Beliefs, meaning, and object representations in young adults.
Item
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Title
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Beliefs, meaning, and object representations in young adults.
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Identifier
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AAI9119675
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identifier
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9119675
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Creator
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Roth, Judith S.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Steven Tuber
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Date
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1991
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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 | Psychology, Personality
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Abstract
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The present study is an attempt to conceptualize beliefs as object ties and to investigate beliefs using a methodology employed in empirical object relations research. As relational theories have come to the forefront of psychoanalytic theorizing, those aspects of human experience that have been conceptualized using more mechanistic models of personality functioning are being reformulated to fit relational models. This study argues that beliefs and other "autonomous ego functions" may be reconceptualized as object ties that both parallel and diverge from attachments to people. D. W. Winnicott's understanding of how people personalize culture and how they develop the capacities to be creative and spiritual provided the theoretical underpinnings for the conceptualization used in this study.;As psychoanalytic inquiry broadens its scope from a model that has focused primarily on psychopathology to a model that attempts to account for resiliency, those aspects of people's lives that help them transform difficult experience are being explored. This study was rooted in an assumption that people form multiple attachments which are crucial to resiliency. The study suggests that people's ties to religious and secular beliefs, creative ventures, work, and avocations can facilitate transforming the travails of living into growth-enhancing opportunities.;Thirty-two people were interviewed for the study. The Early Memories Test and a qualitative interview that asks about beliefs and values, designed by this author, were used. Both sets of data were evaluated for style of representation using the Krohn scale. Findings support the hypothesis that prototypes of beliefs overlap with personifications. While modal levels of representation were not correlated, other interesting findings emerged: People with fragmented and primitive personifications were more likely to have beliefs that were unidimensional, stereotyped, and that served narcissistic functions. In addition, findings suggest that the capacity to mourn and integrate painful affects is related to the capacity to develop multidimensional beliefs. Finally, findings indicate that representational styles reflect developmental and maturational processes.
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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.
