Theoretical Contributions - February 2008

Research Methods in Social Psychology: A Comparative Analysis

Research in social psychology would be inconceivable today without the use of questionnaires, interviews and focus groups. This essay will briefly present all three methods and compare their characteristics through an analysis of their importance for stereotype, identity and social representations research. Both questionnaires and interviews / focus groups help researchers gather verbal data and all start from the same key-element: questions. This aspect is most obvious in the case of questionnaires that may resemble a “simple” set of questions. (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - August 2007

Stereotypes Revised - Theoretical Models, Taxonomy and the Role of Stereotypes

Traditionally social psychologists had been “stereotypical” about stereotypes. Especially the early work in this field presented stereotypes as misleading, extreme and destructive in the context of inter-group relations. Such a position is explained by the fact that most researchers focused initially on the study of antagonistic groups that shared a past of conflict, exploitation and violence (Brigham, 1971). As a result, a common belief at that time was that inter-group harmony can be enhanced by eliminating stereotypes (Taylor, 1981). (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - May 2007

Religion Psychology - A Perspective on Human Beliefs and Emotions

First, we define the notion “Creator” as it is used in this article. From there, we discuss two important and contrary human beliefs. Next, we present the situation of people who deal with troubles. From analyzing the change in their feeling, we withdraw a psychological mechanism describing the struggle between two contrary beliefs and the role of this struggle in dealing with troubles. In fact, this struggle is separated by two basic notions of time in our mind: The Past and The Future. In addition, we discuss the mutual relationship between the troubles relating to the Past and the troubles relating to the Future. At last, we conclude about the importance of acknowledging and controlling these two contrary beliefs. (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - May 2007

An Alternative Support Model to the Medical Model of Medication for Long Term Schizophrenia

Some historical background to schizophrenia is also outlined. The theory is that alternative support like long term clinical hypnotherapy and long term CBT plus psychotherapy and counselling is effective in helping some schizophrenics to reduce their medications to improve their quality of life. (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - February 2007

Cock Fights and the Balinese Male Psyche

This essay deals with the social, religious and sexual dimensions of cockfighting in Bali and the roles it plays in Balinese culture. It considers unconscious attitudes Balinese men may have about their penises and hidden anxieties they may have about circumcision and castration generated by attendance at cockfights. (more...)

 

Semiotic mediation, psychological development process and social representations: towards a theoretical and methodological integration

This article proposes the integration of the subjective, developmental and cognitive aspects of the semiotic processes in a psychological context, and the historical, institutional and ideological fundamentals of sign systems in a sociocultural context. It revisits certain arguments for the rejection of the mind-body dichotomy, investigates the implications of this rejection in terms of the relations thought / language, individual / collective and cognition / emotion, and establishes relations between the process of semiotic mediation and the theory of social representations. It proposes, both theoretically and methodologically, a psychosocial synthesis for human psychological development, forming the basis for psychological intervention in social interaction situations, based on three main points. The focus group is used not simply in order to treat and develop a particular object through conversation, but as a procedure for psychological intervention and a locus of change, presupposing a sequence of group situations, each based on what was produced the previous time. (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - November 2006

Enhancing the success of outsourcing initiatives

Outsourcing has become an increasingly powerful option for many companies seeking to reduce costs, enhance service and focus on core competencies. Most commonly used for information technology services, this trend of business process outsourcing (BPO) is very prevalent in Human Resources (HR). It is a $1.36 billion industry in Canada alone and is expected to increase 10.6 percent each year over the next five years (Vu, 2004). According to the Gartner Group, HR administrative tasks topped the list of processes outsourced in 2003 and predict that by 2007, HR BPO will be a $37.8 billion-plus industry in the United States, up from $25 billion in 2002, for an 8.6 percent growth rate. (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - August 2006

Transactional Analysis seen by a critical parent eye: Crossed transactions, reality or graphic illusion? Parallel communication

Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is a psychoanalytic theory of psychology, developed by psychiatrist Eric Berne during the late 1950s, (Berne, E. 1957) based on the study of evolution and the pathological functioning of ego states (Várkonyi F. Zsuzsa, 2003). Revising Freud's concept of the human psyche as composed of the Ego, Superego, and the Id, (Freud, S. 1900, 1977) Berne, E. (1964) postulated instead three "ego states", the Parent (P), Adult (A) and Child (C) ego states, which were largely shaped through childhood experiences. (Wikipedia, 2006) TA has four parts: the structural analysis, transactional analysis, game analysis and script analysis. (Járó Katalin, editor, 1999) (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - May 2006

The Link between the Mathematical Game Theory and the Transactional Analysis. A New Kind of Psychological Game Comes into Being in New Interpersonal Relations.

MGT studies human games to find the best strategies for gaining a concrete advantage. TA studies human games to get the answer to the question why people make efforts in order to suffer, (to win negative payoffs), and how these people can be helped to give up these daily repeated games. These cause sufferings for all participants, and are the causes of many psychological diseases. However both describe the human conflicts, suffering having a sense of lost in MGT, apparently MGT games and TA games are in contrast with each other. Studying the evolution (the degeneration) of MGT games, we can observe that the majority of human conflicts start off with a “Prisoners Dilemma”, goes on with the “Chicken! Game” and degenerates into a “Dollar Auction Game”. (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - February 2006

Positive Contributions of Constructivism to Educational Design

This paper contrasts contemporary traditional and constructivist educational models to show that constructivist models have invaluable advantages over and are more effective than more traditional models. Bruner’s constructivist theory is discussed, as well as some of its influences, then traditional and constructivist educational models are contrasted point-for-point. The paper then refers to factual examples of successful constructivist education models in practice and suggests methods for using constructivist theory to improve traditionally designed curricula. (more...)

 

Theoretical Contributions - November 2005

Values and Knowledge Education (VaKE) – can they be combined?

When watching the mainstream in the media, values seem to be a “best seller”. New technologies have widened the possibilities for communication and in a consequence these innovations have increased the speed of the developmental process in society, economics, science etc. But where do we go to? Values are serving as points for orientation. People are united by the traditions of shared interpretation of specific religious and cultural principles. The present period of “high-speed-change” forces the individual and the public mind to turn the focus on these points for orientation and to ask how the new elements affect the stability of the traditional interpretation. The actuality and popularity of talking about values is guided by the necessity of the trial to assimilate these new elements into a valid new interpretation, which is the base for the construction of a stabile community. (more...)