Technologies to remember or forget?:A perspective from reminiscence and life review

This paper addresses recent technological developments in altering or even erasing memories. From a critical perspective these technologies are seen as artificial as they disrupt identities and true happiness. This basically resonates with the value attributed to remembering in the field of reminiscence and life review. From a proponent perspective it is argued that technologies have always been used to filter our memories and thereby support the dynamics of identity development. This position is consistent with a more dynamic view of reminiscence and life review that also takes different attitudes towards remembering and forgetting into account. The last part of the paper combines both perspectives in an evaluation of the use of propranolol, a drug that might contribute to willful forgetting under specific conditions. This evaluation also raises new questions for the field of reminiscence and life review

The sele sentence completion questionnaire: a new instrument for the assessment of personal meaning in research on aging

In this paper, the SELE-instrumenits presented. The SELE-instrument is a sentence completion test and an accompanying coding scheme, which is designed to study cognitions about self and life. The related theoretical construct is the personal meaning system, which encompasses different meaning domains, like "self", "activities" and "social relations", as well as evaluations and time perspectives. It is argued that especially in aging research. it is necessarv to use more oven instruments in studying self-and-life-cognitions. A short history of sentence completion instruments in psychology, is presented in order to better understand the specific contents of the SELE-instrument. The SELE provides sentence stems in the first form singular ("I") combination with verbal factors, which express different combinations of evaluation and time perspective, to which the respondents have to react in their own words. The SELE-instrumenits thus a semi-structured questionnaire, which can be used in large-scale research. The sentence completions are coded with an extensive coding scheme, which is hierarchially and dimensionally organized. Some figures on the coding reliability as well as on the validity and stability of the instrument are presented. The different uses to which the SELE-instrument as been put are described shortly.En este articulo se presenta el instrumento SELE. Este instrumento, que consta de un cuestionario de frases incompletas y un esquema de codificación de respuestas, está diseñado para el estudio de las cogniciones sobre el self y la vida. El constructo teórico al que se aproxima es el sistema de significado personal, sistema que comprende tanto diferentes dominios de significado (por ejemplo el "self", "actividades" o "relaciones sociales") como evaluaciones y perspectivas temporales. Se argumenta que, especialmente en la investigación en envejecimiento, es necesario utilizar instrurnentos de carácter más abierto para el estudio de cogniciones relacionadas con el self y la vida. Por otra parte, para entender mejor los contenidos específicos del SELE, se presenta una breve historia de los instrumentos de frases incompletas en Psicologia. El SELE proporciona estimulos en forma de frases incompletas a los que la persona tiene que contestar en sus propias palabras. Estos estímulos comienzan con un sujeto en primera persona del singular ("Yo") seguido por una forma verbal que expresa diferentes combinaciones de perspectiva temporal y evaluación. Debido a este formato, el SELE es un cuestionario semiestructurado que puede ser utilizado en investigaciones a gran escala. Las respuestas se categorizan mediante un exhaustivo sistema de codificación que está organizado tanto jerárquica como dimensionalmente. En el articulo se presentan algunos resultados en relación con la fiabilidad, la validez y la estabilidad del cuestionario, asi como también se describen brevemente los diferentes usos a los que ha estado dirigido el SELE

Mental Illness and Mental Health: The Two Continua Model Across the Lifespan

Mental health has long been defined as the absence of psychopathologies, such as depression and anxiety. The absence of mental illness, however, is a minimal outcome from a psychological perspective on lifespan development. This article therefore focuses on mental illness as well as on three core components of positive mental health: feelings of happiness and satisfaction with life (emotional well-being), positive individual functioning in terms of self-realization (psychological well-being), and positive societal functioning in terms of being of social value (social well-being). The two continua model holds that mental illness and mental health are related but distinct dimensions. This model was studied on the basis of a cross-sectional representative internet survey of Dutch adults (N = 1,340; 18–87 years). Mental illness was measured with the Brief Symptom Inventory and mental health with the Mental Health Continuum Short Form. It was found that older adults, except for the oldest-old, scored lower on psychopathological symptoms and were less likely to be mentally ill than younger adults. Although there were fewer age differences for mental health, older adults experienced more emotional, similar social and slightly lower psychological well-being. In sum, today’s older adults have fewer mental illness problems, but they are not in a better positive mental health than today’s younger adults. These findings support the validity of the two continua model in adult development

The sele sentence completion questionnaire: a new instrument for the assessment of personal meaning in research on aging

In this paper, the SELE-instrumenits presented. The SELE-instrument is a sentence completion test and an accompanying coding scheme, which is designed to study cognitions about self and life. The related theoretical construct is the personal meaning system, which encompasses different meaning domains, like "self", "activities" and "social relations", as well as evaluations and time perspectives. It is argued that especially in aging research. it is necessarv to use more oven instruments in studying self-and-life-cognitions. A short history of sentence completion instruments in psychology, is presented in order to better understand the specific contents of the SELE-instrument. The SELE provides sentence stems in the first form singular ("I") combination with verbal factors, which express different combinations of evaluation and time perspective, to which the respondents have to react in their own words. The SELE-instrumenits thus a semi-structured questionnaire, which can be used in large-scale research. The sentence completions are coded with an extensive coding scheme, which is hierarchially and dimensionally organized. Some figures on the coding reliability as well as on the validity and stability of the instrument are presented. The different uses to which the SELE-instrument as been put are described shortly.En este articulo se presenta el instrumento SELE. Este instrumento, que consta de un cuestionario de frases incompletas y un esquema de codificación de respuestas, está diseñado para el estudio de las cogniciones sobre el self y la vida. El constructo teórico al que se aproxima es el sistema de significado personal, sistema que comprende tanto diferentes dominios de significado (por ejemplo el "self", "actividades" o "relaciones sociales") como evaluaciones y perspectivas temporales. Se argumenta que, especialmente en la investigación en envejecimiento, es necesario utilizar instrurnentos de carácter más abierto para el estudio de cogniciones relacionadas con el self y la vida. Por otra parte, para entender mejor los contenidos específicos del SELE, se presenta una breve historia de los instrumentos de frases incompletas en Psicologia. El SELE proporciona estimulos en forma de frases incompletas a los que la persona tiene que contestar en sus propias palabras. Estos estímulos comienzan con un sujeto en primera persona del singular ("Yo") seguido por una forma verbal que expresa diferentes combinaciones de perspectiva temporal y evaluación. Debido a este formato, el SELE es un cuestionario semiestructurado que puede ser utilizado en investigaciones a gran escala. Las respuestas se categorizan mediante un exhaustivo sistema de codificación que está organizado tanto jerárquica como dimensionalmente. En el articulo se presentan algunos resultados en relación con la fiabilidad, la validez y la estabilidad del cuestionario, asi como también se describen brevemente los diferentes usos a los que ha estado dirigido el SELE

Cretien van Campen. The Proust Effect – The senses as doorways to lost memories

Bespreking: Cretien van Campen. The Proust Effect – The senses as doorways to lost memories. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9870199685875

Differential relationships in the association of the Big Five personality traits with positive mental health and psychopathology

According to the two continua model of mental health, psychopathology and positive mental health (emotional, psychological, and social well-being) are related but distinct continua. This study investigates the two continua model by examining whether psychopathology and positive mental health show differential associations with the Big Five personality traits. The paper draws on data of the representative LISS panel (CentERdata). Participants (N = 1161; age 18–88) filled out questionnaires on personality, psychopathology, and positive mental health. Personality traits were differentially related to psychopathology and positive mental health, supporting the two continua model. Emotional stability (reversed neuroticism) is the main correlate of psychopathology, whereas the personality traits extraversion and agreeableness are uniquely associated with positive mental health

The Role of the Spiritual Meaning System in Coping with Cancer

Spirituality can support the adjustment process of people with cancer, by forming a meaning system that supports understanding of the cause and implications of the experience and that provides coping strategies. The different ways in which spiritual meaning systems might fulfill these roles were examined among 20 people who were treated for cancer with curative intent. Narrative interviews were held on average 16 months after cancer diagnosis. The interviews were analyzed in a two-stage process, based on a holistic content approach. The first stage led to the identification of various roles and outcomes of the meaning system. The second stage involved a comparison of these roles and outcomes between previously defined types of meaning systems. The roles identified were discrepancy, legitimation and continuation. Legitimation was associated with the outcome of integration, whereas continuation was associated with an outcome of a positive outlook toward the future. Several differences were found between types of meaning systems, regarding the extent to which and ways in which these roles and outcomes occurred. This study underscores recommendations that healthcare professionals should be aware of the different ways in which the patient’s previous beliefs and experiences influence their current adaptation to serious life events