Psychological Research (in the Balkans)

Ego states and life positions in the professional self-realization

2023-02-08T11:02:40+02:00

Review by Prof. Snezhana Ilieva, PhD.D.Sc.

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“THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACY - PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS Psychology to support of the civic education”

2023-02-08T10:30:48+02:00

(Review by Prof. Sava Djonev)

It takes a lot of courage, dedication and calling to undertake and carry out such a large-scale project as the justification and or- ganization of civic education. The addressee of the monograph - the mature generation - is a community with established principles and attitudes, with resistances that are difficult to change and form initially. The problem re- quires a complex approach in which sociol- ogy, political science, political psychology, social psychology, didactics meet. Therefore, I want to share my satisfaction with the erudi- tion with which the author handles these tran- sitions and the ease with which she conducts her dialogue with the reader. The work has a volume of 205 pages - sci- entific text and 282 literary sources (classics and modern authors). It is made up of three parts that build on each other: “Problems on the way to democracy”, “And now where? A matter of approach.”, “Topics of socio-psy- chological knowledge relevant to civic behav- ior on the road to updated democracy”. The first part - “Problems on the way to democracy”, which is dedicated to the main categories of the theoretical construct “civic education”, outlines the limits of the problem in a cognitive aspect. On the one hand, these are basic concepts in political psychology, which prepares the reader for a deep and com- prehensive scientific analysis. On the other hand, these are topical topics that concern so- ciety every day and significantly: democracy, justice, information and trust, motivation and demotivation for participation in the elec- toral process, coalitions, polarization, radi- calization, anomie and alienation, conspiracy theories. Each of these categories hides deep content related to social relations and drama inherent in social fate. ...

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PSYCHOLOGICAL FITNESS TO DRIVE – A COMPARISON OF PRACTICES IN EUROPE

2023-01-11T11:07:46+02:00

The report briefly presents the role and place of transport psychology and examines its application in relation to the assessment of psychological fitness to drive. The paper describes the criteria for evaluation of the psychological aptitude to drive in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria and points out the groups of drivers who are subject to such an assessment. The data are compared and analyzed according to the studied parameters and the similarities and differences in the countries are outlined. In conclusion, the report stresses the importance of the psychological assessment of fitness for safe driving behaviour.

THE ‘VOTER-CONSUMER’ ANALOGY WITHIN A BULGARIAN CONTEXT: EXPLORING THE PARALLEL BETWEEN IMPRESSION-FORMATION IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

2023-01-11T11:05:09+02:00

Objectives: This paper conducts a comparative, cross-field exploration of the factors that influence impression formation in politics and business. Stepping on the ‘voter-consumer’ analogy, it captures the drivers behind people’s preferences, in each context, and analyzes the possibility of an important overlap.

Materials and methods: By performing an interdisciplinary literature review, covering research and findings from the 1700s to today, we systematize and compare theories, factors, and stimuli that affect consumers’ and voters’ impression formation. These efforts are then built upon by conducting independent qualitative research, within the Eastern European frame (and Bulgaria in particular). It engaged experts and laymen in semi-structured interviews, held between April and November 2022. By working on three main hypotheses, we look into the deep cognitive structures behind impression formation and explore a parallel between consumers and voters with great practical implications.

Results: Four main factors surfaced as key, irrespective of which situation people operate in. Demographic, psychological, social, and cultural pillars create a framework that both consumers and voters rely on when assessing political or market players. Those pillars are supplemented by sub-factors that enable us to crystalize and test a holistic model. The exploratory interviews also distinguished the existing differences between experts and laymen when forming impressions.

Conclusions: This paper not only uncovers a powerful parallel between the cognitive components of impression formation within politics and business but a move towards a unified framework, independent of context. The analogy “consumer-voter” solidifies in Bulgaria. An outcome that can have a number of implications for the management of political and consumer brands.

THE ROLE OF THE BODY AND EXTENDED MEMORY SYSTEMS IN WORKING WITH TRAUMATIC MEMORIES

2023-01-11T11:01:14+02:00

In this article I present psychodrama therapy as a practical example of the combination of mental time trave theory form philosophy of memory and cognitive science and the extended mind from philosophy of mind. Theories of extended mind and distributed consciousness entail the idea of an extended identity. Following this positions the boundaries of the self are fluid, located somewhere around the body, the brain, the surrounding tools and artefacts the individual is using and the sociocultural structures in which he is situated. In this article I use neo-Lockean theories about personal identity which qualify memory and psychological connectedness as criteria for identity. The concept of extended personal identity is presented on two levels, on one hand as extended bodily identity, and on the other hand as extended memory and personal narrative. Extending memories (including repressed memories) through psychodrama method can affect the subjective perception of one’s own personality and self in a specific way. It can be really useful in cases of post-traumatic stress disorder, and the results could be difficult to achieve by remembering alone through non-externally mediated recall. My view is that the psychodramatic stage is extended simulation in the process of remembering. I present examples of repressed childhood memories that are reconstructed on a psychodramatic stage due to the method's ability to work with kinesthetic memory. Consequently, I argue that the psychodramatic stage is extended and distributed memory simulation with the purpose to reconstruct repressed memories and reprocess them.

ACTORS’ PERSONAL ABILITIES FOR DEALING WITH PROFESSIONAL STRESSORS IN AN EXISTENTIAL- ANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVE

2023-01-11T10:45:46+02:00

Nowadays scientific studies in field of counseling psychology describe the actor's profession as extremely high- pressured and demanding throughout all stages of this career. Researchers are concerned about the wellbeing of people in the acting industry and note the influence of a wide range of factors that put pressure on their physical and mental health and well-being. The present study investigates from an existential-analytical point of view the question: what can help people who have chosen this career path to deal with the specific stressors "behind the scenes”? Its aim is to examine the impact of personal abilities for existential fulfilment: self-distance, self- transcendence, freedom, and responsibility, measured by the Existence Scale (ES), on the level of perceived acting- related stress, measured by the Acting-Related Stress Questionnaire (ARS). 144 (86 female and 58 male) professional Bulgarian actors aged 18 to 85 (average age 33,7 years) participated in the research. The personal abilities impact has been assessed by regression analysis in two groups: working professional actors N=111 and acting students N=33. A statistically significant negative relationship was deduced between the indicators for existential fulfilment and the level of perceived acting-related stress. The study reveals the existential fulfilment parameters have a more manifested impact in the acting students’ group. As for the professional actors, the results reveal a medium in strength and negative in direction statistically significant predictive impact. For both groups, the results show that the personal existential abilities` development (in the sense of Längle` Existential Analysis theory) can predict lower levels of perceived acting-related stress. The study’s outcome can be used in individual counseling and socio-psychological training.

THE PERCEIVED PARENTING STYLE AS A PREDICTOR OF THE GENERAL FEMALE COMMUNICATION STYLE

2023-01-11T10:39:38+02:00

Communication is of great importance for all facets of human life. Its role in parenting is manifested in the transfer of values, beliefs, norms, and new skills from parents to the younger generation. As documented in the scientific literature, maternal parenting style has a greater impact on a child’s development than paternal one (Baumrind, 1991; Patock-Peckham, et al., 2006; Barton, 2012). Therefore, understanding the general communication style of women and its relations to the perceived parenting style of their mothers and fathers will allow us to study family dynamics from a more holistic perspective.

There is no consensus in the scientific community about the classification of communication and its connection to the perceived parenting styles among females. We aimed to study the interaction between perceived parenting style and general female communication style.

To this end, we performed quantitative research using the Communication Style Inventory (Vries, 2011) and the Experiences in Close Relationships – Relationship Structures Questionnaire ECR-RS (Fraley et al., 2011) adapted for the Bulgarian cultural context by Totkova (2014). In our research took part 281 Bulgarian adult females.

We have found that both the perceived mother’s authoritarian and perceived father’s permissive parenting styles are strong predictors of the general communication style of adult females. Furthermore, all four perceived parenting styles exhibited a strong correlation with certain communication styles. In conclusion, the perceived paternal parenting style is just as strong a predictor of general female communication style as the maternal one.

INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE: AN APPLICATION OF ATTACHMENT THEORY

2023-01-11T10:34:03+02:00

Attachment theory has gained increased prominence over the past several decades in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and social work. Early attachment theory and research focused primarily on infant-mother attachments, but latest attachment research is more concerned with adult love relationships. Different attachment pairings (of secure and insecure – avoidant and anxious/ambivalent attachment styles) in marital relationships were found to be closely associated with the relationship quality and emotional well-being. The literature review shows that attachment security enhances relationships, while attachment insecurity contributes to intimate partner violence. This report aims to review existing literature related to the application of attachment theory to intimate partner violence and to discuss the theory’s strengths and limitations in understanding and resolving intimate partner violence.

A DAY IN A LIFE: THE MIND OF THE ANALYST AND THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS DURING THE WORKING DAY

2023-01-11T10:04:05+02:00

This paper presents closely and directly as possible the therapist’s everyday work with several patients, within the framework of a working day. The clinical material is accompanied by ongoing reflections, simultaneous and after the fact, on the development and specificity of the therapeutic process. The author advances the idea that the exploration of the working day, viewed as interactional mental field, is a legitimate and useful tool for the study of the therapeutic process, particularly those aspects related to the therapist’s professional and mental functioning, referred here as “the mind of the analyst”. The focal point is the possibility to see how untransformed psychic experiences produced between patient and psychotherapist during a particular session, create “mental residues” in the “mind of the analyst” and to study their fate all through the day. Although, the approach is predominantly therapist-centered, according to the concept of the field, it also presents important information on the workings of the minds of the patients, the vicissitudes of therapeutic interactions and ultimately, on the nature of psychic transformations. In the conclusive section, some broader applications for the clinical practice and research, related to the study of the working day are suggested.

GRATITUDE DURING THE COVID CRISIS - TO WHOM AND FOR WHAT THE BULGARIANS ARE GRATEFUL

2022-12-14T12:04:06+02:00

Gratitude influences the establishing, maintaining and deepening of interpersonal relationships and readiness to provide support in crisis situations. Еxperiencing and expressing gratitude is оften associated with high levels of positive emotions, resilience, life satisfaction, optimism, empathy and prosocial behavior. Оn the other hand lack of gratitude is associated with depression and high levels of stress. At the beginning of the Covid crisis in April 2020, a non-representative sample poll was conducted through an online survey, involving 200 people between the ages of 18 and 65. The aim is to conduct a qualitative reasearch on the gratitude subject and the person of gratitude during the emergency. With content analysis, the collected answers for the subject of gratitude are grouped into categories - Health, Communicating with loved ones, Work, What you have, Other people's actions, Slow living, New opportunities, Nothing, Protection from God. Answers revealing the person of gratitude are grouped into categories - Family and friends, Institutions, Medical practitioners, People outside the immediate circle, Employer, God/Fate, Myself, None, Pet. The hypothesis that during a crisis people also notice the positive in life (relationships, material and non-material resources), feel gratitude and tend to value relationships highly has been confirmed. Programs and activities, developing gratitude as an attitude or character strength, would enhance positive and protective effect during crisis situations and beyond.