Verbal, nonverbal and dyadic components of reflective function.
Item
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Title
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Verbal, nonverbal and dyadic components of reflective function.
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Identifier
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AAI3063848
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identifier
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3063848
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Creator
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Kotov, Kimberly M.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Diana Diamond
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Date
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2002
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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The ability to reflect accurately on one's own and others' actions is considered an advanced developmental, if not solely human achievement. The capacity to understand ourselves and others in a meaningful way, experience empathy and tolerance, all arise from this ability to anticipate and reflect on experience. Reflective function is broadly defined by the clinical researchers Fonagy and Target as the "predisposition to understand behavior in mental state terms" (1997, p.680). Although some unconscious component is recognized, RF is defined by psychoanalysts as the ability to hold in awareness one's own feelings and thoughts about one's own actions, and maintain these as separate from an understanding of another's feelings and actions. In essence, reflective function is the ability to reflect on one's own and others' actions in a psychologically-insightful way.;But what is this important reflective capacity really? What are its specific components? Can it be measured? Is it possible to assign a finite and unique quantitative score of reflection to an individual? What is the score based on, and how does it develop over time? Can we define one's ability to reflect independently of context?;These are just some of the questions that arise in regard to the construct of Reflective Function (RF) in psychodynamic literature. My research offers an argument for two elements which I think are inseparable from the RF construct, but which are not currently evaluated or captured in the current quantitative analyses or theoretical formulations of the construct: (1) the indisputable presence of nonverbal communication within the reflective capacity, and (2) the dynamic, dyadic nature of the construct. This dissertation will evaluate the current literature on the construct of RF, including the theoretical description and the operationalization of the construct in psychoanalytic, philosophical and empirical developmental research literature. Analysis of the philosophical roots of the concept adds to the case for its dynamic, dyadic nature, while developmental research and contemporary clinical literature provide insight into the way nonverbal domains of information sharing and storage impact awareness of self and other. Finally, I will suggest a fuller definition of RF, and offer numerous directions for research to investigate this construct further.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
