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Although food waste is an urgent issue with widespread economic, societal, and environmental impacts, it remains understudied in the marketing discipline. This is surprising, since most food waste occurs at the retail and consumption stages of the food life cycle. This research fills this gap by examining how resource mindset and self-construal jointly shape consumer food waste. Specifically, inducing a scarcity mindset signals that there is no resource to waste, mitigating consumer food waste regardless of self-construal. In contrast, under an abundance mindset, where there is resource to waste, activating an interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal can effectively reduce consumer food waste. The authors identify sharing obligation, the tendency to share valuable resources with in-groups, as a key mechanism behind the effect. In support of this mechanism, enhancing sharing obligation (e.g., highlighting the sharing concept, highlighting others' food needs) or diminishing it (e.g., highlighting family resource abundance) attenuates the effect of self-construal on consumer food waste under an abundance mindset. The results from one large-scale field study, four controlled experiments, and a country-level secondary data analysis provide convergent support for the proposed framework. This research not only contributes to the related literature but also provides actionable strategies for mitigating consumer food waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many consumers are caregivers and, as part of caregiving, frequently make food choices for their dependents. This research examines how food choices made for children influence the healthiness of parents' subsequent self-choices. Whereas prior work focuses on choices for the self (others) as based on self-needs (other-needs), the authors theorize when and why self-choices involve consideration of other-needs. Five studies, including a nursery school field study, test the effect of choosing healthy food for a child on the healthiness of parents' self-choices, focusing on the role of anticipating potentially sharing self-choices with one's child. Potential sharing increased parents' likelihood of making an unhealthy subsequent self-choice if they first made a healthy choice for their child. This effect was driven by parents' present-focused parenting concerns about whether one's child would eat and enjoy healthy options chosen for them. This effect was mitigated when parents instead had future-focused parenting concerns. Additionally, this effect was mitigated after making an initial choice for the child that was (1) unhealthy or (2) healthy but relatively liked by the child. This research contributes to understanding how choices for others shape choices for the self and offers important marketing and policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this recursively reflexive comment, I reflect on the seven commentaries that critically elaborate upon my proposals about the radically decentering ontological implications of Russ Belk's conceptualization of the extended self. These wide-ranging commentaries address a nexus of thought provoking and intriguing topics that significantly expand and enrich this discussion about the future of consumer research (as we can best envision it from the limits of our contemporary standpoints). I am thrilled to have provided an impetus for these reflections and, as a secondary benefit, they have helped me to better crystallize my initial reflections via the reflexive trope of the consumer as an elusive epistemic object, endlessly pursued by marketing researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the concept of the extended self, which suggests that our possessions and experiences are a part of our identity. It discusses the work of Russ Belk, a prominent figure in this field, and his influential 1988 manuscript on the extended self. The article also examines different aspects of the self, such as the material, social, and spiritual self, and how they are shaped by our interactions with others and our environment. It emphasizes the importance of considering cultural differences when studying the self and discusses the potential impact of artificial intelligence and transhumanism on our understanding of identity. The text further explores various perspectives on the self in consumer research, challenging traditional assumptions and advocating for alternative viewpoints. It highlights the significance of power relations and calls for a more proactive approach in consumer research. The article concludes by suggesting future research directions in this area. [Extracted from the article]

Russ's (Belk, 1988) extension of William James' reflections on the self has been a significant accelerant of interpretive and Consumer Culture Theoretic research. In this paper, I will outline a different way we can engage with James' oeuvre; specifically via psychical research and parapsychology. These fields are subsequently linked to recent debates on quantum interconnectedness, nonlocality, brain-computer interfaces and capitalist-materialist telepathy. This endeavour initially responds to Russ's point that 'What we call "self" is really "selves". Besides distributed selves and multiple selves shared between individuals, there are also multiple selves within individuals' (Belk, 2024, p. 571). It builds upon Craig's respective accounts by proffering materialist and post-materialist perspectives on human-human dynamics and human-computer technological affordances. As we shall see, William James encourages us to recognise multiple selves, multiple levels of consciousness, and the psychical extension of self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extending Thompson's discussion of the extended self, I contrast his view if the I Self (in William James' terms) with my focus on James' Me Self. I go on to discuss the Aggregate Self, the Digital Self, and various concepts of plural selves and cultural differences. Thompson's introduction of distributed self fits nicely here and further expands the discussion of self. I introduce the concept of the Extended Object and briefly examine thanobots and AI and the way they may affect our concepts of self in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comment complements Thompson's comment on Belk 2024 in this journal. It suggests the selves Thompson and Belk refer to are both unusual and more fragile to impending changes in praxeomorphology than either author supposes. Hybrid praxeomorphologies fortend hybrid selves that may be other than the gnostic selves these authors imagine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary on Craig Thompson's 'Towards an Ontology of Consumers as Distributed Networks' moves beyond his emphasis on the need for CCT to embrace material-semiotic theories to reflect our dynamically interconnected world. We argue that this restates the objectivity and apoliticality of academic practice, and critique the implied 'light' versus 'heavy' selves dichotomy, arguing instead for emphasising scholars' responsibility to recognise their own heavy situatedness within the socio-cultural phenomena they study. We propose a 'heavy' CCT scholarly self, (re)integrating the political dimensions of material-semiotic theories often denuded in translation. This suggests a paradigmatic shift from 'praxeomorphic' (the observing/theorising of light academic selves) to 'praxeomorphing' (the active engagement of heavy academic selves), guiding socio-economic transformations towards equity, sustainability, and transformative change in a more politically-conscious scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belk's conceptualisation of the extended self is one of the most influential articles published in the history of consumer research. However, less scholarly attention has been given to the broader ontological implications of Belk's later arguments that his original distinction between a core and extended self should be abandoned. In this comment, I first highlight how Belk's original formulation marked a contested transition from a dualistic view of consumers as possessing a core self that remains distinct from the socio-material world to a dialectical understanding of consumer selves as emerging from a centre-to-periphery network of relations. His ensuing update implicitly denotes another ontological shift towards an even more de-centred view of the 'extended self'. However, Belk's reformulation of the extended self in the digital age lacked a culturally established, alternative praxeomorphic model needed to fully disentangle the extended self from the 'heavy' ontology of the core self. Contemporary socio-technical innovations are beginning to offer a praxeomorphic means to ontologically re-vision consumers as distributed networks whose life narratives function as ledgers of their assembled experiences. As an emerging praxeomorphic future shaped by the mass diffusion of AI technologies is rapidly taking shape, I suggest that 'consumer research', as we currently understand it, may soon be radically transformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is born of the joy and pain of institutional life. It responds to recent work by Craig Thompson and is a response to an invitation to participate from the Editor of the JMM (Mark Tadajewski). It seeks to take seriously the role of consumer research and consumption within society. It seeks to tell 'better stories' about the past, present and what it sees as a reimagined future for consumer research. To do so, it revisits some of the canonical works of consumer research, such exemplary work it suggests are worthy of revisiting and critiquing if we are to chart a rejuvenated form of consumer research that takes seriously our contemporary predicament and is more critical and incisive in its intent. With renewed purpose it takes on board the insights around Bauman's notion of 'liquid times', offers a range of opportunities, possibilities and dangers around the conflicted consumer self and puts forward an ABC of critical consumer research, where notions of affect, breakdown, contradiction are taken seriously for their theoretical and practical insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Craig Thompson (2024) offers an analysis of how Belk's distinction between the consumer's core self and extended self continues to be conceptually ambiguous and persistently troublesome as an onto epistemological foundation in consumer research. He notes that the recent proliferation of consumer technologies may lead us to finally see things for what they are and thus to forsake our lingering longing for an agentic core self in control. We offer a theological reading that stretches backwards for insights to what guarantees us the very problem of the self and the questions we can ask of it. We also offer grounds for believing that the trouble goes back to times immemorial, is largely non-negotiable, and is here to stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The Entrepreneurial Learning Journey and Back Again" by Birgitte Wraae is a book that explores entrepreneurship education and the process of entrepreneurial learning. The author engages in self-reflection and conversations with 19 scholars from around the world to discuss the core values of personal development, the importance of understanding learners' resources, and the skills needed for a growth mindset. The book also highlights the multiple roles of entrepreneurship educators and reflects on success stories, assessment practices, and the challenges of entrepreneurship education. It emphasizes the need for personal transition and transformation, as well as the importance of facilitation, empowerment, and reflection in the teaching process. The book adopts a postmodern standpoint and encourages collaborative and consensual meaning-making. While the book provides valuable insights, it could further explore topics such as the dark side of entrepreneurship, the social construction of the entrepreneur, and critical reflections from students. Overall, "The Entrepreneurial Learning Journey and Back Again" offers a thoughtful and multi-perspective discussion on contemporary entrepreneurship education. [Extracted from the article]

Where we work—our workplaces—have enormous effects on our work attitudes and behaviors. As workplaces become increasingly mobile, remote, multiple, and uncoupled from the organization for which the work is done, individuals—and their employers—struggle with the question, "How does this place affect me and what I do?" We need new theoretical insights into how workplaces shape our experience of work and important outcomes such as well-being, boundary management, and territoriality. To do so, we describe the phenomenology of how our workplaces become deeply intertwined with our sense of self at work, particularly in the modern context. Our model explains how the functional, social, aesthetic, and temporal dimensions of the workplace, and the holistic and immersive experiences that result, affect workplace identification via sensemaking processes, and the outcomes that result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on three 'Instagram-ready' art installations, this article suggests that a special kind of consumer – the 'creative child' – is being developed at the intersection between immersive art spaces and social media technologies. Using a multi-method approach blending ethnography in art exhibitions and netnography on Instagram, the study elaborates on how a consumer 'becoming' – a never-ending process of forming the self – emerges from affordances of these environments that foster the elements of childlike creativity: imaginativeness, emotiveness and playfulness. It argues that 'becoming' goes beyond the social media performance of the self. Through approaching adult consumers as 'creative children', the study illustrates how the consumer is enabled to tap into creativity in novel ways, and how following the therapeutic ethos and reconnecting to the 'inner child' can create a sense of an open future, full of possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wellness industry has emerged as a multi-trillion-dollar global industry and the online hashtag #Wellness trend, with over 68 million posts on Instagram, is growing in popularity every day. We analyzed 373 posts from the hashtag #Wellness to explore how wellness is represented and mobilized on Instagram. Using reflexive thematic analysis and drawing from critical feminist theorizing on biopedagogies and healthism, we generated five themes: (infinite) wellness project of the self, aesthetic ideal = wellness expert, wellness labour, just choose wellness, and infinitely consuming wellness. We observed wellness being predominantly represented by imagery of a young, lean, white, able-bodied, affluent woman. Wellness was also discursively promoted as ostensibly easy to achieve through relentless effort, discipline, and consumption. We found #Wellness on Instagram to be another source of biopedagogies, or expert instructions for living, reproducing healthism, the thought that health is an individual responsibility, and reifying Western aesthetic idealization of bodies as conflated with health and well-being. Our findings highlight how sociocultural ideologies, including neoliberalism, biopedagogies, and healthism, have intense command and insidious pervasion into the current wellness and media culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder, whose clinical picture is dominated by visible body changes as well as numerous somatic and behavioural abnormalities. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the ways in which the individual experiences NF1 in everyday life, with particular emphasis on the impact of the altered body on family interactions, in addition to the personal and social identity of individuals with NF1. Methods: A qualitative study was performed using individual in-depth interviews with 93 individuals with NF1 (median age: 36.69; range: 18 to 64; 26% males). Results: Body changes caused by NF1 determine the specificity of social interactions in the families of the sick. The strength and direction of the impact of body changes on social interactions depends on their type (visibility, invisibility), as well as the meanings given to them. The visibility of disease lesions triggers an attitude of excessive control and stigmatization in the family, especially on the part of the mothers of individuals with NF1, and prompts a tendency to define the individual through the prism of the disease and its bodily manifestations. In turn, the lack of visibility of disease symptoms gives rise to, especially on the part of the fathers of the sick, opposing attitudes of disease denial, normalization of its symptoms and a tendency to question the disease identity of individuals with NF1. The great intensity of interactional problems concerns especially those families in which NF1 was transmitted through inheritance, and family members blame each other for the disease. This leads to repression and denial of the disease, excluding it from the scope of issues discussed in the family, which is an attempt to avoid the attribution of blame for the disease. Conclusions: The body changes resulting from NF1 have social consequences that are of critical importance in the lives of the sick. The impact of NF1 on family interactions depends on the ways in which the disease is understood by the sick individual and his or her family members. The obtained patient-driven data constitute a convenient starting point for designing personalized interventions supporting individuals with NF1 and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative research highlighted the lived experiences of individuals transitioning from believers to atheists in the Philippines, a country deeply influenced by religious perspectives. The study employed a phenomenological approach and had six participants who were residents of Quezon City, Rizal, Cavite, Pasig City, Cavite, and Makati City. The study identified 10 superordinate Themes using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), highlighting the intricate nuances of the participants' experiences. These themes included: Religious Influences of Schooling, Family, and Personal Curiosity; Influence on Personal Morality and Skepticism; Experiencing Dissonant Texts, Actions, and Conversations; Inward Dilemmas due to Social Fear, Rationality, and Moral Ambiguity; Intersecting Influences from Local, Global, and Digital Environments; Sexuality, Hypocrisy, and Personal Beliefs; Contradictions in Religious Teachings Lead to Atheism; Shared Viewpoints Affirmed Personal Views; Disputations in Shared Circles Lead to Personal Discovery; Unfolding of Identity through Personal and Social Dynamics. The process of moving away from religious beliefs and embracing atheism was a multifaceted journey that involved numerous factors. One's upbringing in a particular religion, combined with personal exploration, societal pressures, and exposure to a variety of viewpoints, all played a role in shaping individual convictions. The study explored the process of how Filipino atheists converted from believers to atheism, and what factors influenced their journey towards atheism. The study emphasized the role of cognitive dissonance, interpersonal contacts, societal support, and social dynamics in shaping individuals' belief systems. The study also highlighted the challenges faced by Filipino atheists, including those related to sexuality and hypocrisy within religious contexts. Overall, the study shed light on the complexities of religious conversion and de-conversion and the importance of social support in shaping individuals' beliefs and identities. Ultimately, becoming an atheist required a thorough introspection that was shaped by internal and external variables, resulting in a redefinition of one's identity and a change in beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThere is an ongoing debate about the ethics of research on lifespan extension: roughly, using medical technologies to extend biological human lives beyond the current “natural” limit of about 120 years. At the same time, there is an exploding interest in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create “digital twins” of persons, for example by fine-tuning large language models on data specific to particular individuals. In this paper, we consider whether digital twins (or digital doppelgängers, as we refer to them) could be a path toward a kind of life extension—or more precisely, a kind of person extension—that does not rely on biological continuity. We discuss relevant accounts of consciousness and personal identity and argue that digital doppelgängers may at least help us achieve some of the aims or ostensible goods of person-span extension, even if they may not count as literal extensions of our personhood on dominant philosophical accounts. We also consider relational accounts of personhood and discuss how digital doppelgängers may be able to extend personhood in a relational sense, or at least secure some of the goods associated with relevant relationships. We conclude by suggesting that a research program to investigate such issues is relevant to ongoing debates about the ethics of extending the human lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, the general public typically disapproves of trophy hunting. Given the global ubiquity of the practice, its potential to benefit conservation when properly managed, and the substantial role played by American hunter-tourists, changing these attitudes can help to maintain the practice as a wildlife management tool. Existing trophy hunting communications, which are currently neither well-designed nor widely distributed, are unable to effectively do so. We used an online survey to explore current American attitudes regarding trophy hunting and assess the efficacy of different messaging strategies in influencing these attitudes. Respondents were randomly sorted into nine treatment groups, each of which received both an identity-focused priming item (or lack thereof, as a control) and a message about trophy hunting. The priming items prompted respondents to consider either their personal values (personal identity) or political affiliation (social identity) before reading their assigned message. All three messages evaluated in this study contained a brief informative paragraph about trophy hunting, and additional information concerning either the ecological or socioeconomic benefits associated with the practice was appended onto this paragraph for respondents assigned to treatments featuring an experimental message frame. Based on the responses of 2000 U.S. residents, we found that negative attitudes regarding trophy hunting were pervasive and resistant to change. Messages framed around the ecological or socioeconomic benefits of managed trophy hunting slightly increased approval for the practice, but identity-focused priming items had no comparable effect. Additionally, respondents' trust in the messages varied by source. This research represents a novel approach to understanding and changing public attitudes toward a highly controversial form of hunting through scientifically informed messaging. While our findings suggest several areas of improvement specifically for future trophy hunting communications, they may also be applied to outreach efforts concerning other contentious wildlife management issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did enslaved people in the Dutch East India Company’s empire use food to maintain their cultural identities? These people – from Malabar, Coromandel, Bengal in present-day India, together with the eastern part of today’s Indonesia – were forcibly transported across the ocean to the Company’s ports littered along the littoral. By shifting our perspective away from colonial elites, we can grasp a very different sense of the ocean, one that speaks of lost homelands, families, and selves. This article explores food from the perspective of enslaved cooks and cultivators on Ambon, the Company’s first conquest in the Indian Ocean,, in present-day Indonesia. By spotlighting how enslaved people transported, grew, and processed familiar plants from their homelands, it explores how the ocean signified both disconnection and loss as well as opportunities for reconnecting with their cultural identities through food. Using food as an analytical object, the article reconstructs how enslaved people used food to grapple with their disconnection from their homelands, forging links, however partial and incomplete, with memories of self before their enslavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) samples dominating research has been ongoing for decades, and now the emerging trend is to turn to theoretical perspectives from the Majority World. Adopting Western-centric methods based on reductionism can overlook important details and differences between similar cultures, particularly in East Asian cultures, where the Confucian values of relational harmony take many forms. We discuss a novel theoretical perspective on moral constitutions in Confucian heritage cultures. Our central tenet is that divergent moral concepts and ideals are present in Confucian cultures because each culture emphasizes a specific pillar and the self is situated differently in the social relationships that define the scope of interpersonal moral obligations. We consider three Confucian countries: China, Japan, and South Korea as examples. Despite geographical proximity and conventional categorization in cultural psychology, each Confucian country manifests distinct patterns of the self, moral ideals, and behavior in socio-moral contexts. To understand how and why moral worldviews vary within a region, we need to examine how the self in socio-cultural contexts differs and guides interpersonal norms and behaviors across sociocultural contexts. We conclude this paper by offering methodological recommendations for including indigenous moral concepts outside the WEIRD context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Schizophrenia (SZ) is characterized by abnormalities in self-representation, including a disturbed sense of agency (SoA). The continuous processing of sensory information concerning the internal state of the body (interoception) is argued to be fundamental to neural representations of the self. We, therefore, tested if aberrant interoception underpins disturbances in SoA in SZ, focusing on cardiac interoceptive signaling. Methods: Forty-two SZ and 29 non-clinical participants (healthy controls; HC) performed an intentional binding task to measure SoA during concurrent heartbeat recording. The effect of cardiac interoceptive signals on SoA was measured by the difference in intentional binding effect during systole and diastole. This measure was standardized based on the overall intentional binding effect to control for non-cardiac factors, and then compared between SZ and HC. Results: Our study revealed a significant difference between SZ and HC groups, with opposite effects of cardiac systole on SoA. Specifically, cardiac systole disrupted SoA in SZ, contrasting with the enhanced SoA in HC. Across the SZ group, the extent to which SoA was disrupted by cardiac systole correlated significantly with a clinical proxy for symptom instability, namely the number of hospital admissions for hallucinations and delusions. Furthermore, the disruption was particularly observed in patients with severe hallucinations. Conclusions: This study revealed a disturbance in the impact of cardiac interoceptive signals on an implicit index of SoA in schizophrenia. This supports the notion that pathophysiological disruption of the central integration of interoceptive information increases vulnerability to disturbances in self-representation and the associated expression of schizophrenic symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are self-biased for rewards. We place a higher value on rewards if we receive them than if other people do. However, existing work has ignored one of the most powerful theorems from behavioural ecology of how animals seek resources in everyday life, the Marginal Value Theorem (MVT), which accounts for optimal behaviour for maximising resources intake rate. Does this self-bias help humans maximise rewards when foraging for their own benefit compared to foraging for the benefit of others? Participants had to decide when to leave patches where reward intake was gradually depleting, in environments with different average reward rates. Half of the time participants foraged for themselves, and in the other half they collected rewards for an anonymous stranger. The optimal MVT derived solution states people should leave when the instantaneous reward intake in a patch equals the average rate in an environment. Across two studies, people were more optimal when foraging for self, showing a reduced sensitivity to instantaneous rewards when foraging for other. Autistic traits were linked to reduced sensitivity to reward rates when foraging for self but not for other. These results highlight that the self-bias may be adaptive, helping people maximise reward intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on personal identity often relies on imaginary cases and tends to theorize about our nature from the first‐person perspective. In this paper, I argue that a problem arises when we combine the two methods and assess imaginary cases from the first‐person perspective. The problem is that the link between de se imagination and modality is broken. De se imagination regularly gives rise to de se modal illusions. De se modal illusions come in two varieties: there are de se illusions of possibility and de se illusions of impossibility. I present a systematic account of the two types of illusion. I further make the case that the proposed account is compatible with maintaining a general link between imaginability and possibility. I apply the account to two concrete cases and use it to undercut the motivation behind a central theory of personal ontology, Dualism, and a central account of personal persistence, Lockeanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of his research, Endel Tulving offered a number of somewhat different characterizations of episodic memory. Do they indicate that he changed his mind over time as to what episodic memory is, or did his core understanding of the nature of episodic memory stay the same? In this article, we offer some support for the latter claim, and in particular for thinking that, throughout his life, Tulving took as a defining feature of episodic memory the distinctive awareness of the self in time it involves. We argue that it is easier to see the continuities rather than the discontinuities in Tulving's writings once their historical context is taken into account, where this involves both the authors who influenced his thinking, as well as the intellectual climate at the different times he was writing. We also discuss two recent bodies of work on episodic memory that take aspects of Tulving's writings as their point of departure, but try to factor out into separate ingredients what he arguably saw as a unitary phenomenon. Considering aspects of the dialectic between them and Tulving's view might shed further light on some of the motivations behind the latter. This article is part of the theme issue 'Elements of episodic memory: lessons from 40 years of research'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter to her younger self Danielle Rosvally explicates the complications of gender inherent in the world of stage combat and professional fight direction. She relates her experience of fighting (and teaching) while female and offers some hopeful direction for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is a letter to my younger self a reflection of where I was when I started the journey into being a professional musical theatre performer and of those lessons I can now identify from my past experiences. It offers a glimpse into some of the ups and downs of my performing life as well as some advice for any students considering this path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The animalist population has swelled since they introduced their thesis – we are animals – within the personal identity debate a few decades ago. Now they're a dominant force in the debate. However, more recently, their thesis has fallen prey to attacks. For example, I [Duncan, Matt. 2021. "Animalism is Either False or Uninteresting (Perhaps Both)." American Philosophical Quarterly 58 (no. 2): 187–200.] argue that, depending on how it is understood, animalism is either false or uninteresting. If it is merely the thesis that we are identical to animals ('Animalism Light'), then it is uninteresting, because it doesn't address the philosophical question it was supposed to address. If, instead, it is a stronger thesis – i.e., that we are essentially or fundamentally animals ('Robust Animalism') – then it is false. Even more recently, Andrew M. Bailey, Allison Krile Thornton, and Peter van Elswyk [2021. "Why Animalism Matters." Philosophical Studies 178 (9): 2929–2942.] attempt to defend animalism against each of my two claims. They argue that Animalism Light holds considerable interest and that Robust Animalism can be defended against my arguments. In this article, I contribute to this exchange by defending my claims about animalism against Bailey et al.'s criticisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of Jung's most significant contributions concerns the mysterious, inexplicable and always out‐of‐reach nature of the self. In this paper, I will focus on the borders of the self and their nature, location and dynamics of maintenance and change in geographically, historically, and culturally situated subjects. Reflecting on the refugee experience, I intend to gain more insights into our psychic functioning and the dynamics of the self in relation to itself, the other and groups. The experiences of some refugees, marked bysignificant trauma and migration, shed light on how the boundaries of the self are frequently contested and perpetually negotiated with others, and how our subjectivity is shaped by ongoing dynamics of occupation, dispute and/or negotiation, conducted at various levels of our social and individual existence. My argument is that these processes occur at a specific site: the boundaries of the self, involving intrapsychic, interpersonal and group psychological dynamics, with reverberations in the socio‐political and cultural spheres, and reciprocal influences between all these levels. This paper aims to concentrate on the shifts in these boundaries, illustrated through clinical vignettes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The realization of the Self, although the absolute basis of Jungian psychology, has internal inconsistencies, is difficult to understand, and offers a promise of realization that cannot be fulfilled. This has weakened it, and its existence is now one of speculation. If this is the case, what is to be done with it in the consulting room? How should it be introduced and accounted for, if at all? This paper suggests some alternatives but concludes that the myth of the Self has gravitas in other established traditions, and it is those that offer a more coherent framework for the emergence of the Self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Role-playing is a common practice within the bounds of kink, fetish, and/or BDSM erotic encounters. The application of Jungian Shadow concept to the erotic or SM role-play practices is explored in this article, which is an update to the author's 2007 chapter Shadowplay: SM journeys into ourselves. Areas such as past trauma, cultural trauma, issues around gender and power, and therapeutic aspects of engaging in role-play in the context of BDSM encounters are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A redundancy gain occurs when perceptually identical stimuli are presented together, resulting in quicker categorization of these paired stimuli than lone stimuli. Similar effects have been reported for paired stimuli within the same conceptual category, particularly if the category is self-related. We recruited 528 individuals across three related studies to investigate whether, during perceptual and conceptual redundancy, such self-bias effects on foreground stimuli are modulated by natural versus urban backgrounds. Here, we highlight our observations pertaining to perceptual and conceptual redundancy effects of the foreground stimuli. In our first experiment, response options were randomised per trial. Results showed reaction time gains for perceptually identical stimuli, but this advantage was not modulated by self/other categorization. However, slower reaction times were observed for conceptually-related stimulus pairs and were influenced by self/other categorization. The second experiment replicated the methods of earlier studies of redundancy and observed comparable results to Experiment 1: a perceptual redundancy gain unmodulated by self/other categorization, yet for conceptual redundancy, no gain/cost but effects of self/other categorization. In the third experiment, self/other categories were substituted with arbitrary A/B categories: Once more, there was a perceptual redundancy gain and no conceptual redundancy gain. Notably, A/B categorisation produced effects equivalent to self/other categorisation. Overall, these findings challenge previous research on the facilitated early processing of conceptually-related stimuli and suggest that self-relatedness may not exert a unique effect on stimulus processing beyond attentional and response preferences during categorization. Our study motivates further research to understand conceptual categorization and redundancy gain effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle childhood marks an important phase for moral and social-emotional development, yet little research has focused on a combined focus within this age range. A person-centered research approach could capture the complex co-development of the moral self and behavior problems. We thus sought to determine exploratively what emergent subgroups/profiles exist when examining combinations of moral self, emotional, conduct and peer problems in middle childhood. For the study, we recruited 369 children aged five to eleven (Mage = 8.19, SDage = 1.30) in Germany. Children completed a questionnaire to assess their moral self (i.e. ascribed importance of moral characteristics), and their parents/caregivers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Using cluster analytic strategies, three profiles were identified. Profile 1 (high moral/high problems) comprised children exhibiting high moral self, emotional problems, peer problems, and average conduct problems (24.12%). Profile 2 (low moral/high problems) included children with low moral self and high emotional, peer, and conduct problems (14.91%). Profile 3 (moderate moral/low problems) encompassed children with average moral self and lower emotional, peer, and conduct problems (60.98%). We discuss the findings and note that future research should strive for a comprehensive understanding of children's social-emotional and moral development, considering the intricate interplay between moral self and behavior problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the digital-cultural labor of three Cuban Instagram comedians and the worldmaking they promote. The comedians, Marlon, Chupetin, and Kende, immensely popular among Cuban audiences, create content that centers their Black working-class and street-smart identity. Through a close analysis of how these comedians utilize performance as rhetorical tools, I examine the entanglements and possibilities that marginalized content creators face when making symbolic and embodied meaning not sanctioned by the nation-state's meta-narratives of normative identity. I draw on theories of performance studies, media anthropology and Caribbean studies, to conceptualize the political, cultural, and personal stakes that come with the 'world-making' labor of Cuban Instagram comedians. I argue performances of estranged ways of being, distributed through transnational digital networks, enact aspirations of redressing long-standing desires and anxieties about national identity and personal agency. Ultimately this article situates social media platforms as vital spaces of worldmaking in a digital era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of existential vulnerability in the experience of personal identity and how identity is found and created. Existential vulnerabilities mark a boundary between what humans can bring about willfully or manipulate to their advantage and what is resistant to such actions. These vulnerabilities have their origin, on an ontological level, in fundamental conditions of human existence. At the same time, they have implications on a psychological level when it comes to self-experience and identity formation. Narrative and value-based identity depend on how a person relates to finitude and the ambiguous side of lived experience. Relational identity depends on how a person relates to existential aloneness and the fact that the meaning and value of our actions are partly out of our control; they are always also dependent on other people's responses to us. Bodily identity makes us feel continuous and real, but at the same time vulnerable to death and the gaze and actions of others. Being 'thrown' into an arbitrary life context is also a form of existential vulnerability. Authentic psychological identities can develop by giving meaning to these circumstances and balancing acceptance of existential vulnerability with the courage to make choices and act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines a genealogical profile of an elusive doctrinal concept that, after being discussed in several Mahāyāna sutras, had a significant impact on East Asian Buddhist traditions. This notion is known as 'playful samādhi', in Chinese youxi sanmei 遊戲三昧, which translates to Sanskrit vikrīḍita samādhi. The compound youxi 遊戲 ('playful' – 'at play') was cited in Chinese sutras and Buddhist documents, in renowned and widely diffused collections of gongans/kōans 公案, was expounded and commented on by Dōgen Zenji 道元禅師 (1200–1253) in its Japanese version yuge 遊戲 and was explored by modern scholars and interpreters as Ryōsuke Ōhashi 大橋良介 and Wu Rujun 吳汝均, who compares youxi 遊戲 with Schiller's Spieltrieb. Given the significance of 'playful samādhi' across different epochs and cultures, I believe a clarification of the term is especially needed. Furthermore, explicit reference to contemporary scholarship on play studies can help uncover its philosophical implications, shedding new light on a complex notion that defies a univocal interpretation and reunites in its semantic field both the aesthetic and religious dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What underlies Zhuangzi's thought is the fundamental finitude of the self, meaning that we cannot and should not alter or control things around us at whim or solely in our favour. Consequently, Zhuangzi recommends that we remain open to things instead of going against them, leading to a fulfilled life. This article discusses Zhuangzi's underlying philosophy of openness, noting that he proposes two different strategies to do so with a distinction between the natural and the human. The former primarily appears in Zhuangzi's discussions of life and death. To overcome the fear of death, Zhuangzi calls on us to see it in the light of the 'heavenly patterns' or processes that can be grasped through the circularity of life and death. Yet, this picture reveals only half of Zhuangzi's thoughts—he also shares his wisdom on how to address human affairs that are barely discernable or absent in such patterns. Here, Zhuangzi urges us to apply a different strategy: closely and attentively sensing the situations and their vicissitudes and preparing our actions as per such (shifting) data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I describe my work with a patient who presented as a creative individual, yet felt like a fictional character. He was driven by a compulsion to maintain and repair broken connections at any cost, utilising his creativity for this purpose. My work with this patient, among others, allowed me to identify a group of patients who feel forced to constantly integrate and transform their external environment. I call them bricoleurs and explain the difference between bricolage and Donald Winnicott's play and Hanna Segal's reparation. I propose that the emergence of this psychological structure is caused by the child's early experiences with significant objects—the childhood necessity to constantly repair and enliven the disturbed mind of the caregiver. One of the metaphors of the article is that of the machine, through which I aim to illustrate the automated internal world of the bricoleur, generated not only by the compulsion to destroy but also by the compulsion to repair and create. In the article, I highlight that working with such patients requires the analyst to carefully examine countertransference and to fully mourn the illusion created in the analytic process. I also reflect on the categories of true and false self, pondering the possibility of moving beyond the binary nature of this division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many individuals who have been through transition struggle to obtain the necessary medical and psychological support. This paper explores the importance of psychological support for post‐transition individuals. In my experience, there is a subgroup of patients who struggle to come to terms with life post‐transition, particularly the losses involved. They remain stuck in the mourning process. There is a loss of fantasies regarding an ideal transition, and the gap between the hoped‐for transition outcomes and the post‐transition reality can be painfully large. In addition, issues that the transition was meant to address remain in some form for some people, and they may also be haunted by misgivings about how the transition occurred. This paper employs a heavily anonymised composite case to illustrate and elaborate on how these issues emerged and were dealt with in the context of a psychotherapeutic process. Working through issues that led to transition and grievances about perceived and actual failures in care from the past allowed the patient to mourn the loss of her pre‐transition image. The patient was able to come to terms with the reality of her transfer from male to trans‐female and her body and life post‐transition and to shift from a preoccupation with the past to move on with her life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust and important body of scholarship is exploring the multiple and layered complexities of mothering and paid work. In this paper, we theoretically and empirically contribute to this work by exploring how, at the level of the self, women with children understand themselves in relation to their paid work and their mothering. We have examined this focus using a post‐structural feminist lens inspired by Foucauldian ideas related to the subject and technologies of the self. This perspective has focused our attention on the informal practices in an Australian university workplace, where we locate and problematize tensions between industrial and policy provisions designed to support mothers and mother's everyday workplace experiences. Our findings arise from focus groups, in‐depth interviews, and our personal narrative accounts and elucidate how despite well‐established policy supports, formal and informal workplace practices shape and discipline how mothers come to understand themselves and their paid work in the academy. We find that policy provisions for families in the workplace operate to conceal and legitimate gendered workplace practices, contributing to subjectivities formed through doubt, fear, shame, anxiety, isolation, and guilt. More productively, subjectivities were also born through agency, resistance, and revision, albeit wrapped by additional labor, personal, and professional costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worker mothers still struggle to find a good balance between their care and work identities. Most research on motherhood at work focuses on how organizational structures can enable professional women to find a balance between caring and work identities neglecting their personal experiences and how they understand themselves in relation to both motherhood and work. We propose to use a liminal identity work perspective to explore the identity tensions that professional women experience during their transition into motherhood and how they manage it. To explore this question, we conducted a qualitative study over 2 years with worker mothers in Latin and North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa. The thematic and narrative analysis of 80 individual narrative interviews shows the emergence of two coexisting identity narratives. The first narrative understands motherhood as a linear process, where women experience liminality, uncertainty, and identity loss but eventually return to work after having aggregated their new worker mother identities during maternity leaves. The second coexisting narrative challenges this linear and finite view by highlighting the transition to motherhood as a continuous, liminoid, and never‐ending process. The two narratives are contextualized and managed differently according to the different cultural, historical, and social contexts where they are developed; the overall results present motherhood as a 'liminoid' experience that requires constant identity work to navigate the tensions emerging between potentially new and customary identities and behaviors in work contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This theoretical paper introduces a conceptual framework for Personal Cultural Heritage Management (PCHM), derived from prior research on migrants' information practices. It elaborates on the literature background and the development of the PCHM framework, highlighting the role of personal information management (PIM) and personal collections in the creation, access and utilization of cultural heritage information. Design/methodology/approach: The study describes and explains the construction of the PCHM framework as a structured and self-motivated approach to personal heritage and identity learning. Findings: Following the theoretical background and assumptions, along with the presentation of the key building blocks, the paper describes the key components of the framework, outlines their definitions and provides examples. Research limitations/implications: Theoretically, PCHM extends the current literature by encapsulating processes and actions employed by individuals to manage personal collections for cultural identity purposes, thereby underscoring the critical role personal collections play in both preserving and communicating cultural heritage. Practical implications: PCHM can guide the development of support systems and policies to enhance cultural continuity and integration, thus empowering individuals to navigate their cultural identities confidently. Originality/value: The PCHM framework creates a unique intersection between PIM and cultural heritage, providing a new perspective for understanding the dynamic evolution and formation of cultural identity among migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Analytical Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Analytical Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We tell one another stories of our lives. Sharing subjective experience is part of what it means to be an embodied, languaging being. In order to explore this aspect of our nature we need to relate our phenomenal experience to its neural bases as we talk. I describe a three-step procedure to do so as a person recounts a personal story. The first step characterizes their subjective experience. I describe two complementary ways to do so. The second step infers the attentional and attributional processes that compose that experience. I suppose that telling a personal story is a form of reliving it. The process of mental simulation involved recruits other attributional processes and is itself nested under one that sustains attention to the goal of telling the story. The third step identifies these processes with their possible neural bases expressed through the language network. I take the mapping from the phenomenal to the neural to be the neurophenomenal space and offer a visualization of it. I illustrate the procedure using the hypothetical example of a bilingual speaker who tells of a recent experience walking in a new city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In examining the memoirs written by emigrant Hungarian aristocrats after 1945, it becomes evident that most are shaped primarily by a nostalgic memory of a once-existent Eden in which they were born, prior to the decline of the aristocracy at the end of World War II. Although these authors often lived in the West for several years or even decades, the image of their youthful past – connected to prewar Hungary – remained largely unaffected by the life experiences gained in the democratic Western world. The reason for this may partly lie in the fact that most of the memoirs were written during the Cold War, a period when the victimhood status of the prewar elite under Communist rule could render even the aristocracy an appealing social phenomenon. This suggests that the long-lasting effects of their original socialization provided a stable and enduring psychological foundation for both their 126 personal and group identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]