Theory and Philosophy Commons^™

Consciousness Explained Or Described?, Aaron Schurger, Michael S. A. Graziano

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Consciousness is an unusual phenomenon to study scientifically. It is defined as a subjective, first-person phenomenon, and science is an objective, third-person endeavor. This misalignment between the means—science—and the end—explaining consciousness—gave rise to what has become a productive workaround: the search for ‘neural correlates of consciousness’ (NCCs). Science can sidestep trying to explain consciousness and instead focus on characterizing the kind(s) of neural activity that are reliably correlated with consciousness. However, while we have learned a lot about consciousness in the bargain, the NCC approach was not originally intended as the foundation for a true explanation of consciousness. Indeed, it …

Romantic Partner Interference And Psychological Reactance In The Context Of Caregiving For An Aging Family Member, Hannah Ball, Jennifer L. Bevan, Tessa Urbanovich, Erin S. Craw

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Negotiating romantic relational dynamics is inherent to family caregiving situations, which continue to be on the rise in the United States. However, despite evidence that family caregiving duties are linked to a variety of negative relational outcomes, limited research examines communication processes that contribute to or alleviate the burden of caregiver duties on romantic relationships. Guided by psychological reactance theory (PRT), this study examined the link between romantic partner interference with family caregiving duties and the reactance process, as well as directness of communication about irritation as a type of freedom restoration behavior associated with reactance. Adults caring for aging …

Hard Criteria For Empirical Theories Of Consciousness, Adrian Doerig, Aaron Schurger, Michael H. Herzog

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Consciousness is now a well-established field of empirical research. A large body of experimental results has been accumulated and is steadily growing. In parallel, many Theories of Consciousness (ToCs) have been proposed. These theories are diverse in nature, ranging from computational to neurophysiological and quantum theoretical approaches. This contrasts with other fields of natural science, which host a smaller number of competing theories. We suggest that one reason for this abundance of extremely different theories may be the lack of stringent criteria specifying how empirical data constrains ToCs. First, we argue that consciousness is a well-defined topic from an empirical …

Nonlinear Dynamical Systems And Humanistic Psychology, David Pincus, Adam W. Kiefer, Jessica I. Beyer

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The recent debunking by Brown, Sokal, and Friedman of some high-profile results applying chaos theory to positive psychology creates the opportunity to shed light on the quality work that has been done by others in this area. Too many humanists may be unaware of the large volume of legitimate work that exists in the literature apart from Fredrickson and Losada’s article. Often, such legitimate lines of research are ignored, not for lack of scientific merit, but because of artificial guild boundaries and similar silos that separate groups of scientists—even when working in similar areas. It would be unfortunate to have …

Ask The Pendulum: Personality Predictors Of Ideomotor Performance, Jay A. Olson, Ewalina Jeyanesan, Amir Raz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

For centuries, people have asked questions to hand-held pendulums and interpreted their movements as responses from the divine. These movements occur due to the ideomotor effect, wherein priming or thinking of a motion causes muscle movements that end up swinging the pendulum. By associating particular swinging movements with “yes” and “no” responses, we investigated whether pendulums can aid decision-making and which personality traits correlate with this performance. Participants (N=80) completed a visual detection task in which they searched for a target letter among rapidly presented characters. In the verbal condition, participants stated whether they saw the target in each trial. …

Increasing Valued Behaviors Precedes Reduction In Suffering: Findings From A Randomized Controlled Trial Using Act, Andrew T. Gloster, Jens Klotsche, Joseph Ciarrochi, Georg Eifert, Rainer Sonntag, Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, Jürgen Hoyer

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Psychological flexibility theory (PFT) suggests three key processes of change: increases in value-directed behaviors, reduction in struggle with symptoms, and reduction in suffering. We hypothesized that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) would change these processes and that increases in valued action and decreases in struggle would precede change in suffering.

Method: Data were derived from a randomized clinical trial testing ACT (vs. waitlist) for treatment-resistant patients with primary panic disorder with/without agoraphobia (n= 41). Valued behavior, struggle, and suffering were assessed at each of eight sessions.

Results: Valued actions, struggle, and suffering all changed over the …

The Relationship Between Elevation, Connectedness, And Compassionate Love In Meaningful Films, Sophie Janicke, Mary Beth Oliver

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Expanding on the research of meaningful entertainment media and its effects, this study investigated the relationship between experiences related to elevation responses to film. Whereas research thus far has focused primarily on portrayals of altruism to elicit elevation, the results of this study show that portrayals of connectedness, love, and kindness in meaningful films are also able to elicit feelings of elevation. Moreover, elevation mediated the relationship between meaningful films and feelings of connectedness towards the transcendent, close others and toward one’s family; compassionate love towards close others; and compassionate motivation to love and be good to humanity. The study …

The Psychology Of The 3d Experience, Sophie Janicke, Andrew Ellis

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

With 3D televisions expected to reach 50% home saturation as early as 2016, understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying the user response to 3D technology is critical for content providers, educators and academics. Unfortunately, research examining the effects of 3D technology has not kept pace with the technology’s rapid adoption, resulting in large-scale use of a technology about which very little is actually known. Recognizing this need for new research, we conducted a series of studies measuring and comparing many of the variables and processes underlying both 2D and 3D media experiences. In our first study, we found narratives within primetime …

David Grove's Metaphors For Healing, David Pincus, Anees A. Sheikh

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Within the ever-expanding list of approaches to psychotherapy, there is a tendency to overlook deep imagery approaches. The current article reports on one such metaphor-based therapy developed by David Grove (Grove & Panzer, 1989). The approach is analyzed within the context of mainstream contemporary psychotherapy in general, the state of empirical understanding of common processes to psychotherapy, and in relation to other deep imagery-based approaches to therapy. Next, a step-by-step description of the techniques used within metaphor therapy are presented, along with a case example demonstrating the use of these techniques on a case involving pain symptoms. Finally, it is …