There are three universal experiences that we cannot escape: loneliness, illness, and death. The Psychological Journey To and From Loneliness addresses what was termed the plague of the 21st century--loneliness. Loneliness is stigmatized in our society, so untold number of people walk around lonely, unable to do what is so naturally called for--make their suffering known, and approach others for company and support. Thankfully, loneliness is slowly, but steadily, coming out of the "closet." This book will highlight not only the experience and what can be done about it, but also the experiences that influence it (i.e., our childhood, cultural and religious influences, and our way of life) as well as the effects that loneliness has on various population groups and how it is experienced at different times in our lives. This volume reviews theoretical approaches to the study of loneliness: the (positive) functions that loneliness may serve in our lives; the stages in life when loneliness is quite "visible" and its effects on us; the life experiences that may strengthen the feeling that one is all alone and forgotten; life experiences that we do not commonly connect to loneliness but it is clearly present in them (e.g., pregnancy and childbirth); and the approaches that are available to copy with its pain and limit its negative effects on us. The book closes with a review of how psychotherapy can assist those who need encouragement and support in their struggle with loneliness. The book is particularly suitable for academics, researchers, and clinicians who aim to help clients identify, address, and cope with loneliness.

This book is grounded in psychosocial research that explores the complex intergenerational transmission of memories within families and the transgenerational social issues that form a part of those memories. The author demonstrates that the organising framework of moving back and forth between inter- and transgenerational processes is key to mapping those relationships leading to the ideas of generational companionship, a multigenerational self and intergenerational mentalisation. Drawing on sociological and psychoanalytic approaches, it provides a framework for thinking about continuity and discontinuity in the lives of individuals and in the longer sweep of the generations. The role and potential for a psychosocial approach in deep-level problem solving is addressed through chapters on psychotherapy and on psychosocial interventions. Social imagination in personal and social healing is a core theme, as is the study of the relationship between creative and destructive forces that play out in human life. The book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of psychosocial research and psychotherapy as well as in memory studies, history, genealogy and social theory.

This book explores the phenomenon of researchers at risk: that is, the experiences of scholars whose research topics require them to engage with diverse kind of dangers, uncertainties or vulnerabilities. This risk may derive from working with variously marginalised individuals or groups, or from being members of such groups themselves. At other times, the risk relates to particular economic or environmental conditions, or political forces influencing the specific research fields in which they operate. This book argues for the need to reconceptualise - and thereby to reimagine - the phenomenon of researchers' risks, particularly when those risks are perceived to affect, and even to threaten the researchers. Drawing on a diverse and global range case studies including Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Baluchistan, Cyprus, and Germany, the chapters call for the need to identify effective strategies for engaging proactively with these risks to address precarity, jeopardy and uncertainty.

This book is about people that are uniquely situated between the realms of activism, within the Psychiatric Survivor Movement, and their careers as mental health professionals. It focuses on the co-authors' navigation and juxtaposition of the roles of psychiatric survivor, mental health professional, and activist.Psychiatric Survivors is an international movement advocating for human rights in mental health systems and supporting humane and effective alternative options to mainstream practice for help-seeking. Drawing on past research as well as the co-authors' own experiences, the volume explores identities of people who identify as both psychiatric survivors and mental health professionals, discussing the potential for further dialogue between psychiatric survivors and mental health professionals to create humane and person-centred communities of healing. This book is specifically targeted for practising psychotherapists and graduate students, to gain new insight into the Psychiatric Survivor Movement and to appreciate the value of lived experience and of psychiatric survivors' efforts shaping the future of mental health care.

The Handbook of Antagonism: Conceptualizations, Assessment, Consequences, and Treatment of the Low End of Agreeableness looks at the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of antagonism, highlighting the consequences of the trait, its role in a number of problem behaviors and psychiatric disorders, and how it exerts itself on externalizing behaviors. Covering the biological and evolutionary roots of antagonism, the book provides clinical insight on assessment strategies, while also outlining a number of treatment techniques, including motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychology and psychodynamic treatment approaches. In addition, the book explores the development of antagonism across childhood and adolescence, discussing the societal consequences of the trait, as well as its role in a number of problem behaviors, such as aggression, violence, crime and substance use.

This user-friendly manual provides a cross-cultural psychological assessment battery including projective methods. Authors outline a new, empirically validated, reliable system which seeks to update the scoreable and interpretable factors and entwine commonly respected "tried and true" graphomotor tests, thereby maximizing their efficacy in the assessment of significant psychological traits in children and adults. Because of its use as a gender fair, culture free, language free testing method, it will be a valuable asset in all areas of current psychological assessment. The RPS test takes approximately 20 to 40 minutes to administer, and does not require any administration materials that most practitioners would not have readily available. The RPS can be used by evaluators on its own or in conjunction with other psychological and neuropsychological test data, as well as by mental health treatment providers seeking a quick and accurate way to assess the psychological functioning of individuals aged eight years and older. Multiple appendices contain information on scoring criteria, scoring keys and a wealth of sample questions which will also be a useful resource for evaluators. This manual is appropriate for users ranging from graduate-level students in training and supervision to even the most skilled assessment psychologists for quick and valid assessment of a wide range of clients.

This work presents a new theory of personality development for males, one that emphasizes gender differences in biological maturation and in socialization practices that pressure boys to become emotionally independent too soon. Stevens and Gardner believe that in extreme cases males grow up harboring a primitive, unconscious dread of being abandoned that prevents them from handling separation experiences successfully. As women become more assertive in relationships, there are more female-terminated relationships, especially divorces. As psychologists, Stevens and Gardner noticed that rejected husbands were often more at risk than their estranged wives because most men are victims of the traditional socialization techniques that deny them easy access to emotional expression and support groups. Drawing from a range of disciplines, including sociology, primatology, anthropology, and psychology, the authors draw portraits of common male personality types, many of which are ill-equipped for self-fulfilling independent adult life.

This book provides an overview of theoretical thinking about the communicative scope of emotional expressions as well as an overview of the state of the art research in emotional psychology. For many years, research in emotional psychology has been primarily concerned with the labeling of emotion expressions and the link between emotion expressions and the expresser's internal state. Following recent trends in research devoting specific attention to the social signal value of emotions, contributors emphasize the nature of emotion expressions as information about the person and the situation, including the social norms and standards relevant to the situation. Focusing on the role of emotion expressions as communicative acts, this timely book seeks to advance a line of theoretical thinking that goes beyond the view of emotion expressions as symptoms of an intrapersonal phenomenon to focus on their interpersonal function. The Social Nature of Emotion Expression will be of interest to researchers in emotional psychology, as well as specialists in nonverbal behavior, communication, linguistics, ethology and ethnography.

Offering a unique set of case studies that invites readers to question and reimagine the concept of community engagement, this collected work provides an overview and analysis of numerous, creative participatory research methods designed to improve well-being at both the individual and societal level. In a world where there are enormous differences in the wealth and health of people, it is increasingly recognized that sustainable peace requires both a broad---based public commitment to nonviolence combined with noticeable increments in the wellbeing of people who occupy the lowest socioeconomic strata of societies. This volume focuses on the latter-how to use qualitative research methods to improve well-being of research participants, and thus, the wider society. The participatory research examples described in these chapters are meant to encourage researchers, scholars, and practitioners to question assumed knowledge about community engagement research and practice, and to inspire social justice-oriented scholarship. The cases studies and methods portrayed are as varied as the situations and cultures in which they take place. In most of the case studies, the personal is linked to the political with a social justice imperative as participants from marginalized communities express an understanding of their own position within power hierarchies, deconstruct power relations, and experience a sense of agency. In other instances, the methods are no less participatory but the aim is more focused on inner and outer harmony, psychological wellbeing, conflict resolution and intergroup reconciliation. In all the cases studies, there is a strong emphasis on methods in which community members are at the center of efforts to promote social change. The methods described include group storytelling, community arts, asset mapping, dialogues, creative writing, embroidery, filmmaking, Photovoice, "writing back" to power, and other means of engaging in emancipatory praxis and promoting personal wellbeing. Taken together, the chapters illustrate creative ways in which community members, embedded in disadvantaged contexts, can engage in a dynamic process that stimulates individual and collective agency. Ultimately, this volume will provide readers with a deeper understanding of a wide range of creative, qualitative research methods, and will encourage establishment of an effective social justice agenda essential to human wellbeing and sustainable peace.

This book illustrates the link that unites memory, thought, and narration, and explores how the act of telling helps people to understand themselves and others. The structure of the book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the aspect of narrative comprehension-the person as narrator. It identifies two different origins of narrative comprehension (memory and play) and argues that the narratives we produce starting from autobiographical memory are intended to give order and meaning to events that happened in the past, in order to be able to interpret the present. Conversely, the narratives we produce starting from play are aesthetically constructed, not forced to respect reality, and because of this create potential new worlds of understanding. The second part of this book is devoted to the study of narrative understanding as an understanding of the other. Chapters examine the different points of view a listener can adopt in order to interpret the text produced by a narrator and how these points of view can interact with each other. The book concludes with a consideration of narrative comprehension in the digital world, and examines the principal effects of stories and narrative on the notion of self in the realm of the "Internet galaxy." Telling to Understand will be of interest to researchers and students in cognitive science, psychology, literary studies, philosophy, education, and educational technology, as well as any reader interested in enlarging their concept of narrative and how narrating modifies the self.

Predicting Cyberbullying: Research, Theory, and Intervention delves into the theoretical advances that have been made to predict cyberbullying perpetration. It examines myriad psychological- and communication-based theories, discusses the relevant research to support (or not) each theory, and elucidates the strengths and limitations of these theories. Moreover, the book differentiates cyberbullying from traditional bullying to expand on a theory that takes such differences into account to predict perpetration. In addition, it adapts interventions to address these nuanced theoretical advancements and concludes with an examination of validated psychological theories that can inform interventions and reduce cyberbullying. The book is an effective and concise reference for psychologists, school administrators, counselors and psychological researchers looking to understand theory and interventions for cyberbullies.

This book examines the role of deceptive tactics in the criminal victimization process, showing how various forms of manipulative aggression can help disguise dangerous advances. The author approaches crime victimization as the final stage in a purposeful, predictable, dynamic, and progressively dangerous process involving interactions between the target and the aggressor. As they prepare for the attack, aggressors may attempt to distract, confuse, and reduce target resistance. While these tactics provide aggressors certain advantages, they can be recognized, anticipated, and managed. By presenting a framework to identify behaviors of concern early in the process, Kenny shows how preventative action can be taken. Proactive intervention may cause aggressors to withdraw before they are fully committed to and confident in their ability to be successful. Those who take steps to reduce vulnerabilities, limit risky behaviors, and avoid dangerous situations can help prevent themselves from being victimized.

This book pays tribute to Scott O. Lilienfeld of Emory University, a leading scholar in the field of clinical science who has made important contributions to a wide range of central topics including definition of the field, cognitive biases and critical thinking, memory, personality and personality disorders, projective testing and its problems, cultural sensitivity and issues like microaggressions, forensic psychology and neuroscience, among others. His writings are known for their clarity, their astute critical frame, their fairness, and their intellectual courage in the face of controversy. This anthology serves as a thorough introduction to the scientific evolution of clinical psychology, collecting contributions from leading authorities in each of these domains to comment on past and future insights made possible by Scott Lilienfeld's work.

This book closely interrogates the construct of identity and the role it plays in career development. It provides guidance for HRD practitioners and researchers who create career development programs through a typology of different categories of identity, such as demographics, life events, and career histories. The book presents a framework for considering and addressing career development from a critically reflective perspective of identity as a result of choice, chance, and adaptation. It offers a comprehensive understanding and awareness of tacit, nuanced, and stigmatized issues that were once shameful but have now become more socially acceptable. As a result, HRD practitioners can design programs and resources that have a richness and relevance that might heretofore be lacking. The book also offers guidance for individuals as they take charge of their own identities and career trajectories in an increasingly complex and unpredictable working environment.

This book addresses the lifelong effects of racism, covering its social, psychological, family, community and health impacts. The studies brought together in this contributed volume discuss experiences of discrimination, prejudice and exclusion experienced by children, young people, adults, older adults and their families; the processes of socialization, emotional regulation and construction of ethnic-racial identities; and stress-producing events associated with racism. This volume intends to contribute to a growing international effort to develop an antiracist agenda in developmental psychology by showcasing studies developed mainly in Brazil, the country with the largest black population in the world outside of Africa. Racism as an ideology that structures social relations and attributes superiority to one race over the others have developed in different ways in different countries. As a response to the 2020 social and health crisis, some North American developmental psychologists have started promoting initiatives to openly challenge racism. This book intends to contribute to this movement by bringing together studies conducted mainly in Brazil, but also in Germany and Norway, that adopt a racially informed approach to different topics in developmental psychology. Racism and Human Development intends to be an inspiration to students, scholars and practitioners who are seeking tools and examples of studies of race and racism from a developmental perspective. The establishment of an antiracist agenda in developmental psychology will never be possible without a commitment to the study of race as an indispensable social marker of human ontogeny in any society. This book is another step towards racial equity and towards a developmental science that leaves no one behind.

As her mother slips into the fog of dementia, a philosopher grapples with the unbreakable links between our bodies and our sense of self. Vanessa wakes from a coma having forgotten ten years of her life. Toussaint, is haunted by voices. Thomas no longer knows how to answer questions and Claire, a retired teacher loses the use of her right hand because of an inexplicable pain. Noga Arikha began studying these patients and their confounding symptoms in order to explore how our physical experiences inform our identities. Soon after she began her work, the question took on unexpected urgency, as Arikha's own mother began to show signs of Alzheimer's disease. Weaving together stories of her subjects' troubles and her mother's decline, Arikha searches for some meaning in the science she has set out to study. She explores how the self studies itself and how it loses itself, delving into the scientific research that can help us understand how deeply interconnected are our minds and bodies. The result is an unforgettable journey across the ever-shifting boundaries between ourselves and each other.

Insecurity is an inevitable part of being human. Although life is insecure for every organism, humans alone are burdened by knowing that this is so. This ground-breaking volume features contributions by leading international researchers exploring the social psychology of insecurity, and how existential, metaphysical and social uncertainty influence human social behaviour. Chapters in the book investigate the psychological origins of insecurity, evolutionary theorizing about the functions of insecurity, the motivational strategies people adopt to manage insecurity, self-regulation strategies, the role of insecurity in the formation and maintenance of social relationships, and the influence of insecurity and uncertainty on the organization of larger social systems and public affairs. The chapters also discuss how insecurity influences many areas of contemporary social life, highlighting the applied implications of this line of research. Topics covered include the role of insecurity in social communication, social judgments, decision making, group identification, morality, interpersonal behaviour, relationships, attitudes and many applied aspects of social life and politics where understanding the psychology of insecurity is of critical importance. This accessible and engaging book will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners as a textbook or reference book in behavioral and social science fields, as well as to a broad spectrum of intelligent lay audience seeking to understand one of the most intriguing issues that shapes human social life.

This authoritative collection goes beyond economic statistics and probability data to offer a robust psychological understanding of risk perception and risk taking behavior. Expert contributors examine various risk domains in life, and pinpoint cognitive, emotional, and personality factors contributing to individual differences in risk taking as well as the many nuances social demographics (e.g., culture, gender) bring to risk decisions. Coverage takes competing theories and studies into account to identify mechanisms involved in processing and acting on uncertainty. And implications and applications are demonstrated in varied fields, from updated risk models for the insurance sector to improved risk communication in health services to considering risk perception in policy decisions. A sampling of the topics: Personality and risk: beyond daredevils-risk taking from a temperament perspective. Cognitive, developmental, and neurobiological aspects of risk judgments. The group effect: social influences on risk identification, analysis, and decision-making. Cognitive architectures as a scaffolding for risky choice models. Improving understanding of health-relevant numerical information. Risk culture as a framework for improving competence in risk management. Psychological Perspectives on Risk and Risk Analysis will be of great interest to researchers in and outside of psychology, including decision-making experts and behavioral economists. Additionally, this volume will appeal to practitioners who often have to make risky decisions, such as managers and physicians.

Creativity and Humor provides an overview of the intersection of how humor influences creativity and how creativity can affect humor. The book's chapters speak to the wide reach of creativity and humor with different topics, such as play, culture, work, education, therapy, and social justice covered. As creativity and humor are individual traits and abilities that have each been studied in psychology, this book presents the latest information.

This volume showcases innovative research on dialectal, vernacular, and other forms of "oral," speech-like writing in digital spaces. The shift from a predominantly print culture to a digital culture is shaping people's identities and relationships to one another in important ways. Using examples from distinct international contexts and language varieties (kiAmu, Lebanese, Ettounsi, Shanghai Wu, Welsh English, and varieties of American English) the authors examine how people use unexpected codes, scripts, and spellings to say something about who they are or aspire to be. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars interested in the impact of social media on language use, style, and orthography, as well as those with a broader interest in literacy, communication, language contact, and language change.

Rapid technological change, global competition, and economic uncertainty have all contributed to organizations seeking to improve creativity and innovation. Researchers and businesses want to know what factors facilitate or inhibit creativity in a variety of organizational settings. Individual Creativity in the Workplace identifies those factors, including what motivational and cognitive factors influence individual creativity, as well as the contextual factors that impact creativity such as teams and leadership.The book takes research findings out of the lab and provides examples of these findings put to use in real world organizations.

This book takes the head-scratching out of human sexuality. Personal construct theory provides the foundation for a psychosocial explanation of sexuality that views everyday social interaction as key to the development of sexual identity and desires. The theory developed here accounts for stability and change in sexual identity through an understanding of the importance of experience and the importance of meaning in everyday life. The potential impact of erotica and pornography on sexual desire is discussed, as is the role of social power on sexual behaviour. The variation of sexual expression among individuals-everything from asexuality and sado-masochism to sexual assault-is examined and explained. Formal techniques for changing sexual desires are also presented.