The importance of ternary awareness for overcoming the inadequacies of contemporary psychiatry

Os seres humanos evoluíram em etapas, de modo que nossa consciência desenvolveu três componentes centrais - aprendizagem processual de hábitos e habilidades, aprendizagem semântica de fatos e proposições e autoconsciência de uma identidade que se desenvolve ao longo do tempo e do espaço. Consequentemente, a consciência humana implica o crescimento de nossa subjetividade, integrando esses três aspectos da aprendizagem e da memória. A psiquiatria contemporânea é substancialmente comprometida por um viés antiespiritual que está implícito nas abordagens operacionais de diagnóstico, pesquisa e tratamento. A subjetividade humana não pode ser devidamente desconstruída em uma coleção de objetos independentes entre si, livres de qualquer contexto psicossocial, tal como a que é habitualmente assumida em uma abordagem do tipo "menu chinês" utilizada para o diagnóstico e entrevistas estruturadas. Perspectivas materialistas predispõem os indivíduos a assumirem uma visão de separação que compromete o bem-estar tanto dos profissionais de saúde mental quanto de seus pacientes. O progresso no diagnóstico psiquiátrico, bem como nas formas de tratamento, requer abordagem centrada na pessoa, capaz de respeitar e valorizar a subjetividade humana e promover o cultivo de virtudes tais como esperança, amor e coragem, bem como o uso criterioso de outros métodos psicobiológicos de tratamento. O funcionamento saudável requer o desenvolvimento da autotranscendência, além do autodirecionamento e da cooperatividade. Sem a autotranscendência as pessoas estão consumindo mais recursos do que a terra pode repor. A busca do bem-estar individual, na ausência do bem-estar coletivo, é uma ilusão autodestrutiva. Consequentemente, a psiquiatria contemporânea precisa centrar sua atenção na compreensão da consciência humana por meio de uma via ternária equilibrada, em vez de tentar reduzir as pessoas a objetos materiais separados.Human beings have evolved in steps so that our consciousness has three major components - procedural learning of habits and skills, semantic learning of facts and propositions, and self-awareness of an identity that develops over time and place. Consequently, human consciousness involves growth in our subjective awareness integrating these three aspects of learning and memory. Contemporary psychiatry is substantially impaired by an anti-spiritual bias that is implicit in operational approaches to diagnosis, research, and treatment. Human subjectivity cannot be adequately deconstructed into a collection of mutually independent objects that are free of any psychosocial context, as is usually assumed in a "Chinese-menu" approach to diagnosis and structured interviewing. Materialistic perspectives predispose people to have an outlook of separateness that impairs the well-being of both mental health professionals and their patients. Progress in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment requires a person-centered approach that respects and appreciates human subjectivity and promotes the cultivation of human virtues like hope, love, and courage, along with judicious use of other psychobiological methods of treatment. Healthy functioning requires the development of self-transcendence in addition to self-directedness and cooperativeness. Without self-transcendence, people are consuming more resources than the earth can replenish. The pursuit of individual well-being in the absence of collective well-being is a self-destructive illusion. Consequently contemporary psychiatry needs to focus its attention on understanding human consciousness in a balanced ternary way rather than trying to reduce people to separate material objects

Comparison of the personality traits of male and female BASE jumpers

BASE jumping is an extreme adventure sport which consists of jumping from a fixed object with specially adapted parachutes. A few studies of the personality of BASE jumpers have been conducted, but little is known about how the women in this sport compare to the men. The purpose of this study is to compare the personality traits among a sample of men and women who are experienced BASE jumpers, as this provides an interesting and important opportunity to better understand the motivation for extreme sports. Eighty-three participants completed the Temperament and Character Inventory the day before the jump at the New River Gorge Bridge Day BASE Jumping event, West Virginia, United States. The sample included 64 men and 19 women. Results show that men and women BASE jumpers shared similar personality traits both in terms of temperament and character, except for the character trait of cooperativeness on which women scored higher than men. This suggests that the basic drive for participation in extreme sports is self-regulation of personal emotional drives and needs for self-actualization, rather than to oppose social pressure or cultural bias against female participation. These findings are discussed in relation with other studies conducted among extreme athletes and in terms of congruence between personality and activity

Student engagement with school and personality: a biopsychosocial and person-centered approach

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Moreira, P. A. S., Richard A. Inman, Kevin M. Cloninger, and C. Robert Cloninger. “Student Engagement with School and Personality: A Biopsychosocial and Person-Centred Approach (2021). British Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 691–713, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12388. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Prof. Paulo Moreira, Instituto de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, Universidade Lusíada, Rua de Moçambique 21 e 71, Porto 4100-348, Portugal. Email: [email protected]: Engagement with school is a key predictor of students’ academic outcomes, yet little is known about its association with personality. No research has considered this association using Cloninger’s biopsychosocial model of personality. This model may be particularly informative because it posits the structure of human personality corresponds to three systems of human learning and memory that regulate associative conditioning, intentionality and self-awareness, all of which are relevant for understanding engagement. Aims: To test for defined personality phenotypes and describe how they relate to student engagement. Sample: 469 adolescents (54.2% female) attending the eighth (Mage = 13.2, SD = .57) or 11th (Mage = 16.5, SD = .84) grades. Methods: Students completed self-report measures of personality and engagement. We used mixture models to identify latent classes defined by common (a) temperament profiles, (b) character profiles, and (c) joint temperament-character networks, and then tested how these classes differed in engagement. Results: Latent class analysis revealed three distinct joint temperament-character networks: Emotional-Unreliable (emotionally reactive, low self-control and low creativity), Organized-Reliable (self-control but not creative), and Creative-Reliable (highly creative and prosocial). These networks differed significantly in engagement, with the emotional-unreliable network linked to lower engagement. However, the magnitudes of these differences across engagement dimensions did not appear to be uniform. Conclusions: Different integrated configurations of the biopsychosocial systems for associative conditioning, intentionality and self-awareness (differences in personality) underlie student engagement. Our results offer a fine-grained understanding of engagement dimensions in terms of their underlying personality networks, with implications for educational policies and practices

The complex genetics and biology of human temperament : a review of traditional concepts in relation to new molecular findings

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown that temperament is strongly influenced by more than 700 genes that modulate associative conditioning by molecular processes for synaptic plasticity and long-term learning and memory. The results were replicated in three independent samples despite variable cultures and environments. The identified genes were enriched in pathways activated by behavioral conditioning in animals, including the two major molecular pathways for response to extracellular stimuli, the Ras-MEK-ERK and the PI3K-AKT-mTOR cascades. These pathways are activated by a wide variety of physiological and psychosocial stimuli that vary in positive and negative valence and in consequences for health and survival. Changes in these pathways are orchestrated to maintain cellular homeostasis despite changing conditions by modulating temperament and its circadian and seasonal rhythms. In this review we first consider traditional concepts of temperament in relation to the new genetic findings by examining the partial overlap of alternative measures of temperament. Then we propose a definition of temperament as the disposition of a person to learn how to behave, react emotionally, and form attachments automatically by associative conditioning. This definition provides necessary and sufficient criteria to distinguish temperament from other aspects of personality that become integrated with it across the life span. We describe the effects of specific stimuli on the molecular processes underlying temperament from functional, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives. Our new knowledge can improve communication among investigators, increase the power and efficacy of clinical trials, and improve the effectiveness of treatment of personality and its disorders.Peer reviewe

Identifying the dominant personality profiles in medical students: Implications for their well-being and resilience

Purpos

The psychobiological model of personality and its association with student approaches to learning : Integrating temperament and character

This document is the authors’ version of the final accepted manuscript published in 2020 by Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00313831.2020.1739137Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Prof. Paulo Moreira, Instituto de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, Universidade Lusíada, Rua de Moçambique 21 e 71, Porto 4100-348, Portugal. Email: [email protected] results from the complex interactions among multiple learning and memory systems. There is a need to examine the personality-learning association using a personality model that captures this complexity: Cloninger’s psychobiological model. The study addresses this need using a person-centered approach. In total, 686 adolescents completed the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (JTCI) and a measure of approaches to learning. Students with a ‘steady’ temperament showed a preference for the deep approach. Students with high character coherence also had this preference. A temperament profile-by-character profile interaction was crucial for understanding students’ preferred approach to learning. These findings imply that adaptive learning approaches result from an integration of major systems of learning and memory, as measured by the Temperament and Character Inventory