Tesis sobre el tema "Psychology - theory"

This applied theoretical paper explores the underlying capacity for caregivers to raise emotionally intelligent, well-adjusted children who grow up able to respond effectively to the demands of a complex world. A guiding supposition of the research is that diminished access to institutional privilege, especially when unrecognized and unprocessed by caregivers, is likely a risk factor connected to a variety of deleterious outcomes associated with the social determinants of health as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This connection resulted from asking the question, “How does the underlying capacity for caregivers to understand and manage diverse and complex dimensions of their personal identity, especially in terms of how they relate to institutional power and privilege, serve as a protective factor in meeting the developmental needs of their children for a safe, stable, and nourishing emotional environment?” To answer this question, two well-respected theoretical orientations were identified that each spoke to half of the question, but when brought together, could much more elegantly address many more aspects of the question in an integrated and holistic fashion. Specifically, John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory provided important context as to what developmental needs children have for a safe, stable, and nourishing emotional environment. On the other hand, Jean Baker Miller’s Relational-Cultural Theory was adept at offering a nuanced perspective on understanding diverse and complex dimensions of personal identity, especially as those dimensions interfaced with institutional privilege. Bringing these two perspectives together and synthesizing them into a new approach, an approach named Attachment-Informed Relational-Cultural Therapy, was the culmination of the research. One important outcome of the research was how it framed secure attachment as an unearned privilege (i.e. attachment privilege) that is affected by and simultaneously affects multiple variables in the caregiver and child dyad. These variables can themselves then become either protective factors supporting further secure attachment or risk factors threatening to damage or destroy it. Through the process of linking childhood attachment themes to the theme of access to institutional privilege it is hoped a greater capacity may be achieved for supporting caregivers in understanding and managing diverse and complex dimensions of their personal identity.

Philosophers, cognitive scientists and developmental psychologists largely agree that we understand mental states and use them to explain and predict the behaviors of ourselves and of others (i.e. we ‘mindread’) by using a cognitive capacity known as the theory of mind (henceforth, ‘ToM’). However, a question remains as to what, exactly, underpins the ToM ability thereby allowing us such great accuracy in our first-person and third-person reports. My dissertation is an adjudication of the ongoing debate between two competing theories, each of which claims to have the best explanation of ToM. These two theories of ToM are known as the theory-theory (henceforth, the ‘TT’) and the simulation theory (henceforth, the ‘ST’). Because it is thought by cognitive developmental psychologists that autism spectrum disorders (henceforth, ‘ASD’) result from a ToM impairment or deficit, I pay especial attention to the case of ASD, using the features of the disorder, to adjudicate the debate. I suggest that the particular deficits and talents associated with ASD provide reasons to favor the ST over the TT in general and to favor an account of the ST that includes introspection over an account of the ST that excludes it.

A grounded theory study explored the elements of thriving among small business owners. Fifteen interviews were conducted and analyzed, resulting in the identification of personal investment as the core concept which explains thriving for small business owners. Personal investment is defined in terms of time, effort and money. This core concept is supported by the four subcategories of mastery, motivators, personal characteristics, and the role of others. These four categories are further explained through seventeen practical elements which drive thriving for small business owners. A model of thriving for small business owners is proposed, showing alternating periods of personal investment and capitalization on opportunities, leading to brief periods of intense thriving and subsequently higher levels of sustained thriving.

This dissertation developed and tested a role-based framework drawing from role theory to understand how external factors contribute to the spread of bias in organizations. Using experimental social psychological methods, the twelve studies in this dissertation investigated why other people's prejudices can sometimes influence individuals' decisions and behaviors due to the demands of the decision maker role. Role theory posits that there are certain expectations associated with specific roles, and the roles that people occupy can determine their attitudes and behaviors. Across studies, participants placed in a decision-making role in charge of hiring selections accommodated the prejudices of relevant third parties in their decisions (i.e., the "third-party prejudice effect''). Specifically, consistent with the proposed model, in the studies described in Chapter 2, individuals in charge of selection decisions were significantly less likely to select a woman when a relevant third party was prejudiced against women. Chapter 3 extended this inquiry to novel, fictional groups, generalizing the third-party prejudice effect beyond the context of gender bias.

According to a role-based framework, concerns relevant to the decision maker role become highly salient in contexts of third-party prejudice, motivating those in charge of hiring selections to accommodate this prejudice in order to accomplish role-relevant goals. In particular, in the context of hiring selections, decision makers accommodate third-party prejudice without coercion because they engage in two types of considerations, focused (a) on maximizing performance (i.e.. task-focused concerns). and (b) on avoiding conflict or facilitating relations among the parties involved (i.e., interpersonal concerns). These task-focused and interpersonal concerns are relevant to the decision maker role and reflect well-established distinctions between instrumental and socioemotional dimensions of group processes. This proposed mechanism was experimentally supported. revealing that task-focused and interpersonal concerns significantly mediated the effect both in the context of gender prejudice (Chapter 2) as well as in a novel groups context (Chapter 3). Furthermore, in Chapter 2, experimentally reducing role-relevant concerns by manipulating task-focused considerations significantly reduced the accommodation of third-party prejudice against women.

In line with the notion that roles impact behavior above and beyond individual-level attitudes and beliefs, participants in two studies accommodated prejudice against women in their selections regardless of their personal endorsement of modern sexism and traditional gender stereotypes (Chapter 2). Participants similarly accommodated third-party prejudice against groups about which they knew very little, in contexts in which pre-existing biases or the endorsement of cultural stereotypes had little bearing on their selections (Chapter 3). Moreover, consistent with the proposition that roles shape behavior more strongly than social identity, participants across studies accommodated third-party prejudice in their decisions even when such prejudice was directed toward a social category in-group. A role-based framework can illuminate the institutional factors that produce social disparities, and can contribute to a growing understanding of the reasons why members of underrepresented groups sometimes appear to treat each other poorly in organizational contexts.

This applied theoretical paper suggests a new theory for shame due to grieving a traumatic loss. Changes in worldview, the undermining of self-efficacies, complex trauma, soul-wounding and the impacts of traumatic memory resulting from grief are explored. Grief shame, as it is proposed, is a result of bereaved victims recognizing through self-labeling that their grief behaviors violate societal feeling rules and expression norms. This provokes social consequences and forms of sanctioning (exclusion) for those demonstrating traumatic grief behaviors; they are perceived to endanger society’s sense of wellbeing, which impedes cultural meaning making. This is noted to occur through differences in the definition of what is considered natural grief that is driven by medicalization of the experience. Being a griever rather than being observed to grieve is the catalyst for the present-day expectations of grief that grief is a something to recuperate from, driving the grief shame experience and the condition for bereaved victimization that there is something wrong with those who grieve beyond standards of grief behavior set by Western society. The shame experience itself may cause the griever to experience an attack on self, which separates shame from guilt, leading to withdraw from the shame influence (society) with soul wounding social/emotional consequence.

The empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory states that individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) can be identified by a deficit in empathy (social skills, communication skills, and theory of mind) and a propensity for systemizing (islets of ability, obsessions with systems, and repetitive behavior). This theory has been tested in various contexts, but never with adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16. The EQ-A (Empathizing Quotient for Adolescents) and the SQ-A (Systemizing Quotient for Adolescents) were administered to 47 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16 who had been diagnosed with ASC and 97 adolescents with no reported physical or mental disorders to discover differences in empathizing and systemizing.

To test the specific elements and predictions of the E-S theory, the EQ-A was divided into a set of three subscales derived by conceptually mapping items to factors corresponding to the concepts theoretically underlying the scale. The SQ-A was divided into subscales using factor analysis.

It was found that all four subscales resulting from the factor analysis on the SQ-A were associated with obsessions with systems. A weak positive correlation was found between the SQ-A and the EQ-A. Although the EQ-A was able to differentiate significantly between individuals with an ASC and those without, the SQ-A was not. In addition, although the EQ-A and EQ-A subscales scores correlated with similar subscales scores of the GARS-2 (a well-validated existing autism screening test), the SQ-A and its subscales did not. Implications for the E-S Theory are discussed.

This thesis seeks to explore the association between ego threat and coping in terms of cognitive strategies and behavioral tendencies. Moreover, the current study is also intended to use attachment dimensions as an underlying mechanism to understand the impact of ego threat on coping. Within the internal working models of attachment theory, the current study seeks to examine two major questions: (1) what strategies individuals use to cope with ego threatening events: and (2) how attachment associates with coping strategies during various ego-threats conditions? The results had a significant impact when individuals were presented with ego threat scenarios suggest that individuals are most likely to use state coping of emotion focused disengagement followed closely by state coping disengagement while experiencing an ego-threat condition. However, all state coping strategies (e.g., state coping engagement, state coping disengagement, state coping problem focused engagement, state coping emotion focused engagement, state coping problem focused disengagement, and state coping emotion focused disengagement) had a significant impact when individuals were presented with ego-threat scenarios. The results of association between attachment dimensions and state coping strategies across ego-threat conditions were not significant. Further this study implies ego-threat conditions make it more likely for individuals to use dysfunctional coping strategies such as state coping disengagement and emotion focused disengagement. Overall, the study has implications for enhancing our understanding of internal working models of attachment and the tendency for ego-threat to impact coping strategies, emphasizes the potency of ego-threatening events as they impact self-view and efficacy of coping solutions.