Personality Development

Self-determination theory as a foundation for personality theory. Becoming who you are: An integrative review of self-determination theory and personality systems interactions theory

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12380

One of the enduring missions of personality science is to unravel what it takes to become a fully functioning person. In the present article, the authors address this matter from the perspectives of self‐determination theory (SDT) and personality systems interactions (PSI) theory. SDT (a) is rooted in humanistic psychology; (b) has emphasized a first‐person perspective on motivation and personality; (c) posits that the person, supported by the social environment, naturally moves toward growth through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. PSI theory (a) is rooted in German volition psychology; (b) has emphasized a third‐person perspective on motivation and personality; and (c) posits that a fully functioning person can form and enact difficult intentions and integrate new experiences, and that such competencies are facilitated by affect regulation. The authors review empirical support for SDT and PSI theory, their convergences and divergences, and how the theories bear on recent empirical research on internalization, vitality, and achievement flow. The authors conclude that SDT and PSI theory offer complementary insights into developing a person's full potential.
This process of the good life is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint‐hearted. It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one's potentialities. (Rogers, 1961, p. 196)

Genomic biomarkers of prenatal intrauterine inflammation in umbilical cord tissue predict later life neurological outcomes

Background: Preterm birth is a major risk factor for neurodevelopmental delays and disorders. This study aimed to identify genomic biomarkers of intrauterine inflammation in umbilical cord tissue in preterm neonates that predict cognitive impairment at 10 years of age.
Study design: Genome-wide messenger RNA (mRNA) levels from umbilical cord tissue were obtained from 43 neonates born before 28 weeks of gestation. Genes that were differentially expressed across four indicators of intrauterine inflammation were identified and their functions examined. Exact logistic regression was used to test whether expression levels in umbilical cord tissue predicted neurocognitive function at 10 years of age.
Results: Placental indicators of inflammation were associated with changes in the mRNA expression of 445 genes in umbilical cord tissue. Transcripts with decreased expression showed significant enrichment for biological signaling processes related to neuronal development and growth. The altered expression of six genes was found to predict neurocognitive impairment when children were 10 years old These genes include two that encode for proteins involved in neuronal development.
Conclusion: Prenatal intrauterine inflammation is associated with altered gene expression in umbilical cord tissue. A set of six of the differentially expressed genes predict cognitive impairment later in life, suggesting that the fetal environment is associated with significant adverse effects on neurodevelopment that persist into later childhood.

Bad Roots to Grow: Deficient Implicit Self‐Evaluations in Chronic Depression With an Early Onset

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22275

Objective:
Implicit self-esteem, which is based on associative learning processes, is considered to be constituted earlier in life than explicit, verbalized self-esteem. While depressed individuals report negative explicit self-esteem, research has predominantly demonstrated equivalent levels of implicit self-esteem of depressed and healthy individuals. We further illuminate this finding by theorizing and empirically demonstrating that chronically depressed individuals show particularly low levels of implicit self-esteem when depression had an early onset.
Method:
We applied measures of implicit (name-letter test) and explicit (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) self-esteem in chronically depressed patients with an early onset (N = 17), a late onset (N = 13), and an episodic depression (N = 29).
Results:
As expected, patients with an early onset showed lower implicit self-esteem than the 2 other groups.
Conclusion:
Implicit self-esteem may function as a marker of how deeply negative self-views are internalized. Furthermore, the distinction between early and late onset of chronic depression seems to be valuable for classification and potentially treatment of unipolar depression.

Being someone: The integrated self as a neuropsychological system

Fully functioning persons are characterized by a unity in thought, emotion, and action that amounts to “being someone” or having “an integrated self.” Psychologists have typically treated the integrated self as merely a descriptive term that summarizes significant behavioral achievements. In the present article, the authors seek to place the integrated self on firmer theoretical grounds by relating the integrated self to a neurobiological system with distinct processing characteristics. Building on personality systems interactions theory (Kuhl, 2000b), the authors suggest that the integrated self is supported by parallel‐distributed processing in the right anterior cortex and can be distinguished from simpler self‐related states of mind. From this neuropsychological model, the authors derive seven functions of the integrated self: emotional connectedness, broad vigilance, utilization of felt feedback, unconscious processing, integration of negative experiences, extended resilience, and extended trust. The authors discuss the seven functions and their mutual relations along with relevant behavioral and neurobiological evidence. Finally, the authors highlight the importance of positive relationships for optimal development of the integrated self and discuss how the integrated self might be further cultivated to improve self‐regulation and health.

Harlich Stavemann: Therapie-Tools Integrative Therapie

Die Integrative Kognitive Verhaltenstherapie weist bei einer Vielzahl von Störungen sehr gute Behandlungserfolge auf. Harlich H. Stavemann bietet Therapeuten im vorliegenden Band umfangreiche Materialien, um das Verfahren bei zahlreichen Störungen und unterschiedlichen Settings, beispielsweise bei Angsterkrankungen, in der Suchtbehandlung oder bei Schizophrenie, sinnvoll und erfolgreich umzusetzen.
Mit zahlreichen Beiträgen namhafter Kollegen deckt Stavemann die wesentlichen Bereiche der Integrativen KVT ab. Es werden Arbeitsblätter, Übungen und Hausaufgaben zu grundlegenden KVT-Techniken wie der Lebenszielanalyse vorgestellt. Auch für bestimmte Settings sowie für eine störungsspezifische Behandlung werden praktische Materialien angeboten. Jeder Beitrag besteht aus einer Einleitung ins jeweilige Thema und aus 5 bis 20 Arbeitsblättern. Mit E-Book inside und Arbeitsmaterial.

La teoría de la Interacción de Sistemas de la Personalidad (PSI) [The personality systems interaction theory (PSI)

This article presents for the first time in Spanish a recent integrative theory of personality, which has generated and continues to generate a great amount of research, not only in Germany but internationally: The Personality Systems Interactions (PSI) theory (Kuhl, 2000, 2001). In this paper the main elements of the theory are described: The seven functional personality levels, the four cognitive macrosystems (intention memory, extension memory, intuitive behavioral control, and object recognition system), and the two affective modulation assumptions (positive affect and negative affect) which determine the systems interactions. This theory is not only integrative at a psychological and neurobiological level but it also has an extensive range of applications in clinical psychology, in education, and in organizational psychology.

La teoría de la Interacción de Sistemas de la Personalidad (PSI) [The personality systems interaction theory (PSI)

This article presents for the first time in Spanish a recent integrative theory of personality, which has generated and continues to generate a great amount of research, not only in Germany but internationally: The Personality Systems Interactions (PSI) theory (Kuhl, 2000, 2001). In this paper the main elements of the theory are described: The seven functional personality levels, the four cognitive macrosystems (intention memory, extension memory, intuitive behavioral control, and object recognition system), and the two affective modulation assumptions (positive affect and negative affect) which determine the systems interactions. This theory is not only integrative at a psychological and neurobiological level but it also has an extensive range of applications in clinical psychology, in education, and in organizational psychology.

Diagnosenübergreifende Psychoedukation: Ein Manual für Patienten- und Angehörigengruppen

Bei diesem Psychoedukations-Programm für stationäre, teilstationäre oder ambulante Gruppen können Patientinnen und Patienten mit unterschiedlichen psychiatrischen Diagnosen gemeinsam teilnehmen:
Ob Psychosen, affektive Störungen, Zwangs-, Angst-, Somatisierungs- und Persönlichkeitsstörungen – alle lernen gemeinsam, besser mit ihrer Erkrankung umzugehen. Das Konzept enthält detaillierte Anleitungen für die einzelnen Sitzungen, ergänzt durch umfassende Arbeitsmaterialien, z.B. Informationen zu einzelnen psychischen Störungen, Selbstbeobachtungsprotokolle, Krisenplan und Notfallkoffer.
Die beiliegende CD liefert Folien für jede der 12 Sitzungen.
Das Manual kann darüber hinaus als Leitfaden für eine diagnosenübergreifende Angehörigengruppe dienen, es eignet sich ebenfalls für außerklinische Einrichtungen wie Übergangswohnheime und Betreutes Wohnen.
Einzigartiges und praxiserprobtes Manual für diagnosenübergreifende Psychoedukationsgruppen, das eine gute Alternative bietet, wenn störungsspezifische Psychoedukationsgruppen keine ökonomisch erforderliche Größe erreichen.

Inflammation-related proteins in the blood of extremely low gestational age newborns. The contribution of inflammation to the appearance of developmental regulation

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cyto.2010.09.003

Background: We wanted to assess to what extent concentrations of circulating proteins appear to be developmentally regulated, and to what extent such regulation is influenced by intrauterine inflammation.
Methods: We measured 22 proteins in blood obtained on postnatal days 1, 7, and 14 from 818 children born before the 28th week of gestation for whom we also had information about placenta morphology.
Results: Within the narrow gestational age range of this sample, some protein concentrations increase in blood with increasing gestational age. More commonly, the concentrations of inflammation-related proteins decrease with increasing gestational age. We observed this inverse pattern both in children whose placenta was and was not inflamed.
Conclusions/inferences: Regardless of whether or not the placenta is inflamed, the concentrations of inflammation-related proteins in early blood specimens appear to be developmentally regulated with the most common pattern

Wie funktioniert das Selbst

„Wer bin ich und wenn ja wie viele?“ Dieser Bestsellertitel eines philosophisch engagierten Journalisten (Richard Precht) scheint zu suggerieren, dass es ein einheitliches Selbst womöglich gar nicht gibt. In der Tat ist heute eine Tendenz zur Leugnung des Selbst als einem einheitlichen System erkennbar: Wenn ich überhaupt etwas über mich selbst aussagen kann, dann werde ich eher viele verschiedene Selbstbereiche nennen, in denen ich ganz unterschiedlich auftrete, als dass ich mich selbst als einheitliches Wesen wahrnehmen und beschreiben könnte. Diese Sichtweise scheint ganz gut zum (postmodernen) Lebensgefühl vieler Menschen und auch zu neueren philosophischen, psychologischen und neurobiologischen Ansätzen zu passen: Die Person und das, was Menschen dafür halten, soll ein einheitliches Gebilde sein? Menschen fühlen, denken und handeln doch ganz unterschiedlich, je nachdem in welchen Situationen, Stimmungen oder Rollen sie sich befinden. Ist also die Vorstellung von einer integrationsstarken Person, einem kohärenten (zusammenhängenden) oder gar einheitlichen Selbst eine Fiktion?

Adaptive and maladaptive pathways of self-development: Mental health and interactions among personality systems

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.4467/20843879PR.11.021.0194

received much systematic attention neither in psychological research nor in theories of personality and its development. Likewise, the developmental conditions for maladaptive personality functioning and the formation of psychological symptoms have not been the primary target of research in clinical psychology during the past decades (Castonguay, 2011). On the basis of a theory of personality that specifies a functional architecture of personality (i.e., personality systems interactions theory: PSI theory) developmental pathways are described that promote successful or impaired development of the integrated self which plays a pivotal role in PSI theory. Adaptive developmental pathways are described in terms of the developmental conditions promoting the ability to initiate unattractive instrumental activities (action control) and the integration of self-alien and painful experiences into an ever growing personal knowledge base (self-development). Maladaptive pathways are proposed to describe the developmental conditions for two major forms of psychological disorders: symptoms related to impaired action control (e.g., procrastination, eating disorders, depression) and symptoms related to impaired self-growth (e.g., rigidity, failure to learn from mistakes, psychosomatic symptoms). Any theory of personality should be able to explain adaptive and maladaptive forms of personality development. However, this issue does not belong to the prime targets of research efforts made in personality, developmental, or clinical psychology. Instead, competing hypotheses are derived from global constructs such as self-efficacy, irrational thinking, poor self-esteem and the like. Typical questions arising from this global construct approach are: Does a man who has problems initiating simple activities at home (despite his efficient performance at his work) suffer from impaired self-efficacy, poor self-esteem, or does he simply have chauvinistic attitudes against his wife? Global constructs are also offered by the two major schools of thinking in psychology: From a psychoanalytic point of view, a woman’s overeating may be caused by an “oral regression” which dictates her behavior to eat as impulsively as oral needs drive baby’s feelings during the oral stage of development? In contrast, behavioristic learning theory would attribute those and other symptoms such as disturbed sleep, impaired immune function and stress-dependent pain like headache or backpain to the acquisition of irrational thinking or maladaptive behaviors that can be remedied
by rewarding more appropriate behaviors.

Selbstkompetenz stärken –Begabung entfalten

Das Ziel dieser Publikation ist es, das Thema Beziehung in der Diskussion um bessere Bildung und Begabungsförderung zu stärken und hervorzuheben. Das Buch ist so angelegt, dass in den ersten Beiträgen ein Überblick zur Bedeutung von Beziehung und Bindung gegeben wird. Alle weiteren Beiträge geben Einblick in die Praxis von Kita und Grundschule und schildern Wege und Möglichkeiten, "Beziehung" in den praktischen Alltag zu integrieren

Motivating People for Change. Touching a person’s essence: Using implicit motives as personal resources in counseling

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470979952.ch5

Introduction to Personality Systems Interactions (PSI) Theory, Motives in PSI Theory. Four Types of Motives—Four Basic Needs Toward a Functional Explanation for Chronic Need Frustration Motives in the Context of Counseling Working with Implicit Motives: Some Suggestions for Training References.

Kein Wachstum ohne Schmerz. Die Bedeutung emotionaler Dialektik für Intuition und Kreativität

Psychologie ist die Lehre vom Verhalten und Erleben. In der Persönlichkeitspsychologie interessiert besonders, was Menschen so einzigartig in ihrem Verhalten und Erleben macht. Wieso sind manche Menschen besonders kreativ? Wie kommt es, dass manche Menschen besonders integer und reif wirken? Was macht eine gestandene Persönlichkeit aus? Von einer gestandenen Persönlichkeit erwarten wir im Alltag sicherlich zwei Dinge: Erstens, dass sie die Ziele, die sie sich vorgenommen hat, auch tatsächlich in die Tat umsetzt. Dabei sollte sie sich durch Schwierigkeiten und Hindernisse nicht frustrieren lassen, sondern ihre Ziele bis zur Zielerreichung hartnäckig weiterverfolgen. Wir nennen diesen Aspekt Handlungsfähigkeit und werden zeigen, dass Handlungsfähigkeit entscheidend durch positive Gefühle beeinflusst ist. Wichtiger als positive Gefühle per se ist dabei der Wechsel zwischen einem Mangel an positiven Gefühlen (z. B. das Aushalten von Frustration und Unlust) und der Wiederherstellung von positiven Gefühlen (z. B. Freude, Zuversicht). Zweitens erwarten wir von einer gestandenen Persönlichkeit, dass sie an Misserfolgen, Kritik und Fehlern nicht zerbricht, sondern daraus lernt und an ihnen wächst. Wir nennen diesen Aspekt Selbstwachstum und werden zeigen, dass Selbstwachstum wesentlich durch negative Gefühle beeinflusst ist. Auch hier wird sich zeigen, dass es nicht so wichtig ist, möglichst wenig negative Gefühle (z. B. Angst, Hilflosigkeit) zu erleben, sondern dass gerade der Wechsel zwischen negativen Gefühlen und der Bewältigung negativer Gefühle (z. B. Entspannung) entscheidend für Selbstwachstum ist. Wir nennen diese Gefühlswechsel emotionale Dialektik. Im Folgenden wird aufgezeigt, wie emotionale Dialektik das Zusammenspiel von vier Helfern (vier kognitiven Systemen) optimal aus richtet, so dass unser kognitives Gesamtsystem optimal für Handlungsfähigkeit und Selbstwachstum vorbereitet ist. Die Annahmen basieren auf der Theorie der Persönlichkeits-System-Interaktionen (PSI-Theorie) von Julius Kuhl (2001, 2005, 2009) und sind in Abbildung 1 schematisch dargestellt. Phänomene wie Intuition und Kreativität werden dabei durch die gleiche Konfiguration von kognitiven Systemen und Gefühlen gefördert, die wir als Grundlage für Selbstwachstum beschreiben.

White matter damage impairs adaptive recovery more than cortical damage in an in silico model of activity-dependent plasticity

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1177/0883073809338627

Little is understood of how damaged white matter interacts with developmental plasticity. The authors propose that computational neuroscience methods are underused in this problem. In this article, they present a nondeterministic, in silico model of activity-dependent plasticity. Using this model, they compared the impact of neuronal cell loss or axonal dysfunction on the ability of the system to generate, maintain, and recover synapses. The results suggest the axonal dysfunction seen in white matter injury is a greater burden to adaptive plasticity and recovery than is the neuronal loss of cortical injury. Better understanding of the interaction between features of preterm brain injury and developmental plasticity is an essential component for improving recovery.

Paediatric neurology: the many faces of development

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(06)70664-0

Many issues in paediatric neurology revolve around the concept of normal versus abnormal development, however defined. Development is the process of structure and function in the making. As such, it is often genetically directed, but rarely determined, and always prone to environmental influences. All too often, however, we think about developmental issues in a rather deterministic and thus rigid fashion.

Motivating People for Change. Motivational counseling in an extended functional context: Personality Systems Interaction Theory and Assessment

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470713129.ch6

A new theory of personality (PSI theory) is summarized and applied to motivational counseling. This theory focuses on interactions among seven levels of personality such as temperament and affect, holistic and analytical cognitive systems on low (“irrational”) and on high (“rational”) levels of integration, need and motives, coping styles and self-regulatory functions. In contrast to dualistic approaches, a four-systems architecture is proposed on the two cognitive levels. The four-systems view avoids confounding rationality with analytical intelligence by adding to the rational (high-level) form of analytical processing that generates figure-ground separation, decontextualized objects, and dichotomous categories (“object recognition”). In a similar vein, the traditional (irrational) form of intuition is complemented by a high-level (rational) form of intuition (implicit extension memory and personal self). In two modulation assumptions, positive and negative affect modulate the interaction and communication between two pairs of mental systems. Restoring positive affect facilitates the interaction between two experimental systems (integration of new isolated experiences into extension memory and the self, which integrates all experiences). An in-depth discussion of a clinical case illustrates the application of new assessment system derived from PSI theory. This system scans seven levels of personality functioning and aims at the detection of one or a few key functions that bear a high potential for personal development (Evolvement-Oriented Scanning [EOS]). In counseling based on EOS, those key functions are used for formulating a simple and clear-cut message with regard to promising areas of self-development. Additional case studies are briefly summarized.

Begabungen fördern - Lernen individualisieren. Begabungsförderung: Diagnostik und Entwicklung persönlicher Kompetenzen

Dass Begabungen nicht immer entsprechende Leistungen umgesetzt werden können, weiß die Menschheit seit Jahrtausenden (man denke nur an das biblische Gleichnis von dem Menschen, der seine Talente vergräbt, statt sie arbeiten zu lassen). Bislang war es aber praktisch nur sehr begrenzt möglich, mit wissenschaftlich erprobten Methoden die individuellen Ursachen zu ermitteln, die dazu führen, dass ein Mensch weniger leistet als aufgrund seiner Begabung zu erwarten wäre (in der englischsprachigen Forschung spricht man von underachievement). Ein großer Teil dieser Ursachen liegt im Bereich der Persönlichkeit, speziell bei den persönlichen Kompetenzen, die man heute in Wirtschaftsunternehmen, „Schlüsselqualifikationen“ nennt, weil persönliche Kompetenzen in einer Zeit ständig wechselnder Märkte und Anforderungen mehr als Schul- oder Fachwissen (das immer rascher veraltet) den „Schlüssel“ zum beruflichen Erfolg liefern. Beispiele für persönliche Schlüsselqualifikationen zum schulischen und beruflichen Erfolg sind: Anpassungsfähigkeit, persönliches Engagement, Planungskompetenz, Tatkraft, Kreativität, Identifikation mit Leistungszielen, Zielumsetzung, Motivation, Stressresistenz, persönliche Selbstbehauptung, Teamfähigkeit u.v.m.

Der Wille in der Verhaltenstherapie

Wir versuchen aufzuzeigen, welche Entwicklungen sich aus der vorübergehend in Vergessenheit geratenen Willenspsychologie ergeben haben und inwieweit Willensaspekte heute noch – speziell im Hinblick auf die Verhaltenstherapie – relevant sein können. Zur Verhaltenstherapie sei angemerkt, dass sie nur noch von wenigen Ahnungslosen mit „Rattendressur“ gleichgesetzt wird, bei der „der Wille“ natürlich keinen Platz hätte, dass sie jedoch von anderen verdächtigt wird, sich eklektisch alle effektiven Therapie- und Theorievarianten – zumindest Elemente davon – einzuverleiben. Diesen Verdacht kann man in einem positiven Sinne bestätigen: Man kann in dem „eklektischen“ Vorgehen eine Strategie zu einer umfassenden und störungsorientierten Therapiekonzeption sehen, die sich einer fortschreitenden und kontrollierten Entwicklung öffnet. Dies kommt z. B. in einer generellen Botschaft der Autoren der „Selbstmanagement-Therapie“ zum Ausdruck: „jede Methode, die effektiv sein könnte, um bestimmte „für den Therapieerfolge notwendige) Ziele zu erreichen, ist O.K. – insbesondere, wenn ihre praktische Anwendung im Einzelfall auf Erfolg überprüft (evaluiert) wird“ (Kanfer et al. 1996, S. 20). Durch diese Orientierung wird es allerdings zunehmend schwieriger, generell von „der“ Verhaltenstherapie zu sprechen und zu entscheiden, ob einzelne Forscher und Autoren als Vertreter der Verhaltenstherapie gelten oder nicht.

Developing Motivation and Motivating Development. A Theory of Self-Development: Affective Fixation and the STAR Model of Personality Disorders and Related Styles

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(00)80012-6

The author delineates his theory of personality systems interactions (PSI theory) that integrates opposing theories of personality within a coherent framework. The four cognitive macrosystems postulated by this theory are (1) a system based on analytical, explicit knowledge including explicit representations of intentions (intention memory), (2) a system based on holistic, implicit knowledge consisting of an extended associative network of alternative actions or alternative semantic connotations compatible with a goal or message, respectively (extension memory), (3) a system consisting of intuitively controllable action routines (genetically prepared sensorimotor schemas that can be developed through learning), and (4) a system that supports explicit recognition of objects. He then explores the developmental implications of this theory: in what ways can PSI theory help in the investigation of the interface between developmental and personality functioning? Finally, some experimental findings are discussed that test central assumptions and illustrate the type of explanation suggested by PSI theory.

Ordnungsverhalten, Lärmbelastung und Persönlichkeit [Random-letter generation, stress, and personality]

Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308418

Performance in a random letter-generation test was measured by 34 indices. A factor analysis of these indices showed three different response tendencies that determined letter generation performance: (1) Matching the probability structure of Ss' first language, (2) matching the order of the alphabet, (3) avoidance of repetitions (negative recency). When persons were instructed to achieve maximal randomness in the produced letter sequence, they behaved in a different way as when instructed to produce sequences which resemble the Ss' first language phonetically but not semantically. In either case the produced series differed from a mathematical random series. An experimental variation of sound level — intended to induce stress — affected performance mainly through interaction with other variables. Part of the individual variance can be explained by differences in test scores that indicate extraversion, neuroticism, interference, verbal intelligence, and memory span. These results may contribute to the development of a model describing the mechanisms underlying behavioral sequences.