Our Inner Custodian

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-231
Author(s):  
Ritva Palmén

Current approaches to understanding shame are rooted in controversial and even radically contrasting assumptions about shame and its relevance for social interaction and individual well-being. Classical and medieval sources themselves embrace surprisingly various notions about the workings of shame. While the Aristotelian tradition prevails in late antique and medieval philosophical psychology, it is also possible to discern a parallel tradition of shame that adapts and exploits Latin Stoic and eclectic material. This article surveys this largely unexplored Latin tradition (Cicero and Ambrose) and its treatment in later moral-philosophical and pastoral debates (Gregory the Great, Richard of St. Victor, Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, and William Peraldus). Late antique and medieval Christian authors regard a positive responsiveness to shame as a constructive habit signaling the ability to live a socially harmonious life. The discussion demonstrates the inherent moral value of shame (and other self-reflexive emotions) and the constitutive role of shame for moral agency.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Chester Evans ◽  
Jennifer Bray ◽  
Claire Garabedian

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on an independent evaluation of a three-year “Creative Ageing” programme, focussing on the impacts for participants and factors promoting successful delivery of sessions. Design/methodology/approach Artists provided feedback through reflective journals and questionnaires, while the views of care staff and participants were also captured in a standard format at the end of each arts session. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data identified common themes. Findings Twenty-three arts projects were delivered across a range of settings and through diverse art forms including dance, drama, music, visual arts and poetry. They reached nearly 2,200 participants who recorded over 8,100 session attendances in total. Participation in high quality creative experiences improved well-being for older people, as well as increasing social interaction and reducing isolation. Several factors facilitated successful implementation and delivery of the activities, particularly the need to hold planning meetings with staff to provide guidance around participant numbers and suitability, minimising disruption of the sessions and the supportive role of staff during the sessions. Opportunities for reflection enabled artists to address potential challenges and adapt their practice to meet the needs and preferences of participants and to the complexities of diverse settings. Originality/value Previous research has largely focussed on the impact of activities in a single setting. This study supports the role of creative arts in increasing social interaction as an attempt to tackle isolation and loneliness, both for older people living in the community and for those living in a communal setting such as care homes and supported living schemes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Bagnoli

Are the emotions relevant for the theory of value and normativity? Is there a set of morally correct arrangements of emotions? Current debates are often structured as though there were only two theoretical options to approach these questions, a sentimentalist theory of some sort, which emphasizes the role of emotions in forming ethical behaviour and practical thought, and intellectualist rationalism, which denies that emotions can help at all in generating normativity and contributing to moral value, hence also denying that they may have any role to play in moral agency and moral thinking. In what follows, I will offer a Kantian account of ‘practical reason’ as the seat of moral agency, which recognizes a diversified and complex relation between reason and sensibility.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Shen

Abstract Excessive smartphone use has recently become a topic of interest. Prior studies have suggested that psychological well-being variables and motivations are important predictors of excessive smartphone use. However, few have examined the internal mechanism of these factors in leading to excessive smartphone use. Based on Compensatory Internet Use theory, we investigated the moderating role of psychological resilience between two types of motivation — escapism and social interaction — and excessive smartphone use. Selecting 576 typical smartphone users, we found: (1) Escapism motivation and psychological resilience significantly correlate with excessive smartphone use, whereas social interaction motivation does not; (2) Psychological resilience moderates the relationship between both escapism and social interaction motivation and excessive smartphone use. Our study demonstrates the mechanism of different types of motivation and the protective effect of psychological resilience on excessive smartphone use. Thus, we emphasize resilience training that would help train people to be able to cope with life problems more effectively.


Author(s):  
Borivoje Baltezarević ◽  
Vesna Baltezarević

With the emergence of digital media, traditional sport got computer platforms as a new kind of gaming space. eSports, as a modern form of gaming, has become an inevitable part of the digital game culture. The aim of this research is to determine if there is a connection between playing eSports video games and sport knowledge, competition skills, social interaction, skill building for problem solving and pleasurable stimulation which leads to emotional well-being. The survey encompassed 256 respondents who filled out a questionnaire that provided answers to questions that enabled us to look at the attitudes of respondents who were tested in relation to the hypotheses set out in this paper. The research has shown that respondents believe that this type of game and the amateur competition has a positive impact on players and helps them advance their knowledge of sports, cognitive skills for competition and socialization, as well as helps them to feel good in the role of players.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Letyagina ◽  

The article discusses the role of natural and artificial smells in regulation of social interaction. It is pointed out that olfactory self-representation is not only cultural, but socio-psychological phenomenon as well. The article presents results of the empirical study of gender socio-psychological characteristics of olfactory self-presentation of a personality that has been carried out on a sample of 170 persons (90 men and 80 women aged 18–55 years old). It has been pointed out that smell can act as a marker of gender identity, carry information about character, personal trains, and act as a symbol of situation and well-being. The author comes to the conclusion that there are gender differences in characteristics of olfactory self-presentation of a personality that are conditioned by individual and socio-psychological peculiarities of a personality. The applied aspect of the problem under study can be realized in imagology and advertising.


Author(s):  
Ludwig Hödl

In spite of the fact that Henry of Gent (†1293) had a major and lasting influence on the developments at the University of Paris after the condemnation of the errores philosophorum in 1277, the Gandavistae – pupils of Henry of Gent – are hardly known by their proper names in the history of philosophy. As a member of the theological and philosophical faculty, Henry broke with the predominant Averroistic approach to Aristotle’s conception of science and concentrated, instead, on the Aristotelian tradition. He defended a revised version of the Aristotelian doctrine of the categories along the lines of the pseudo-Boethian Liber de sex principiis and ascribed fundamental eminence to relatio, a category which was considered ontologically “debilissimus” among the Aristotelians. John de Polliaco († p. 1321) was a pupil of Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Gent and Godfrey of Fontaines during the seventies of the 13th century. In his Quodlibet I, q. 7, dating from 1307, he gave a controversial account of the notion of relation that was favoured by Henry’s adherents: “Does the relation, expressed as a (modal) respect, differ from the respects (respectus) expressed by the six principles?” In this discussion he attacks the intentional and modal interpretation given by the Gandavistae and calls them non-reales. Is this accusation already an indication of the rise of 14th century nominalism?


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Budithi Sushma ◽  
Gadiraju Padmaja ◽  
Swati Agarwal

Social anxiety is a disorder that most often arises in childhood. This results in social problems in childhood as well as adulthood. Institutionalised children have been known to display many emotional and behavioural problems but the role of social anxiety in these problems has not been explored. The present study assessed the effect of institutional care on social interaction anxiety in children and further assessed the role of social interaction anxiety in emotional and behavioural problems in children. The relationship between social interaction anxiety, psychosocial problems and well being in institutionalised and non institutionalised children was also analysed in the study. 116 children between the age range of 12 to 15 years, which included 40 institutionalised and 76 non institutionalised children, were assessed using the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ) and Adolescent Well being Scale. It was found that type of care and gender did play a role in social interaction anxiety. Further, social interaction anxiety was associated with psychosocial problems and well being in children. Programs targeting creation of awareness in the caretakers/supervisors in the institutions in this area, and programs aimed at improving the interactional skills of institutionalised children appear to be essential.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund

Abstract. Establishing new social relationships is important for mastering developmental transitions in young adulthood. In a 2-year longitudinal study with four measurement occasions (T1: n = 245, T2: n = 96, T3: n = 103, T4: n = 85), we investigated the role of social motives in college students’ mastery of the transition of moving out of the parental home, using loneliness as an indicator of poor adjustment to the transition. Students with strong social approach motivation reported stable and low levels of loneliness. In contrast, students with strong social avoidance motivation reported high levels of loneliness. However, this effect dissipated relatively quickly as most of the young adults adapted to the transition over a period of several weeks. The present study also provides evidence for an interaction between social approach and social avoidance motives: Social approach motives buffered the negative effect on social well-being of social avoidance motives. These results illustrate the importance of social approach and social avoidance motives and their interplay during developmental transitions.


Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danica W. Y. Liu ◽  
A. Kate Fairweather-Schmidt ◽  
Richard Burns ◽  
Rachel M. Roberts ◽  
Kaarin J. Anstey

Abstract. Background: Little is known about the role of resilience in the likelihood of suicidal ideation (SI) over time. Aims: We examined the association between resilience and SI in a young-adult cohort over 4 years. Our objectives were to determine whether resilience was associated with SI at follow-up or, conversely, whether SI was associated with lowered resilience at follow-up. Method: Participants were selected from the Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life Project from Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia, aged 28–32 years at the first time point and 32–36 at the second. Multinomial, linear, and binary regression analyses explored the association between resilience and SI over two time points. Models were adjusted for suicidality risk factors. Results: While unadjusted analyses identified associations between resilience and SI, these effects were fully explained by the inclusion of other suicidality risk factors. Conclusion: Despite strong cross-sectional associations, resilience and SI appear to be unrelated in a longitudinal context, once risk/resilience factors are controlled for. As independent indicators of psychological well-being, suicidality and resilience are essential if current status is to be captured. However, the addition of other factors (e.g., support, mastery) makes this association tenuous. Consequently, resilience per se may not be protective of SI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Zuber ◽  
Matthias Kliegel

Abstract. Prospective Memory (PM; i.e., the ability to remember to perform planned tasks) represents a key proxy of healthy aging, as it relates to older adults’ everyday functioning, autonomy, and personal well-being. The current review illustrates how PM performance develops across the lifespan and how multiple cognitive and non-cognitive factors influence this trajectory. Further, a new, integrative framework is presented, detailing how those processes interplay in retrieving and executing delayed intentions. Specifically, while most previous models have focused on memory processes, the present model focuses on the role of executive functioning in PM and its development across the lifespan. Finally, a practical outlook is presented, suggesting how the current knowledge can be applied in geriatrics and geropsychology to promote healthy aging by maintaining prospective abilities in the elderly.


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