Attachment and Character

Attachment and Character
Author: Edward Harcourt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2021
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192898124

There are many exciting points of contact between developmental psychology in the attachment paradigm and the kinds of questions first raised by Aristotle's ethics, and which continue to preoccupy moral philosophers today. The book brings experts from both fields together to explore them for the first time, to demonstrate why philosophers working in moral psychology, or in 'virtue ethics' - better, the triangle of relationships between the concepts of human nature, human excellence, and the best life for human beings - should take attachment theory more seriously than they have done to date. Attachment theory is a theory of psychological development. And the characteristics attachment theory is a developmental theory of - the various subvarieties of attachment - are evaluatively inflected: to be securely attached to a parent is to have a kind of attachment that makes for a good intimate relationship. But obviously the classification of human character in terms of the virtues is evaluatively inflected too. So it would be strange if there were no story to be told about how these two sets of evaluatively inflected descriptions relate to one another. Attachment and Character explores the relationship between attachment and prosocial behaviour; probes the concept of the prosocial itself, and the relationship between prosocial behaviour, virtue and the quality of the social environment; the question whether there even are such things as stable character traits; and whether attachment theory, in locating the origins of virtue in secure attachment, and attachment dispositions in human evolutionary history, gives support to ethical naturalism, in any of the many meanings of that expression.

Attachment and Character

Attachment and Character
Author: Edward Harcourt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2021-10-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192653105

There are many exciting points of contact between developmental psychology in the attachment paradigm and the kinds of questions first raised by Aristotle's ethics, and which continue to preoccupy moral philosophers today. The book brings experts from both fields together to explore them for the first time, to demonstrate why philosophers working in moral psychology, or in 'virtue ethics' - better, the triangle of relationships between the concepts of human nature, human excellence, and the best life for human beings - should take attachment theory more seriously than they have done to date. Attachment theory is a theory of psychological development. And the characteristics attachment theory is a developmental theory of - the various subvarieties of attachment - are evaluatively inflected: to be securely attached to a parent is to have a kind of attachment that makes for a good intimate relationship. But obviously the classification of human character in terms of the virtues is evaluatively inflected too. So it would be strange if there were no story to be told about how these two sets of evaluatively inflected descriptions relate to one another. Attachment and Character explores the relationship between attachment and prosocial behaviour; probes the concept of the prosocial itself, and the relationship between prosocial behaviour, virtue and the quality of the social environment; the question whether there even are such things as stable character traits; and whether attachment theory, in locating the origins of virtue in secure attachment, and attachment dispositions in human evolutionary history, gives support to ethical naturalism, in any of the many meanings of that expression.

Changing Character

Changing Character
Author: Leigh Mccullough Vaillant
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 528
Release: 1997-01-31
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780465077922

The mechanism of emotional change is central to the field of mental health. Emotional change is necessary for healing the long-standing pain of character pathology, yet is the least studied and most misunderstood area in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. Changing Character at its heart is about emotion—how to draw it out, recognize it and make it conscious, follow its lead and, equally important, use cognition to guide, control, and direct our emotional lives. This treatment manual teaches therapists time-efficient techniques for changing character and helping their patients live mindfully with themselves and others through adaptive responses to conflictual experiences.Leigh McCullough Vaillant, a nationally recognized expert on short-term dynamic psychotherapy, shows therapists how to identify and remove obstacles in one's character (ego defenses) that block emotional experience. She then illustrates how the therapist can delve into that experience and harness the tremendous adaptive power provided by emotions. The result? She shows us how to have emotions without emotions “having” their way with us. Vaillant's integrative psychodynamic model holds that the source of psychopathology is the impairment of human emotional experience and expression, which includes impairment in drives and beliefs but is seen fundamentally as the impairment of affects.In this short-term approach, psychotherapists are shown how to combine behavioral, cognitive, and relational theories to make psychodynamic treatment briefer and more effective. Vaillant illustrates how affect bridges the gap between intrapsychic and interpersonal approaches to psychotherapy. Affect, she argues, has the power to make or break relational bonds. Through the regulation of anxieties associated with affects in relation to self and others, therapists can help their patients undergo meaningful character change. A holistic focus on affects and attachment has not been adequately addressed in either traditional psychodynamic theory or cognitive theory. Clearly and masterfully, Vaillant shows therapists how to integrate the powers of cognition and emotion within a dynamic short-term therapy approach.

Mass Media Effects Research

Mass Media Effects Research
Author: Raymond W. Preiss
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 538
Release: 2007
Genre: Mass media
ISBN: 080584998X

Publisher description

A Secure Base

A Secure Base
Author: John Bowlby
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2012-11-12
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1135070857

As Bowlby himself points out in his introduction to this seminal childcare book, to be a successful parent means a lot of very hard work. Giving time and attention to children means sacrificing other interests and activities, but for many people today these are unwelcome truths. Bowlby’s work showed that the early interactions between infant and caregiver have a profound impact on an infant's social, emotional, and intellectual growth. Controversial yet powerfully influential to this day, this classic collection of Bowlby’s lectures offers important guidelines for child rearing based on the crucial role of early relationships.

Attachment in Intellectual and Developmental Disability

Attachment in Intellectual and Developmental Disability
Author: Helen K. Fletcher
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2016-05-23
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1118938038

Attachment in Intellectual and Developmental Disability “Skillfully introduced and edited by Helen Fletcher and her colleagues, this long-needed collection of excellent chapters on attachment and disability reveals the vast wellspring of resilience that persons with disability possess – or can be helped to achieve. Readers will discover how best to support a family member, client or friend with a ‘disability’. A definitive resource for multiple disciplines, this book is surely required reading for all those working in the health professions aimed at addressing the needs of those with severe physical, mental or emotional impairments.” Professor Howard Steele, New School for Social Research “This informative, comprehensive text is unique, and is destined to become an invaluable national and international resource on attachment issues in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Given the breadth and depth of this book, practitioners can use it both as a guide in practice and as a resource for research purposes. Both the editors and contributors are to be congratulated for introducing attachment theory to a wider audience, who will all, I am sure, appreciate the centrality and importance of this theoretical framework to their everyday practice.” Professor Bob Gates, University of West London This title in The Wiley Series in Clinical Psychology is the first to explore the role of attachment theory in understanding and helping children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). There is a growing evidence base of interventions for IDD underpinned by attachment theory, including direct intervention and the application of attachment theory to understand the interactions and relationships that occur between individuals with IDD and those who support them. Attachment in Intellectual and Developmental Disability brings together leading clinicians and researchers to present and integrate cutting-edge models and approaches that have previously been accessible only to specialists. They discuss the role of attachment theory in clinical practice when working across the lifespan of people with IDD, the theoretical basis of attachment difficulties, and how these difficulties are presented. They also discuss practical approaches to assessment and intervention, using clear case studies to illustrate the applications of attachment theory to clinical work.

Becoming Attached

Becoming Attached
Author: Robert Karen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 825
Release: 2024-02-12
Genre: Attachment behavior
ISBN: 0199398798

This expanded and fully updated edition of Becoming Attached tells the story of one of the great undertakings of modern psychology: the hundred-year quest to understand the nature of the child and the components of good-enough care. Psychologist and journalist Robert Karen chronicles the origin and history of a groundbreaking idea - attachment theory - and its resounding impact on the fields of developmental psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis.

The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology

The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology
Author: Philip J. Corr
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2020-07-31
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9781108417099

Research on personality psychology is making important contributions to psychological science and applied psychology. This second edition of The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology offers a one-stop resource for scientific personality psychology. It summarizes cutting-edge personality research in all its forms, including genetics, psychometrics, social-cognitive psychology, and real-world expressions, with informative and lively chapters that also highlight some areas of controversy. The team of renowned international authors, led by two esteemed editors, ensures a wide range of theoretical perspectives. Each research area is discussed in terms of scientific foundations, main theories and findings, and future directions for research. The handbook also features advances in technology, such as molecular genetics and functional neuroimaging, as well as contemporary statistical approaches. An invaluable aid to understanding the central role played by personality in psychology, it will appeal to students, researchers, and practitioners in psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and the social sciences.

Treating Attachment Pathology

Treating Attachment Pathology
Author: Jon Mills
Publisher: Jason Aronson
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2005
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780765701329

This book rectifies a much neglected area in the conceptualization and treatment of attachment disorders. The interface between attachment, psychic structure, and character pathology has been largely ignored in the clinical literature until recent years, and when discussed, it has been generally relegated to the domain of child psychopathology. Because human attachment is such a basic aspect to motivation and adjustment, attachment disruptions in childhood color psychic development and often leave deep and enduring deficits in personality and adaptive functioning. The author shows that patients with attachment deficiencies and associated characterological vulnerabilities have fundamental structural deficits in personality organization that lie at the heart of our current understanding of disorders of the self. Offering the first comprehensive paradigm on the psychoanalytic treatment of adult and adolescent attachment disorders, Jon Mills argues that attachment pathology is a disorder of the self based on developmental trauma that predisposes patients toward a future trajectory marked by structural deficits, character pathology, and interpersonal discord that fuel and sustain myriad forms of clinical symptomatology. This pivotal work constitutes a treatise on the governing psychic processes of attachment on self-organization, adaptation, and conflicted intersubjective dynamics in non-childhood populations, and on the intervening relational parameters in treating their emergent clinical pathologies. Through conceptually astute technical strategies grounded in sold clinical practice, the author offers one of the most extensive and original frameworks in the psychoanalytic treatment of attachment disorders.

Character Strengths and Virtues

Character Strengths and Virtues
Author: Christopher Peterson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 815
Release: 2004-04-08
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0198037333

"Character" has become a front-and-center topic in contemporary discourse, but this term does not have a fixed meaning. Character may be simply defined by what someone does not do, but a more active and thorough definition is necessary, one that addresses certain vital questions. Is character a singular characteristic of an individual, or is it composed of different aspects? Does character--however we define it--exist in degrees, or is it simply something one happens to have? How can character be developed? Can it be learned? Relatedly, can it be taught, and who might be the most effective teacher? What roles are played by family, schools, the media, religion, and the larger culture? This groundbreaking handbook of character strengths and virtues is the first progress report from a prestigious group of researchers who have undertaken the systematic classification and measurement of widely valued positive traits. They approach good character in terms of separate strengths-authenticity, persistence, kindness, gratitude, hope, humor, and so on-each of which exists in degrees. Character Strengths and Virtues classifies twenty-four specific strengths under six broad virtues that consistently emerge across history and culture: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Each strength is thoroughly examined in its own chapter, with special attention to its meaning, explanation, measurement, causes, correlates, consequences, and development across the life span, as well as to strategies for its deliberate cultivation. This book demands the attention of anyone interested in psychology and what it can teach about the good life.