Doctrine of Affections

The “doctrine of affections” is a legendary creature created by early-20th-century German musicologists: its head is made of prescriptive treatises and its body of descriptive compositions. The term has however entered scholarly parlance and is commonly used to refer to a cluster of theorizations and compositional strategies that shared a common aim: emphasizing the affective dimension of music in order to move the listener. The “doctrine of affections” derives its name from the German term Affektenlehre and it lived its golden age in the Baroque era (see the Oxford Bibliographies article on Baroque Music and its section “Music-Theoretical Issues”). It merges a renewed humanistic interest in the ars rhetorica, ensued to the rediscovery of texts such as Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria during the 15th century, with an interest in the mechanics of the passions, fostered by Descartes’ Passions de l’âme (1649). The power of music to raise or soothe the passions had already been discussed by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle (the latter’s theory of catharsis proving especially successful during the Renaissance), and in some sense “doctrines of affections” have often accompanied the history of thinking about music and its effects. However the “doctrine of affections” stricto sensu is tied to the revival of doctrines of musical ethos by the humanists, in combination with medical elements derived from galenic temperament theory and with the idea of musica humana derived from Boethius (Ficino’s theories being a notable example of this combination). Baroque doctrines of affections, while deriving some themes—such as the link between modes and affects—from these former traditions, modified their gravity center. From a Renaissance medical model interested in the bodily transformations induced by music, the focus shifts to a rhetorical model interested in producing determinate effects on the listeners in the orator’s mode. During the 16th and 17th centuries, from the philosophical upsurge of interest in passions themselves and in their communicability and from the coeval transformations in musical compositional techniques, a renovated rhetorical discourse on affective music and its relation to the poetical texts was drafted. Drawing on the speculations of authors like Descartes, Mersenne, and Kircher, 18th-century theorists tried to single out the affective power of modes and figures, albeit without creating universal theories. These musico-rhetorical theories dawned when a new way of addressing the world of the passions and affections was devised later in the 18th century.

Assessment of students’ mental health assessment in positive and negative aspect. Mental health inventory (IZP)

The aim of the study was to develop and validate a standardized inventory assessing the mental health of young adults. The originality of the proposed approach lies in the fact that the inventory refers to both the positive and negative dimension of mental health. 405 students were examined, including 292 women and 113 men. When assessing the accuracy of the newly created instrument, the covariance of its results with the results of other tools measuring mental health or its aspects: General Health Questionnaire GHQ-28; Questionnaire for Quality of Life Assessment WHOQL-BREF; Questionnaire of Life Orientation by A. Antonowsky was assessed. Additionally, the covariance of personality traits defined by the Big Five Model as well as a temperamental dimensions of Regulative Temperament Theory was assessed. An analysis of the factor structure of the questionnaire was also performed. Although the results of the factor analysis indicate a unidimensional structure of the IZP, the correlation between its two dimensions equals -0.65. In addition, there was a correlation between both the positive dimension of mental health and negative health with neuroticism and emotional reactivity. The results of analyzes of personality and temperamental measures with data obtained using the Mental Health Inventory suggest the utility of the tool in the assessment of mental health indicators in both negative and positive aspect.

The Psychological Profile of Church of England Male Archdeacons at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century: Drawing on Psychological Type and Temperament Theory

Recent discussion and research has pointed to the changing functions of archdeacons within the Church of England as the role has become expanded to combine both the traditional statutory functions with flexible and visionary leadership skills within a changing church. This study draws on data collected in 2009 from 186 active and retired male archdeacons in order to assess the psychological profile established by that time. Compared with the psychological profile of 626 clergymen, male archdeacons were much more likely to prefer the SJ temperament (60 per cent compared with 31 per cent), a temperament ideally suited for effective administration of the statutory functions. As a consequence, preference for intuition was lower among male archdeacons (38 per cent compared with 62 per cent), as was preference for perceiving (9 per cent compared with 32 per cent), qualities core for flexibility and visionary leadership.

The Profile of Physical Problem-Solving Based on Student’s Personality Types

Problem solving is important for learning physics at any level which involves the process of analysing, interpreting, reasoning, predicting, evaluating and reflecting. However, researches about problem-solving strategies or techniques based on students’ personality have not been widely practiced. This strategy is important to be studied based on thoughts, characters and actions of students. Therefore, the aims of the research are to connect students problem solving of physics based on their personality and identify students problem solving pattern based on their personality according to The Four Temperament Theory of Keirsey (1998). The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative research with the type of Investigation of Lived Experience that explores inner experiences (Gall et al, 2003). Subjects in this study are 12th grade students of science class program of MAN 1 Banyumas which is determined by stratified sampling approach. They were divided into homogeneous groups. The grouping is based on Keirsey's four personality types: Idealist, Artisan, Guardian and Rational. Each personality type, selected nine students as research subjects are determined using purposive sampling technique. The results showed that the strategy of physics problem solving of Idealist type was conceptual problem solving, Artisan type used intuitive-analogic for solving the problem, Guardian type used intuitive for solving the problem, and Rational type used analogic strategy for solving the problem.

Functional systems theory and the activity-specific approach in psychological taxonomies

This brief opinion contribution reflects on the application of Anokhin's functional systems theory in the development of models of temperament in Russian differential psychophysiology. It points to the benefits of using an activity-specific approach in temperament theory. This approach suggests separating traits related to physical, communicative and mental aspects of behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.

The Concept of Dreams and Dreaming: A Hindu Perspective

The present paper presents Hindu approaches to dreams. In the west there are numerous concepts, theories, schools and information with regard to dreams. Hindu concepts about and approaches to dreams, though, are relatively untouched and unexplored and are thus largely unknown to westerners. The main concept of dreams and dreaming is closely linked to Hindu philosophy, mythology, and ancient writings such as the Puranas, Vedas, Upanishads, and so on. The major essence of the eternal self (atman), the seven fold classification of dreams and dreaming, dreams associated with the sex of the unborn child and human nature (“prakriti”) as based on the ayurvedic personality temperament theory (“tridosha”) form the major Hindu concepts of dreams. These are presented and discussed in this paper.