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A Psychobiography of Philip Brickman: The Life, Work, and Human Concerns of a Social Psychologist
Abstract
The social psychologist Philip Brickman (1943-1982) is most well-known for his foundational research on happiness, and his concept of the “hedonic treadmill.” Heretofore, no study has systematically analyzed his life and work. The present study originates such inquiry, employing the method of psychobiography to examine Brickman’s personal life, his research career, and the relationship between the two. The study accessed archival data from the Philip Brickman Papers, Brickman's personal archives located at the Northwestern University Archives, and conducted interviews with three people close to him: his sister, one of his daughters, and the psychologist Kenneth Gergen. From an interpretivist/social constructivist framework, the study situates Brickman's research in the history of psychology, traces the development of his personality across the life-span in a socio-historical context, and retrieves his original insights for contemplation. The study presents numerous findings, including: an analysis of Brickman's family of origin and early life as they relate to his social, emotional, and intellectual development; a contextualization of Brickman's professional trajectory; an analysis of the precipitating factors leading to his suicide at the age of 38; and an assessment of Brickman's legacy as a social psychologist. The study renders the links between Brickman’s research on happiness and his personal struggles, argues that Brickman had an indelible impact on both the field of psychology and the network of researchers with whom he was engaged, and articulates how Brickman’s "social psychology of human concerns" not only anticipated the themes of what became positive psychology, but envisioned a more dialectical mission for psychology, one that confronts both the negative and positive aspects of the human condition.
... Some researchers have also alluded to the secondary benefits that such reflective methodologies have had on their own personal development (Kasser, 2017;Köváry, 2011Köváry, , 2018Mayer & Maree, 2018;Wegner, 2020). Therefore, Ponterotto (2017a) has reiterated that professional training programmes could benefit from the applied ethical dilemmas that arise from psychobiographical research. ...
Even though several persistent calls for the intentional selection of historically significant women in psychobiography have been made, many psychobiographers continue to select men as their subjects. Although there is an increased diversification of psychobiographical subjects internationally, psychobiographers often deem men as more historically significant than women. It was, therefore, crucial to select an influential and historically significant woman, such as Jane Austen, for this study.
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an elusive, yet a highly influential woman who lived and wrote during the Georgian and Regency eras in pre-industrialised England. In her sociohistorical context, which was riddled with the same patriarchal attitudes that guide the more subtle sexism in contemporary society, she managed to amalgamate her life-roles to form a career. Although she only published four novels, struggled with various illnesses, and remained virtually anonymous to the public during her lifetime, many researchers acknowledged Jane Austen’s status as the first modern novelist. However, despite the enormous amount of scholarship surrounding the life of Jane Austen, her career development has not been systematically studied from a psychological framework. Therefore, the researcher purposefully selected the influential and enigmatic Jane Austen for this study and aimed to uncover and reconstruct her career development in-depth and in context using Donald E. Super’s approach to career development.
The study aimed to explore and describe Jane Austen’s career development across her life-span. The objective was to analytically generalise Jane Austen’s unique life as a psychobiographical single case to Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space theory. To achieve the mentioned aim and objective in this study, the researcher utilised Alexander’s data reduction strategies to collect, organise, and analyse the abundance of biographical and autobiographical data on Jane Austen. In order to reduce the substantial amount of historical data, the researcher asked the data questions and used Alexander’s nine indicators of saliency to extract important information. The data was also systematically categorised and analysed according to a psychohistorical matrix, which allowed the researcher to extract data relevant to both Jane Austen’s life-stages and the life-roles she played.
The findings of this study suggested that Jane Austen progressed through three of five sequential life-stages, as well as the respective substages as proposed by Super’s framework. More specifically, during the growth stage, Jane Austen managed to achieve four career-related psychosocial tasks, namely the prevocational-curiosity, fantasy, interest, and capacity subtasks. During the exploration stage, Jane Austen reached the milestones of specifying, crystallising, and actualising her career choice. Following this, Jane Austen experienced substantial difficulties in the trial substage of the establishment stage due to the role-strains and role-spillage that occurred from her various life-roles. Nevertheless, Jane Austen managed to stabilise her life-roles by increasing her productivity and success in her role as worker. The findings of this study also suggested Jane Austen’s career commitment gradually increased during her life-span, before her general decline and death at the age of 41. Besides contributing to the research literature about Jane Austen’s life and work, this study provided a single case towards the analytic generalisation to Super’s Life-Space, Life-Span theory. Therefore, the study’s value is found in the expansion of the psychobiographical pool, as well as the in-depth, longitudinal analysis of a female author’s career development. Based on the limitations of this study, recommendations are also made for future research.
Keywords: Psychobiography, Jane Austen, career development, careerography, Donald Super, life-space, life-span, life-roles, life-stages, career commitment, Georgian era, Regency era, Alexander
... This ethically founded approach aims to contribute to expanding the public knowledge of ESH and her ability to cope with life's challenges, based on her SOC and her faith. As described by Wegner (2020), potential harm to the researched individual is therefore avoided. ...
This article focuses on the coping skills of one selected, extraordinary woman, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (1757–1854) during the founding of the United States of America. This work contributes to theory on two different levels. First, it contributes to psychobiographical research on women in diverse spheres of society, thereby strengthening the aspect of gender and coping strategies in terms of psychobiographical perspectives. Second, it contributes to theory-building in psychobiographical research anchored in positive psychology, promoting the idea that a multiplicity (crystallisation) of theories should be used to explore and analyse the lifespan of extraordinary individuals. The psychobiography responds to the question how Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton coped with life’s challenges and tragedies through the lenses of sense of coherence and faith development theory. The article uses a psychobiographical case study design within the research paradigm of modern hermeneutics. First- and third-person data on the subject were collected and evaluated through thematic analysis, including articles, documentation, letters, film material, and political scripts. Customary ethical standards for psychobiographical research were followed, thereby ensuring an ethical, respectful, empathetic and accountable research approach. The article presents findings on the coping skills, sense of coherence, and faith development in the life of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton which strongly influenced her resilience and support for others during her long and extraordinary life. Conclusions are drawn with regard to the way women cope in different sociocultural, sociopolitical and socio-economic spheres using historical and contemporary retrospectives. Recommendations are provided for future psychobiographical research on women in diverse contexts and in psychobiographical, gendered practice.
... As according to Ponterotto and Reynolds (2019) this study is supposed to contribute to the learning about the lives and works of others, about human diversity and the potential of human beings. Thereby, the subject of research is explored in an ethical, respectiful, empathetic and accountable manner (Schultz, 2005;Ponterrotto, 2015) to, on the one hand, contribute to the public knowledge of Camus and on the other hand to exclude potential harm for the researched subject (Wegner, 2020). ...
Albert Camus (1913–1960) stands as one of the famous pioneers in the French history of existentialism. He was a novelist, political activist, essayist and editor, as well as a journalist and playwright. Although he was described as philosopher, he often denied this ascription. Through his professional and creative expressions, Camus focused on questions of existentialism, the aspect of the human fate, and meaning in life, death and suicide. These existential questions have experienced a strong revival during the Covid-19 occurrence. This psychobiographical approach aims at understanding Albert Camus' life and work in the context of the terror management theory of Becker and Wong's 4 pillars of PP2.0 theory, namely virtue, meaning, resilience and well-being. Both theories have gained importance during the pandemic. Based on the findings of the research study, implications for future research in the context of the pandemic are given. Finally, this article provides recommendations and best practices on how to approach the Covid-19 pandemic from a terror management theory and PP2.0 perspective in the light of Albert Camus' philosophy. The contribution of this psychobiography is two-fold: first, it expands psychobiographical research on Albert Camus from absurdist and existentialist theories and thereby expands the theoretical framework of psychobiographies. Second, it aims at strengthening the importance of theoretical psychobiographical investigations and their application in real-world scenarios to address complex contemporary challenges on the basis of existentialist positive psychology theories.
Aim
To synthesise and critically interpret literature of relevance to intervening in intergenerational transmission of relational trauma within parent‐infant relationships.
Background
Intergenerational trauma is a discrete process and form of psychological trauma transmitted within families and communities. Intergenerational trauma can be transmitted through attachment relationships where the parent has experienced relational trauma and have significant impacts upon individuals across the lifespan, including predisposition to further trauma.
Design
Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) was used. CIS is an inductive qualitative process that generates new theory grounded within reviewed literature
Methods
The review commenced by systematically searching for literature on interventions for intergenerational trauma. As the core theoretical construct emerged, elements that may contribute to preventing intergenerational trauma were identified iteratively and influenced further searching. In the final synthesis, 77 articles were included from the fields of intergenerational trauma, trauma interventions and attachment interventions. The review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses checklist.
Results
The key construct is that prevention of intergenerational trauma transmission is the key intervention. The two contributing constructs were identified as ‘resolving parental trauma’ and ‘actively supporting parent‐infant attachment’.
Conclusions
Prevention is the most effective intervention approach for intergenerational transmission of trauma. Prevention requires trauma‐specific interventions with adults and attachment‐focused interventions within families. Preventative strategies need to target individual, relationship, familial, community and societal levels, as addressing and preventing trauma requires a multipronged, multisystemic approach.
Relevance to clinical practice
Systematic trauma‐informed attachment‐focused interventions in health and social service settings are recommended. There are opportunities to provide multi‐focal individual and relational interventions within existing services that work with parents to help prevent the likelihood and impact of transmission of intergenerational relational trauma within families. Nurses are well‐placed to provide preventative interventions in mental health, early childhood and primary health settings.
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Presents an analysis of theory and research in social psychology which reveals that while methods of research are scientific in character, theories of social behavior are primarily reflections of contemporary history. The dissemination of psychological knowledge modifies the patterns of behavior upon which the knowledge is based. This modification occurs because of the prescriptive bias of psychological theorizing, the liberating effects of knowledge, and the resistance based on common values of freedom and individuality. In addition, theoretical premises are based primarily on acquired dispositions. As the culture changes, such dispositions are altered, and the premises are often invalidated. Several modifications in the scope and methods of social psychology are derived from this analysis. (53 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This contribution will undertake a discussion of emotionally
incestuous mother?son relationships. After a brief, but general discussion that defines
such concepts as enmeshment, differentiation and individuation, the discussion will
focus on how family system breaches adversely affect children?s social and emotional
development. Then specific attention will be given to the long-term adverse impacts of
unhealthy mother?son relationships.
Draws a distinction between attribution of responsibility for a problem and attribution of responsibility for a solution. Four general helping models are derived. In the "moral" model, actors are held responsible for both problems and solutions and are believed to need only proper motivation. In the compensatory model, people are responsible only for solutions and are believed to need power. Individuals in the medical model are responsible for neither problems nor solutions and are thought to need treatment. In the enlightenment model, actors are responsible for problems but are unable or unwilling to provide solutions; they need discipline. It is maintained that each set of assumptions has characteristic consequences for the competence, status, and well-being of actors and that the wrong choice of model in a situation will undermine effective helping and coping. Competing models of responsibility in education, psychotherapy, law, and welfare are described, and research on attribution of responsibility is recommended as a way of addressing problems of both theoretical and social significance. (128 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A wave of new developments has occurred in the behavioral and cognitive therapies that focuses on processes such as acceptance, mindfulness, attention, or values. In this review, we describe some of these developments and the data regarding them, focusing on information about components, moderators, mediators, and processes of change. These "third wave" methods all emphasize the context and function of psychological events more so than their validity, frequency, or form, and for these reasons we use the term "contextual cognitive behavioral therapy" to describe their characteristics. Both putative processes, and component and process evidence, indicate that they are focused on establishing a more open, aware, and active approach to living, and that their positive effects occur because of changes in these processes.
Adaptation level theory suggests that both contrast and habituation will operate to prevent the winning of a fortune from elevating happiness as much as might be expected. Contrast with the peak experience of winning should lessen the impact of ordinary pleasures, while habituation should eventually reduce the value of new pleasures made possible by winning. Study 1 compared a sample of 22 major lottery winners with 22 controls and also with a group of 29 paralyzed accident victims who had been interviewed previously. As predicted, lottery winners were not happier than controls and took significantly less pleasure from a series of mundane events. Study 2 indicated that these effects were not due to preexisting differences between people who buy or do not buy lottery tickets or between interviews that made or did not make the lottery salient. Paraplegics also demonstrated a contrast effect, not by enhancing minor pleasures but by idealizing their past, which did not help their present happiness.
This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a brief intervention designed to reduce the harmful consequences of heavy drinking among high-risk college students. Students screened for risk while in their senior year of high school (188 women and 160 men) were randomly assigned to receive an individualized motivational brief intervention in their freshman year of college or to a no-treatment control condition. A normative group selected from the entire screening pool provided a natural history comparison. Follow-up assessments over a 2-year period showed significant reductions in both drinking rates and harmful consequences, favoring students receiving the intervention. Although high-risk students continued to experience more alcohol problems than the natural history comparison group over the 2-year period, most showed a decline in problems over time, suggesting a developmental maturational effect.
This article reviews how a temperament approach emphasizing biological and developmental processes can integrate constructs from subdisciplines of psychology to further the study of personality. Basic measurement strategies and findings in the investigation of temperament in infancy and childhood are reviewed. These include linkage of temperament dimensions with basic affective-motivational and attentional systems, including positive affect/approach, fear, frustration/anger, and effortful control. Contributions of biological models that may support these processes are then reviewed. Research indicating how a temperament approach can lead researchers of social and personality development to investigate important person-environment interactions is also discussed. Lastly, adult research suggesting links between temperament dispositions and the Big Five personality factors is described.
The authors conducted a meta-analysis of relevant data from primary studies of the genetic epidemiology of major depression.
The authors searched MEDLINE and the reference lists of previous review articles to identify relevant primary studies. On the basis of a review of family, adoption, and twin studies that met specific inclusion criteria, the authors derived quantitative summary statistics.
Five family studies met the inclusion criteria. The odds ratios for proband (subjects with major depression or comparison subjects) versus first-degree relative status (affected or unaffected with major depression) were homogeneous across the five studies (Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio=2.84, 95% CI=2.31-3.49). No adoption study met the inclusion criteria, but the results of two of the three reports were consistent with genetic influences on liability to major depression. Five twin studies met the inclusion criteria, and their statistical summation suggested that familial aggregation was due to additive genetic effects (point estimate of heritability of liability=37%, 95% CI=31%-42%), with a minimal contribution of environmental effects common to siblings (point estimate=0%, 95% CI=0%-5%), and substantial individual-specific environmental effects/measurement error (point estimate=63%, 95% CI=58%-67%). The literature suggests that recurrence best predicts the familial aggregation of major depression.
Major depression is a familial disorder, and its familiality mostly or entirely results from genetic influences. Environmental influences specific to an individual are also etiologically significant. Major depression is a complex disorder that does not result from either genetic or environmental influences alone but rather from both. These findings are notably consistent across samples and methods and are likely to be generally applicable.
According to the hedonic treadmill model, good and bad events temporarily affect happiness, but people quickly adapt back to hedonic neutrality. The theory, which has gained widespread acceptance in recent years, implies that individual and societal efforts to increase happiness are doomed to failure. The recent empirical work outlined here indicates that 5 important revisions to the treadmill model are needed. First, individuals' set points are not hedonically neutral. Second, people have different set points, which are partly dependent on their temperaments. Third, a single person may have multiple happiness set points: Different components of well-being such as pleasant emotions, unpleasant emotions, and life satisfaction can move in different directions. Fourth, and perhaps most important, well-being set points can change under some conditions. Finally, individuals differ in their adaptation to events, with some individuals changing their set point and others not changing in reaction to some external event. These revisions offer hope for psychologists and policy-makers who aim to decrease human misery and increase happiness.
This special edition of the classic text includes a new introduction from Professor Arlene Vetere exploring its continuing influence on contemporary practice. One of family therapy's foundational texts, Families and Family Therapy is as relevant today as it has ever been. Examining the therapist's role, Dr. Minuchin presents the views and strategies of a master clinician in a clear and practical form. Transcripts of actual family sessions-both with families meeting their problems fairly successfully and those seeking help-are accompanied by a running interpretation of what is taking place. The book constructs a model of an effectively functioning family and defining the boundaries around its different subsystems, whether parental, spouse, or sibling. It then explores the ways in which families adapt to stress from within and without, as they seek to survive and grow. Combining vivid clinical examples, specific details of technique, and mature perspectives on both effectively functioning families and those seeking therapy, this is an important text for all those interesting in the theory and practice of family therapy. This book can be used on courses such as Family Therapy, Family Interventions, Systemic Practice, and Systemic Counselling within departments of Psychology, Mental Health, and Counselling; and by undergraduate students on Social Work qualifying courses. Salvador Minuchin is a renowned and influential child psychiatrist and family therapist, most famous for developing Structural Family Therapy, a method of psychotherapy which addresses problems in functioning within a family.
Research and practice in the field of acculturation psychology is continually on the rise. Featuring contributions from over fifty leading experts in the field, this handbook compiles and systemizes the current state of the art by exploring the broad international scope of acculturation. The collection introduces readers to the concepts and issues; examines various acculturating groups (immigrants, ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, expatriates, tourists, refugees and asylum seekers); highlights the global contexts for acculturation in a variety of societies; and focuses on acculturation of a number of special groups, such as young people, the workplace, and outcomes for health and well-being. This comprehensive new edition addresses major world changes over the last decade, including the increase in global migration, religious clashes, and social networking, and provides updated theories and models so that beginners and advanced readers can keep abreast of new developments in the study of acculturation.
Concern over those individuals who drink alcohol to excess goes back many centuries, this concern being directed at the effect alcohol has on the individual and on society. Levine (1978) pointed out that the idea of alcoholism as a progressive disease with the key symptom of ‘loss of control’ did not simply start with the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous or the publication of Jellinek's monograph. Such a concept is, in fact, at least 200 years old.
The positive/negative distinction works well in many fields—for example, in mathematics negative numbers hold their own, and in medical pathology negative results are usually celebrated. But in positive psychology negativity should be replaced with positivity for flourishing/optimal functioning to occur. That the designation of the psychological states and processes deemed positive (good/desirable) and negative (bad/undesirable) is made a priori, independent of circumstantial particularity, both intrapersonal and interpersonal, does not seem to bother positive psychologists. But it should, as it results in conceptual muddles and dead ends that cannot be solved within their conceptual framework of positivity and negativity. Especially problematic is an ambiguity I find in positive psychologists’ a priori and a posteriori understandings of positivity and negativity, an ambiguity about constitutive and causal relations that pervades their science and the conclusions drawn from it. By eliminating their a priori dichotomy of positivity and negativity, positive psychologists might well find themselves in a better position to put back together the psychological reality that they have fractured in their ontologically dubious move of carving up psychological reality a priori into positive and negative phenomena. They then might find themselves better placed to “broaden and build” their own science of flourishing.
Despite psychobiography's long-standing history in the field of psychology, there has been relatively little discussion of ethical issues and guidelines in psychobiographical research. The Ethics Code of the American Psychological Association (APA) does not address psychobiography. The present article highlights the value of psychobiography to psychology, reviews the history and current status of psychobiography in the field, examines the relevance of existing APA General Principles and Ethical Standards to psychobiographical research, and introduces a best practice ethical decision-making model to assist psychologists working in psychobiography. Given the potential impact of psychologists' evaluative judgments on other professionals and the lay public, it is emphasized that psychologists and other mental health professionals have a high standard of ethical vigilance in conducting and reporting psychobiography.
This chapter describes the three predominant kinds of psychiatric or psychosocial risk relevant to healthcare professionals (HCPs) working in dermatology and psychodermatology. These are risk of suicide or other self-injury, risk to others, and risk of child or other abuse or neglect. Recognizing co-morbid psychiatric disorders is addressed as well. Assessment and management of such risks by dermatology HCPs is fairly straightforward. We do not expect dermatology HCPs to perform detailed mental assessments, nor do we advocate comprehensive mental health management in the ordinary dermatology or primary care setting. The important points are general awareness, recognition of important risk factors, and common psychiatric presentations and co-morbidities, adequate screening, seeking appropriate referral, and reasonable interim safety measures. This chapter refers to clinical and safety principles, and does not purport to cover the laws and cultures of all countries.
In A Meeting of the People Roderick MacLeod and Mary Anne Poutanen look at the Protestant public education system and the communities that established, and were served by, its schools, from the origins of public education in 1801 to the dissolution of confessional school boards in 1998. They focus on key issues such as class, ethnicity, religion, gender, health and welfare, patriotism, and the nature of local administration, bringing to life the people who attempted to establish and maintain schools and considering relationships between school trustees, parents, teachers, and the wider public. Their analysis shows that communities recognized the importance of providing schooling, despite what were often bleak circumstances. The authors show that Protestant families often had to make a difficult choice between supporting better educational facilities in a central place far away or encouraging the survival of the local community through maintaining one of its key institutions, the local school. They explore the ambiguous nature of Protestant education, at times understood as schooling reserved for a religious minority and at others as a liberal approach similar to public schooling across North America. The Protestant community, begun as a British element within a small colony, has developed into a diverse array of people from across the religious spectrum, periodically redefining itself to meet the needs of a changing Quebec society.
This study examines distance regulation styles through use of the differentiation construct. Differentiation is defined as the family system's tolerance for individuality and its tolerance for intimacy. The usefulness of examining levels of family differentiation (high, moderate, low) as predictors of presenting problems in a clinical sample of adolescents and their families is explored. Findings indicate that family differentiation levels serve as significant predictors of all presenting problem categories utilized in this study.
Given the ongoing debate over whether giftedness is associated with mental health disorders, there is a great need to highlight and compare results from the most methodologically rigorous studies. Surprisingly, the vast majority of literature reviews and background sections of research articles include studies that do not directly compare gifted and nongifted youth. Furthermore, almost no attention has been paid to how differences in the definitions of giftedness or mental health outcomes of interest affect the interpretation and comparison of studies. The authors apply an epidemiologic perspective for thinking about these issues, highlight many of the challenges of studying this population, and present results from meta-analyses that include the most methodologically rigorous studies comparing rates of depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, suicide ideation, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) between gifted and nongifted youth. They conclude with recommendations to strengthen research in this area.
Putting the research to use
Through this review we sought to provide concrete recommendations to strengthen future research on the mental health of gifted children. Most notably, future studies should assess large, population-based cohorts that include both gifted and nongifted individuals. Researchers should also move toward describing their study population according to their specific aptitudes, talents, skills or abilities, rather than using the general term ‘gifted’. Thinking more specifically about these relationships will not only help us to understand the association between giftedness and mental health, but will also increase the potential to effectively shape programs and policies for gifted youth, focusing resources on the most vulnerable.
This article explores three ways in which the positive psychology movement’s construction and presentation of itself are negative. First, the negative side is construed as the negative side effects of positive psychology’s dominant, separatist message. Second, the negative side is construed as the negativity that can be found within the positive psychology movement. Here the author elaborates on the negative or dismissive reactions of some spokespersons for the movement to ideas or views that run counter to the movement’s dominant message: (a) negativity about negativity itself, which is explored by way of research in health psychology and coping styles; and (b) negativity about the wrong kind of positivity, namely, allegedly unscientific positivity, especially that which Seligman purports to find within humanistic psychology. This constitutes an epistemological position that contributes to “reality problems” for positive psychologists. The author concludes with the implications of positive psychology’s “Declaration of Independence” for psychology’s much discussed fragmentation woes. She appeals to the wisdom of William James for guidance in finding a third, more positive meaning of positive psychology’s negative side. This third meaning can be gleaned from a not-yet-dominant but more integrative message emerging within the movement, one compatible with the reactions of some humanistic psychologists to positive psychology.
Psychologist practitioners are not immune to certain mental health problems, including suicidality, for which they provide services. In the aftermath of two recent psychologist suicides, the American Psychological Association's Advisory Committee on Colleague Assistance (ACCA) initiated the formation of a conjoint ad hoc committee consisting of members from ACCA, the American Psychological Association (APA) Practice Directorate, and the Section on Clinical Emergencies and Crises (Section VII of APA's Division 12) to investigate the incidence of psychologist suicide and its impact on colleagues, students or interns, patients or clients, and the profession. The committee reviewed the extant empirical literature on suicide rates for psychologists, evaluated unpublished data on psychologist suicide provided by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), interviewed colleague survivors, reviewed published case reports of the impact of therapist suicides, and linked their findings to the literature on professional distress, impairment, and self-care. The committee concluded that there is evidence suggestive of an elevated risk of suicide for psychologists in past decades. It further concluded that there is a need for further research to confirm if there is a heightened risk of suicide for psychologists in the present day and to determine factors that might contribute to such risk. Accounts from colleague-survivors suggest that the impact of a psychologist's suicide can affect many people including family, colleagues, students, and patients or clients. This article offers suggestions for possible preventive approaches, for intervention with potentially at-risk colleagues, and for postvention efforts in the wake of a colleague suicide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Explores the relevance of the concept of adaptation level to a number of areas of psychology, with special reference to motivation, where it has been incorporated into a number of current theories. Harvard Book List (edited) 1971 #364 (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Intensive case studies of 3 healthy young adults, studied on 2 separate occasions (once when they were college students and again 5 to 10 years later) with emphasis on growth and changes in personality occurring under natural circumstances over periods of time. The biological, social and psychodynamic forces are seen converging into a positive conception of natural growth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT The purpose of this special issue of the Journal of Personality is to spotlight some of the more fruitful ways in which contemporary personality psychologists are collecting, analyzing, and discerning stories about persons' lives The issue focuses both on current approaches to psychobiography and on new uses of life narratives in social research
ABSTRACT Progress in psychobiography What is it? Has there been any? And what processes contnbute to it?The issue of progress in psychobiography is pursued from two different perspectives The first section briefly reviews the historical growth of the field, including the range of disciplines involved, the rise of associated professional organizations and publication outlets, and a quantitative analysis of the increase in books, articles, and dissertations in psychobiography The second section argues that progress in psychobiographical understanding can be analyzed into eight component processes, such as the collection of additional evidence, the formulation of fresh interpretations, critical examination of prior explanations, and the application of new theoretical advances These processes are illustrated with an examination of the course of debate about the physical and psychological disturbances of King George IIIPersonality psychology is concerned with the four basic tasks of developing general theories of personality, analyzing individual and group differences, understanding individual persons, and studying selected processes and classes of behavior In that developing a better understanding of individual persons is one of the ultimate objectives of personality psychology, progress in psychobiography is intimately related to progress in personality psychology as a whole
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, social psychologists diagnosed their field as suffering a state of disciplinary crisis. The crisis was a multifaceted one, but issues of methodology, social relevance, and disciplinary, philosophical, and theoretical orientation were the primary areas of concern. Given that these issues have been prominent ones throughout the history of the social and behavioral sciences, it becomes necessary to look to the immediate context of the 1970s crisis to understand how and why a disciplinary crisis came to be diagnosed. The present analysis suggests that the crisis reflected the larger crisis in American society and also drew on the language of crisis prevalent at the time. Employing this language may have offered the field a method of making sense of, reframing, and redirecting internal and external critiques of the discipline.
Presented here is a family theory of emotional illness and its component system of family psychotherapy, which is one of several different theoretical approaches to the family, and one of many different kinds of “family therapy” that have come on the psychiatric scene in little more than one decade. A brief review of the family movement attempts to put this system into a kind of perspective with the overall family movement. Since this system places maximum emphasis on “family” as a theoretical system, the theory has been presented in some detail. The shorter section of family psychotherapy presents both broad principles and specific details about the usefulness of family concepts in clinical practice.
Previous research has shown that major life events can have short- and long-term effects on subjective well-being (SWB). The present meta-analysis examines (a) whether life events have different effects on affective and cognitive well-being and (b) how the rate of adaptation varies across different life events. Longitudinal data from 188 publications (313 samples, N = 65,911) were integrated to describe the reaction and adaptation to 4 family events (marriage, divorce, bereavement, childbirth) and 4 work events (unemployment, reemployment, retirement, relocation/migration). The findings show that life events have very different effects on affective and cognitive well-being and that for most events the effects of life events on cognitive well-being are stronger and more consistent across samples. Different life events differ in their effects on SWB, but these effects are not a function of the alleged desirability of events. The results are discussed with respect to their theoretical implications, and recommendations for future studies on adaptation are given.
Presented 2 groups of 32 male 23-65 yr old nonabstinent alcoholics and social drinkers with an ad-lib supply of either alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages in a taste-rating task. Ss were assigned to 1 of 2 instructional set conditions in which they were led to expect that the beverage to be rated contained alcohol (vodka and tonic) or consisted only of tonic. The actual beverage administered consisted of either vodka and tonic or tonic only. Results show that instructional set is a significant determinant of the amount of beverage consumed and posttask estimates of the alcoholic content of the drinks. The actual beverage administered did not significantly affect the drinking rates of either alcoholics or social drinkers. Loss-of-control drinking, in the form of increased consumption by alcoholics who were administered alcohol, did not occur during the drinking task. Results are discussed in terms of implications for treatment and for the conception of alcoholism as a disease.
Male undergraduates found themselves in a smoke filled room either alone, with 2 nonreacting others, or in groups of 3. As predicted, Ss were less likely to report the smoke when in the presence of passive others (10%) or in groups of 3 (38% of groups) than when alone (75%). This result seemed to have been mediated by the way Ss interpreted the ambiguous situation; seeing other people remain passive led Ss to decide the smoke was not dangerous. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
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.
We explored attachment in a family context by applying family systems principles to the investigation of multiple attachment relationships within families. This study focused on maternal adult attachment with respect to family of origin experiences (assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview [AAI]) as well as maternal marital attachment (assessed using the Marital Attachment Interview [MAI]). We examined associations between maternal adult attachment (or marital attachment) and three levels of family functioning including individual maternal depression symptoms, dyadic marital satisfaction (reported by mothers), and family unit functioning. We also examined associations between combined attachment security (consistent secure, AAI secure/MAI insecure, AAI insecure/MAI secure, and consistent insecure) and family outcomes. Finally, we assessed the extent to which attachment representations operate differently in the context of family stress, namely maternal depression. We found that attachment security with respect to particular relationships was differentially associated with different levels of family functioning. Examination of the security of combined adult and marital attachment further supported the multilevel organization of the family system.
The psychiatrist as psychohistorian. Task force report #11
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The Psychobiographical study of psychologists
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- Elizabeth S Brickman
Ann Arbor News. (August 31, 2017). Elizabeth S. Brickman. [Obituary] Retrieved from:
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A social psychology of human concerns
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Commitment and mental health
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Sorrentino (Eds.), Commitment, conflict, and caring (pp. 222-276). Englewood Cliffs,
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Bringing 'Rachel Calof' home to North Dakota
- E E Bryan
Bryan, E.E. (2014). Bringing 'Rachel Calof' home to North Dakota. The American Jewish
World. Retrieved from: http://ajwnews.com/bringing-rachel-calof-home-north-dakota/
Harvard and the Unabomber: The education of an American terrorist
- A Chase
Chase, A. (2003). Harvard and the Unabomber: The education of an American terrorist. New
York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Early recollections: Theory and practice in counseling and psychotherapy
- A Clark
Clark, A. (2002). Early recollections: Theory and practice in counseling and psychotherapy.
New York, NY: Routledge.