Search Results (57)

Extensive explorations in neuroscience, psychology, and psychotherapy increasingly recognized the embodied and relational foundations of selfhood, underscoring the need for an integrated framework spanning development, psychopathology, and therapeutic change. This narrative review synthesizes empirical and theoretical literature across neuroscience, embodiment research, predictive processing, developmental science, phenomenology, and psychodynamic theory, proposing a multidimensional neuropsychodynamic framework of embodied selfhood and its clinical implications. A central contribution is the positioning of Peripersonal Space (PPS) as an embodied action-oriented interface that functions as a primary developmental scaffold for bodily self-consciousness, self-other relations, affect regulation and temporal continuity. PPS is proposed as a dynamic matrix linking embodied predictive self-processes with relational experience, thereby shaping subjective temporality and autobiographical processes. Within this framework, subjective time emerges through bodily rhythms, interpersonal synchronization, and predictive engagement with environmental affordances. These embodied temporal processes gradually extend toward autobiographical continuity and mentalizing capacities, supported by coordinated interactions among large-scale brain networks. Psychodynamic concepts including holding, containment, dimensionality, and symbolic transformation are revisited in dialogue with contemporary embodied and relational neuroscience. Clinically, disturbances of selfhood across psychopathological conditions are discussed in relation to altered PPS organization, disturbances in self-evidencing, and embodied temporal continuity. Psychotherapeutic change is conceptualized as involving gradual reorganization across embodied, affective, and reflective dimensions through co-regulation, interpersonal attunement, and temporally extended relational engagement. Overall, this perspective advances a process-oriented and interdisciplinary framework linking embodiment, temporality, autobiographical integration, and psychotherapy, while highlighting directions for future interdisciplinary research at the interface of neuroscience, embodiment and psychodynamics. Full article

Internet rumor refutation represents a critical issue in the current governance of the Internet information environment. Different from the mainstream research that focuses on refutation subjects, methods, and information presentation formats, this study adopts a psychological perspective at the individual level to examine how a typical environmental factor—social crowding (the subjective psychological experience arising when spatial demand exceeds supply due to high population density per unit area) affects individuals’ willingness to refute rumors, as well as the mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions of this effect. The findings provide implications for motivating individual participation in Internet rumor refutation. Considering rumor refutation as a prosocial behavior, this study integrates the moral judgment framework and focuses on the positive side of greater self-other overlap induced by social crowding. Through one questionnaire survey and two experimental studies, most of the hypotheses are supported. The results indicate that social crowding positively influences willingness to refute rumors, with impression management and social connectedness serving as parallel mediators in this relationship. Additionally, interdependent self-construal positively moderates the relationship between social crowding and social connectedness, whereas the moderating role of independent self-construal was not supported. This study expands online rumor-refutation research from the perspective of environmental antecedents, proposes an altruistic-egoistic dual-pathway model, and provides practical implications for governments and social media platforms in rumor governance. Full article

Population aging poses growing social and economic challenges, yet effective psychological interventions targeting ageism remain limited. The present research examined whether future-aged-self perspective taking increases self–other overlap with older adults and promotes prosocial behavioral responses toward them, and whether these effects depend on decision-making context. In Study 1 (N = 160), participants completed a perspective-taking task followed by a Dictator Game. Individuals who imagined their future aged self reported greater self–other overlap with older adults and allocated more resources to older, compared with younger, targets. Study 2 (N = 143) extended this investigation using a Welfare Trade-Off Task that manipulated gain versus loss framing. Participants in the future-aged-self condition again reported higher self–other overlap and stronger intentions to communicate with older adults. They also showed higher welfare trade-off ratios favoring older adults under gain-framed conditions, whereas no significant group difference emerged under loss framing. These findings suggest that future-aged-self perspective taking can enhance young adults’ prosocial responses toward older adults, but that its effectiveness is contingent on situational framing. Temporal-self interventions may be most effective when prosocial action is framed as allocating potential gains rather than accepting explicit personal losses. Full article

This paper examines Christian icons in Panjab, in northern India, and their relationship to the larger discourse on race, iconoclasm, and decentering Whiteness in the United States. I analyze the appropriation of Panjabi idioms woven into Christian icons to interrogate the alleged case of forced conversions of lower caste, Mazhabi Sikhs, and the atmospheres of violence. Focusing on the beheading of Christ and Mary’s pieta statue in a church in Tarn Taran, Panjab in 2022, I investigate the iconic materiality and vexed histories of the religious symbol through a visual studies lens. How do Christian images signal liminal material presences that oscillate between their identity of sacred icons and of hegemonic monuments of white supremacy? Using a Lacanian psychoanalytic and decolonial framework, I argue that entangled in the politics of memory, Christian icons are an impregnated space of intersecting colonial histories of oppression and conversion entrenched in hierarchies of race, class, and caste. This study contributes to understanding the growing impact of Christianity in northern India, the war of narratives being enacted upon its icons, and its relationship to anti-colonial and anti-racial expressions of transnational iconoclasm to posit a bigger question: Is there a way to navigate through the dense matrix of colonialism, race, religion, caste, and violence to reclaim agency through Mignolo’s call for a “praxis of decolonial healing”? Full article

Mind–body practices such as meditation, yoga, and martial arts have been suggested to enhance flexible self-experience and psychological well-being. However, few studies have examined short-term effects of contemplative bodywork rooted in traditional martial arts on perception of self–other boundaries and relevant psychological states. The present study employed a three-arm randomized controlled design to examine psychological effects of the Wakame Exercise, a paired body–mind practice derived from a school of martial arts in Japan. Seventy undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 45 min session of wakame exercise (N = 25; 20 females, 5 males; M age = 19.4, SD = 0.64), a control practice, Push-Hand Sumo (N = 25; 15 females, 10 males; M age = 19.5, SD = 1.20), or rest (N = 20; 17 females, 3 males; M age = 19.4, SD = 1.09). Outcomes included nondual awareness, perceived body boundaries, creative attitudes, decentering, and positive/negative affect. The wakame exercise group showed significant increase in nondual awareness (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = −1.74) and decrease in the salience of perceived body boundaries (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.25) following practice, which were more apparent than controls. Within the wakame exercise group, nondual awareness was significantly positively correlated with creative attitudes, and higher creative attitudes were associated with greater decentering following practice. These findings suggest that brief paired practices rooted in Eastern martial arts can promote nondual awareness and temporary boundary dissolution, potentially enhancing creativity (Approved by the Ethics Review Committee on Research with Human Subjects of Waseda University, No. 2022–397). Full article

This study investigated the asymmetrical effects of intentions and outcomes on moral blame and praise within scenarios involving harm and help. By manipulating self–other perspective differences and the severity of outcomes, it further explored their moderating roles in these asymmetrical effects. The key findings include the following: (1) Intention and outcome asymmetrically influenced moral blame and praise: moral blame prioritized intentions, whereas moral praise emphasized outcomes. (2) Self–other perspectives moderated the asymmetric effects of behavioural intentions and outcomes on moral blame but did not moderate the asymmetric effect on moral praise: from the perspective of others, blame tended to focus on intentions, while the self-perspective prioritized outcomes. (3) Outcome severity moderated the effect of behavioural intentions on moral blame and moral praise. Compared to severe outcomes, intention was a stronger predictor of blame and praise when the outcome was minor; however, this moderating effect was specifically observed for moral blame from others’ perspectives and for moral praise from self-perspective. Full article

Aside from a few passages addressing animals or the environment, Confucian philosophy appears to lack an environmental ethics perspective. Li Zhehou’s (李澤厚) contemporary work in Confucian philosophy continues this lacuna by limiting his understanding of community to the human realm. Using the common liberal humanism that limits moral actions to the interpersonal human realm misses the importance of inclusive moralities such as animal rights and environmental ethics. I propose that if we return to the original shared common cultural roots of Confucian and Daoist philosophy that a Confucian understanding of the natural world can embrace the non-human environment within the scope of Confucian morality. Extricating ideas from the Yijing, the Shijing, Xunzi, Dong Zhongshu, Wang Chong, and later scholars, the concept of the mutual resonance and response (ganying 感應) between the natural world and humans developed into the unity of heaven and humanity (tianren heyi 天人合一). An inclusive Confucian depth ecology opens new ways of thinking that can be deployed to envision deeper dimensions for understanding the self’s inner life, its connections to the outer life of the self–other relationship, and its extension to a kin relationship with the environment. This paper explores how these old and new ways of thinking can change our behavior and change our moral interactions with others including the environment and thereby enhancing freedom as an achievement concept derived from graceful moral action. Full article

Background/Objectives: Sensory attenuation refers to the reduced perceptual intensity of self-generated stimuli and is considered a key marker of the sense of agency. While this phenomenon has been widely documented in individual contexts, less is known about how it operates during cooperative actions. In this study, we adopted a psychophysical approach to investigate sensory attenuation for auditory stimuli in both individual and interactive action contexts and examined the role of empathic traits in shaping the experience of agency. Methods: A two-forced choices perceptual judgement task with auditory stimuli was adopted in healthy participants (n = 57), who judged the loudness of tones generated either by themselves or another person, across individual and cooperative conditions. To control for the factor of gender that might potentially influence prosocial attitudes, only cisgender women were included in this study. Our findings confirmed sensory attenuation for self-generated sounds in cooperative actions. However, contrary to previous reports, we did not observe enhanced attenuation in interactive contexts; instead, other-generated sounds were perceived as louder when embedded in cooperative actions. Notably, higher levels of empathic concern and perspective-taking were associated with reduced sensory attenuation in individual contexts, suggesting that empathy may modulate perceived self–other boundaries in agency experience. Conclusions: These results challenge the view of sensory attenuation as a strict functional signature of self-agency and support a sensorimotor equivalence model, in which social and psychological variables shape the perception of action outcomes. This evidence is also supported by the convergence of neural networks involved in agency, perspective-taking, and empathy. Full article

Swearing, a highly emotive form of expression, has recently attracted growing interest from researchers. Yet, swearing is still largely unexamined as a form of self-talk among professional athletes, coaches, and casual exercisers. This study aims to fill that gap by creating and validating the Use of Swear Words in Sport and Exercise Questionnaire (USWSEQ), an innovative instrument intended to assess how often athletes, coaches, and recreational exercisers utilize common swear words. The questionnaire was administered to 513 participants and underwent exploratory (n = 333) and confirmatory (n = 180) factor analyses to evaluate its content structure, reliability, and validity. Results confirmed a robust two-factor model: (1) Self/Other Degradation, and (2) Situational Swearing. Notably, the study emphasizes the complexity involved in researching language, because swear words can be semantically ambiguous, pragmatically flexible, and deeply embedded in culture. These attributes present challenges for conventional psychometric methods and highlight the importance of function-based and context-aware frameworks. Full article

The article discusses communicative exchanges between infants and adults with a view to their performative aesthetic dimensions and implications for self and self–other relationships. It argues that infants are deictic and relational selves, who both respond and initiate aesthetic and performative exchanges with other persons. By recognising that aesthetic communication is operative on two levels, one more basic if also predominantly tacit (sharing), the other explicit and active (exchange), we can better understand the significance of aesthetic communication for selfhood and intersubjectivity in infancy, but also beyond. Full article

The digital transformation of work and the rise of remote workers (RWs) are gaining growing interest in occupational health science. However, research on managers’ role in well-being can be developed more. Aiming to bridge this gap, this study first defines and explores the Digital Stress-Preventive Management Competencies (DMCs) and then develops and validates an indicator tool with a three-phase procedure. Phase 1 consisted of a literature review and interviews with experts to identify DMCs, followed by item generation, content analysis and competencies conceptualization. Phase 2 was devoted to tool validation, comprising exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with 247 RWs. Phase 3 explored the concurrent validity by investigating the relationship between DMCs and psychosocial factors via structural equation modeling (sample Phase 2) and polynomial regression with response surface analysis on 50 manager–team dyads (RWs 218). Two key competencies were identified: supportive ICT-mediated interaction (SIMI) and avoidance of abusive ICT adoption (AAIA). The final nine-item tool revealed a two-factor structure and good psychometric properties. SIMI was associated with superior support and role, while AAIA was linked to demands and control reported by RWs. These findings suggest that the DMCs identified and the related tool have potential applications in future organizational intervention content and for research purposes. Full article

Background/Objectives: Adolescence is a developmental stage characterized by profound physical and psychological transformations, often leading to vulnerabilities such as body dissatisfaction, identity challenges, and the use of maladaptive coping strategies. This often leads to body-related psychopathologies, including headaches, restrictive eating disorders, and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The present study aimed to describe the typical functioning and features of these conditions and the differences between the three groups, and to identify the most effective assessment for predicting these conditions. Methods: Sixty adolescent patients (51 female; mean age = 15.34 ± 1.80) were divided into three groups: headaches, restrictive eating disorders, and NSSI, and assessed for differences in symptoms, cognitive performance, personality, functioning, and illness severity using semi-structured interviews, clinician-based scales, and performance-based tests like the Rorschach inkblot test, according to the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS). Results: Individuals with headaches experienced more internalizing symptoms, had an average IQ, maintained some functioning areas, and had distorted patterns of self–other relationships with the tendency to project malevolent aspects onto others. Patients with restrictive eating disorders had high levels of depressive symptoms, above-average IQ scores, negative symptoms, moderate presence of obsessive–compulsive personality traits, disorganized thinking, and a tendency to interpret situations subjectively. Patients with NSSI showed the highest level of depressive symptoms and social anxiety symptoms, and a considerable presence of psychotic symptoms and perceptual distortions. Negative symptoms, borderline personality traits, and psychosis symptoms had the strongest predictivity. Conclusions: The study provides clinicians with relevant insights into the features of these conditions and highlights assessment strategies, tailored interventions, and enhanced outcomes for these vulnerable populations. Full article

Background: Patients with Complex Trauma (CT) may have an impaired ability to trust others and build intimate relationships due to non-integrated representations of self and others. This sometimes leads to an oscillation between needing and fearing intimacy in their adult relationships. This dynamic can occur in the therapeutic relationship, undermining the effectiveness of therapy and affecting the mental health of both the patient and the therapist. To date, no study has analyzed interpersonal patient–therapist dynamics in cases of CT. The present case aims to fill this gap by exploring relational cycles between the therapist and the patient during the therapeutic process in terms of goals and self–other beliefs. Methods: The methodology consisted of a shared and integrated reconstruction by the patient and therapist, both with clinical expertise in psychology, of the impasse in their therapeutic relationship. The reading was done through the lens of the cognitive model of Pathological Affective Dependence, a theory of traumatic relationships, by describing the primary interpersonal cycles occurring in the therapeutic relationship (altruistic, deontological, and vulnerable). Results: The condition of CT leads to several alliance breakdowns and specific interpersonal cycles, leading to new healing meanings for the patient and the relationship itself. Limitations: The study’s main limitation is that it consists of a qualitative analysis of the therapeutic relationship without data that can quantify the clinically observed changes. Conclusions: This case report demonstrates how CT, PAD and the fear of intimacy can be risk factors for the therapeutic alliance and how the therapeutic relationship constitutes a fundamental tool for intervention effectiveness in patients who experience unmet primary needs. Full article

Social network sites (SNSs) have brought about profound changes in the way people relate to others, including their romantic partners. Despite the advantages SNSs may have for building and managing romantic relationships, their use can be linked to risky behaviors within romantic relationships, such as the emergence of jealousy, control, and intrusiveness, i.e., cyber dating abuse (CDA) behaviors. The present study, in a sample of 315 Italian young adults involved in a romantic relationship (74.6 percent women and 25.4 percent men) aged 20 to 33 years (M = 24.17; SD = 2.60), explored CDA behaviors and their association with self-other overlap. Findings showed a positive association between self-other overlap and the frequency of CDA behaviors. That is, those who struggled to recognize their partners as different from themselves tended to control and enact intrusive behaviors toward them. This association, however, was moderated by the partners’ relationship duration, so that it was only significant for partners in a long-term relationship. The study expands our understanding of CDA behaviors in romantic relationships, contributing to identifying the conditions under which they are more likely to be perpetrated. In addition, it helps inform interventions for preventing risky behaviors within young adults’ romantic relationships. Full article

This work tests self–other differences in the impact bias using the perspectives of psychological distance and decision from description vs. experience. Two studies compared the bias participants made for themselves and for others in a sequential gambling task. The task involved two identical gambles where the first gamble was mandatory and participants made decisions (accept or reject) for the second gamble. Planned decisions were made anticipating a gain or loss in the first gamble, and revised decisions were made following the actual experience of gain or loss. Study 1 compared decisions for self, abstract other, and a close friend. Study 2 replicated the comparison between the self and a close friend and added a measure of empathy. Both studies demonstrated an impact bias indicating that participants tended to overestimate the impact of anticipated outcomes on their tendency towards risk. Specifically, revised decisions indicated risk-aversion shifts after experienced gain and risk-seeking shifts after experienced loss. A reversed pattern emerged for close friends, indicating risky shifts after gain and cautious shifts after loss in Study 1 and for highly empathetic participants in Study 2. Assessing the utility functions that underlie participants’ decisions revealed a qualitative difference. The utility function for the self was consistent with prospect theory (with moderate intensity and diminishing sensitivity), while the utility function for others was more intense with little or no diminishing sensitivity. This research offers new insights regarding the roles of psychological distance and description vs. experience in affective forecasting and impact bias for self vs. other. Full article