Beliefs About Transitional Events: The Effect of Experience and Life-Script Consistency

The present study examined the beliefs about two types of important life transitions: transitions that are consistent with the cultural life script (e.g., getting married) and transitions that diverge from it (e.g., relocating). Data were collected from two conditions: individuals in the experienced condition only responded to transitions they had experienced; individuals in the hypothetical condition provided ratings only for transitions they had not experienced. Participants rated the likelihood and typical age of occurrence, importance, transitional impact, and valence for an individualized set of condition-appropriate events. We found that script-consistent events were considered more normative and positive than script-divergent events. The two types of events, however, differed little in terms of importance or transitional impact. We conclude by arguing that although script-consistent and script-divergent transitions have much in common from a mnemonic perspective, the distinction is still warranted in the context of lifetime planning and evaluation.

Narratives of normality: Finnish prisoners envisioning their future

The ambition of living ‘a normal life’ appears to be common among prisoners prior to release. Besides portraying for the life desired upon release, the notion of a normal life can say something about what the persons aspiring to it thinks of their present life, what they want their life to be like in future, and what they consider attainable. This article explores the subjective and social considerations of prisoners’ desires for normality. Qualitative interviews with prisoners at low-security open prisons in Finland ( N = 45) revealed three narratives of normality: (1) nostalgic normality, balancing the disruption caused by imprisonment; (2) imagined normality, envisioning a future life script; (3) challenging views of normality, which is still desired, but whose legal and conventional norms are contested. While prison authorities and prisoners generally idealize normality in terms of conduct, prisoners’ stories reveal that they utilize the notion for a number of reasons. The personal narratives of normality can function as genuine and strategic expressions of conformity or resistance. In their narratives, the prisoners disclose the obstacles to normality that they anticipate, showing the uncertainty behind their simple wish to “just live a normal life.”

Feelings of Quarantine: Allegories for the Lockdown

This case study shows how allegories are a means to express the inexpressible and how Allegory Analysis can be a method to reveal it and bring out the subjective meaning making, life script ideology, and capability to deal with the ambivalent in critical life situations. From a cultural psychological perspective, the research is based on feelings during the quasi-quarantine period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study tries to understand the coping strategies with which people deal with a psychological crisis in general concerning for the COVID-19 lockdown. It discusses further ways to deal with the ambivalences and subjective meaning making arousing through such a crisis. The case study analysis of Miss K. not only showed her meaning making processes and attitude of life but also showed how to deal with the uncertainty during the critical lockdown period. Through her allegories, she utters her current life script ideology that living nowadays means to function like a machine while being creative, self-reflective at the same time. Her meaning making process counterbalanced between the voice of being delivered to withdrawal or depression versus the voice of being able to learn, connect, and relax. Her coping strategy was bearing the ambivalence in a psychological crisis with faith.

Simulation Tool for Cable Design

This chapter is an updated, enhanced, and expanded paper previously published in IJMMME. An attenuation-based mathematical model and computational tool for communication cable design is presented in the chapter. The relationship derived for the model creation connects attenuation with the following parameters of cable design and testing: copper wire, aluminum and insulation thicknesses, cable impedance, test frequency, and lay length. The expression found from numerous measurement data was used to simulate the Monte Carlo prediction of attenuation in the cable. To realize the simulations, a life script and regular MATLAB script programs were developed. The programs produce a special graphical user interface suitable for non-programmers, cable engineers, and technicians. Results of calculations obtained with the developed tool were verified by experiments and indicate that the tool can be used to design cables with optimal parameters.

Reflecting on Life Script, Related Unconscious Beliefs, and Future Projections as a Factor of Remission Duration in Male Patients With Alcohol Dependence

A cross-sectional study performed in a Moscow hospital for addiction treatment (2019—2020) tested a hypothesis that the capacity to reflect on a life script exert¬ed a positive effect on alcohol dependence (AD) remission duration. The sample included 61 males with AD and without dual diagnosis; the mean age was 44.1 (SD = 10.1) years. Methods. (1) Socio-demographic and clinical data was collected using a semi-structured therapeutic interview. (2) Explicit representations of one’s future were evaluated using a Self-defining Future Projections task; “Life Line”, and a “Cultural script” task. (3) Data on life script characteristics was gathered using the semi-structured “Script Questionnaire”. Qualitative data was processed by means of quantitative content analysis performed by experts based on relevant guidelines. Effects of verbalized life script characteristics on several remission parameters were assessed using multiple linear regression. Results and Conclusions. People with AD who were capable of verbalizing and reflecting on long-term, self-relevant repre¬sentations of the future related to the basic beliefs about their own life course, were capable of maintaining longer remissions in contrast to those who failed to reflect on these topics and limited their memories and future projections by overgeneral cultural script events.