Różnice indywidualne ujmowane w terminach typów psychicznych Junga i stylów życia Adlera

Stern has drawn attention to the possibility of conducting research into the psychology of individual differences in a manner that treats nomothetic and idiographic approaches as being equal and complementary. Nevertheless, many psychologists, such as Strelau, strongly deny the scientific value of the idiographic approach. Jung's conception of psychological types, as presented here, has been created using the nomothetic approach, and its basic assumptions can be verified using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Bearing in mind the fact that Adler's conception of lifestyles was formulated and verified using only the idiographic method of psychography, carried out in the context of individual courses of psychotherapy, I draw attention to the possibility of using, for this purpose, my own Action Styles Questionnaire (ASQ), which offers some elements essential to the idiographic approach: e.g. a bipolar structural scale of individual preferences articulated in terms of cooperation with others on the one hand, and security and self-protection on the other (CO-SP) - one which may be considered convergent with Adler's description of creative and uncreative lifestyles. Psychometric data obtained from the students (N=388) in respect of MBTI and ASQ were subjected to statistical covariation analysis (textit{r}-Pearson). Additionally, four homogeneous types were demarcated, using statistical cluster analysis. The final results obtained indicate that MBTI attitude scales (extroversion and introversion) are significantly covariant with the results for persons belonging to different types along the bipolar CO-SP scale. However, there were almost no differences between the results obtained when using ASQ scales and when using the scales for the three pairs of psychological functions measured by MBTI.Stern wskazywał na możliwość prowadzenia badań w psychologii różnic indywidualnych zarówno  według założeń podejścia nomotetycznego, jak i idiograficznego. Niemniej wielu psychologów, m.in. Strelau, neguje wartość naukowo-badawczą podejścia idiograficznego. Prezentowana koncepcja typów psychicznych Junga była sformułowana zgodnie z założeniami podejścia nomotetycznego. Jej podstawowe założenia można weryfikować za pomocą Myers-Briggs Wskaźników Typów (MBTI). Mając na uwadze, iż koncepcja stylów życia Adlera była sformułowana zgodnie z założeniami podejścia idiograficznego i weryfikowana jedynie metodą psychografii w procesie psychoterapii indywidualnej, wskazuję na możliwość wykorzystania w tym celu Uchnasta Kwestionariusza Stylów Działania (KSD). KSD zawiera bowiem pewne istotne elementy dla podejścia idiograficznego, m.in. strukturalną dwubiegunową skalę indywidualnych preferencji (każdej z osób badanych) w wymiarze: współdziałanie --- zabezpieczanie i obrona siebie (WZ), który można uznać jako zbieżny z Adlera charakterystyką twórczego i nietwórczego stylu życia. Psychometryczne dane liczbowe uzyskano z badań studentów (N=388) za pomocą MBTI i KSD. Zostały one poddane statystycznej analizie współzmienności (r-Pearsona). Nadto, przy pomocy statystycznej analizy skupień k-średnich, wyodrębniono cztery homogeniczne grupy osób o różnej strukturze osobowości. Ujawniono, iż jedynie wyniki liczbowe uzyskane za pomocą MBTI w skalach postaw (ekstrawersji i introwersji) są znacząco współzmienne z wynikami osób przynależących do różnych typów w wymiarze WZ. Natomiast nie ujawniły się u wyodrębnionych grup osób różnice między ich wynikami w skalach KSD a wynikami w skalach trzech par funkcji psychicznych mierzonych za pomocą MBTI

Human Predispositions and Personal Competences

The topic of personal psychology is presented from a perspective of achievements in humanistic psychology (M. Kinget), proprium psychology (G. Allport), personalistic psychology (J. DuBois), and also with reference to the assumptions of the Self-Determination Theory of E. Deci and R. Ryan. Nonetheless, a particular subject of interest are the assumptions of W. Stern’s personalistic approach crucial in psychology and its way of psychological interpretation of natural, human personal predispositions, which are the basis of development of personal competences to perform specifically human activities. With reference to W. Stern’s conception of the person as the subject of psychological analysis, I present a model of the dimensions of the structure of dispositions of the human person as a proactive subject. Next, I point to the possibility of formulating research hypotheses and their empirical verification in the scope of individual differences between empirically distinguished character types, which are described after Stern as determinants of personal life orientations in the dimension of cooperation – self-preservation.Problematyka psychologii osoby prezentowana jest najpierw z perspektywy osiągnięć psychologii humanistycznej (M. Kinget), psychologii proprium (G. Allporta), personalistycznej (J. DuBois) oraz w odniesieniu do założeń E. Deciego i R. Ryana Self-Determination Theory. Niemniej, szczególnym przedmiotem zainteresowania są W. Sterna założenia podejścia personalizmu krytycznego w psychologii i jego sposób interpretacji psychologicznej naturalnych ludzkich dyspozycji osobowych. W nawiązaniu do Sterna koncepcji osoby jako przedmiotu analizy psychologicznej prezentuję model wymiarów struktury dyspozycji osoby ludzkiej jako proaktywnego podmiotu działania. Następnie wskazuję na możliwość formułowania hipotez badawczych i ich empirycznej weryfikacji w zakresie różnic indywidualnych między empirycznie wyodrębnionymi typami charakteru, które określa się za Sternem jako wyznaczniki osobowych orientacji życiowych w wymiarze współdziałanie - zabezpieczanie się

Psychometric Indices of the Self-Acceptation

Rogers and Maslow assumed that the self-acceptance is one of the basic factors of a good functioning and an effective orientation toward the personal growth and the self-actualization. It is often operationally defined in terms of the psychometric data of Heilbrun and Gough Adjective Check List (ACL). There are three ratios for the estimation of the self-acceptance (SA): (1) the number of positive adjectives checked (Fav) to the total number of adjectives checked (NoCfd); (2) the number of positive adjectives checked (Fav) to the number of negative adjectives checked (Unfav); and (3) the index D, the measure of the distance between the scales of the real and the ideal self-concept. The D indicator is usually interpreted (C. Rogers) in terms of a congruence between the real and the ideal self-concept; though D ratio based on Pitagoras’ formula limits this rogerian interpretation. For I propose a new SaPB ratio. It is a kind of a regression equation based upon the selected independent variables of the differences between the real and the ideal self- -concept and the coefficient of the security feeling as a dependent variable. Four SA indices were calculated for 375 students who completed the ACL test responding on two questions: Who I am? Whom I would like be? Additionally, Ss completed Uchnast’s Security Syndrome Questionnaire based on Maslow's theory of motivation. Two indices which take into account the number of positive adjectives (scale Fav) significantly discriminate two experimental groups in 34 scales of the real self-concept, though they discriminate only in one scale (NoCfd) of the ideal self-concept. Meanwhile, the ratios D and SaPB discriminate significantly enough the experimental groups both in the real and, in the ideal self-concept of the ACL test scales. However’ the ratio SaPB allows more precise interpretation of the outcomes in terms of the psychological counseling and the psychotherapy formulated in the humanistic orientation

Empathy as an Existential Attitude

The attempts that have hitherto been made to schematize the meanings of the term "empathy" have most often been limited to come up with a separate characterization of its emotional and cognitive aspects, or else with their combined grasps. Thus it seems we are totally justified in taking those aspects as the dimensions of an empathetic attitude. To take empathy as an attitude allows us to stress the subjective function of the person, who as a living whole, is sensitive to that which is in their direct surrounding and takes a certain stance towards their surrounding. To define empathy as an existential attitude is not so much to be oriented at grasping the ability to be similar or to imitate others' feelings (Dilthey), but rather to be able to accept one's own individuality and, at the same time, the individuality of another person (Stein, Rogers). The emphatic attitude is therefore expressed in emotional sensitivity to the actual psychic state of another person, in spontaneous emotional expressions of openness to that which is dear and significant for the other person, or which that person avoids and fears, and in affective harmony in this view as to the strength and direction, without losing the sense of harmony with one's personal feelings. The emphatic attitude is also expressed in the tendency to understanding cognition of the individuality of the other person. This is manifested by the recognition of the other person's rights to change their standpoints, way of viewing things and the ways the person grasps what they express and prefer. Eventually, the emphatic attitude is manifested more in a synergistic behavior than imitative or reproductive. This is expressed in readiness to take up actions in accordance with the way and direction of the action of the person with whom one is in direct relation. Then one tends to create for the other person appropriate conditions for the expression of their individual manners of experience and behaviour. The emphatic attitude may then be taken as an attitude of openness to the encounter with the other person and participation with them in the surrounding world, which is a common life-giving soil, a field of work and background of preference and orientations. This world becomes a world-in-which-we-live, a world of the events of encounter, mutual understanding and cooperation, so that it could become more human and dignified

Personal Resilience: Empirical Typology and Method of Measurement

Ego-resilience (ER), defined and operationalized by J. Block, has been made more precise as regards A. Maslow's conception of the motivational factors of security (Security Feeling Syndrome – SFS) and psychological health, as a characterological determinant of whether an individual functions adequately in the changing and often stressful circumstances. In order to measure ER and SFS J. Block's ER-89 scale was employed and the author's factor version of A. Maslow's Security-Insecurity Inventory. 144 men and 144 women, aged 18-23, took part in the research. A statistically significant co-variability has been found between ER and the factors of security (SFS). Moreover, having used the multiple regression model, ego-resilience between ER and SFS factors was operationalized in terms of personal resilience – PR, as a continuous variable. This variable may form a basic ground for empirical typology in the sense of a characterologically interpreted PR. The subjects with a high PR index are characterized by a high level of the sense of intimacy, confidence and openness in relation to their closest surrounding. They trust their own competence and ability to employ their personal and accessible means to behave as adequate as possible. They reveal a tendency to obtain rather lower scores as regards the factor of stability, a fact that should be interpreted as their readiness to accept the risk of losing acquired routine and self-confidence when committing himself to new, often surprising, situations, and undertaking respective tasks. The persons of a low personal resilience have the highest scores in the factor of stability and the factor of self-confidence, and the lowest level as regards the sense of intimacy and openness to their surrounding. They are concentrated on themselves, on safeguarding and supporting the actual status quo. The types of personality that have thus been distinguished express two different orientations in life. They should not be simplified in terms of two polar traits of personality, ways of behaviour, or even in terms of the existential dilemma: security-growth, as described by Maslow

Reinterpretation of the Principles of Gestalt Psychology: From the Model of the Whole as a Symbolic Figure to the Model of the Natural Whole as an Ecosystem

The so-called neo-Gestalt orientations, which appear in cognitive psychology, draw on merely to the primary formulations of Gestalt theory of the whole. The latter was grasped in terms of the figure-ground relationship, while its main task was to define the principles of the symbolic organization of the figure as a whole separated from the background, the latter being in turn left unshaped and lacking in form. This orientation sought a “stimulus of differentiation” in the background and organization of a stable figure. This search has inspired the researchers of perception on the ground of Lewin’s principles of field psychology, Tolman’s molar psychology and the contemporary exponents of cognitive psychology. Psychologists who pursued the neo-Gestalt orientation in their study remained faithful to the associationistic and correlative approach which was decidedly critically evaluated by the proponents of Gestalt psychology. While affirming the fact that there is a need to promote the neo-Gestalt orientation, I propose to reinterpret the popular formulations of the principles of Gestalt psychology in terms of the principles of primary holistic analysis of the wholeness of natural figures (radical Gestalt). The paper seeks to prove that these principles has systematically been redefined in the works of Max Wertheimer, K. Goldstein, A. Angyal, and J.J. Gibson. In this case we mean the principles of separating the structural and functional parts of the whole as such, and the principles of their differentiation and the way of participation in the organization of “unity in variety”. Accepting the principles of the primary analysis of wholeness enables us, among other things to redefine and put forward a model of presentation of the presuppositions of Gibson’s concept of ecological psychology. Ecosystem, taken by way of a model and a research programme which result from it, may justly be placed in the orientation of Gestalt psychology and in the still current initiators’ tendencies to work out a psychological theory of the whole. Psychology, whatever the length of its past, is yet a relatively young discipline of science. Psychologists are still searching a theory which would be a source of creative inspirations to define such a research paradigm, which in turn would make a ground for accepting a possible unity in variety among the orientations of contemporary psychology as a science

Life Events of the Human Person. Ecological Approach

The model approach to structure and organization of ecosystem as a natural form has been made on the basis of J.J. Gibson's ecological approach. This model has inspired to define the principles of the system description and analysis of human life events. Undoubtedly the hitherto achievements in phenomenological and existential psychology are important here. It is the psychology oriented at the description of immediate experiences of Life world (Lebenswelt). However, this description is particularly oriented at the grasp of the aspects of human experiences with a view to the subject. Therefore a proposal to grasp the eccentric organization of human life events may be a source of inspiration to come up with a profound analysis of the subject of existence and his Life world as their fellow participants. The information about mutual affordance of the participants of events that a human being gives plays a special role in the organization of his or her life activity. This information bears a rather symbolic than abstract character. Moreover, the model grasps of existential events appears to be useful in the analysis of the events of personal dialogue, which makes the basis in grasping the person-existing-in-the world as the subject-matter of systematic psychological analysis. The presented here grasp of the structure and organization of human life events on the basis of the model of ecosystem may inspire to a system analysis of human activity, starting from its pre-conscious expressions to conscious symbolic information within the events of personal dialogue