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Moving opposites in the self. A Heraclitean approach
The Journal of Analytical Psychology
|October 1, 1993
Summary
Personal experiences involving opposites can be unified by actively combining contrasting events into a new meaning. This process, termed
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Personality Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychotherapy
Background:
- Investigating the unification of personal experience opposites.
- Exploring the psychological dynamics of contrasting experiences.
Observation:
- Presents a novel method for actively combining contrasting personal experiences.
- Reports three idiographic studies on meaning unit synthesis.
- Documents the creation of a third meaning unit from two contrasting experiences.
Findings:
- Identified the "moving opposites" phenomenon: the synthesized meaning unit shifts towards new polar opposites.
- Demonstrates a dynamic process in personal experience unification.
- Provides empirical evidence for the fluidity of psychological constructs.
Implications:
- Discusses the relationship between personality, social, and clinical psychology.
- Connects findings to Aristotle's and Heraclitus' views on opposites.
- Suggests new avenues for psychotherapy and understanding personality dynamics.
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