The Psychology of Family History

The Psychology of Family History
Author: Susan Moore
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2020-10-11
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1000196429

This important book examines the motives that drive family historians and explores whether those who research their ancestral pedigrees have distinct personalities, demographics or family characteristics. It describes genealogists’ experiences as they chart their family trees including their insights, dilemmas and the fascinating, sometimes disturbing and often surprising, outcomes of their searches. Drawing on theory and research from psychology and other humanities disciplines, as well as from the authors’ extensive survey data collected from over 800 amateur genealogists, the authors present the experiences of family historians, including personal insights, relationship changes, mental health benefits and ethical dilemmas. The book emphasises the motivation behind this exploration, including the need to acknowledge and tell ancestral stories, the spiritual and health-related aspects of genealogical research, the addictiveness of the detective work, the lifelong learning opportunities and the passionate desire to find lost relatives. With its focus on the role of family history in shaping personal identity and contemporary culture, this is fascinating reading for anyone studying genealogy and family history, professional genealogists and those researching their own history.

Genealogy, Psychology and Identity

Genealogy, Psychology and Identity
Author: Paula Nicolson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2016-12-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1317331486

The popularity of amateur genealogy and family history has soared in recent times. Genealogy, Psychology and Identity explores this popular international pastime and offers reasons why it informs our sense of who we are, and our place in both contemporary culture and historical context. We will never know any of the people we discover from our histories in person, but for several reasons we recognize that their lives shaped ours. Paula Nicolson draws on her experiences tracing her own family history to show how people can connect with archival material, using documents and texts to expand their knowledge and understanding of the psychosocial experiences of their ancestors. Key approaches to identity and relationships lend clues to our own lives but also to what psychosocial factors run across generations. Attachment and abandonment, trusting, being let down, becoming independent, migration, health and money, all resonate with the psychological experiences that define the outlooks, personalities and the ways that those who came before us related to others. Nicolson highlights the importance of genealogy in the development of identity and the therapeutic potential of family history in cultivating well-being that will be of interest to those researching their own family tree, genealogists and counsellors, as well as students and researchers in social psychology and social history.

The Psychology of Searching

The Psychology of Searching
Author: Penny Walters
Publisher:
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2020-02-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9781687167262

Historically, family history research and compiling pedigrees was needed for landed gentry, but is now a popular hobby. Why the sudden interest? This book will look at psychological explanations as to why we are interested in our family tree and our ancestors' pasts. We will look at the psychology of contextualising ourselves, tribal territoriality, kinship, experiencing genealogical voids from separation, the notion of homelands, romanticised heritages, cultural dejavu, race memory, becoming obsessed with searching, and putting all the pieces in our jigsaw. Why do we avidly research distant ancestors that we share so little DNA with, and feel less connection to second cousins? We will discuss the role of gender and culture in devising a tree, and how we develop an apparently seamless narrative based on fragmented information we have gleaned from various sources. Do you like your name? What are the naming patterns in your community? Has social media made us lonely, and we hoard people? How do we feel about death and dying? What do you want on your gravestone? Are we searching for who they were, or who we are?

Tracing Family Lines

Tracing Family Lines
Author: Amy M. Smith
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 131
Release: 2012-10-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0739166239

Family genealogy research has grown exponentially over the past decade, making it an area worthy of scholarly inquest. Tracing Family Lines: The Impact of Genealogy Research on Family Communication, by Amy M. Smith, explores the connection between women and genealogy by examining the ways inherited familial narratives and data work to position women within American culture. Although studies of women’s lives are on the rise, the standpoint(s) of women has historically been marginalized, particularly as women continue to be relegated to domestic and family care. Through researching these standpoints, we are better able to see the political constructions of sexist oppression, as well as the ways genealogy offers a possible site for resistance. Interviewing women who are engaged in the act of researching their own family genealogy provides insight into their motivation for doing so. In documenting the family communication that surrounds the genealogical data, as well as studying the family organizational structure, this study contributes to the existing research regarding family history and family narrative. As many of these women are members of local genealogical societies, they are also able to address aspects of community membership, and the positioning of women within these organizations. As women and genealogy are both under-researched, Tracing Family Lines illuminates the experiences of women genealogists, to understand the impact of genealogical data upon family communication, and to explore family genealogy as a site of feminist resistance to the socio-political marginalization of women.

You Can Go Home Again

You Can Go Home Again
Author: Monica McGoldrick
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 334
Release: 1997-06-03
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780393316506

In this revelatory book, esteemed family therapist Monica McGoldrick explores why families behave as they do, using genograms (family trees) to illustrate family patterns. Mapped out over a three-generation span, repeated estrangements, alliances, even divorces and suicides, prove more than coincidental. McGoldrick uses the genograms of famous families - including the Kennedys, Hepburns, Beethovens and Brontes - the discuss the influence of birth order and sibling rivalry, family myths and secrets, cultural differences, couple relationships and the pivotal role of loss. Relevant questions to ask appear at the end of each chapter, helping the reader become researcher, uncovering information previously withheld, misunderstood or overlooked.

Genealogy, Psychology and Therapy

Genealogy, Psychology and Therapy
Author: Paula Nicolson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2022-07-15
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1000615693

Fully revised and updated, Genealogy, Psychology and Therapy highlights the importance of genealogy in the development of identity, and the therapeutic potential of family history in cultivating wellbeing. The popularity of amateur genealogy and family history has soared in recent times. We will never know any of the people we discover from our histories in person, but for several reasons, we recognize that their lives shaped ours. Key approaches to identity and relationships lend clues to our own lives but also to what psychosocial factors run across generations. Attachment and abandonment, trusting, being let down, becoming independent, migration, health and money, all resonate with the psychological experiences that define the outlooks, personalities and the ways that those who came before us related to others. This new edition builds on the original book, Genealogy, Psychology, and Identity, by highlighting the work of Erik Erikson along with studies of the quality of attachment, historical social conditions especially war, forced migration, health inequalities and financial uncertainty, to enable a more detailed understanding of trauma and its long shadow, and to focus on how genealogy informs our identities and emotional health status, exploring the transmission of trauma across generations. The intergenerational transmission of trauma is examined using analysis of real-life family examples, alongside an assessment of a narrative therapy approach to healing. The book expands on how psychological practices together with genealogical evidence may impart resilience and emotional repair, and develops the discussion of the psychological methods by which we interconnect in a reflective way with material from archival databases, family stories and photographs and other sources including DNA. Showing how people can connect with archival material, using documents and texts to expand their knowledge and understanding of the psychosocial experiences of their ancestors, this book will be of interest to those researching their own family tree, genealogists and counsellors, as well as students and researchers in social psychology and social history.

Family-Of-Origin Therapy

Family-Of-Origin Therapy
Author: James L. Framo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2013-05-24
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1134851626

Considers the family-of-origin approach to the psychiatric counselling of adults in marital, family and individual therapy. The text discusses theoretical and clinical implications and provides three case studies to illustrate the application of this method.

Parents & Chldr In History

Parents & Chldr In History
Author: David Hunt
Publisher: New York : Basic Books
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1970-05-21
Genre: Psychology
ISBN:

L’opera affronta sotto l’aspetto psicologico il tema della vita familiare in Francia tra il Sedicesimo e il Diciottesimo secolo. Il testo è suddiviso in quattro parti: la prima, è dedicata all’inquadramento psicologico sull’argomento; la seconda è dedicata ai genitori; la terza parte si occupa dei bambini e degli adolescenti e, infine, l’ultima parte contiene le conclusioni dell’autore.