The Traumatic Life Experiences and Ontological Well-Being: Insights from Narrative Psychology and Self-Memory Theory

Ontological well-being adopts a holistic perspective on well-being similar to the narrative psychology when analyzing life histories by referring to past, present, and future aspects of one's life. Relatedly, the self-memory view proposes that life events are self-evaluated. Based on the narrative psychology and self-memory approach, affective life events and emotions are processed in the memory and play a role in structuring self-perceptions and psychological well-being. Therefore, turbulent external conditions such as the pandemic, uncertain environments and socio-economic challenges may lead to traumatic experiences for individuals. Being exposed to traumatic events and experiencing post-traumatic stress harms mental health, well-being, and work performance. This study aims to examine the relationship between traumatic life experiences and ontological well-being within the period of COVID 19 pandemic. It is intended to reveal the impact of traumatic experiences on ontological well-being of individuals in work life. A cross-sectional study was utilized throughout an online survey with the participation of 270 employees working in various private organizations. Following the statistical analyses, the findings were evaluated and both conceptual and practical discussions were provided.

“It’s impossible that there’s no connection”

Despite the growing interest in language learning histories, autobiographical reasoning, a central concept in narrative psychology, has rarely appeared in second language acquisition research, despite the fact that autobiographical reasoning has been found to be central to identity formation, correlating with resilience, motivation, and well-being. This article conducts a narrative analysis of the language learning histories of two English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers, focusing on three qualities of their autobiographical reasoning: integration, valence, and vividness. It shows how differences in their autobiographical reasoning correlate with differences in their motivation and confidence. It also argues that production of language learning histories can contribute to the development of more confident and motivated learners and teachers.

The Image of Modern Russian Intelligentsia: A Representation of Self-Identification

The article gives an overview of researches, based on the methodological provisions of media psychology, psychosemiotics and narrative psychology, into the contemporary Russian intelligentsia, and determines the scientific and social significance of the intelligentsia as a «Russian specific phenomenon». Psychosemiotic and narrative analyses of the modern Russian intelligentsia were conducted on the basis of original texts of interviews with participants of the TV program «Posner». Psychosemiotic analysis has shown that modern mass media transform ideas about the contribution of the intelligentsia to the history of civilization, and its attitudes to the challenges of modernity. In the narrative, the dynamics of the States of the actors of the analyzed narrative text of the Respondent is established. It is determined that both methods largely complement each other, clarify and update the research of self-identification of the modern Russian intelligentsia. This article presents empirical results of psychosemantic representation of the image of the Russian intelligentsia. Ppsychosemantic analysis of public opinion regarding the image of the intellectual of the XIX–XX centuries and the image of the modern Russian intellectual was carried out using the author's specialized semantic differential. The sample consisted of the intelligentsia of the Angara region (scientists, musicians, artists, doctors, teachers) with a total number of 256 people. Based on the data obtained using a specialized semantic differential for assessing the images of the intelligentsia of the 19th and 20th centuries and the modern Russian intelligentsia, the leading factors that characterize the images of representatives of the intelligentsia of the 19th and 20th centuries are the following: social distance, voice of conscience, developed intellectual abilities, altruism, social elite, political leadership, patriotism; as for modern Russian intelligentsia they are: publicity, education, and social leadership. propensity to humanism, educated innovator, developed intellectual abilities, propensity to patriotism. There are differences in the images of the intelligentsia of the 19th and 20th centuries and modern Russian intelligentsia, which are manifested through the development of self-awareness, reflection on their place, role and purpose in life.

Internet Memes as Partial Stories: Identifying Political Narratives in Coronavirus Memes

This article advances a narrative approach to internet memes conceptualized as partial stories that reflect, capture, and contribute to wider storylines. One key difficulty in studying memes as stories rests in the fact that narrative analysis often focuses on plot at the expense of roles and characters. Building on narrative psychology and, in particular, transactional and linguistic types of analysis, we propose a typology of character roles—Persecutor, Victim, Hero, and Fool—that is useful to uncover scenarios within memes and, thus, reveal their intrinsic narrative structure. We apply this framework to the analysis of political narratives embedded within 241 coronavirus memes systematically sampled from Reddit’s r/CoronavirusMemes between January and May 2020. Five main scenarios or storylines emerged from this analysis, the first four depicting a more or less common narrative of protest against the incompetence and/or malevolence of the political class—from Donald Trump and the Republicans in the United States to Boris Johnson and the Conservatives in the United Kingdom and, finally, to politicians in Asia such as Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un—while the fifth scenario brought to the fore social categories made salient by the pandemic and focused especially on the relation between people who respect and don’t respect measures. The psychological, social, and political implications of these scenarios in relation to the pandemic are discussed, as well as the broader consequences of studying memes as narrative structures.

Recent movements in theoretical psychology in Japan

The purpose of this article is to report on the status quo in Japanese theoretical psychology and introduce some of the recent theoretical debates relating to psychology and related fields in Japan. Theoretical psychology has not been very active in Japanese psychology so far. However, despite that, very important studies on theoretical issues in psychology have been conducted in the last 20 years, such as theoretical debate concerning “new forms of psychology”; methodological arguments about qualitative approaches, narrative psychology, and clinical psychology; detailed studies on the history of Japanese modern psychology; and the creation of new interdisciplinary fields of research. At present, Japanese psychology seems to be a collection of small diverse paradigms. I conclude that more theoretical and philosophical arguments are needed in order to avoid narrowing psychologists’ view on humanity and to pursue the true and comprehensive understanding of the object.

Prediction and Explanation in a Postmodern World

The experimental research paradigm lies at the core of empirical psychology. New data analytical and computational tools continually enrich its methodological arsenal, while the paradigm’s mission remains the testing of theoretical predictions and causal explanations. Predictions regarding experimental results necessarily point to the future. Once the data are collected, the causal inferences refer to a hypothesis now lying in the past. The experimental paradigm is not designed to permit strong inferences about particular incidents that occurred before predictions were made. In contrast, historical research and scholarship in other humanities focus on this backward direction of inference. The disconnect between forward-looking experimental psychology and backward-looking historical (i.e., narrative) psychology is a challenge in the postmodern era, which can be addressed. To illustrate this possibility, I discuss three historical case studies in light of theory and research in contemporary psychology.

Perception of Extreme Advertising by Young People (by the Example of Adrenaline Rush Commercials)

The article proves scientific and social importance of studying the impact of advertising on young people, and presents the results of an empirical research into peculiarities of young people’s perception of two popular Adrenaline Rush commercials that demonstrate extreme sportsmanship. Basing on the postulates of psychosemiotics and narrative psychology, the author makes a complex psychological analysis of the two promoting narratives. The study shows that the commercials have a high suggestive potential. The slogan “There’s nothing you can’t do!” addressed to the target audience is provocative and, according to the research hypothesis, is able to stimulate young people’s need for risky behavior, which they may demonstrate not in sports, but in life in the form of antisocial conduct. The empirical research involved a survey of 94 respondents including 70 university students and 24 senior pupils. Having watched each commercial, they tried to determine a potential volition action of the character by estimating on 1-10 scale every of the 50 variants to finish the sentence “He can do it”. The factor analysis of the numerical data enables the author to point out six factors that form semantic categories of potential actions, namely, the common, the humanist, the antisocial, the extreme, betrayal, and power. It is inferred that both commercials extensively stimulate readiness for antisocial conduct, and senior pupils are more affected than students are. Young people do not think critically when they hear the pitch for risky behavior, so, in their minds, the risk zone expands into the area of social destruction.

The Environmental Humanities, COVID-19, and Global Warming 4K version

What good are the humanities? Do they ever help solve real world problems? For example, even if a vaccine for COVID-19 is developed, we already know that so many will refuse to be vaccinated that we will not be able to achieve herd immunity. To save the United States and other democracies that cannot simply dictate vaccination for all, we must admit the mistakes made in responses to two closely related existential threats: COVID-19 and global warming. Next we need to direct our attempts at persuasion at the "emotional brain" which organizes information in the form of stories and is responsible for risk assessment and motivation. So, to adopt a little of the short story technique, let's imagine Jennifer, an MD/PHd student at Pitt. Following the example of Prof. Kathryn Hayhoe, who convinced a recalcitrant West Texas audience about global warming, Jennifer wants to persuade Appalachians skeptical of CORVID-19. Jennifer knows she will need the interdisciplinary thinking and teamwork that enabled environmental humanities experts to express the scientists' knowledge in an "affective, or emotionally potent" way. Jennifer also knows she will need to combine emotional intelligence and narrative psychology in stories that embody the empathy needed to sway skeptical audiences. Eventually, by carefully reading the global warming story, <i>Flight Behavior</i>, she is able to understand the relationship between her target audience and visiting scientists like herself. Her sympathetic imagination now awakened by reading the novel, she believes she identifies with the locals well enough to persuade them to follow COVID-19 guidelines. Hopefully, this thought experiment can inspire a pilot study for humanities training to help public health representatives persuade skeptical audiences, training that could benefit global warming activists as well.<div><br></div>