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    @Subteigh, now you have me worried. That argument is pretty good.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Strange View Post
    @Subteigh, now you have me worried. That argument is pretty good.

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    @Subteigh, I actually agree with the sentiments on the t-shirt, but maybe not for the reasons the author intended.

    Yes, Finance is a parasite on the economy, and is eating it alive.

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    https://amp.theguardian.com/science/...me-this-before she has a great Instagram account too

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    Doctor of Socionics First Class Socionics Is Not A Cult's Avatar
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    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: "The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom."

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    It’s because they aren’t using Socionics.

    wow, just wow. we are so far ahead of these scientists here!

    derp.

    they really need to just get on board already….

    ♓︎ 𝓅𝒾𝓈𝒸𝑒𝓈 ♓︎ 𝓅𝒾𝓈𝒸𝑒𝓈
    ♍︎ 𝓋𝒾𝓇𝑔𝑜 𝓇𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 ♍︎

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    Kerber, A., Roth, M. and Herzberg, P.Y., 2021. Personality types revisited–a literature-informed and data-driven approach to an integration of prototypical and dimensional constructs of personality description. PloS one, 16(1), p.e0244849.

    Abstract

    A new algorithmic approach to personality prototyping based on Big Five traits was applied to a large representative and longitudinal German dataset (N = 22,820) including behavior, personality and health correlates. We applied three different clustering techniques, latent profile analysis, the k-means method and spectral clustering algorithms. The resulting cluster centers, i.e. the personality prototypes, were evaluated using a large number of internal and external validity criteria including health, locus of control, self-esteem, impulsivity, risk-taking and wellbeing. The best-fitting prototypical personality profiles were labeled according to their Euclidean distances to averaged personality type profiles identified in a review of previous studies on personality types. This procedure yielded a five-cluster solution: resilient, overcontroller, undercontroller, reserved and vulnerable-resilient. Reliability and construct validity could be confirmed. We discuss wether personality types could comprise a bridge between personality and clinical psychology as well as between developmental psychology and resilience research.

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    "it can be seen that the most extroverted participant performs a larger head displacement than the least extroverted one"

    "we clearly observed that participants with higher Conscientiousness produce a smaller left knee displacement"

    Delgado-Gómez, D., Masó-Besga, A.E., Aguado, D., Rubio, V.J., Sujar, A. and Bayona, S., 2022. Automatic Personality Assessment through Movement Analysis. Sensors, 22(10), p.3949. (direct link to pdf file)

    Now we are getting somewhere.

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    Table 2.1: Table showing Holland’s classification of academic majors

    Ghimire, A., 2021. Data-Driven Recommendation of Academic Options Based on Personality Traits (Doctoral dissertation, Utah State University). (direct link to pdf file)

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    Sun, J., Neufeld, B., Snelgrove, P. and Vazire, S., 2022. Personality evaluated: What do people most like and dislike about themselves and their friends?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122(4), p.731. (direct link to pdf file)

    What do people think their best and worst personality traits are? Do their friends agree? Across three
    samples, 463 college students (“targets”) and their friends freely described two traits they most liked and
    two traits they most disliked about the target. Coders categorized these open-ended trait descriptors into
    high or low poles of six trait domains (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stabil-
    ity, openness, and honesty-humility) and judged whether targets and friends reported the same specific
    best and worst traits. Best traits almost exclusively reflected high levels of the major trait domains (espe-
    cially high agreeableness and extraversion). In contrast, although worst traits typically reflected low lev-
    els of these traits (especially low emotional stability), they sometimes also revealed the downsides of
    having high levels of these traits (e.g., high extraversion: “loud”; high agreeableness: “people-pleaser”).
    Overall, targets and friends mentioned similar kinds of best traits; however, targets emphasized low emo-
    tional stability worst traits more than friends did, whereas friends emphasized low prosociality worst
    traits more than targets did. Targets and friends also showed a moderate amount of self–other agreement
    on what the targets’ best and worst traits were. These results (a) shed light on the traits that people con-
    sider to be most important in themselves and their friends, (b) suggest that the desirability of some traits
    may be in the eye of the beholder, (c) reveal the mixed blessings of different traits, and, ultimately, (d)
    provide a nuanced perspective on what it means for a trait to be “good” or “bad.”

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    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: "The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom."

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    not fully certain of my sociotype
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    Because it's explicitly a trait theory and not a type theory unlike socionics.

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    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: "The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom."

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    https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/b...over-looks?amp

    Psychology today article: do women really prefer men over looks?

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    Not really a psychology article, but it's still an interesting one that relates to the concept of Duality in socionics : https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0525105435.htm

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    "you may have heard that it is important to feel your feelings, but that may be scary because of the intensity - here is an article on how to do it": https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stop-avoiding-stuff/202110/feel-emotions-dont-fight-or-feed-them

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    IDENTITY DIFFUSION IN SEVERE
    PERSONALITY DISORDERS
    OTTO F. KERNBERG

    A FEW DEFINITIONS

    To begin, I shall refer to temperament and character as crucial aspects of personality. Tem-
    perament refers to the constitutionally given and largely genetically determined, inborn

    disposition to particular reactions to environmental stimuli, particularly to the intensity,
    rhythm, and thresholds of affective responses. I consider affective responses, particularly

    under conditions of peak affect states, crucial determinants of the organization of the per-
    sonality. Inborn thresholds regarding the activation of both positive, pleasurable, reward-
    ing, and negative, painful, aggressive affects represent, I believe, the most important bridge

    between biological and psychological determinants of the personality (Kernberg, 1994).

    Temperament also includes inborn dispositions to cognitive organization and to motor be-
    havior, such as, the hormonal-, particularly testosterone-derived differences in cognitive

    functions and aspects of gender role identity that differentiate male and female behavior
    patterns. Regarding the etiology of personality disorders, however, the affective aspects of
    temperament appear as of fundamental importance.

    In addition to temperament, character is another major component of personality. Char-
    acter refers to the particular dynamic organization of behavior patterns of each individual

    that reflect the overall degree and level of organization of such patterns. While academic
    psychology differentiates character from personality, the clinically relevant terminology

    of character pathology, character neurosis, and neurotic character refer to the same condi-
    tions, also referred to as personality trait and personality pattern disturbances in earlier

    DSM classifications, and to the personality disorders in DSM-III and DSM-IV. From a psy-
    choanalytic perspective, I propose that character refers to the behavioral manifestations of

    ego identity, while the subjective aspects of ego identity, that is, the integration of the self-
    concept and of the concept of significant others are the intrapsychic structures that deter-
    mine the dynamic organization of character. Character also includes all the behavioral

    aspects of what in psychoanalytic terminology is called ego functions and ego structures.
    From a psychoanalytic viewpoint, the personality is codetermined by temperament and
    character, but also by an additional intrapsychic structure, the superego. The integration of
    value systems, the moral and ethical dimension of the personality—from a psychoanalytic

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    40 Conceptual Issues

    viewpoint, the integration of the various layers of the superego—are an important compo-
    nent of the total personality. Personality itself, then, may be considered the dynamic inte-
    gration of all behavior patterns derived from temperament, character, and internalized

    value systems (Kernberg, 1976, 1980). In addition, the dynamic unconscious or the id con-
    stitutes the dominant, and potentially conflictive, motivational system of the personality.

    The extent to which sublimatory integration of id impulses into ego and superego functions
    has taken place reflects the normally adaptive potential of the personality.

    The normal personality is characterized by an integrated concept of the self and an inte-
    grated concept of significant others. These structural characteristics, jointly called ego

    identity (Erikson, 1956; Jacobson, 1964) are reflected in an internal sense and an external
    appearance of self-coherence and are a fundamental precondition for normal self-esteem,
    self-enjoyment, and zest for life. An integrated view of one’s self assures the capacity for a
    realization of one’s desires, capacities, and long-range commitments. An integrated view of
    significant others guarantees the capacity for an appropriate evaluation of others, empathy,
    and an emotional investment in others that implies a capacity for mature dependency while
    maintaining a consistent sense of autonomy as well.
    IDENTITY AND OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY
    At the Personality Disorders Institute of the Department of Psychiatry of the Weill Cornell

    Medical College, we have studied the psychopathology, clinical diagnosis and psychothera-
    peutic treatment of identity diffusion on the basis of the application of contemporary psy-
    choanalytic object relations theory. I have applied this theory to the understanding of the

    development of normal and pathological identity, and, in the process, defined and explored
    further the characteristics of identity diffusion (Kernberg, 1976, 1984, 1992).

    In essence, the basic assumption of contemporary object relations theory is that all in-
    ternalizations of relationships with significant others, from the beginning of life on, have

    different characteristics under the conditions of peak affect interactions and low affect

    interactions. Under conditions of low affect activation, reality-oriented, perception con-
    trolled cognitive learning takes place, influenced by temperamental dispositions, that is,

    the affective, cognitive and motor reactivity of the infant, leading to differentiated, grad-
    ually evolving definitions of self and others. These definitions start out from the percep-
    tion of bodily functions, the position of the self in space and time, and the permanent

    characteristics of others. As these perceptions are integrated and become more complex,
    interactions with them are cognitively registered, evaluated, and working models of them
    established. Inborn capacities to differentiate self from nonself, and the capacity for
    cross-modal transfer of sensorial experience play an important part in the construction of
    the model of self and the surrounding world.

    In contrast, under conditions of peak affect activation—be they of an extremely posi-
    tive, pleasurable or an extremely negative, painful mode, specific internalizations take

    place framed by the dyadic nature of the interaction between the baby and the caretaking
    person, leading to the setting up of specific affective memory structures with powerful

    motivational implications. These structures are constituted, essentially, by a representa-
    tion of self interacting with a representation of significant other under the dominance of a

    peak affect state. The importance of these affective memory structures lies in their con-
    stituting the basis of the primary psychic motivational system, in the direction of efforts

    to approach, maintain, or increase the conditions that generate peak positive affect states,
    and to decrease, avoid, and escape from conditions of peak negative affect states.

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    Identity Diffusion in Severe Personality Disorders 41
    Positive affect states involve the sensuous gratification of the satisfied baby at the
    breast, erotic stimulation of the skin, the disposition to euphoric “in tune” interactions
    with mother; peak negative affective states involve situations of intense physical pain,
    hunger, or painful stimuli that trigger intense reactions of rage, fear, or disgust, and may
    motivate general irritability and hypersensitivity to frustration and pain. Object relations
    theory assumes that these positive and negative affective memories are built up separately

    in the early internalization of these experiences and, later on, are actively split or dissoci-
    ated from each other in an effort to maintain an ideal domain of experience of the relation

    between self and others, and to escape from the frightening experiences of negative affect
    states. Negative affect states tend to be projected, to evolve into the fear of “bad” external
    objects, while positive affect states evolve into the memory of a relationship with “ideal”
    objects. This development evolves into two major, mutually split domains of early psychic

    experience, an idealized and a persecutory or paranoid one, idealized in the sense of a seg-
    ment of purely positive representations of self and other, and persecutory in the sense of a

    segment of purely negative representations of other and threatened representation of self.
    This early split experience protects the idealized experiences from “contamination” with

    bad ones, until a higher degree of tolerance of pain and more realistic assessment of exter-
    nal reality under painful conditions evolves.

    This early stage of development of psychic representations of self and other, with pri-
    mary motivational implications—move toward pleasure and away from pain—eventually

    evolves toward the integration of these two peak affect determined segments, an integration

    facilitated by the development of cognitive capacities and ongoing learning regarding real-
    istic aspects of self and others interacting under circumstances of low affect activation.

    The normal predominance of the idealized experiences leads to a tolerance of integrating

    the paranoid ones, while neutralizing them in the process. In simple terms, the child recog-
    nizes that it has both “good” and “bad” aspects, and so does mother and the significant oth-
    ers of the immediate family circle, while the good aspects predominate sufficiently to

    tolerate an integrated view of self and others.
    This state of development, referred to by Kleinian authors (Klein, 1940; Segal, 1964)

    as the shift from the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position, and by ego psychologi-
    cal authors as the shift into object constancy, presumably takes place somewhere between

    the end of the first year of life and the end of the third year of life. Here Margaret

    Mahler’s (Mahler, 1972a, 1972b) research on separation-individuation is relevant, point-
    ing to the gradual nature of this integration over the first three years of life. At the same

    time, however, in the light of contemporary infant research, Margaret Mahler’s notion of
    an initial autistic phase of development followed by a symbiotic phase of development
    seem contradicted by the nature of the evidence. Rather than reflecting a symbiotic stage

    of development, what seems relevant are “symbiotic” moments of fantasized fusion be-
    tween self representation and object representation under peak affect conditions, momen-
    tary fusions that are counteracted by the inborn capacity to differentiate self from

    nonself, and the real and fantasized intervention of “third excluded others,” particularly
    the representation of father disrupting the states of momentary symbiotic unity between
    infant and mother. Here mother’s capacity to represent a “third excluded other” becomes
    important: French authors have stressed the importance of the image of the father in the
    mother’s mind.

    Peter Fonagy’s (Fonagy & Target, 2003) referral to the findings regarding mother’s ca-
    pacity to “mark” the infant’s affect that she congruently reflects to the infant points to a

    related process: mother’s contingent (accurate) mirroring the infant’s affect, while
    marked (differentiated) signaling that she does not share it while still empathizing with it,

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    42 Conceptual Issues
    contributes to the infant’s assimilating his own affect while marking the boundary between
    self and other. Under normal conditions, then, an integrated sense of self (“good and bad”),
    surrounded by integrated representations of significant others (“good and bad”), that are
    also differentiated among each other in terms of their gender characteristics as well as their
    status/role characteristics, jointly determine normal identity.
    The concept of ego identity originally formulated by Erikson included in its definition

    the integration of the concept of the self; an object relations approach expands this defi-
    nition with the corresponding integration of the concepts of significant others. In con-
    trast, when this developmental stage of normal identity integration is not reached, the

    earlier developmental stage of dissociation or splitting between an idealized and a perse-
    cutory segment of experience persists. Under these conditions, multiple, nonintegrated

    representations of self split into an idealized and persecutory segment, and multiple rep-
    resentations of significant others split along similar lines, jointly constituting the syn-
    drome of identity diffusion. One might argue that, in so far as Erikson considered the

    confirmation of the self by the representations of significant others as an aspect of normal
    identity, he already stressed the relevance of that relationship between the self concept

    and the concept of significant others, but he did not as yet conceive of the intimate con-
    nection between the integration or lack of it on the part of the concepts of self and the

    parallel achievement or failure in the corresponding concepts of others. It was the work of
    Edith Jacobson (1954) in the United States, powerfully influencing Margaret Mahler’s
    conceptualizations, and the work of Ronald Fairbairn (1954) in Great Britain, who
    pointed to the dyadic nature of the development of early internalizations and created the
    basis for the contemporary psychoanalytic object relations theory.
    This formulation of the internalization of dyadic units under the impact of peak affect

    states has significant implications for the psychoanalytic theory of drives, for the under-
    standing of the etiology of identity diffusion, and for the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of

    severe personality disorders or borderline personality organization. Regarding the psycho-
    analytic theory of drives, this formulation supports the proposal I have formulated in recent

    years, that affects are the primary motivational system, and that Freud’s dual drive theory

    of libido and aggression corresponds, respectively, to the hierarchically supraordinate inte-
    gration of positive and negative affect states. The integration of affects determines the

    functions of the drives, and the drives, in turn, are manifest in each concrete instance in the

    activation of an affect state that links a certain representation of self with a certain repre-
    sentation of object. These include the wishful and frightening erotic fantasies of highly de-
    sired and potentially forbidden relationships between self and others, as well as highly

    threatening and potentially disorganizing fantasies of aggressive relationships.
    ETIOLOGY OF IDENTITY DIFFUSION

    In short, the major proposed hypothesis regarding the etiological factors determining se-
    vere personality disorders or borderline personality organization is that, starting from a

    temperamental predisposition to the predominance of negative affect and impulsivity or
    lack of effortful control, the development of disorganized attachment, exposure to physical

    or sexual trauma, abandonment, or chronic family chaos predispose the individual to the ab-
    normal fixation at the early stage of development that predates the integration of normal

    identity: a general split persists between idealized and persecutory internalized experi-
    ences under the dominance of corresponding negative and positive peak affect states. Clin-
    ically, this state of affairs is represented by the syndrome of identity diffusion, with its lack

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    Identity Diffusion in Severe Personality Disorders 43

    of integration of the concept of the self and the lack of integration of the concepts of sig-
    nificant others. The question still remains, what other temperamental, psychodynamic, or

    psychosocial factors may then influence the development of the specific constellations of

    pathological character traits that differentiate the various constellations of severe person-
    ality disorder from each other, a subject that remains to be explored. The fact that much of

    the relevant research involves borderline personality disorder points to the need to carry out
    such studies involving other severe personality disorders.
    From a clinical standpoint, the syndrome of identity diffusion explains the dominant

    characteristics of borderline personality organization. The predominance of primitive dis-
    sociation or splitting of the idealized segment of experience from the paranoid one is natu-
    rally reinforced by primitive defensive operations intimately connected with splitting

    mechanisms, such as, projective identification, denial, primitive idealization, devaluation,

    omnipotence and omnipotent control. All these defensive mechanisms contribute to dis-
    torting interpersonal interactions and create chronic disturbances in interpersonal rela-
    tions, thus reinforcing the lack of self reflectiveness and of “mentalization” in a broad

    sense, decreasing the capacity to assess other people’s behavior and motivation in depth,

    particularly, of course, under the impact of intense affect activation. The lack of integra-
    tion of the concept of the self interferes with a comprehensive integration of one’s past and

    present into a capacity to predict one’s future behavior, and decreases the capacity for

    commitment to professional goals, personal interests, work and social functions, and inti-
    mate relationships.

    The lack of integration of the concept of significant others interferes with the capacity
    of realistic assessment of others, with selecting partners harmonious with the individual’s

    actual expectations, and with investment in others. All sexual excitement involves a dis-
    crete aggressive component (Kernberg, 1995). The predominance of negative affect dispo-
    sitions leads to an infiltration of the disposition for sexual intimacy with excessive

    aggressive components, determining, at best, an exaggerated and chaotic persistence of
    polymorphous perverse infantile features as part of the individual’s sexual repertoire, and,

    at worst, a primary inhibition of the capacity for sensual responsiveness and erotic enjoy-
    ment. Under these latter circumstances, severely negative affects eliminate the very ca-
    pacity for erotic response, clinically reflected in the severe types of sexual inhibition that

    are to be found in the most severe personality disorders.
    The lack of integration of the concept of self and of significant others also interferes

    with the internalization of the early layers of internalized value systems, leading particu-
    larly to an exaggerated quality of the idealization of positive values and the ego ideal, and

    to a persecutory quality of the internalized, prohibitive aspects of the primitive superego.
    These developments lead, in turn, to a predominance of splitting mechanisms at the level

    of internalized value systems or superego functions, with excessive projection of internal-
    ized prohibitions, while the excessive, idealized demand for perfection further interferes

    with the integration of a normal superego. Under these conditions, antisocial behavior may

    emerge as an important aspect of severe personality disorders, particularly in the syn-
    drome of malignant narcissism, and in the most severe type of personality disorder,

    namely, the antisocial personality proper, which evinces most severe identity diffusion as
    well (Kernberg, 1984, 1992). In general, normal superego formation is a consequence of

    identity integration, and, in turn, protects normal identity. Severe superego disorganiza-
    tion, in contrast, worsens the effects of identity diffusion.

    The treatment of personality disorders depends, in great part, on their severity, re-
    flected in the syndrome of identity diffusion. The presence or absence of identity diffu-
    sion can be elicited clinically in initial diagnostic interviews focused on the structural

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    44 Conceptual Issues

    characteristics of personality disorders. The dimensional aspects—greater or lesser de-
    grees of identity diffusion—still require further research. From a clinical standpoint, the

    extent to which ordinary social tact is still maintained or lost is the dominant indicator of
    the severity of the syndrome. The diagnosis of identity diffusion or of normal identity, in

    short, acquires fundamental importance in the clinical assessment of patients with per-
    sonality disorders.

    THE CLINICAL ASSESSMENT OF IDENTITY
    At the Personality Disorders Institute at Cornell we have developed a particular mental

    status examination designated “structural interviewing,” geared to the differential diag-
    nosis of personality disorders. In essence, this interview, that ordinarily takes up to one

    and one half-hours of exploration, consists of various steps of inquiry into the patient’s

    functioning. The first step evaluates all the patient’s symptoms, including physical, emo-
    tional, interpersonal and generally psychosocial aspects of malfunctioning, inappropriate

    affect experience and display, inappropriate behavior, inordinate difficulties in assessing
    self and others in interactions and in negotiating ordinary psychosocial situations. This

    inquiry into symptoms is pursued until a full differential diagnosis of prominent symp-
    toms and characterological difficulties has been achieved.

    The second step of this interview explores the patient’s present life situation, including

    his or her adaptation to work or a profession, the patient’s love life and sexual experi-
    ences, the family of origin, the patient’s friendships, interests, creative pursuits, leisure

    activities, and social life in general. It also explores the patient’s relation to society and
    culture, particularly ideological and religious interests, and his or her relationship to
    sports, arts, and hobbies. In short, we attempt to obtain as full a picture as possible of the
    patient’s present life situation and interactions, raising questions whenever any aspect of

    the patient’s present life situation seems obscure, contradictory, or problematic. This in-
    quiry complements the earlier step of exploration of symptoms and, at the same time,

    makes it possible to compare the patient’s assessment of his or her life situation and po-
    tential challenges and problems with the patient’s interaction with the diagnostician as

    this exploration proceeds. At this point, we obtain an early assessment of pathological
    character traits, be they predominantly inhibitory, reaction formations, or contradictory
    and conflictual behavior patterns.

    A third step of this structural interview consists in raising the question of the person-
    ality assessment by the patient of the two or three most important persons in his or her

    present life, followed by the assessment of his or her description of himself or herself as a

    unique, differentiated individual. The leading questions here are: “Could you now de-
    scribe to me the personality of the most important persons in your present life that you

    have mentioned, so that I can acquire a live picture of them?” “And now, could you also
    describe yourself, your own personality, as it is unique or different from anybody else, so
    that I can acquire a live picture of it?”
    As the fourth step of this interview, and only in cases with significant disturbances in
    the manifestations of their behavior, affects, thought content, or formal aspects of verbal
    communication during the interview, the diagnostician raises, tactfully, questions about
    that aspect of the patient’s behavior, affect, thought content, or verbal communication that

    has appeared as particularly curious, strange, inappropriate, or out of the ordinary, war-
    ranting such attention. The diagnostician communicates to the patient that a certain aspect

    of his or her communication has appeared puzzling or strange to the diagnostician, and

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    Identity Diffusion in Severe Personality Disorders 45
    raises the question, whether the patient can see that, and what his or her explanation would
    be for the behavior that puzzles the diagnostician.
    Such a tactful confrontation will permit the patient with good reality testing to be aware
    of what it is in himself or herself that has created a particular reaction of the interviewer,
    and provide him or her with an explanation that reduces the strangeness or puzzling aspect

    of that behavior. This response, in other words, indicates good reality testing. If, to the con-
    trary, such inquiry leads to an increased confusion, disorganization, or abnormal behavior

    in the interaction with the diagnostician, reality testing is presumably lost. The mainte-
    nance of reality testing is an essential aspect of the personality disorders, who may have

    lost the subtle aspects of tactfulness in social interactions, but maintained good reality test-
    ing under ordinary social circumstances. Loss of reality testing presumably indicates an

    atypical psychotic disorder or an organic mental disorder: that finding would lead to further

    exploration of such behavior, affect, or thought in terms of a standard mental status exami-
    nation. In any case, a clear loss of reality testing indicates that an active psychotic or or-
    ganic mental disorder is present, and that the primary diagnosis of a personality disorder

    cannot be established at this time.
    Otherwise, with reality testing maintained, the interview would permit the diagnosis
    of a personality disorder, the predominant constellation of pathological character traits,
    and its severity in terms of the presence or absence of the syndrome of identity diffusion.

    The capacity to provide an integrated view of significant others and of self indicates nor-
    mal identity. Good interpersonal functioning, that does not even raise the question of any

    strange or puzzling aspect of the present interaction would not warrant the exploration of
    reality testing. Patients with borderline personality organization, who present identity
    diffusion, also typically evince behaviors reflecting primitive defensive operations in the
    interaction with the diagnostician. These findings are less crucial than the diagnosis of
    the identity diffusion, but they certainly reinforce that diagnostic conclusion.
    While this method of clinical interviewing has proven enormously useful in the clinical
    setting, it does not lend itself, unmodified, for empirical research. A group of researchers
    at our Institute is presently transforming this structural interview into a semi-structured

    interview, geared to permit the assessment of personality disorders by way of an instru-
    ment (Structured Interview for Personality Organization [STIPO]; Clarkin, Caligor, Stern,

    & Kernberg, 2003) geared to empirical research. The clinical usefulness of the structural
    interview, however, may be illustrated by typical findings in various characterological
    constellations.

    To begin, in the case of adolescents, structural interviewing makes it possible to differ-
    entiate adolescent identity crises from identity diffusion. In the case of identity crises,

    the adolescent may present with a sense of confusion about the attitude of significant oth-
    ers toward himself, and puzzlement about their attitude that does not correspond to his

    self-assessment. Asked to describe the personality of significant others, however, partic-
    ularly from his immediate family, their description is precise and in depth. By the same

    token, while describing a state of confusion about his relationships with others, the de-
    scription of his own personality also conveys an appropriate, integrated view, even in-
    cluding such confusion about his relationships that corresponds to the impression that the

    adolescent gives to the interviewer. In addition, adolescents with identity crisis but with-
    out identity diffusion usually show a normal set of internalized ethical values, interests,

    and ideals, commensurate with their social and cultural background. It is remarkable that,

    even if such adolescents are involved in intense struggles around dependence and inde-
    pendence, autonomy and rebelliousness with their environment, they have a clear sense of

    these issues and their conflictual nature, and their description of significant others with

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    46 Conceptual Issues
    whom they enter in conflict continues to be realistic and cognizant of the complexity of
    the interactions.

    To the contrary, in the case of identity diffusion, the descriptions of the most impor-
    tant persons in his or her life on the part of an adolescent with borderline personality or-
    ganization are vague and chaotic, and so is his or her description of the self, in addition to

    the emergence of significant discrepancies in the description of the adolescent’s present
    psychosocial interactions, on the one hand, and the interaction with the interviewer, on
    the other. It is also typical for severe identity diffusion in adolescence that there exists a

    breakdown in the normal development of ideals and aspirations. The adolescent with iden-
    tity diffusion may display a severe lack of internalized value systems, or a chaotic and

    contradictory attitude toward such value systems.
    In contrast to the diagnostic value of exploring identity and internalized value systems,
    other aspects of the mental status examination are less important in the case of adolescents.
    Thus, particularly, the dominance of primitive defensive operations is less important than it
    would be in adult patients. The reason is that, with a reactivation of oedipal conflicts, and

    conflicts about sexuality in general, primitive defensive operations may emerge, particu-
    larly in the area of conflicts with the parents. Severe conflicts with intimate members of

    the family are diagnostically much less important than they would be later on. Chaotic ex-
    periences in the sexual realm, manifestations of polymorphous perverse infantile sexuality,

    rather extreme oscillations between inhibited, puritanical attitudes and impulsive sexual
    behavior also are not necessarily indicative of identity diffusion at this time.
    The nature of adolescent school failure also includes a broad spectrum of diagnostic
    possibilities and does not reflect directly the syndrome of identity diffusion: depressive
    reactions, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder, physical, sexual or emotional abuse,

    significant inhibitions of many origins, the characteristic pattern of narcissistic person-
    alities of being the best student in some courses and the worst in others, and generalized

    breakdown in the functioning at school as a reflection of identity diffusion have to be
    differentiated from each other. The capacity to fall in love and to maintain a stable love
    relation, in general, is related to normal identity, but some adolescents may be delayed
    in their capacity to establish sexual intimacy out of inhibition, and the absence of that
    capacity is not necessarily diagnostic. Sexual promiscuity, on the other hand, may or

    may not reflect identity diffusion in adolescence. Significant changes in mood and emo-
    tional lability are also less important in the diagnosis of identity diffusion in adoles-
    cence than in adults. Finally, the relationship of an adolescent with his or her particular

    psychosocial group may provide important clues to both identity and superego develop-
    ments. The capacity for a harmonious participation in group structures needs to be dif-
    ferentiated from the blind adherence to an isolated social subgroup, and from the

    incapacity to function outside the protective structure of such a group. Chronic social

    isolation, in contrast to the capacity to adjust to group situations also may point to sig-
    nificant character pathology. The relationship to groups permits us to clarify the poten-
    tial presence of a negative identity.

    The most typical manifestations of the syndrome of identity diffusion, that is, a clear
    lack of integration of the concept of self and of the concept of significant others can be
    found in patients with borderline personality disorder, and, to a somewhat lesser degree,
    in patients with histrionic or infantile personality disorder. In contrast, in the case of
    the narcissistic personality disorder, what is most characteristic is the presence of an

    apparently integrated, but pathological, grandiose self, contrasting sharply with a se-
    vere incapacity to develop an integrated view of significant others: the lack of the ca-
    pacity for grasping the personality of significant others is most dramatically illustrated

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    Identity Diffusion in Severe Personality Disorders 47
    in the narcissistic personality disorder. An opposite situation may emerge in patients with
    schizoid personality disorders, where a lack of integration of the concept of the self may
    be matched by very subtle observations of significant others. In the case of schizotypal
    personality, in contrast, both the concept of self and the concept of significant others are

    severely fragmented, similar to the case of the borderline personality disorders. It is inter-
    esting to observe that in the rare cases of multiple personalities, a careful evaluation of the

    personality structure of the alters reflects the mutually split off fragmentation of the pa-
    tient’s self concept, while a similar lack of integration of the concept of significant others

    permeates all the alters of the patient’s personality.
    THE TREATMENT OF IDENTITY DIFFUSION
    The transference focused psychotherapy (TFP) that we have developed over the past
    twenty-five years at the Personality Disorders Institute at the Weill Cornell University

    Medical College is specifically geared to resolve the identity diffusion of patients with bor-
    derline personality organization (Clarkin, Yeomans, & Kernberg, 1999; Kernberg, 1984;

    Koenigsberg et al., 2000; Yeomans, 1992). It is the central objective of the corresponding

    treatment strategies. Transference focused psychotherapy is a specialized form of psycho-
    analytic or psychodynamic psychotherapy, that has been manualized. The efficacy of this

    manualized treatment has been empirically confirmed and further empirical studies of it
    are under way (Clarkin et al., 2001). This treatment can be characterized by its defined

    techniques, strategies, and tactics. The techniques are, in essence, those of standard psy-
    choanalysis, modified quantitatively for these patients, including interpretation, transfer-
    ence analysis, and technical neutrality. Transference focused psychotherapy requires a

    minimum of two sessions per week and is carried out in “face to face” sessions. The pa-
    tient receives instructions for carrying out a modified form of free association, and the

    therapist’s interventions are limited to psychoanalytic techniques, as mentioned before,
    and avoids supportive technical interventions to facilitate full and in depth analysis of the
    transference.
    The tactical principles of the treatment include rules and procedures that apply in each
    session, the consideration of particular priorities of interventions, and management of

    complications in the treatment. These tactics involve, first of all, special modes of con-
    tract setting geared to protecting, at all times, the patient’s life, the lives of others, the

    continuity of the treatment, and, above all, the maintenance of the treatment frame. This

    frame usually is severely tested by regressive transference developments. In addition, tac-
    tics involve a series of priorities of interventions in the light of frequent complications in

    the treatment, including severe suicidal behavior, threats to the continuity of the treat-
    ment, severe acting out in and outside the sessions, patients’ mendacity, blocking of treat-
    ment development by severe narcissistic resistances, and defensive trivialization of the

    content of the hours.
    Particular tactics are geared to deal with the manifestation of extreme aggression in

    the hours, the management of affect storms, psychopathic transferences, paranoid micro-
    psychotic episodes, chronic sado-masochistic acting out, and the threat to the treatment

    by drug or alcohol abuse, eating disorders, and other psychopathologies frequently com-
    plicating severe personality disorders. Treatment tactics also involve the application of

    general psychoanalytic techniques as mentioned before, such as the dynamic, economic,
    and structural considerations regarding when, how, and what to focus upon and in what
    order to intervene interpretively in each session. The severity of the fragmentation of the

    c03.qxd 10/7/04 10:47 AM Page 47

    48 Conceptual Issues

    communicative process, the dominance of nonverbal communication and intense counter-
    transference activations are other aspects of typical treatment developments that are in-
    cluded in setting these tactical principles for technical interventions in each hour.

    The overall strategy consists of the focus on the diagnosis and resolution of identity dif-
    fusion. This strategic objective guides the nature of transference interpretations from the

    beginning of the treatment, throughout its entire duration. This strategy is expressed in three
    successive steps of interpretive interventions: first, the clarification, at each point of each

    session, of the now dominant, primitive, fantasized, enacted or acted out interpersonal rela-
    tionship emerging in the session, and the affect expressing it in the transference. A second

    step is the clarification of the representation of self and the representation of the other in the

    activation of this object relation in the transference, and of the dominant affect state fram-
    ing the relationship between self and object representations at that point. In addition, as part

    of this second step, the therapist interprets consistently the interchange between representa-
    tion of self and representation of object that is characteristic for the primitive transference

    developments of borderline patients, a result of their primitive defensive operations, partic-
    ularly projective identification. The third step is the interpretive integration of mutually

    split off internalized object relations activated in the transference, so that the idealized ob-
    ject relationships and their corresponding split off, paranoid counterparts are brought to-
    gether in the therapist’s interpretive comments, thus leading to an integration of the concept

    of self and the integration of the concept of significant others.
    The fact that the dominant object relations are clarified in step one, and then, in step

    two, systematically analyzed throughout time, including their frequent role reversals, fa-
    cilitates the patient’s growing capacity to accept his or her unconscious identifications

    with mutually split off self and object representations, thus also facilitating that third
    step of integrative interpretive interventions.
    Step one of this procedure evolves, practically, from the first session of treatment on,

    and constitutes a consistent effort throughout the entire treatment. Step two requires ex-
    tensive work over many weeks and even months, before a situation evolves that permits

    the therapist to move into the interpretive stance of step three. The entire cycle of this
    movement, therefore, may at first last for many months, only to repeat itself as part of the
    working through of the same transference predispositions, in cycles that gradually reduce
    their length to weeks, and, eventually, days. Toward the termination of the treatment, the
    entire cycle of interventions—the three steps—might be condensed within the same hour.

    As a result of this strategy and the gradual integration of the concept of self and of sig-
    nificant others, there also evolves a gradual integration, modulation, and cognitive com-
    plexity of affect states, together with a greater capacity of the patient to reduce affective

    impulsivity, and a deepening of his or her object relations in the context of the consistent
    increase in the capacity for self reflectiveness that evolves as a major consequence of this

    strategic approach. The manual published by our Institute describing transference fo-
    cused psychotherapy explains in detail and illustrates clinically this entire treatment ap-
    proach (Clarkin et al., 1999).



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    Stein, R. and Swan, A.B., 2019. Evaluating the validity of Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator theory: A teaching tool and window into intuitive psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(2), p.e12434. (when you click this link, on the page you get to, click [PDF] to read).

    Abstract

    Despite its immense popularity and impressive longevity, the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) has existed in a parallel universe to social and personality psychology. Here, we seek to increase academic awareness of this incredibly popular idea and provide a novel teaching reference for its conceptual flaws. We focus on examining the validity of the Jungian‐based theory behind MBTI that specifies that people have a “true type” delineated across four dichotomies. We find that the MBTI theory falters on rigorous theoretical criteria in that it lacks agreement with known facts and data, lacks testability, and possesses internal contradictions. We further discuss what MBTI's continued popularity says about how the general public might evaluate scientific theories.

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