Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science

The vast literature on personality psychology generally focuses on neutral or socially beneficial personality traits such as the Five-Factor model (e.g., agreeableness, conscientiousness) or "dark" traits such as Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism. However, the current synthesis of the literature indicates that the distinction between benign, malign, and neutral personality traits and facets is partly misguided. In fact, there are many objective and subjective measures that indicate that high agreeableness is not beneficial, while moderate grandiose narcissism is...

This article addresses the implications of ´Understanding the process of Taoistic-informed mindfulness from a Meadian perspective´, a work by von Fircks (2023) published in this journal, which represents a vindication of the historic, philosophic, and subjective dimensions of research in psychology. From my perspective as an indigenous researcher, I share my own experience of how deceitful distinctions between more or less scientific research topics are fostered by the omission of those dimensions...

In this introduction to a thematic issue dealing with free will, some possibilities of free will in different physical, social, and technological worlds, as well as discussions of the possibilities are considered. What are the possibilities and limitations of free will in various other worlds differing from our world? What are the possibilities and limitations of free will in different species, both in our world and in other hypothetical worlds, including future species, naturally evolving, and artificially modified? What are the possibilities and limitations of free will related to the development of AI? How can the diversity of free will levels in an agent be related to possible levels (depth) of its self-knowledge? What can agents differing in levels of self-knowledge know and think about the issue of free will? How do different societies (social worlds) support and inhibit different manifestations of free will in different areas? What is the role of hard neurodeterminism and "mindless neuroscience" in general neuroscience? What are ethical aspects of the questions, including the initial one: "If a neuroscientist denies free will, how can they write a text of voluntary informed consent and propose to sign it?"...

Most present-day research on mindfulness treats mindfulness as a variable that is studied in relation to other variables. Although this research may provide us with important knowledge at the population level and mechanism level, it contributes little to our understanding of the phenomenon of mindfulness as it is experienced and enacted at the person level. The present paper takes a person-oriented phenomenological perspective on mindfulness, comparing this perspective with that of von Fircks' (2023). In a first part of the paper, mindfulness is discussed as a phenomenological practice that can be studied by means of experimental phenomenology...

When teachers explain science concepts-for example, the solar wind, or plasma waves-some methods seem to be quick-acting and others long-lasting. Still others pose as many problems as they seem to solve. How, for example, does a parent explain how there can be solar wind without any air in space? How does a teacher explain how there can be plasma waves without any water? Locating metaphor between thinking and speech rather than within one or the other, we work out a single scheme to analyze two conversations with adult Koreans...

This article discusses the role of inhibition as a component of executive functions in metaphorical embodiment of concepts and explains some incongruent evidence for metaphorical embodiment. Some past works have explained the incongruent evidence for metaphorical embodiment of concepts on the basis of conventionality/novelty of metaphors. Based on theories of embodiment, when a word that refers to an object is used in its literal sense, all sensorimotor networks that are involved in perceiving the object are activated, and sensorimotor features of the object are embodied...

The paper builds on (von Fircks, E. Integr. psych. Behav. Sci. 2023) article on mindfulness meditation analysed in a Meadian perspective. First, the selective appropriation of some concepts by hegemonic psychology is critically discussed. Then, the consequences of adopting the whole philosophical system of Eastern perspectives are envisaged. Finally, a proposal for a truly ecological shift in the study of self is proposed.

A shared problem in psychology, psychiatry, and philosophy is how to define mental disorders. Various theories have been proposed, ranging from naturalism to social constructionism. In this article, I first briefly introduce the current landscape of such theories, before concentrating on one of the most influential approaches today: The harmful dysfunction theory developed by Jerome Wakefield. It claims that mental disorders are hybrid phenomena since they have a natural basis in dysfunctional mental mechanisms, but also a cultural component in the harm experienced by human beings...

This essay aims to discuss the meaning and purpose of work by adopting an approach in cultural psychology that emphasizes the centrality of the meaning-making process. The central thesis of the paper is to demonstrate that the meaning and purpose of work is a paradox. On the one hand, work represents a set of actions of the human agent for producing things. That is to say, the purpose of work is located outside of it. On the other hand, work is an activity in itself, carried out as a way of developing human potentialities...

In this article, we attempt to integrate and further develop conceptual ideas about functions of small groups and the informal subgroups that arise within them in relation to their respective members, namely, the functions of: (1) creating possibilities for realizing individual goals and meeting individual needs; (2) providing protection from external and intragroup social threats; (3) providing information to members; (4) educating members; (5) providing adaptive capacities to members; and (6) providing control and regulation...

According to the QBIT theory, the necessary and sufficient condition for the emergence of consciousness is the transformation of a system consisting of many brain qubits from a disordered state to a state with maximum possible order. This idea relates consciousness to the concept of quantum coherence and the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation.

The purpose of this article is to understand the distinctively human behavior from Aristotelian ethics and evolutionary science to offer a perspective of what it means to act rationally. We argue that this way of acting is characterized by a decision informed by the analysis of whether or not it is worth pursuing an end, and by certain means, which takes place through a weighting of consequences from the body of knowledge that the person has so far We also argue that such a process can occur quickly (and requiring a less cognitive effort) or slowly (and demanding more cognitive effort), depending on whether or not the person has previous experiences of choices that have generated good consequences in the type of context presented; What does it mean for a person to have or not rational heuristics established in their minds, which are those that are connected to the most current network of "whys" and that has been consolidated precisely because they have proven effective in pointing out what is best to do in that kind of context...

This article delves into the implications of neurotechnologies for the philosophical debates surrounding free will and moral responsibility. Tracing the concept from ancient religious and philosophical roots, we discuss how recent neurotechnological advancements (e.g. optogenetics, fMRI and machine learning, predictive diagnostics, et al.) challenge traditional notions of autonomy. Although neurotechnologies aim to enhance autonomy in the strict sense - as self-determination - they risk reducing or changing the broader notion of autonomy, which involves personal authenticity...

Place is everywhere as geography, location, territory, and landscape permeates everyday encounter. In contrast, memory is embedded in the physical setting as the burgeoning narratives of cities. In recent instances, literary settings of novels and characters are interpretations of actual life events. An immigrant from New York City returns to Lagos after a long period in Teju Cole's Every Day is for the Thief (2007) and (2014) investigates the correlation of the past self within the present state of the setting...

Neuroscience has convinced people that much of their behavior is determined by causes unknown to them and beyond their control. However, are advances in neuroscience truly a prerequisite for such beliefs? Robert Kane's theory of ultimate responsibility is libertarian theory. Its innovative nature makes it possible to discuss the neurophysiological basis of its postulates. Using the functions of the midbrain dopaminergic system as an example, this article provides an overview of this neurophysiological basis...

The article draws from critical psychology to discuss the rising debate on brain determinism and free will in the legal domain. As free will also corresponds to the context and culture, it can have both the public and private space of expressions. The rise of neuroscience and its influence in the legal domain offers a holistic and sociocultural meaning of responsibility. Even one becomes entitled to take free will as a 'necessary illusion' in order to be in the zone of 'moral as well as legal-social life forming activities'...

This article presents the concept of epistemological alienation in order to examine psychology's epistemological quantitative Paradigm and its connection to political reality. Politzer's work of how mainstream psychology turns the first-person language of the individual into a mechanistic third-person pseudoscience is thoroughly discussed. Consequently, through some marginalized voices within psychology, it is examined how psychologists disregard the subject's own voice, intentionality, meaning and judgment-forming mechanisms promoting instead a naturalistic and mechanistic language, based heavily on psychometric methodology and a false and altered account of psychology's history...

The concept of human values is central to the study of culture, ethics, politics, anthropology, sociology, social psychology, environmental studies, health policy, education, management, and human capital. Because it represents the ultimate "why" behind decisions and behaviors, as a concept it plays an outsized role in both theory and practice in each of these fields. Despite the centrality of human values in these domains, the concept lacks theoretical consensus among scholars and practitioners. Like the concepts of subjective well-being, organizational culture, employee engagement, and leadership, the values literature suffers from concept proliferation and cries out for clearly stated definitions that embed the concept within a solid theoretical framework...

Mnemonics are not only tools that empower memory but also have a significant role in qualitatively transforming mental functions and, hence, consciousness in general. A specific type of mnemonics is autobiographical mnemonics (AM) constructed of spatial, temporal, and semantic dimensions used in a naturalist form by individuals about their own experiences. This paper proposes a spatial-temporal mnemonic that transforms AM from a naturalist level into an artificial one. We consider allowing the intellect and consciousness to grasp the abstract flow of time in the global context of geography will contribute to setting the stage for creativity...

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