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Schizophrenia Bulletin Jul 2009Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects about 1.1% of the adult US population annually. Hallucinations, delusions, and impaired reality testing are...
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects about 1.1% of the adult US population annually. Hallucinations, delusions, and impaired reality testing are prominent symptoms of the disorder. Modeling these symptoms is difficult because it is unclear how to assess impaired reality testing in animals. Animals cannot discuss their beliefs; however, a century of learning experiments has shown us that they, like us, construct complex internal representations of their world. Presumably, these representations can become confused with reality for animals in much the same way that they do for schizophrenic patients. Indeed, there is evidence from studies of Pavlovian conditioning that this happens even in normal animals. For example, early in training a cue that has been paired with reward elicits a highly realistic, sensory representation of that reward, which is to some extent indistinguishable from reality. With further training, this sensory hallucination of reward is replaced by a more abstract representation, termed a reward expectancy. Reward expectancies reflect the sensory and other qualities of the impending reward but are distinguishable from the actual reward. Notably, the hallucinatory representations depend on subcortical regions, such as amygdala, whereas reward expectancies require the progressive involvement of prefrontal areas, such as orbitofrontal cortex. Abnormal prefrontal function is associated with schizophrenia; impaired reality testing may result from a failure of the normal shift from highly realistic, sensory representations to more abstract, prefrontal expectancies. The Pavlovian procedures discussed here could be applied to animal models and schizophrenic patients to test this hypothesis.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Disease Models, Animal; Hallucinations; Humans; Illusions; Prefrontal Cortex; Rats; Reality Testing; Schizophrenia
PubMed: 19460880
DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbp050 -
Current Opinion in Psychology Oct 2018We propose a framework outlining the development of shared reality in close relationships. In this framework, we attempt to integrate disparate close relationship... (Review)
Review
We propose a framework outlining the development of shared reality in close relationships. In this framework, we attempt to integrate disparate close relationship phenomena under the conceptual umbrella of shared reality. We argue that jointly satisfying epistemic needs-making sense of the world together-plays an important but under-appreciated role in establishing and maintaining close relationships. Specifically, we propose that dyads progress through four cumulative phases in which new forms of shared reality emerge. Relationships are often initiated when people discover Shared Feelings, which then facilitate the co-construction of dyad-specific Shared Practices. Partners then form an interdependent web of Shared Coordination and ultimately develop a Shared Identity. Each emergent form of shared reality continues to evolve throughout subsequent phases, and, if neglected, can engender relationship dissolution.
Topics: Attitude; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Reality Testing; Social Perception
PubMed: 29360060
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.01.001 -
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic... Oct 1957
Topics: Acting Out; Humans; Psychoanalytic Therapy; Reality Testing; Sublimation, Psychological
PubMed: 13513463
DOI: 10.1177/000306515700500404 -
Current Opinion in Psychology Oct 2018A model of meaning maintenance in relationships is proposed to explain how relationships function to regulate threats to shared systems of meaning posed by life's... (Review)
Review
A model of meaning maintenance in relationships is proposed to explain how relationships function to regulate threats to shared systems of meaning posed by life's capricious and unexpected events. This model assumes that people flexibility compensate for unexpected events in the world by affirming the expected in their relationship and compensate for unexpected events in the relationship by affirming the expected in the world. Supportive evidence is reviewed that reveals how people in more or less satisfying relationships flexibly maintain a sense of life's meaning in the face of unexpected events.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Reality Testing; Social Identification
PubMed: 29197700
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.11.008 -
Current Opinion in Psychology Oct 2018People are fundamentally motivated to establish a shared reality with others to validate their identity and experiences. Guided by social identity theory, we examine how... (Review)
Review
People are fundamentally motivated to establish a shared reality with others to validate their identity and experiences. Guided by social identity theory, we examine how social identity processes, such as self-categorization and depersonalization, create a shared identity and a sense of shared reality. Research demonstrates that internal states such as attitudes, feelings, and emotions are often shared among members of a group. Furthermore, research has shown that self-uncertainty motivates people to establish shared realities through group identification, often with highly entitative groups that are associated with a self-saturating reality that is shared absolutely. Finally, we review research on how group-defining norms that serve as the bases of these identity-related shared realities are constructed and communicated through group-membership based influence.
Topics: Attitude; Depersonalization; Group Processes; Humans; Motivation; Reality Testing; Self Concept; Social Identification
PubMed: 29172100
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.10.003 -
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic... 1987As part of a prospective, longitudinal study of psychoanalytic outcome, 22 patients were evaluated for changes in their level of reality testing. These patients had been...
As part of a prospective, longitudinal study of psychoanalytic outcome, 22 patients were evaluated for changes in their level of reality testing. These patients had been accepted for supervised psychoanalysis with candidates in training by senior analysts who had diagnosed them as neurotic. Psychological tests given prior to the beginning of analysis indicated, however, that more than one third of our sample demonstrated serious distortions in their perceptions of reality. When psychological tests administered one year after the completion of analysis were compared with these pretreatment tests, no significant improvement was found in the level of reality testing for the group as a whole. However, when excluding two patients who had suffered major traumas in the year following psychoanalysis, significant improvement in reality testing was found for the remaining 20 patients. Post-treatment interviews with the treating analysts revealed that in the course of analysis itself, approximately one third of these patients showed some disturbance in reality testing; only three of these patients showed significant improvement in the level of their reality testing during treatment. These findings suggest that while patients may not present clinically with evidence of impaired reality testing, such evidence may be available in psychological testing, and may become apparent in the course of the treatment.
Topics: Ego; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Neurotic Disorders; Prospective Studies; Psychoanalytic Therapy; Psychological Tests; Reality Testing
PubMed: 3584825
DOI: 10.1177/000306518703500204 -
Current Opinion in Psychology Oct 2018In this paper we review recent evidence on the social identity model of leadership. First, we explain how this model is rooted in the social identity approach in social... (Review)
Review
In this paper we review recent evidence on the social identity model of leadership. First, we explain how this model is rooted in the social identity approach in social psychology and, specifically, the notion that shared reality and joint action in groups derives from shared social identity. We then show how effective leadership is a process of social identity management and we examine both the antecedents, the psychological and the political consequences of managing social identities.
Topics: Humans; Leadership; Psychology, Social; Reality Testing; Social Identification
PubMed: 30237055
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.08.006 -
Perception 2015
Topics: Humans; Individuality; Optical Illusions; Philosophy; Reality Testing; Visual Perception
PubMed: 26562886
DOI: 10.1177/0301006615602629 -
Current Opinion in Psychology Oct 2018Much of the social psychological literature considers how people engage with their social worlds. Shared reality theory proposes that people do so for one of two... (Review)
Review
Much of the social psychological literature considers how people engage with their social worlds. Shared reality theory proposes that people do so for one of two reasons: to connect with others, and to obtain others' perspectives and insights to understand the world around them. Although the literature on shared reality has focused on the ways in which people develop and maintain shared realities with those around them as well as the consequences of achieving such shared realities, we propose that a critical future avenue for this work is to explore what happens when people choose to not share realities. People do not always seek to share their experiences with close others, but sometimes keep secrets. We propose that while shared reality theory is founded upon why and how people connect with others, it can also make predictions for the mechanisms of secrecy and how it relates to well-being. Secrecy could thwart both relational motives and epistemic motives with harm to well-being by making people feel less connected to others, and by preventing people from obtaining others' insights and perspectives with respect to the secret. New theoretical insights would be gained from integrating research on shared reality with research on secrecy, and future work should investigate the intersection of the two.
Topics: Confidentiality; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Psychology, Social; Reality Testing
PubMed: 29709725
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.03.006 -
The Australian and New Zealand Journal... Oct 2000The objective of this study is to explore the significance of the experience of liveliness in psychotherapeutic interactions and its relevance to the practice of... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is to explore the significance of the experience of liveliness in psychotherapeutic interactions and its relevance to the practice of psychotherapy.
METHOD
Stern's notion of 'vitality affects' and Emde's concept of a 'primary affective core' are employed in developing a concept of liveliness, or an enlivening-deadening axis of experience. A critique of Freud's 'principles of mental functioning' is made in the light of this concept. Clinical examples are provided as illustrations of the relevance of considering the 'sense of liveliness', and its sustainability, in psychotherapy.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
A sense of liveliness relates closely to activity within a system of interpersonal resonance with non-linear characteristics. The experience of, and responses to, vitality affects may be an important basis of a sense of liveliness. Sudden shifts towards experiences of deadness are a matter for concern in psychotherapy. This sphere of experience, although occurring largely outside verbal awareness, may constitute a distinct type of mental process. Three types of mental activity or process are postulated: (i) emergent, pre-representational activity characterised by the sense of liveliness; (ii) Play-related thought or activity typically experienced as enlivening; and (iii) work-related or adaptational thought or activity.
Topics: Affect; Ego; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders; Middle Aged; Physician-Patient Relations; Psychoanalytic Interpretation; Reality Testing
PubMed: 11037358
DOI: 10.1080/j.1440-1614.2000.00811.x