Series:Psychologia

The Little Ball. Studies on Movement and Melancholy

Piłeczka. Studia o ruchu i melancholii

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Marek Bieńczyk; melancholy; literaturę; sports; wine; kitchen; travels; books; love;

The Little Ball. Studies on Movement and Melancholy is an edited volume dedicated to Marek Bieńczyk, on the anniversary of his birth. The volume is comprised of texts inspired by the works of the author of Tworki, The Book of Faces or Olga’s Apple, which reflect on the possibility of reconciling the aesthetics of melancholy with an affirmation of life and the force of literary game. The volume includes short pieces of prose, poetry, translations and essays penned by such influential writers as Milan Kundera, Michał Paweł Markowski, Małgorzata Łukasiewicz, Marian Kisiel, Marek Zaleski, Jacek Leociak, Ryszard Koziołek, Tadeusz Sławek, while the painting by Adam Patrzyk featured on the cover has been painted specifically for this occasion. This friendly initiative aims at combining intellectual values with emotions and provides a unique opportunity for a celebration within the realm of literature. Sports (Flaubert and football, playing ball in Janusz Korczak’s orphanage), wine (in Jacques the Fatalist, the Polish Livonia, but also the saint drunkard), the kitchen (a place of escape and fundamental existential choices: pasta or dumplings), journeys (both real and imagined), books as well as love constitute the primary topics that form the foundation for further reflections that the authors skillfully bounce over the boundaries of disciplines and themes like the titular little ball. As the reviewer of the volume puts it: “The Little Ball is first and foremost a superb volume of the Polish essayist tradition, which, having gone through the postmodernist phase, entered at the turn of the century a completely different trajectory to that set by Miłosz, Stempowski or Herling-Grudziński. The brilliant essays compiled in this volume—written both by veterans of the pen as well as relative newcomers—not only show the direction of contemporary Polish essayist thought, but also make us realize that a significant change has occurred in the way literary historians write about literature.”(The volume is co-published by IBL PAN)

Loss and grief. Theory and practice

Utrata i żałoba. Teoria i praktyka

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Dying;death;grief;bereavement;

“Dying, death, grief and bereavement are universal problems, engaged by a whole range of scholarly disciplines, including psychology, anthropology, philosophy. These problems are also the focus of culture and art.A strong tendency toward tabooisation of the theme of death, dying and grief obliges the scholarly community to examine this theme closely, against the current trends and fashion. The disassociation from the subjects which generate difficult emotions, which constitute the domain of modern man, prompts scholarship, in a completely paradoxical way, to associate with these problems, to explore and study them. Modern man seems to live as if death was not there, as if it did not apply to him, and which at least constitutes such a remote phenomenon that it does not deserve scrutiny. At the same time, in a completely paradoxical way, it (death) is ever-present in media broadcasts, ensuring greater readership or viewership ratings. It is curious that today there is a need to “debate” about grief (in the social and in the scholarly forum), instead of letting it “fade” (in the mind of the individual).Every instance of loss, if the person who was lost was cherished, requires a period of adaptation. The process of grief determines the rhythm of this adaptation. Every instance of the death of a loved one and each instance of grief after the death of a loved one unfold simultaneously at a number of levels: the intermental level, associated with the experience of grief after loss; the interpersonal level, associated with the dynamics of support and assistance; the cultural level, associated with the understanding of death, the rituals of saying farewell, the places of remembrance, etc. In the monograph, each of these levels will be treated in a more or less comprehensive manner. The first part of the monograph makes reference to the psychology and the philosophy of death, the second part discusses death featured in culture and in art, the third part discusses the problems of a psychological diagnosis and assistance provided in the case of death, and the fourth part focuses on a very peculiar instance of (prenatal and perinatal) loss. As far as the latter is concerned, society is only beginning to learn to come to terms with.The authors of the particular chapters represent various branches of scholarship and practice, owing to which the monograph presents the image of loss and grief in an extremely comprehensive and diversified manner.By presenting this research work to the public, we hope that it will become a source of profound reflection about dying, death and grief. We hope that this reflection will depart from the modern tendencies which promote a “psychological escape” from the subject of death, for death itself always was and always will be a part of life...” (Introduction)

The efficiency of the neurofeedback method in treating cognitive distortions in persons with paranoid schizophrenia

Skuteczność metody neurofeedback w leczeniu zaburzeń poznawczych u osób chorych na schizofrenię paranoidalną

Author(s): Kasper Czech / Language(s): Polish

The neurofeedback therapy is presently a form of neuropsychological intervention which becomes more and more popular. A factor facilitating the method’s intensified development and its widespread usage is, obviously, the ubiquitous, accelerated computerization. The method is used in treatments of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, attention deficit disorder, addictions, migraines, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, in addition to aiding the rehabilitation process after undergone neurological diseases, injuries and traumas, but also as a kind of cognitive functions training method for the healthy.What is more, the neurofeedback therapy has already proved to be an efficient rehabilitation method in person with non-psychotic mental disorders. Persons with schizophrenia are also able to change their bioelectrical brain activity thanks to the said method. The foregoing conclusions match the author’s clinical experience.The presented book is a record of adaptation and research on the efficiency of the method in question in treating schizophrenia. The overall aim of the conducted research was to establish whether the neurofeedback therapy is an effective method of treating cognitive disorders in patients with paranoid schizophrenia. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the topic of the human cognitive functions. Chapter 2 focuses on paranoid schizophrenia as a nosological entity, its pathogenesis, and the course of the disorder, especially including cognitive process distortions. In Chapter 3, the principles of the neurofeedback therapy have been explained, along with its course and application, and the previous attempts to use this method in patients with paranoid schizophrenia. In chapters 4 and 5, the particular neurofeedback treatment protocol of the therapy was discussed, in additions to the aim and methodology of the research carried out. Chapter 6, in turn, presents the research findings, their analysis and interpretation.

The Dark Triad in the Workplace. The interactive perspective

Ciemna triada osobowości w środowisku pracy. Perspektywa interakcyjna

Author(s): Elżbieta Sanecka / Language(s): Polish

The book constitutes the first Polish monograph concerning the issues of coexistence with people with “dark” personality traits in the workplace. The present monograph considers three types of socially harmful personality traits which form the so-called dark triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. The “dark” personality traits constitute the core of the inquiry and they are analyzed with regard to the attitudes towards work (i.e. job satisfaction and brand loyalty), civic and counter-productive activities in the workplace, as well as (according to the interactive approach) selected characteristics of the workplace.The monograph consists of four chapters. Chapter one presents the two basic approaches to describing personality in the workplace: the trait approach and the interactive approach. In the beginning, the chapter underscores the importance of distinguishing between the “light” and “dark” personality traits in the workplace. Next, the chapter discusses the most important conceptions within the interactive approach to the study of personality in the organizational context, including the theory of personality trait activation in the workplace.Chapter two introduces the taxonomy of the dark triad, which includes three discrete “dark” personality traits, analyzed at the sub-clinical level: Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. It presents two approaches to the study of the dark triad: the unification approach and the discrimination approach, and situates the dark triad against the other personality models, in addition to enumerating the most important behavioral correlations between Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. Moreover, it discusses the issue of the functioning of people who possess some of the traits of the dark triad in the workplace, underlining the significance of the potential benefits and costs connected with the presence of people who exhibit high levels of Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy in the business.Chapter three discusses two attitudes towards work, analyzed in the monograph in relation to the traits exhibited by the dark triad: job satisfaction and brand loyalty. The chapter defines both concepts, presents the main categories of their personality and situational conditions, and examines the character of the links between the traits of the dark triad and the aforementioned attitudes towards work.Chapter four focuses on the analysis of two distinctive categories of voluntary actions in the workplace, i.e. civic actions and counter-productive actions. It indicates the main problems with terminology connected with the description of the aforementioned organizational actions and differentiates between three categories of conditions for organizational actions: attitudes towards work, situational factors, personality factors. The chapter is based on earlier research which focuses on the analysis of the interdependence between the personality traits of the dark triad and civic as well as counter-productive actions in the workplace. The three following chapters form the empirical part of the monograph. The first chapter discusses the methodological basis of own research; the second chapter analyzes the results of the study, and the third chapter presents their interpretation. The conducted study has confirmed the majority of the hypotheses considering the direct links between the personality traits of the dark triad, attitudes towards work and organizational actions. It has been shown that two conditions (power within the organization, understood as a formal position at the firm, and interpersonal conflict in the workplace) fulfilled the role of the moderators in the relation between the traits of the dark triad and attitudes towards work and organizational actions. Singular mediational effects of the attitudes towards work with regard to the links between the traits of the dark triad and organizational actions have also been observed. Taking into account the results of the study, modifications to the research model have been proposed, in order to include the direct correlations between situational factors and attitudes towards work and organizational actions. At the end of the monograph, on the basis of the literature on the subject, the author attempted interpretation of the obtained results, pointing to the limitations of the conducted studies and possible future avenues for empirical research

Beliefs and readiness for aggression among women convicted of committing a violent crime

Przekonania a gotowość do agresji kobiet skazanych za popełnienie przestępstwa z użyciem przemocy

Author(s): Magdalena Bolek-Kochanowska / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: readiness for aggression; aggression; violence; female violent offenders; beliefs

The monograph raises the issue related to the determinants of violent female criminality. The book may be of interest to people who study the phenomena of aggression and violence, including specialists in the field of forensic psychology and students. It presents a review of theoretical approaches focused on the cognitive aspects of violence, the concept of readiness for aggression, the specificity of aggressive behavior of women and the author’s own research in which the relationships between the beliefs of women incarcerated for violent crimes and their readiness for aggression were analyzed. The results can be used in the area of therapeutic, prophylactic and resocialization interactions.

Personality and achievements in learning

Osobowość i osiągnięcia w nauce

Author(s): Maria Flakus / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: personality; non-cognitive traits; academic achievements; academic performance;grades;

Nowadays, psychologists are inclined to perceive intelligence as one of the factors significant for school achievements, but not the exhaustive pool of possibilities to search for potential determinants of academic achievements. Thinking about similar non-cognitive factors associated with grades, researchers turned to many areas that are traditional subjects of interest in psychological research, including personality traits. The possibility of linking the area of personality and intellectual functioning is highlighted by both scientific research and some theories of intelligence, including investment theories, analyzing intellectual development and activity manifested in this area from the level of several groups of factors, including personality.

Emotions and Gender. A Study of the Dynamics of Engagement and Distancing in Romantic Relationships

Emocje i płeć. Studium dynamiki zaangażowania i dystansowania w związkach romantycznych

Author(s): Monika Kornaszewska-Polak / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Sex/gender; emotions; individual differences; romantic relationships;commitment;

The monograph concerns the important problem of shaping romantic relationships in the context of emotional differences between the sexes. It addresses the issues of identity, individual differences, emotionality, social and professional roles, and strategies for cop-ing with stress for men and women. Widely discussed differences between the sexes lead to many theoretical disputes, but they ignore the practical aspects that can lead to satis-factory solutions. In order to find them, own research was carried out, in which the emo-tional factor was hypothetically recognized as differentiating but also bonding close rela-tionships. Gender complementarity was recognized as one of the most important aspects of romantic relationships.