Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science最新文献

This study investigates the effects of the Gateway Experience (GE) on psychological well-being. The GE has been developed several decades ago for the induction of altered states of consciousness. It incorporates several techniques such as hypnosis, meditation, and binaural beats, which are known to facilitate well-being, sleep, learning and memory, and emotional states, but have not been tested in the exact combination used by the GE. Twelve participants with no prior experience in meditation and related techniques were exposed to the GE (i.e. experimental condition) and a relaxation treatment (i.e. control condition) over the course of four weeks. Psychological well-being was measured at multiple timepoints using Ryff's Psychological Well-being Scale (PWS) which includes 18 items measuring six aspects of psychological well-being: Autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. Results of a two-way repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance showed that participants' psychological well-being improved significantly over time in the GE condition compared to the control condition on all measured scales. There was no effect of participants' sense of mysticality as measured by the Barrett's Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30). Mysticality has been suggested before to potentially influence the GE. These findings are in line with the theory and suggest that the GE could be a powerful tool to facilitate psychological well-being even in the short-term. Moreover, our findings are also relevant to our understanding of the GE from a historical point of view.

In this paper, we discuss symbolic, situational, and verbal mathematical processing. These three modes of processing are conducted by the mediums of symbolic, situational, and verbal mathematical representations. While symbolic processing is a suppressive-oriented mechanism, situational one is receptive-oriented and reliant on sensorimotor features of elements in the context of mathematical representation. Verbal processing is a linguistic-oriented mechanism that is supported by semantic networks. We suggest that these three mechanisms can be dynamically employed at the same time to process a mathematical idea or problem. We call this high-level process as dynamic cross-type representational transformation. Dynamic cross-type representational transformation is a mode of thought that enables the individual to dynamically shift between various types of mathematical representations and to employ a larger part of cognitive capacity and brain's networks. Finally, we conclude that this dynamic process can be regarded as one specific part of executive functions.

Psychotherapy, as a cultural activity, faces the challenge of adapting to historical changes and emerging issues. In this article, a multilevel approach to psychotherapeutic intervention that encompasses the individual, relational, and contextual dimensions is proposed. The approach is based on an historical-cultural theoretical framework that integrates constructivist, systemic, and semiotic components to broaden perspectives for psychotherapy. The primary purpose is to integrate concepts derived from cultural psychology to structure ideas related to the theoretical understanding of intervention. A conceptual elaboration is presented to address the extension of the mind into the social and cultural contexts in continuous exchange between the self and others, as an essential vital process. First, the central concepts of semiosis, development, temporality, and dialogicality are presented as theoretical principles that guide this approach. The article elaborates on the cultural semiotic model as a framework to guide therapists' understanding of the issues prompting individuals to seek psychological consultation and change, proposing therapeutic aims, conceptual tools for intervention, and strategies for building the therapeutic relationship. The relevance of this theoretical proposal for psychotherapy, as cultural mediation cuts across individual, relational, and contextual levels, is discussed.

This paper analyzes Carlos Saura's film Tango through the theoretical lens of the Tie-Up Theory to explore how fictional narratives can serve as laboratories for investigating the embodied social cognition of romantic relationships. The study shows how dance, particularly tango, functions both as subject matter and cognitive metaphor in representing the complex dynamics of couple formation and maintenance. The film's meta-representational structure, combining the creation of a dance performance with the exploration of actual relationships, reveals how cultural forms serve as cognitive scaffolds for understanding complex social dynamics. The study contributes to our understanding of how artistic representation can reveal typically implicit aspects of relationship cognition by demonstrating the value of integrating multidisciplinary perspectives of cognitive theory, psychology of mating, and cultural theory.

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) involves a complex treatment because its daily management requires patients to maintain a delicate balance to avoid the symptomatic discomfort of hypoglycemia. Although hypoglycemia has been studied from a biomedical perspective, there is limited research related to the meaning construction and affective regulation processes associated with it. The present study aims to understand the affective-semiotic processes involved in the hypoglycemic symptom of T1DM by analyzing its dynamic organization and affective-semiotic regulation. Methodologically, an idiographic perspective was chosen through the microgenetic analysis of in-depth interviews in a case study. The main results indicate that the initial sensation of physical discomfort is merely the starting point of a wider semiotic network that hyper-generalizes and expands itself towards broader aspects of life and identity. Life projections, whether short- or long-term, are mediated by the fear of the symptom, which, in turn, can shape one´s perception of life priorities in life and involves the potential to shape one's future in terms of the ability to maintain health. It is proposed that the hypoglycemic symptom, as a set of experiences with the capacity to destabilize the individual, should be considered in order to: (a) Evaluate how each one is affected through affective-semiotic fields of meaning directly linked to the perception of oneself as a subject, (b) Reduce the uncertainty associated with the body's vulnerability and contingency and, (c) Foster a greater personal empowerment with respect to the disease.

This article introduces Homo Putans, the "supposing human," as a novel philosophical framework for understanding human existence. Supposing, distinct from mere thinking or imagination, involves hesitation, doubt, and a creative engagement with possibilities. It is characterized by its ability to confront ambiguity and construct meaning in the face of uncertainty. The proposed concept, "supposing," is examined as both a cognitive and philosophical act that bridges the gap between uncertainty and understanding. Drawing on historical and contemporary philosophical traditions, including Hans Vaihinger's Philosophy of As If and phenomenological insights from Husserl and Brentano, the study situates supposing as a significant process in human cognition and meaning-making. While rooted in philosophical inquiry, the article also considers conceptual alignments with cognitive science to explore how supposing shapes perception and decision-making. By thriving in ambiguity, supposing is framed as an act of constructing potential realities and engaging with the unknown.

This article discusses social context of consciousness, the role of the brain and the psychological processes of their actions in the context of the socio-legal framework. Consciousness is understood without integrating with broader social and cultural situations. The understanding of consciousness also requires one's critical understanding of social context and group processes. Law has a more significant role in demystifying itself from the brain and consciousness trajectory and keeping a balance by considering precedents critically. This article also ventures into how consciousness can be understood in the social arena of decolonization and the possibility of neuroscience in informing the law in its reformation for justice.

Nathalie Bulle, writing in these pages, asks whether Vygotsky is indeed responsible for a major, foundational, contribution to integrative psychological and behavioral science. Bulle queries both "analysts" who strive to establish what Vygotsky's original texts actually meant in context and "emulators" who attempt to simulate his work on modern, hence not necessarily compatible, methodological "hardware". Here we query Bulle's distinction: as Vygotsky's legatees, we hold that analysis (at least in Vygotsky's sense) and emulation constitute each other. We demonstrate: first, we analyze Vygotsky's contribution using his own methodological prolegomena, "The Historical Sense of the Crisis in Psychology", newly translated in full for the first time, and we find that his crisis was not simply, as Bulle contends, due to "the triumph in Vygotsky's name of an objectivistic, natural science, approach to psychology"; it is better understood today as due to the kind of interpretative, "understanding" way of handling data that methodological individualism advocates. We then emulate Vygotsky's later semic method using data from post-seminar interviews about an initial teacher education seminar in Australia. We contend that Vygotsky's major, foundational, contribution to integrating psychological and behavioral science was twofold: he explained the methodological clash between the two and showed a way out of it through the study of meaning.

Following Vygotsky's seminal work, sociocultural psychology has developed a powerful theory of imagination, considered as a process with mutual and transformative impacts with the social world. In this paper, we focus on the imagination of the future, which is an arena of special social and political contestation. We argue for integrating experimental methods into the scientific study of the re-composition, or synthesis process, in the imagination of the future. Provoking the imagination of the future in well-structured conditions allows for intra and interpersonal comparisons, as well as for comparisons through time. We introduce an experimental task, a "protokool", inspired by the work of a French group of science fiction writers, "le collectif Zanzibar"; we also suggest a way to analyse the data collected through this "telescope into the imagination of the future" looking at a specific process of imagining the future in dystopian and utopian ways. Finally, we present some main findings from the analysis of a corpus of 186 narratives collected in a 4-year study with Bachelor students in psychology and education. We show that the process of imagining the future is asymetrical for dystopian and utopian futures. We also point at some major patterns in these imaginations of the future, and evolutions over the four years. The research has theoretical and methodological implications for the study of the imagination of the future in sociocultural psychology.