THE IMPORTANCE OF THE APPLICATION OF THE DISCOUNT MATRIX AS A TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS MOTIVATIONAL MODEL IN SOCIAL PRACTICE

Author(s): Aleksandra Đurić,Kristina Brajović-Car,Jelena Bajić / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Transactional Analysis (TA), in addition to offering a philosophical view on people and their relationships as a basis of a unique theory of personality and development forming a part of a psychotherapeutic approach, provides concrete models for solving almost all aspects of problems related to interpersonal relationships and business communication. This paper aims to show how the discount model of Transactional Analysis can be an effective way of solving problems, boosting motivation and improving communication in business environment. The initial assumption of the research is that, in business environment, the most often discounting is located on diagonal T3 of the discount matrix, which implies dismissing options, significance of problems and changeability of stimuli; or on diagonal T4 of the discount matrix implying discounting significance of options, solvability of problems, and person’s ability to react differently to stimuli. The method used for collecting data was a survey, while the respondents were Serbian professionals chosen by random sampling in the space of one month. This research could be translated into practical application as the theoretical and graphic representations of the discount matrix model offer clear, precise and systematic knowledge and indications of the practical skills needed across all areas of social and public life (psychotherapy, counseling, health, education, mediation, social work, organizational culture etc.). Above all, it promotes the competences necessary for the 21st century regarding raising the awareness of the choices we make in communication, deepening the understanding of human motivation, alleviating the negative effects of criticism and working towards a more efficient decision-making, problem solving and conflict resolution models in business practice.

Cum comunicăm despre sexualitate în contextul dizabilității?

Author(s): Ovidiu Damian / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2020

People with disabilities are ten times more likely to suffer from abuse than their typical peers. When lacking knowledge about abuse indicators, these persons are,evidently, unable to report it, which can lead to repeated abuse. Moreover, in many cases,these people do not know that they have the right to decide, refuse, be asked permission(every time), rethink a decision or change their minds. On the other hand, sexuality is often mistaken for sex. Actually, the concept of sexuality is much wider and includes identities, roles, intimacy, pleasure and spirituality. Sexual education and counseling must not be a one-time “talk” (that usually takes place during puberty), but a process of communication, counseling and support which starts at early ages, continues during the school years and goes further, during adulthood. The emotional, psycho-sexual, social,ethical and spiritual aspects also continue their development in the adult life and it is only natural to be properly approached at these ages as well.

Ucieczka do wewnętrznej twierdzy?

Author(s): Edgar Cabanas,Eva Illouz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 787/2020

Współczesny stereotyp Polaka i Ukraińca w opinii studentów filologii Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego (na podstawie badań ankietowych)

Author(s): Olga Fyłypec / Language(s): Polish Issue: 27/2020

The article presents a reconstruction – on a material of 394 surveys – of modern stereotypes of a Pole/Ukrainian among the students of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Lodz. An analysis of several points of more extensive questionnaire was proposed, namely: a request to provide a definition of a Pole/Ukrainian; expressions with the same reference as the Pole/Ukrainian; features of a “typical” and “real” Pole/Ukrainian. In student definitions of the name Pole/Ukrainian, geographical, ethnic, nationality categorization is more often used, while linguistic, ethical, and identity are used less often. The students consider lexeme Polachek, compatriot, countryman, ours, theirs and others, as equivalents of the word Pole and they give names instead of the word Ukrainian: foreigner, neighbour, brother from the east and others. The image of a “real” Pole/Ukrainian is more positive than the image of a “typical” representative of the nationality. Both for a Pole and a Ukrainian, the stereotypical image emerging from the survey data is ambivalent. The influence of national stereotypes on teaching Polish as a foreign language and the possibility of using the obtained data in glottodidactics were taken into account.

The Loser Syndrome – universality of the strategy of defense of discriminated groups

Author(s): Irena Pospiszyl / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

If one assumes, like Mayer Hacker, that a social minority is a group of peoplewho, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are not treated as equal to othergroups in a given society, then it turns out that many groups meet these criteria. In theprison subculture they are met by „losers,” in the macro-social space – by all minority groupssuch as national, ethnic, racial minorities, but also women and some religious minorities.It is surprising that although these groups often have comparable numerical, physical, orintellectual strength to that of the mainstream group, they are unable to obtain equaltreatment, respect, and all the privileges that this entails. This is probably due to a numberof factors, including tradition, cultural capital, resources, and culturally established institutionspromoting specific social groups. However, an equally important determinant is the ownactivity of individuals forming a minority group, and their ability to integrate and consolidatewith their own group. Among others, the following contribute to this: lack of intra-groupsolidarity, orientation towards the dominant group, excessive guilt, contempt for one’s owngroup etc.The article deals with the barriers inherent in the minority groups themselves, which contributesignificantly to the consolidation of their unfavorable status. The size and scale of thesebarriers contribute to the status that I call the loser syndrome. It is also important that thefactors limiting the expansion of minority groups are similar in most minority groups. Theyare characterized by a certain universality.

Challenges in sociotherapeutic work with children and youth. The perspective of group leaders

Author(s): Barbara Jankowiak,Emilia Soroko / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Sociotherapy is often offered in Poland as a form of help for children and youthwith psychosocial difficulties. The work of sociotherapists and sociotherapists relies on socialtrust and requires functioning in many complex conditions. The aim of this analysis was todiscover the perspective of sociotherapists on difficulties and challenges in their everyday sociotherapeuticwork. For this purpose, 37 written statements were obtained from sociotherapistsworking in various institutions, mainly schools and sociotherapeutic community centers. Thestatements were analyzed by means of thematic analysis (in Braun and Clarke’s approach),allowing to generate five themes that include the experience of challenges: 1) the challengeis the participant; 2) caring for the group as an effective therapeutic environment; 3) working„with an open heart”; 4) balancing between certainty and uncertainty; 5) working despite thefeeling that „not everyone is heading in the same direction”. These themes may open upa discussion on how to support the professionals in their daily work, for example by introducingactivities that may increase their sense of influence and control over the sociotherapeuticprocess. At the same time, sociotherapeutic work appears as requiring the integration ofdifferent objectives associated with the contexts of functioning of the participant, the groupand the institution in which the sociotherapy takes place.

Wyzwania w pracy socjoterapeutycznej z dziećmi i młodzieżą.

Author(s): Barbara Jankowiak,Emilia Soroko / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

Socjoterapia jest często oferowana w Polsce jako forma pomocy dla dzieci i młodzieży z trudnościami w funkcjonowaniu psychospołecznym. Praca socjoterapeutów i socjoterapeutek jest oparta na zaufaniu społecznym i wymaga funkcjonowania w wielu złożonych uwarunkowaniach. Celem niniejszej analizy było poznanie perspektywy socjoterapeutów i socjoterapeutek na trudności i wyzwania w ich codziennej pracy socjoterapeutycznej. W tym celu zostało zebranych 37 wypowiedzi pisemnych od socjoterapeutów pracujących w różnych placówkach, głównie szkołach i świetlicach socjoterapeutycznych. Wypowiedzi zostały zanalizowane metodą analizy tematycznej (w podejściu autorstwa Braun i Clarke), pozwalającej na wygenerowanie pięciu tematów, które obejmują doświadczenie wyzwań: 1) wyzwaniem jest uczestnik; 2) dbać o grupę jako efektywne środowisko terapeutyczne; 3) pracować „z otwartym sercem”; 4) balansować między pewnością i niepewnością; 5) pracować mimo poczucia,że „nie wszyscy jadą w tę samą stronę”. Tematy mogą otworzyć dyskusję na temat tego, jak wspierać profesjonalistów/tki w ich codziennej pracy, na przykład przez wprowadzanie działań,które mogą zwiększyć ich poczucie wpływu i kontroli nad procesem socjoterapeutycznym.Jednocześnie praca socjoterapeutyczna jawi się jako wymagająca integrowania różnych celów związanych z kontekstami funkcjonowania uczestnika, grupy i instytucji, w których prowadzona jest socjoterapia.

ONLINE THERAPY - SHORT-TERM SOLUTION OR OPPORTUNITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC? AN OVERVIEW OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE THERAPEUTIC FIELD IN ROMANIA

Author(s): Veronica Maria Mateescu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to rethink borders and spatiality. The main aim of this article is to explore the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in the face-to-face talking therapeutic work. The main solution recommended and adopted by therapists in this context is online therapy. Online therapy becomes an increasingly popular and convenient approach in mental and emotional health treatment due to its advantages in terms of mobility, geographical distance, time management, work-life arrangements, affordability and efficacy. Besides its undeniable advantages, online therapy also raises a number of issues regarding therapists’ education, the means of communication, confidentiality, intimacy, therapeutic relationship, etc. Briefly, online therapy makes us reconsider work, space, place, time, relationship, intimacy and personhood. This article draws on a secondary and primary exploratory research carried among Romanian therapists. The exploratory research is based on unstructured interviews with therapists trained in psychodynamic therapy who moved their face-to-face sessions online as a reaction to the new constraints engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic. While online therapy sessions used to be a niche service before the outbreak, they have now become the norm, thus ensuring continuity within an ever-changing environment and at the same time opening up to new therapeutic avenues (e.g. COVID-19-induced anxiety, depression, stress, etc.). Our focus is on how therapists work, on how they view the changes they are currently making to their work and on whether they envisage implementing these new found solutions in the longer term once the crisis is over.

PEER PRESSURE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AS PREDICTORS OF ADOLESCENT RISK BEHAVIORS

Author(s): Olivera Knežević Florić,Aleksandra Pavlović,Stefan Ninković / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

Understanding the factors associated with adolescent risk behaviors is an important research topic in Serbia. The aim of this study was to examine whether peer pressure and academic achievement predict adolescent risk behaviours such as cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol, marijuana use and unprotected sex. The data was collected from 181 (68% female) second-grade students of two secondary schools. The questionnaire for assessing peer pressure, risk behaviors, as well as socio-demographic variables was applied. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the perceived peer pressure and academic achievement both predict various types of risky behaviors among adolescents. The findings of this study can have implications for improving the prevention of risk-taking behaviors in adolescence.

The value-target factors of future journalists’ life- creation

Author(s): Zinoviia Karpenko,Yevhen Karpenko / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Aim. The study purpose is to explain the value-targeted predictors of future journalists’ life-creation as an indicator of their readiness for professional growth and fulfilment of their humanitarian mission. Methods. The study used the methods of theoretical analysis, synthesis and modelling of the process of personality realization. The empirical study on the value-target factors of future journalists’ life-creation consisted of two stages: 1) the selection of relevant psychological examining techniques in order to explain the value-target factors as a complex independent variable, on the one hand, and the corresponding features of the life implementation process as characteristics (partial and generalized) of a dependent variable, on the other hand (a total of 12 psychodiagnostic techniques were used); 2) the correlation and factor analyses of the obtained empirical data. Results. The performed factor analysis revealed several factors related to particular modes of life implementation, an individual’s certain subjective position in this mode or on the way to it, psychological mechanisms and predictors of becoming an Insider, Expert or Author in personal life, some of their important attributes that generally confirm the triangulation model of an individual’s life implementation. The first one, “An Author – a life-creating agent in the integrative mode of life implementation”, is the most informative and the most loaded by the following indicators: life meaningfulness and purpose in life, psychological well-being, existential fullness with life meaning, self-control and self-acceptance, activity, locus of control-life, etc. Conclusions. The article presents the verification of the triangulation psychological-hermeneutic model of a life-implementation process, which is formed by orthogonal vectors: one of them is intuitive-sensory comprehension and designing and the second is discursive-logical goal-setting and achievement of life aspirations by an individual. The performed factor analysis of the value-target factors of future journalists’ life-creation revealed the relevant predictors of life implementation. They concerned such concepts as an individual’s life position (a Reader and an Author, an Observer and an Insider, an Epigone and an Expert); the trajectory of their life, for example, from an Insider to an Author, or from an Epigone to en Expert; and psychological mechanisms of life implementation (reflection, intuition, anticipation, empathy, facilitation, etc.) in certain life-implementation modes (internal, external and integrative).

Personalitate şi comunicare. Elemente de comunicare profesională

Author(s): Elena Predescu,Mihaela Rus / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2011

Even if the genetic background represents an immutable gift, the cultural norms and values, social and situational factors play an important role in personality development and communicational behaviour of the individual. The analysis of personality typology emphasizes the uniqueness of every person resulting from connections, overlaps and interinfluences of different personality features and characteristics. Concerning the interpersonal relations, every type of manifestation involves a different behaviour of those being in the relationing process, behaviour relying upon the manifestation framework, the type of existent relationship between individuals, but also the hidden reason triggerring interrelationship. Within a group, appealing to empathy, the one being aware of the other’s needs contributes to balance and communicative cooperation. Empathy involves relating with others through reference to your own self, and in this aspect, the arrogance and inhibition unveiling a lack of confidence, leading to a good professional communication. In professional relationships, assertive communication is efficient and it relies on education and communication abilities practising, involving self-respect combined with respect for the others. Assertive behaviour has a series of key features resulting from the fundamental laws of every person and relies upon the ability to expect from the others what we expect from us.

Aspecte ale sindromului burn out întâlnite în accidentele de muncă în contextul social actual

Author(s): Oana Sarandi,Eleni Burgaslis / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2010

The paper focuses on the problem of burnout syndrome, which takes the scale in the context of current society, especially in private sector activity, where the level of performance and the length of daily work required by managers are much higher than profit in the state. This situation is influenced by unstable socio-economic situation and the stress of an event of unemployment. The European authorities statistics highlights the fact that not only Romanian workers have a higher level of mental health problems than employees in other European countries do but also growing problems.In this context, the paper aims to emphasise the existence of a burnout syndrome on the employees research group (fields of petrochemical, construction, distribution fields) that affect their physical and socioemotional health and that some fields produce more fatigue than other areas do. The research findings have confirmed these issuses by drawing attention to the need of mental health preventive measures with implications on welfare of employees and hence on labor productivity.

Modelări teoretice şi experimentale ale proceselor interpersonale şi intergrupale de competiţie şi cooperare

Author(s): Cristina -Corina Benţea / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2009

The theories about competition and cooperation processes are recently and all have centered to the concept of conflict understood as a competition for power and strength. The latest psychosocial theories approach these processes in terms of social influence and identity.

The role of critical motivation in the development of altruistic behaviour in youth

Author(s): Gabriela Monica Assante,Mariana Momanu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between critical motivation,altruism and peer caring as the moral foundation of social life. Although the direct relationshipbetween critical consciousness and prosocial involvement has for some time entered the realm ofeducational research, the mechanisms by which the components of critical consciousness influencebehaviour are not clearly defined. Therefore, we investigated the mediating role of the tendency toprotect others as a moral foundation in the relationship between critical motivation and altruisticbehaviour. The study involved 308 young people aged 18–24. Participants were recruited fromvarious urban high schools and universities, and invited to complete a set of questionnaires. Theresults emphasise the importance of critical motivation as a predictor of altruistic behaviour.Moreover, the data indicate that the tendency to protect others mediated the effects of criticalmotivation regarding altruistic behaviour. These results provide a clearer perspective on the processby which critical motivation can influence the behaviour and involvement of young people indifferent social contexts. The results emphasise especially the importance of developing andstimulating critical motivation in schools in order to increase the active involvement of young peoplein the current social context.

Moje zmęczenie nie jest tylko moje

Author(s): Marta Sapała / Language(s): Polish Issue: 793/2021

Zrozumieć humor

Author(s): Łukasz Jach,Edyta Zielińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 797/2021

Samotność, czyli samospełniająca się przepowiednia

Author(s): Magdalena Śmieja,Martyna Słowik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 798/2021

Video Game Navigation: A Classification System for Navigational Acts

Author(s): Michael S. Debus / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

Navigation in video games has been a vastly neglected topic in game studies. In this paper a classification system for navigational acts has been developed through theoretical work as well as the analysis of multiple games. The result is an exclusive five-step classification system. Moreover, the development showed that navigational acts are highly dependent on the environment in which they occur. The system is a first step towards a deeper understanding of how the player navigates the gameworld, instead of what she navigates.

Bullyingul - alege sa te opui!

Author(s): Bianca Mititelu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 10/2021

Le travail que j’ai développé met en évidence un sujet d’actualité: l’intimidation, défini comme un comportement hostile/d’exclusion et de se moquer de quelqu’un, d’humiliation. Le phénomène de l’intimidation peut être présent dans n’importe quel type de communauté, dans les groupes sociaux, où les gens interagissent les uns avec les autres. Il s’agit d’une action qui produit des insultes aux autres effectuées à plusieurs reprises, qui peuvent se manifester physiquement, par agressivité physique ou psychologique, par des dommages émotionnels. Les instruments de ce phénomène sont les paroles, les actions ou l’exclusion sociale. Le phénomène de l’intimidation peut être initié par une per sonne ou un groupe de personnes, impliquant une relation de pouvoir inégale, car la victime, dans le cas de ce phénomène, n’a pas les ressources (physiques, psychologiques, sociales) pour se défendre

Własny pokój i dobre relacje

Author(s): Mira Marcinów,Martyna Słowik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 800/2022