The relevance of psychology in Africa is increasingly debated by psychologists. The subject stands accused of continuing a colonial tradition of oppression through its Eurocentrism and failure to attend to the needs of African societies. The relevance debate raises questions around the relationship between power, knowledge, psychology, and African history. This study attempts to excavate the conditions of possibility of the debate, by construing an archaeology of psychological knowledge as technology of power in the African context. It assumes a constructivist stance, employs textual and narrative analogies, and follows Foucault's conceptualisation of the relation between power and knowledge. Five strata of knowledge emerging historically in Africa, each embodying distinctive approaches to knowledge, are described: Indigenous African knowledge, African Islamic knowledge, African Christianity, knowledges of Enlightenment, and knowledges of resistance. These knowledges, their psychological dimensions, as well as the circulation of power within and between them, are explored, and historical processes of subjugation and resistance highlighted. Western psychology, as technology of modern power, is situated within modernism and the narratives ofEnlightenment, which also provided the conditions of possibility of colonialism. The dominant narratives of relevance are related to those of African resistance and the limitations of psychology are conceptualised in terms of those pertaining to modernism. Possible postmodern avenues to the liberation of both psychology and its subjects, that are relevant to African contexts, are suggested. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

This is a study about the ways in which pictures can be interpreted and the ways in which they are interpreted; the latter, specifically, in a relatively remote part of Peru. Chapter II reviews an assortment of picture tests which bring to light differences in the ways pictures are perceived. Chapter III examines the specific cultural context in which a fairly informal picture test was administered. Chapter IV presents some results and asks what cultural and situational factors may have contributed to the variety in interpretations evident. The drawing of firm conclusions is precluded by the absence of any systematic approach to the interpretations or to the pictures themselves, and it is this which the second half of the study attempts to remedy; by providing a theoretical framework for the assessment of verbalized responses to pictures. Chapter V offers a definition of "picture" and locates it within a typology of indices. It also examines the notion of "visual resemblance", eventually adopting the view that any picture is infinitely ambiguous. Chapter VI introduces two methodological necessities consequent on this ambiguity: a stipulation as to the identity and the taxonomic specificity of any signified object; and a stipulation as to the spatial extension of its signifier. No other methodological content is presented. Chapter VII classifies types of verbalized responses in terms of their visual motivation, and the degree to which they interrelate the stipulated pictorial units. Chapter VIII acknowledges that signification may continue beyond the representational level. Further, postrepresentational, types of responses are classified in terms of the nature of the link maintained with the representational signified.

Theoretical models posit that the perception of situations consists of two components: an objective component attributable to the situation being perceived and a subjective component attributable to the person doing the perceiving (Murray, 1938; Rauthmann, 2012; Sherman, Nave & Funder, 2013; Wagerman & Funder, 2009). In this study participants (N = 186) viewed three pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1938) and rated the situations contained therein using a new measure of situations, the Riverside Situational Q-Sort (RSQ; Wagerman & Funder, 2009). The RSQ was used to calculate the overall agreement among ratings of situations and to examine the objective and subjective properties of the pictures. These results support a twocomponent theory of situation perception. Both the objective situation and the person perceiving that situation contributed to overall perception. Further, distinctive perceptions of situations were consistent across pictures and were associated with the Big Five personality traits in a theoretically meaningful manner. For instance, individuals high in Openness indicated that these pictures contained comparatively more humor (r = .26), intellectual stimuli (r = .20), and raised moral or ethical issues (r = .19) than individuals low on this trait. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

O humor revela-se frequentemente como uma característica marcante nos rituais umbandistas. Diante disso, este estudo propõe-se investigar, numa perspectiva etnopsicológica, se e em que medida as teses psicanalíticas (freudianas e lacanianas) sobre o chiste e o cômico podem ajudar a compreender o humor na umbanda. A pesquisa de campo foi realizada na Fraternidade de Umbanda Esotérica Caboclo Pena Branca, em Ribeirão Preto, cujos rituais se mostraram comumente bem humorados. Procedeu-se a uma escuta participante, que implica em uma escuta psicanalítica, na qual a participação é entendida e utilizada como instrumento de refinamento da audição. Nessa medida, a implicação do pesquisador em campo foi indispensável, pois o efeito de sentido é também produzido nele, que escuta e ri. Após a análise dos episódios espirituosos, foi possível constatar que a compreensão psicanalítica do humor é aplicável às suas ocorrências no ritual umbandista. Nas falas dos próprios adeptos do terreiro, o riso revela seu uso terapêutico, é parte de um tratamento que quebra defesas, o que se coaduna com a perspectiva freudiana de descarga de catexias. No entanto, segundo as teses psicanalíticas, frequentemente os chistes permitem a expressão de impulsos agressivos dirigidos ao ouvinte, enquanto na umbanda a função de ser objeto do riso é deslocada para personagens cômicos que representam o que poderia haver de repreensível no outro, deslocando a censura sobre os seus filhos para o enredo de uma comédia atuada por espíritos. Além disso, ao brincar com metáforas e sentidos novos, os espíritos dão eco à complexidade do sujeito humano, refletindo-a além de intelectualizações. / Humor frequently reveals itself as an outstanding feature in Umbanda religious rituals. Given that, this study seeks to investigate, from an ethnopsychological perspective, if and to what extent psychoanalytic theories (Freudian and Lacanian) about wits and comic may help to understand Umbanda humor. The field research was conducted at Fraternidade de Umbanda Esotérica Caboclo Pena Branca in Ribeirão Preto, where the rituals generally proved to be humorous. The method was the participant listening, that involves a psychoanalytic listening in which participation is understood and utilized as an instrument of audition refinement. Thus, the researcher\'s involvement while in the field was essential since the effect of meaning is also produced on this individual who listens and laughs. After analyzing the witty episodes, it was concluded that the psychoanalytic understanding of humor is applicable to these occurrences in Umbanda ritual. In the religious own speeches, the laughter exposes its therapeutic uses; it is part of a \"treatment\" for \"breaking defenses\", which is consistent with the Freudian idea of catharsis. However, according to psychoanalytic theories wits regularly allow the expression of aggressive impulses, while in Umbanda the objects of laughter are comic characters that represent what could otherwise be considered objectionable, displacing the \"censure\" to a comedy plot acted by spirits. Moreover, while playing with metaphors and new meanings, the spirits mirror non-rational aspects of human complexity.

Researchers have reported a high prevalence of depression among older Hispanics in the United States when compared to other ethnic groups. Cultural variations in the perception of depression sometimes make it difficult to recognize the disorder resulting in older Hispanic patients not being diagnosed and not receiving appropriate treatment. The purpose of this study was to explore older Hispanics’ explanatory model of depression and identify culture-specific factors that may help in the recognition and treatment of depression. A mixed-method design that combined qualitative and quantitative methods was used. Fifty participants were interviewed using Kleinman’s Explanatory Models ethnographic approach with a vignette variation, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Cross Cultural Measure of Acculturation (CCMA). The findings suggest that this group of older Hispanics did not recognize depression as an illness but rather as the result of life stressors and personal weaknesses. People who experience depressive symptoms were described as being crazy, bored, worried, or having a problem of the nerves. These culturally coded terms may confound diagnosis among many Hispanics who find depression an unacceptable and shameful condition. This cultural pattern seemed to prevail among low and high-acculturated individuals which may complicate the diagnosis of depression by health care providers. This study highlights the complexity and diversity of this group of older Hispanics’ conceptual model of depression. The results of this study will contribute to nursing care by providing additional information that will help professionals when working with Hispanic patients with depression. Findings expand our understanding of older Hispanics (high and low-acculturated, depressed and non-depressed) groups’ conceptualization of depression and can be used to inform the adaptation of culturally relevant approaches to better serve the Hispanic community in this country. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Complexa e abundante em possibilidades de conformação, a possessão umbandista possui suas margens estabelecidas por alguns tipos de personagens retirados da experiência histórica e da memória coletiva brasileira. Essas categorias organizam dizeres a partir de perspectivas enunciativas próprias, posições simbolicamente articuladas com potencial para produzir determinados sentidos. Nesse ínterim, o preto-velho emerge como entidade espiritual proeminente, recorrente presença no quadro da religiosidade afro-brasileira, sobretudo da umbanda. Afinado com o renovado interesse científico pelo tema nas últimas décadas, o presente estudo objetivou investigar o universo simbólico da categoria espiritual preto-velho, e desvendar significados e alcances dos seus usos rituais e etnopsicológicos na religiosidade umbandista. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido trabalho de campo em quatro terreiros de umbanda da região de Ribeirão Preto-SP, tendo sido um deles, o Terreiro de Umbanda Pai José do Rosário, escolhido como caso-modelo para a apresentação dos resultados e análises. O trabalho de campo foi desenvolvido a partir de uma abordagem do fenômeno pela via da escuta participante, refinamento do método da observação participante concebido pelo aporte da escuta psicanalítica lacaniana que, tomada como ferramenta heurística, permite recuperar e acessar sentidos sutis ocultos nos rituais e nas narrativas dos sujeitos inerentes à possessão. Além disso, foram feitas entrevistas semiestruturadas com médiuns desincorporados e incorporados por seus pretos-velhos. As análises dos dados foram realizadas com base na psicanálise lacaniana, sobretudo no que tange à noção de um inconsciente semiótica e socialmente estruturado, com vistas a perscrutar a dimensão histórica e coletiva do sujeito a partir de seus atos executados diante de um pesquisador transferencialmente implicado. Entidades mobilizadoras de um vasto repertório de símbolos cujo potencial abrange múltiplos desdobramentos semânticos, os pretos-velhos revelaram-se entidades complexas, capazes de assumir várias conformações distintas a partir de suas referências essenciais enquanto escravos e ancestrais. Etnopsicologicamente, os pretos-velhos mostraram-se espíritos fundamentalmente mediadores e integradores, subsidiando articulações e processos diacrônicos de significância entre passado e presente; vida e morte; adolescência e vida adulta; emoção e razão; corpo e espírito; ação e consequência. Em suma, os pretos-velhos são, no nível das vivências religiosas dos adeptos umbandistas, a mais contundente manifestação daquilo que em psicanálise implica o processo de assunção do desejo do Outro como desejo próprio, característico da conciliação do homem com seu próprio inconsciente, consubstanciado em marcas de filiação e pertencimento contidas na tradição e na cultura de seu povo. Convocam o ser vivente, enfim, a assumir seus inalienáveis, porque fundantes, direitos e deveres enquanto elo de uma corrente ancestral. / Complex and abundant in its possibilities of conformation, umbanda trance has its borders established for some types of characters displaced from the historical experience and collective memory of Brazil. These categories organize sayings from their own enunciative perspectives, symbolically articulated positions potentially able to produce certain meanings. Meanwhile, the preto-velho (old black man) emerges as a prominent spiritual entity, a recurrent presence in the context of the African-Brazilian religiousness, especially umbanda. In concert with the renewed scientific interest about the subject in recent decades, this essay aims to investigate the symbolic universe of the spiritual category preto-velho, as well as to disclose the meanings and the scope of its ritual and ethnopsychological uses in umbanda religiousness. Therefore, a fieldwork was developed in four terreiros (umbandas temples) in the region of Ribeirão Preto. One of them, the Terreiro of Umbanda Pai José do Rosario, was chosen as a model case to display the results and analysis. The phenomenon approach, in this fieldwork, was conducted via participant listening, a refinement of the participant observation method designed by the contribution of lacanian psychoanalytic listening which, taken as a heuristic tool, permits tenuous meanings hidden in the rituals and narratives of the subjects related to the possession to be retrieved and accessed. In addition, semi-structured interviews were made with mediums both disembodied and embodied by their pretos-velhos. Data analysis was done based on lacanian psychoanalysis, especially regarding to the notion of a semiotic and socially structured unconscious, in order to recover the historical and collective dimensions of the subject based on their acts performed facing a transferentially implicated researcher. Entities that mobilize a vast repertoire of symbols whose potential embraces multiple semantic outspreadings, the pretos-velhos revealed themselves as complex entities, capable of assuming several different conformations based on their essential references as \"slaves\" and \"ancestors\". Ethnopsychologically, the preto-velho showed themselves up fundamentally as \"mediators\" and \"integrators\" spirits, supporting articulations and diachronic processes of significance between \"past\" and \"present\"; \"life\" and \"death\"; \"adolescence\" and \"adulthood \"; \"emotion and \"reason\"; \"body \" and \"spirit\"; \"action \" and \"consequence\". Concisely, the pretos-velhos are, in the level of the umbanda followers religious experiences, the clearest manifestation of what in psychoanalysis implies the process of taking the Other\'s desire as its own desire, characteristic of the conciliation of the human being with his own unconscious, embodied in an affiliation and belonging traces contained in the tradition and culture of their \"people\". It summons the individual, ultimately, to take his inalienable, since founding, rights and duties as a link of an ancestral chain.

康德在《單純理性範圍內的宗教》一書中非常重視「思慮品格」(Gesinnung)這個概念，並把它視為所有行動的「終極基本格準」。首先，他認為一個人或道德行動者為善或是惡取決於這種「傾向」。再者，「思慮品格」在康德的行動理論中亦扮演非常重要的角色，它解釋了理性行動者作惡的可能條件。故此，「思慮品格」是評價康德關於「根本惡」以及理性行動理論的重要概念。進一步說，「道德完整」的可能性以及「道德歷程」的可理解性也都建基於此概念。因此，「思慮品格」對於康德道德哲學的整體計劃而言也甚為關鍵。儘管康德在《道德底形上學之基礎》及《實踐理性批判》兩本書中曾數度提及「思慮品格」，但這概念在康德《單純理性範圍內的宗教》之前的著作中卻似未受到充分的重視。本文將要指出，康德並非在其後期作品中才突然提出「思慮品格」這概念，事實上，在許多較早的著作中，這個關鍵的概念早已留下重要的理論線索。 / 本文嘗試指出，康德在討論《實踐理性之批判》裡的「自由範疇」理論，特別是論及「道德人格」範疇時，早已舖排有關「思慮品格」的理論。「道德人格」範疇與「思慮品格」分別為道德罪責提供智性及心理根據，而後者正是以前者作為根據。對康德而言，「道德人格」並非一個心理概念，而是實踐判斷的先驗形式，正如「實體/屬性」這個在時間中連結不同直覺之基礎的「自然範疇」一般，作為它的同位範疇 (isomorphic category)，「道德人格」是關聯個別實踐判斷的基礎。然而，我們仍然需要解釋，行動的證成理由如何推動我們的意志，因為對「有限理性行動者」而言，純粹理性並不一定具有實踐性，或者說，一個行動的證成理由並不一定是我們的動力。康德正是以「思慮品格」這個概念來闡明採納「格準」的心理基礎。當我們釐清了採納「格準」的心理基礎後，便能明白人在甚麼意義下要為自己的行動負責。本文希望能夠清楚闡明「思慮品格」與「道德人格」的關係，更希望由此說明這兩個概念以及「自由範疇表」的理論關係，並對有關問題引起更多關注和討論。 / In religion within the limit of reason alone Kant deliberately proposes the concept Gesinnung and regards it as the “ultimate underlying maxim“ of all actions. Firstly, whether a certain person or a moral agent should be regarded as good or evil depends on this ‘disposition’. Moreover, Gesinnung assumes an important role in Kant's theory of action, namely to explain how it is possible for a rational agent to act evil. It is thus an important aspect of evaluating Kant's account of radical evil and rational agency. Furthermore, the possibility of moral integrity and the intelligibility of moral progress also lie in this concept, rendering it important also in Kant's whole project of moral philosophy. Although Gesinnung appears in Groundwork and the Critique of Practical Reason for a few times, very little had been said about the use of the term until Religion was written. It would be strange to for Kant to propose this important concept all of a sudden without any previous clues. I shall argue that the clues can already be found in the discussion of Categories of Freedom (the category of Personality) in the Critique of Practical Reason. This thesis aims to demonstrate that the category “personality“ and Gesinnung serve to provide the rational and psychological grounds of moral imputation respectively, and that the latter arises from the foundation built from the former. The category “personality“ is not a psychological concept but an a priori form of practical judgment: as isomorphic to the categories, “personality“ serves as the ground of relating discrete practical judgments just as “subsistence and inherence“ in categories of nature serves as the ground of relating intuitions in time. But we also need a psychological ground for moral imputation to explain how the justifying reason motivates our will, as for a finite rational agent pure reason may not always be practical, i.e. the justifying reasons for certain actions may not always be our motivation for the actions. Kant uses Gesinnung as a conceptual apparatus to explain the psychological ground for the adoption of maxims and hence how we impute our actions. Through this essay, I hope that I have explained the relation between Gesinnung and “personality“ clearly and more importantly, shown that the theoretical significance of these two concepts and the table of the Categories of Freedom deserve closer attention. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Ng, Yat Kan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-121). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Table of contents --- p.v / Chapter 0.1 --- Prelude: structure of the essay --- p.1 / Chapter 1.01 --- Searching for the unchanged in the midst of changes- legacy of western philosophy --- p.3 / Chapter 1.1 --- Kant and the category of Subsistence and Inherence --- p.5 / Chapter 1.11 --- The ‘placement problem’ in the Categories of the Understanding --- p.5 / Chapter 1.111 --- Mathematical categories as a priori conditions of intuition --- p.10 / Chapter 1.2 --- “Substance and its transcendental time-determination --- p.15 / Chapter 1.3 --- Kant’s critique of the a-temporal treatment of Substance --- p.20 / Chapter 2 --- Kant’s on the problem of the personal identity: Transcendental “I“, Refutation of Idealism and brief remarks on “personality“ in the Critique of Pure Reason --- p.26 / Chapter 2.1 --- Transcendental apperception --- p.26 / Chapter 2.11 --- Kant’s refutation of idealism --- p.30 / Chapter 2.2 --- Preliminary remark: “Person and its genealogy --- p.38 / Chapter 2.21 --- Personality: Remarks from Kant in the Critique of Pure Reason --- p.41 / Chapter 3 --- Interlude: Brief accounts on the Moral Law and Autonomy --- p.45 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Moral Law 45 / Chapter 3.2 --- On autonomy: an explication on the role of “self“ in “self-legislation“ --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Wood’s etymological mistake --- p.52 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Kant’s distinction on the “author and the “legislator“ of the law --- p.53 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Typic as a “procedure and the significance of “autos --- p.57 / Chapter 3.3 --- Intelligible noumenal character and the Empirical phenomenal character --- p.61 / Chapter 4 --- “Personality“ in Kant’s moral philosophy --- p.69 / Chapter 4.1 --- Overview of the problem --- p.69 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Categories of Freedom: a complete failure? --- p.71 / Chapter 4.3 --- “Personality as the “substratum of moral actions 85 / Chapter 5 --- The Analysis of the Will and Radical Evil --- p.94 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction: The Good Will and the Absolutely Good Will --- p.94 / Chapter 5.11 --- The Good and the Evil --- p.95 / Chapter 5.2 --- Autonomy part two: Wille and Willkür --- p.101 / Chapter 5.3 --- The Gesinnung --- p.104 / Chapter 5.31 --- Gesinnung and Personality: the psychological and rational grounds of moral imputation --- p.105 / Chapter 5.32 --- Gesinnung and Radical Evil --- p.110 / Chapter 6 --- Concluding remarks --- p.118 / Chapter 7 --- Bibliography --- p.120

Considering the unique cultural and political contexts through which spirituality emerges, this study investigates the lived-experience of spiritual life in USA, India, and China. In this study, culture was defined as geographic (primarily) and ethnically clustered groups of individuals with broad relative commonality in socio-cultural histories. Religion was considered an aspect of spirituality and spiritual life. A qualitative coding frame was formulated based on participants’ responses to open-ended questions regarding spirituality. The aim of this study was to clarify the qualitative content of spiritual life with the help of Dedoose, a mixed methods qualitative software. The exploratory approach of this study takes on a cross-culturally comparative lens, and has two primary questions: (1) What are the universal aspects of lived spirituality across cultures, and (2) How does culture shape spiritual experience (e.g., typology, and prevalence). A total of 6112 participants (41% women, mean age of 29 years, range 18–75 years) were recruited from crowdsourcing platforms. The primary thematic categories were religion (religious traditions, religious conversion, religious professionals, religious figures “theophany,” and religious forces “heirophany”), contemplative practice (meditation, mindful movement, prayer, and rituals), ancestors (ancestral worship, dreams about ancestors, and ancestors discussed), natural world (animals, and nature), and metaphysical phenomenon. Metaphysical categories were further parsed apart to include extrasensory perception (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, realistic dreams, and intuitive impressions), psychokinesis, survival hypothesis (near death experiences, out of body experiences, and apparitional experiences), and faith and energy healing (recovery/remission of illness, and spiritual practitioners).

No description available.

In this dissertation I explore the impact that language-migration has on Self-Identity. The thesis consists of two parts: a memoir The Strangeness of Freedom, and an exegesis. Each is intended to stand alone, but also to complement the other. In the memoir I draw on my personal recollections of my family's migrations across five countries (Czechoslovakia, West Germany, USA and Australia) and into three languages (Czech, German and English) in order to convey my particular experience of language migration. In the exegesis I analyse several memoirs written by other language migrants and examine what impact they believe migrating into a new language and culture had on their own Self-identity. I draw on postmodern and psychoanalytic theory to explore the nature of Self-Identity formation and why migrants, as well as non-migrants might experience a change in their Self-identity during the course of their lives. I attempt to tease out to what extent the change in Self-identity is a universal experience that results from living across time and moving from a known past into an unknown future, regardless of whether one physically migrates or not. I found that while language-migrants tend to describe a more intense disruption of their Self-Identity, non-migrants also experience such a disruption in their sense of Self, simply by living in a rapidly changing world. I propose that while changing locations and languages clearly disrupts the continuity we presume life entails, it is in fact the passage of time that distances us from our known past, including our familiar Self, even if we never physically or linguistically migrate.