wave exemplified the postmodern and multidisciplinary view of resilience, which is the force that drives a person to grow through adversity and disruptions. Application of resilience using an educational and practical framework provides a means for connecting with and nurturing a client's resilience. Practical paradigms of resiliency that empower client control and choice are suggested.
Extrapolating from B. L. Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, the authors hypothesized that positive emotions are active ingredients within trait resilience. U.S. college students (18 men and 28 women) were tested in early 2001 and again in the weeks following the September 11th terrorist attacks. Mediational analyses showed that positive emotions experienced in the wake of the attacks--gratitude, interest, love, and so forth--fully accounted for the relations between (a) precrisis resilience and later development of depressive symptoms and (b) precrisis resilience and postcrisis growth in psychological resources. Findings suggest that positive emotions in the aftermath of crises buffer resilient people against depression and fuel thriving, consistent with the broaden-and-build theory. Discussion touches on implications for coping.
According to adaptation theory, individuals react to events but quickly adapt back to baseline levels of subjective well-being. To test this idea, the authors used data from a 15-year longitudinal study of over 24.000 individuals to examine the effects of marital transitions on life satisfaction. On average, individuals reacted to events and then adapted back toward baseline levels. However, there were substantial individual differences in this tendency. Individuals who initially reacted strongly were still far from baseline years later, and many people exhibited trajectories that were in the opposite direction to that predicted by adaptation theory. Thus, marital transitions can be associated with long-lasting changes in satisfaction, but these changes can be overlooked when only average trends are examined.
Citizenship (Beiner, 1994; Clarke, 1994; Heater, 2004; Marshall, 1950, 1965) denotes membership of a polity, but it is more than a legal status in relation to a territorial political unit, for it constitutes a normative ideal that is manifest in a polity’s set of written or unwritten citizenship rights and obligations (see Chapman and Sage, 2002). Such rights and obligations may be defined as moral constructs that assign, according to Freeden (1991, 7), ‘priority to certain human or social attributes regarded as essential to the adequate functioning of a human being; that is intended to serve as a protective capsule for those attributes; and that appeals for deliberative action to ensure such protection.’
This book draws from a foundation of positive psychology and recently emerging positive organizational behavior (POB). Its purpose is to introduce the untapped human resource capacity of psychological capital, or simply PsyCap. This PsyCap goes beyond traditionally recognized human and social capital and must meet the scientific criteria of theory, research, and valid measurement. To distinguish from other constructs in positive psychology and organizational behavior, to be included in PsyCap the resource capacity must also be 'state-like' and thus open to development (as opposed to momentary states or fixed traits) and have performance impact. The positive psychological resource capacities that meet these PsyCap criteria - efficacy (confidence), hope, optimism, and resilience - are covered in separate chapters. These four resource capacities are conceptually and empirically distinct, but also have underlying common processes for striving to succeed and when in combination contribute to a higher-order, core construct of psychological capital. Besides these four, other potential positive constructs such as creativity, wisdom, well being, flow, humor, gratitude, forgiveness, emotional intelligence, spirituality, authenticity, and courage are covered in Chapters 6 and 7. The concluding Chapter 8 summarizes and presents the research demonstrating the performance impact of PsyCap, the PsyCap questionnaire (PCQ) for measurement and the PsyCap Intervention (PCI) for development. Utility analysis indicates that investing in the development of PsyCap can result in a very substantial return. In total, this book provides the theory, research, measure, and method of application for the new resource of Psychological Capital that can be developed and sustained for competitive advantage.
Utilizing sophisticated methodology and three decades of research by the world's leading expert on happiness, Happiness challenges the present thinking of the causes and consequences of happiness and redefines our modern notions of happiness. shares the results of three decades of research on our notions of happiness covers the most important advances in our understanding of happiness offers readers unparalleled access to the world's leading experts on happiness provides "real world" examples that will resonate with general readers as well as scholars Winner of the 2008 PSP Prose Award for Excellence in Psychology, Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers.
This article proposes a positive approach to organizational behavior (OB). Although the importance of positive feelings has been recognized through the years in the academic OB and popular literature, both management scholars and practitioners have arguably too often taken a negative perspective-trying to fix what is wrong with managers and employees and concentrating on weaknesses. Positive organizational behavior (POB) follows the lead of recently emerging positive psychology, which is driven by theory and research focusing on people's strengths and psychological capabilities. Instead of just retreading and putting a positive spin on traditional OB concepts, this unveiling of POB sets forth specific criteria for inclusion. Not only does positivity have to be associated with the concept, but it must also be relatively unique to the OB field, have valid measures, be adaptable to leader/management and human resource training and development, and, most important, capable of contributing to performance improvement in today's workplace. The criteria-meeting concepts of confidence/self-efficacy, hope, optimism, subjective well-being/happiness, and emotional intelligence (or the acronym CHOSE) are identified and analyzed as most representative of the proposed POB approach. The implications of these POB concepts for the workplace are given particular attention.
We describe a new method suitable for dealing with semi-quantitative differential equations. Our method yields more restrict information than other methods used to introduce some quantitative information into qualitative differential equations such as NSIM, Nis, Q2, Q3 and others. It is based on the theory of differential inclusions and yields an ordinary differential equation which describes the boundary of the attainable set exactly and avoids the so-called wrapping effect and the interactivity problem completely. This method is applied to a semi-quantitative model of the so-called SAHEL-Syndrome and yields domains in the initial conditions that lead to “catastrophy” or “sustainability”. Using guessed data on parameters and probability distributions, classes of probability distributions for the three different states of the SAHEL-Syndrome after some time are derived.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1677-2954.2011v10n1p43This article shows that both J. S. Mill and Tocqueville favoured a civic culture that supported liberty, diversity and prevented the uncontrolled power of the masses. The central argument is that after the early 1840s Mill definetely incorporated in his political thought Tocqueville’s idea that, in order for democracy to function properly, the power of the masses should counterbalanced. Initially, Mill tried to find in society a power to rival the power of the masses, but later he advocated a new framework to political institutions which would guarantee the presence of educated minorities in government, and thereby create the opposition of ideas that he deemed necessary to prevent the tyranny of the masses. Intending to prevent the excesses of democracy, John Stuart Mill attributed more importance to the building up of political institutions, while Alexis de Tocqueville emphasized the importance of participation in politics at local level. Despite this, the former owed a lot to the political thought of the latter.
We provide a comprehensive review of the field of subjective well-being in terms of its societal and individual benefits, demographic correlates, theories of origin, and relationship to culture. Interventions to increase well-being are also presented as well as the argument that national accounts of well-being for public policy should be instituted and utilized, alongside economic and social indicators, to both reveal and improve the quality of life within nations.
This paper explores 'the underclass debate' in three countries; the USA, Britain and Australia. It is suggested that a comparative approach clarifies some of the key issues in the construction of the underclass debate. The author takes a critical perspective on the underclass debate in both Britain and the USA. The absence, to date, of an academic debate over the underclass in Australia is considered interesting and some speculative reasons for this are proposed. The focus an the observers of the underclass, rather than the disparate groups assigned to it, suggests that if poverty and dependency are to be valid items on the academic agenda in future a more sensitive and reflective approach, which makes explicit the perspective of the ohserver, will be vital.1
KatzMichael (ed.), The ‘Underclass’ Debate: Views From History, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1993, viii + 507 pp., £40.00, £11.50 paper. - Volume 23 Issue 1 - John Macnicol
This chapter focuses on theory of cognitive dissonance. The proliferation of research testing and extending dissonance theory results for the most part from the generality and simplicity of the theory. Although it has been applied primarily in social psychological settings, it is not limited to social psychological phenomena such as interpersonal relations or feelings toward a communicator and his communication. Rather, its domain is in the widest of places—the skull of an individual organism. The core notion of the theory is extremely simple: Dissonance is a negative drive state that occurs whenever an individual simultaneously holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent. The very simplicity of the core of the theory is its greatest strength and most serious weakness. Many of the hypotheses that are obvious derivations from the theory are unique to that theory—that is, they could not be derived from any other theory. One of the intriguing aspects of dissonance theory is that it frequently leads to predictions that stand in apparent contradiction to those made by other theoretical approaches, most notably, to a general reward-incentive theory. The implication of the chapter is that dissonant situations are ubiquitous and that man expends a great deal of time and energy attempting to reduce dissonance. It should be obvious that man does many other things as well.
This book focuses on the author's findings that illustrate our sometimes unconscious desire to get hold of an ultimate meaning of life—whether it comes from a religious source or other venue of inspiration or influence.
The author suggests that it is possible for mankind to find, and actualize, profound meaning in his or her daily life. In this context, he speaks of a "will to meaning" as a central motivating force, and presents specific evidence that life can offer meaning in each and every situation.
The book admits that this search for meaning can also lead to nefarious ends such as unhealthy nationalism, obsessive jealousies, ethnic hatred, or a compulsive work ethic. The author believes that tolerance and a realization of our infinite possibilities throughout our finite existence will ensure a path to a fulfilling existence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Presents an animal model of how learned helplessness may manifest itself as depression and anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This reprinted article originally appeared in (Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 1961, Vol 1[1] 1-7). (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record
1962-06728-001.) The healthy psyche is not only an adaptational instrument, but exhibits a tendency to look within for the guiding values and rules to live by. Healthy people show a detachment, independence, and self-governing character which transcends their environment and does not stop with extrapsychic success, but also includes intrapsychic health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The psychology of consciousness covers a wide range of topics related to normal waking consciousness and altered states of consciousness, including: characteristics of consciousness, factors that influence the stream of consciousness, the distinction between conscious and nonconscious mind, the relationship between the brain and consciousness, introspection, daydreaming, sleep, dreams, hypnosis, meditation, psychedelic drug states, and other topics listed in the first chapter.
I approach the psychology of consciousness from a natural science and cognitive psychology viewpoint. In this view, consciousness is a natural phenomenon—a product of the brain's functioning. I emphasize research on topics of interest to cognitive psychologists, cognitive neuropsychologists, and personality and social psychologists. I also discuss clinical applications for a number of topics, such as hypnosis and meditation.
The incentive to write this textbook developed over a period of years during which I have taught a course on the psychology of consciousness at the University of Maine. . . . It became apparent that a comprehensive textbook on the psychology of consciousness was needed. Thus, the major reason for writing this book is to provide, in a single volume, a review of research and theory on the psychology of consciousness at a level suitable for advanced college courses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The concept of ‘underclass’ evokes a multiplicity of attitudes and beliefs about its meaning, existence, causation and, therefore, its resolution. This paper draws upon the philosophy of the social sciences to explicate the contending philosophical perspectives on the ‘underclass's’ causation and resolution by reference to a taxonomy of methodologies, so enabling the articulation of each methodology's analytical strengths and weaknesses when used to investigate the ‘underclass’. The conclusion drawn is that policy analysts must be critically reflective before they seek to describe, explain, understand, judge and address ‘underclass’-related problems and issues by drawing upon any theories and methods grounded in anyone of these contending methodological families.
This essay draws from the emerging positive psychology movement and the author's recent articles on the need for and meaning of a positive approach to organizational behavior. Specifically, the argument is made that at this time, the OB field needs a proactive, positive approach emphasizing strengths, rather than continuing in the downward spiral of negativity trying to fix weaknesses. However, to avoid the surface positivity represented by the non-sustainable best-sellers, the case is made for positive organizational behavior (POB) to take advantage of the OB field's strength of being theory and research driven. Additional criteria for this version of POB are to identify unique, state-like psychological capacities that can not only be validly measured, but also be open to development and performance management. Confidence, hope, and resiliency are offered as meeting such POB inclusion criteria. The overall intent of the essay is to generate some positive thinking and excitement for the OB field and ‘hopefully’ stimulate some new theory building, research, and effective application. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Being in a state of material poverty can be a persistent or an episodic experience that can be life-threatening, life-restricting, or life-disempowering. When combined with being socially excluded, marginalized, or disadvantaged, it qualifies those in this dual state for membership of the underclass. They are seen, variously, as de-motivated free-riders, social deviants, disempowered victims, or human beings enduring the challenge of human existence in a life devoid of meaning. The contribution of existential humanism to the poverty discourse is, essentially, the proposition that everyone needs the existential freedom to search for self-identity, thus making it possible to achieve psychological potential. From this perspective, it is incumbent upon those who design and deliver public social welfare provision to concentrate on enhancing the existential human condition of long-term able-bodied welfare recipients. This can be achieved by building their capacity and motivation to begin, or further, the search for their authentic selves, and by encouraging and championing those who are willing and able to take responsibility for the direction their lives are taking.
How do children and adolescents “make it“ when their development is threatened by poverty, neglect, maltreatment, war, violence,
or exposure to oppression, racism, and discrimination? What protects them when their parents are disabled by substance abuse,
mental illness, or serious physical illness? How do we explain the phenomenon of resilience-children succeeding in spite of
serious challenges to their development-and put this knowledge to work for the benefit of all children and society? The scientific
study of resilience emerged about 30 years ago when a group of pioneering researchers began to notice the phenomenon of positive
adaptation among subgroups of children who were considered “at risk” for developing later psychopathology (Masten, 2001).
This article examines positive organizational behavior in the work environment. Particular focus is given to the impact and effects of optimism, resilience and hope. The authors, implement the foundation of positive psychology and organizational behavior, investigate the impact of positive behavior on desired work-related outcomes, such as employee performance and job satisfaction. The results support the hypotheses that an employee's positive psychological resource capacity impacts the outcomes; however, resilience, hope, and optimism contribute differently to various outcomes.
INCLUYE BIBLIOGRAFIA E INDICE
This research used an idiographic method to examine the proposition that significant others are mentally represented as well-organized person categories that can influence social perception even more than representations of nonsignificant others, stereotypes, or traits. Together, Studies 1 and 2 showed that significant-other representations are richer, more distinctive, and more cognitively accessible than the other categories. Study 3 replicated the accessibility data and gauged inferential power by indirectly activating each category in a learning trial about a fictional person and then testing recognition memory. The results showed that participants made more category-consistent false-positive errors about targets who activated significant others vs. any other category. This constitutes the first experimental demonstration of transference and has implications both for social categorization and for basic personality processes.
Cognitive therapy is based on the premise that cognition, the process of acquiring knowledge and forming beliefs, is a primary determinant of mood and behavior. After reviewing the basic theories of cognitive therapy, the authors discuss its application to the treatment of depression. They theorize that cognitive therapy can improve depressive mood and behavior by focusing on the depressed patient's cognitive disorder. This disorder includes impaired learning and memory function and a systematic negative bias in thinking. The authors note the encouraging results of preliminary outcome studies of this new treatment of depression; such results, they conclude, warrant further development and testing of cognitive therapy.
Recent theoretical discussions of optimism as an inherent aspect of human nature converge with empirical investigations of optimism as an individual difference to show that optimism can be a highly beneficial psychological characteristic linked to good mood, perseverance, achievement, and physical health. Questions remain about optimism as a research topic and more generally as a societal value. Is the meaning of optimism richer than its current conceptualization in cognitive terms? Are optimism and pessimism mutually exclusive? What is the relationship between optimism and reality, and what are the costs of optimistic beliefs that prove to be wrong? How can optimism be cultivated? How does optimism play itself out across different cultures? Optimism promises to be one of the important topics of interest to positive social science, as long as it is approached in an even-handed way.
One area of positive psychology analyzes subjective well-being (SWB), people's cognitive and affective evaluations of their lives. Progress has been made in understanding the components of SWB, the importance of adaptation and goals to feelings of well-being, the temperament underpinnings of SWB, and the cultural influences on well-being. Representative selection of respondents, naturalistic experience sampling measures, and other methodological refinements are now used to study SWB and could be used to produce national indicators of happiness.
Direct reports of subjective well-being may have a useful role in the measurement of consumer preferences and social welfare, if they can be done in a credible way. Can well-being be measured by a subjective survey, even approximately? In this paper, we discuss research on how individuals' responses to subjective well-being questions vary with their circumstances and other factors. We will argue that it is fruitful to distinguish among different conceptions of utility rather than presume to measure a single, unifying concept that motivates all human choices and registers all relevant feelings and experiences. While various measures of well being are useful for some purposes, it is important to recognize that subjective well-being measures features of individuals' perceptions of their experiences, not their utility as economists typically conceive of it. Those perceptions are a more accurate gauge of actual feelings if they are reported closer to the time of, and in direct reference to, the actual experience. We conclude by proposing the U- index, a misery index of sorts, which measures the proportion of time that people spend in an unpleasant state, and has the virtue of not requiring a cardinal conception of individuals' feelings.
The Underclass Self-efficacy Self-efficacy Mechanism in Human Agency
- Auletta
- Ken
Auletta, Ken. 1982. The Underclass. New York: Random House. Bandura, Albert. [1994] 1998, " Self-efficacy. " In Encyclopedia of Human Behavior ed. Vilanayur S. Ramachaudran. New York: Academic Press. 15 Dixon and Frolova: Existential Poverty Bandura, Albert. 1982, " Self-efficacy Mechanism in Human Agency. " American Psychologist 37: 122–147.