Getting clear about the nature and basis of interpersonal relating is a central concern of many recent debates in the philosophy of mind. The first section of this chapter highlights some basic facts about the complexity and multifaceted character of interpersonal relating and briefly overviews some of its most prominent dysfunctions. Popular mind-minding hypotheses which claim that the dysfunctions in question are rooted in impaired capacities for attending to and attributing mental states to others are then introduced. Next, (...) recent evidence from cognitive psychology and neuroscience with which these mind-minding hypotheses must be made compatible is summarized. The important differences between two main philosophical frameworks-frameworks that offer opposing ways of understanding the nature of mind minding capacities are then highlighted. Focusing on these differences, the final section highlights how adoption of these philosophical frameworks matters to thinking about the prognosis and strategies for the treatment of certain mental disorders. (shrink)

What is it to know someone? Epistemologists rarely take up this question, though recent developments make such inquiry possible and desirable. This paper advances an account of how such interpersonal knowledge goes beyond mere propositional and qualitative knowledge about someone, giving a central place to second-personal treatment. It examines what such knowledge requires, and what makes it distinctive within epistemology as well as socially. It assesses its theoretic value for several issues in moral psychology, epistemic injustice, and philosophy of (...) mind. And it offers an account of the complex content in play if interpersonal knowledge is to be understood in terms of its mental states and their functions. (shrink)

As a result of interviews with the students of the psychology department of Bashkir State university the set of everyday conflict situations has been picked up and a new situational judgment test of social intelligence was worked out. The positive correlations between social intelligence and the stability and harmony of relations between university students were discovered. The main purpose of our current investigation was to explore the correlations between the social intelligence of university students and the complementarity of (...) class='Hi'>interpersonal relations between them and university teachers. The significant positive correlation between social intelligence and complementarity scores on the affiliation axis of the IMI-C test has been obtained. We may conclude that this fact implies that students with high social intelligence are able to self-control and affiliation in conflict situations. (shrink)

The paper presents the author’s view on the creative work of the famous Mongolian scientist, Doctor of Sciences, Professor Jinong Tserev Tsorose (14.01.1958 – 12.04.2024), biophysicist, philosopher, translator, who was fond of and developed new subjects and directions in poetry, music, and artistic calligraphy. A biographical portrait is given, revealing personal characteristics and professional interests. The article is based on the description of the plots of a series of personal meetings and conversations. Particular attention is paid to philosophical and cultural (...) studies in the field of spiritual, intellectual and social culture of the Mongols – a new field of Mongolian studies. The philosophical and anthropological subjects of traditional Mongolian philosophy and mythology are considered, as well as the content of scientific and artistic activities, social life, value orientations and pedagogical techniques in the training and education of youth in modern Mongolia. (shrink)

The integration of robots into healthcare is an advancing field, with potential to enhance patient care, for example in medication counselling. Peplau's Interpersonal Relationship Model was adapted as a framework for the aim to explore the needs of young adults in relation to social robots in medication counselling. Peplau's model outlines the phases of the nurse‐patient relationship and is emphasised through three key phases, such as Orientation phase, Working phase and Termination phase. Qualitative interviews with six young adults were (...) analysed using deductive reflexive thematic analysis. The results suggest the following: In the orientation phase, the robot should offer reliable and clear communication and a neutral appearance to the young adult to create a trusting relation. In the working phase, the robot should utilise the individuals’ resources to address their medication‐related needs and begin to anticipate goals beyond the immediate problem. Finally, in the termination phase, the robot facilitates the transition to independence for the young adult to manage own medication without relying on the robot. This research contributes to the broader discourse on the intersection of technology and human caring, emphasising the importance of maintaining interpersonal relation in the digital age. Insights from this study informs the design and implementation of social robots in healthcare, ensuring that they effectively meet the needs of young adults and complement medication counselling. (shrink)

An enduring question in the cultural study of psychological experience concerns how emotion may play a role in shaping moral aspects of children’s lives as they are mentored into socially preferred ways of understanding and responding to the world at hand. This article brings together approaches from psychological and linguistic anthropology to explore how cultural schemas of normativity are communicated, embodied, and enacted as children participate in day-to-day family activities and routines. Illustrative examples emanate from a videotaped corpus of naturalistic (...) interactional data that document the daily lives of 32 ethnically diverse U.S. middle-class families who reside in the Los Angeles, California metropolitan region. The article employs discourse and narrative analysis to examine how children are apprenticed into perceiving, appraising, and reacting to the emotions of self and others as culturally shaped indicators for proper comportment. Data analysis emphasizes how implicit components of caregivers’ interactions with children (i.e., gesture, gaze, facial expression) intertwine with explicit, verbal communication to constitute intricately layered affective messages that shape the evaluative frames through which children interpret, display, and respond to emotions. The article identifies two culturally salient childrearing practices, “pep talks” and “time outs,” that apprentice children into moral accountable relationships with others by encouraging them to manage their emotions in culturally preferred ways. Study findings suggest that parental communications conveying praise and approval—or conversely indexing disapproval—towards children are emotionally resonant motivational practices in this cultural milieu as children are mentored into culturally meaningful emotional management techniques. The article highlights how children actively employ semiotic socio-communicative resources and it closely traces their sense-making processes in tandem with their discursive contributions to the moment-by-moment interaction. It argues that emotion, morality, and interpersonal relations are critical in shaping children’s acquisition of consensually validated ways of perceiving, feeling, and responding to the phenomena they encounter in their day-to-day lives. This perspective aims towards contextualized understandings that render plausible connections between local contexts of everyday action and broader macro-level discourses and master narratives, such as those associated with a neo-liberal emphasis on cultivating citizens who learn to regulate their emotions on behalf of self and others. (shrink)

Richard of St. Victor's elaboration of the themes of interpersonal relations and of human love as self-transcendence links him to contemporary philosophical and theological interests.

How do social media affect interpersonal relationships? Adopting a Strawsonian framework, I argue that social media make us more likely to adopt the objective attitude towards persons. Technologically mediated communication tends to inhibit interpersonal emotions and other reactive attitudes. This is due to a relative lack of the social cues that typically enable us to read minds and react to them. Adopting the objective attitude can be harmful for two reasons. First, it tends to undermine the basis of (...) interpersonal relationships. In particular, I argue that friendship is a relationship between persons that requires the participant stance. Second, it is a morally risky attitude that makes us more likely to treat persons in problematic, thing-like ways. Some philosophers have rightly urged that social media are compatible with virtuous, Aristotelian friendship. Notwithstanding, I argue that the harms associated with the objective attitude are more pressing than they might appear if we restrict our focus to relatively virtuous people with the social competence to flourish in morally risky online environments. (shrink)

Interpersonal relationships contribute to people’s happiness; however, their relevance for happiness may depend on the specificities of people’s interactions. This chapter studies a specific kind of interpersonal relationship: Person-based interpersonal relationships. These relationships are frequent in Latin America, and they emphasize the recognition of others’ personhood. Person-based interpersonal relationships imply close, warm, genuine, and enduring relationships that contribute to people’s happiness. This chapter develops the concept of person-based interpersonal relationships, and it shows that they are (...) very relevant in explaining people’s happiness in Latin America. The empirical evidence relies on representative surveys implemented in three Latin American countries: Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico. (shrink)

Researchers, educators and clinicians have long recognized the profound influence of the mid‐twentieth century focus on interpersonal relations and relationships on nursing. Today, in nursing, as well as in medicine and other social sciences, neuroanatomy, neurobiology and neurophysiology have replaced interpersonal dynamics as keys to understanding human behavior. Yet concerns are being raised that the teaching, research and practice of the critical importance of healing relationships have been overridden by a biological focus on the experiences of health (...) and illness. As a way to move forward, we return to Hildegard Peplau's seminal ideas about the transformative power of relationships in nursing. We propose that Peplau's formulations and, in particular, her seminal Interpersonal Relations in Nursing can provide direction. We do not propose that her formulations or her book be simply transposed from the 1950s to today's classroom and clinic. But we do believe that her ideas and writings are dynamic documents containing concepts and derived operations that can be brought to life in clinical practice. Finally, we explore Peplau's transformative idea that nursing is, at its core, an interpersonal process both to acknowledge an idea that has shaped our past and can guide us into our future. (shrink)

The paper outlines a structuralist unification between two existing relational theories of the self, i.e., Beni's Structural Realist theory of the Self and Gallese's Embodied Relational Self. Each one of these theories provides a structuralist account of some aspects of the self but leaves out some other aspects which are indispensable to a comprehensive account of the self. SRS accounts for the reflective aspects of the self, and ERS accounts for the environmental and social aspects of the self. In this (...) paper, I argue that when paired with one another, SRS and ERS could amend one another's shortcomings, without giving way to a non-relational conception of the self. I draw on neurology of the connection between Cortical Midline Structures and the mirror neuron system to inform my unifying proposal. I also show that an informational framework can underlie the union. (shrink)

Emerging research regarding the psychological correlates of nonhuman animal abuse is warranted by the high prevalence of abuse. The few studies to examine factors related to animal abuse have found that those who commit such offenses commonly experience dysfunctional childhoods and high anxiety levels. Yet, no study has examined how attachment styles (by-products of maladaptive childhoods), social-anxiety, and animal abuse proclivity are inter-related. Therefore, this study assessed the association between attachment styles and social anxiety as indicators of animal abuse proclivity (...) within an adult sample. It was found that an anxious attachment significantly correlated with direct proclivity (i.e., animal as the perceived provocateur) while the relationship between social anxiety and indirect animal abuse proclivity (i.e., animal as the outlet for aggression) was mediated by avoidant attachment. These findings emphasize the importance of exploring how interpersonal relationships influence our relationship with animals, to advance treatment and assessment of animal abusers. (shrink)

Most scholars think that using deepfakes to cause epistemic harm (i.e., to mislead, conceal truth, etc.) may cause us to stop trusting digital testimonies as a whole. This, in turn, will have serious consequences on our interpersonal relations—since most of our communication is conducted in the digital world. I argue that deepfakes created for non-malevolent purposes (e.g., for fun) are epistemically far more dangerous: they undermine digital communication inadvertently and to a much greater extent than malevolent deepfakes. Specifically, (...) they allow malevolent deepfakes to camouflage themselves as non-malevolent (i.e., blend with the environment) thus creating a context of epistemic uncertainty. However, we may have reasons to believe that rational self-interested agents will agree to substantially limit or ban the use of deepfakes. Rather than educating people on the nature of deepfakes or misinformation, we should educate them on the potential harm they could cause to others and themselves by creating and disseminating deepfakes. (shrink)

First published in 2005, Economics and Social Interaction is a fresh attempt to overcome the traditional inability of economics to deal with interpersonal phenomena that occur within the sphere of markets and productive organizations. It makes use of traditional economic concepts for understanding interpersonal events, while venturing beyond those concepts to give a better account of personalised interactions. In contrast to other books, Economics and Social Interaction offers the reader a rigorous effort at extending economic analysis to a (...) difficult field in a consistent manner, sensitive to insights from other behavioural and social sciences. This collection represents an important contribution to a growing research agenda in the social sciences. (shrink)

Summary The task of this article is to review the principle of relational determination, as described by Solomon Asch (1952) which expands over Karl Duncker’s (1939) critique of ethical relativism. Relational determination has much to offer to the therapeutic community first with regard to interpersonal relations and social relations. My main goal is to extend this relational analysis to intrapsychic life, which may expose new potentialities for internal conflict resolution and personal integration, predicated on the cultivation of (...) relational understanding (i.e., recognition of relational determination in organization of conscious experience). But this approach is best illustrated in its application to value differences and conflict across societies, which are typically viewed from the absolutist or relativist perspective. The principle of relationality casts doubt on elementaristic assumptions common to both (e.g., meaning constancy). Such assumptions lead to some ill-considered conclusions: of irreconcilable moral differences dividing both individuals and groups, deprived of any basis in understanding. Those views fail to consider the contexts underlying the meanings and valuations we impute. When these are taken into account, Duncker’s hypothesis of an invariant relation between meaning and value finds support. Value differences (or changes) need not represent fundamental differences in morality, but instead (factual) differences in understanding of the situation. If so, then value differences may indeed be both understandable and reconcilable. Relational determination reveals this same potentiality with regard to intrapsychic conflict, where the same presumption of irreconcilable differences must be overcome. Work by Erich Neumann provides a valuable depth psychological perspective on this inner conflict, which accords surprisingly well with the relationality principle in particular and field theory in general. From that vantage point, psychological defenses may be recognized as structural properties of yet unreconciled psychical fields. Gestalt theory’s relational view, which aligns well with Neumann’s account of a “new ethic” helps to reveal the processes by which these defensive postures might abate, as value realms that earlier dwelt in hostile opposition develop more of a conscious and respectful relation with each other, as the individual inches toward greater wholeness. (shrink)

A good summary of Merleau-Ponty's theory of intersubjectivity, drawn from the Phénoménologie de la perception and La structure du comportement. Barral sees Merleau-Ponty's work in this area more as a groundwork for further investigation than as a satisfactory philosophy of the person-in-relation itself; since this topic is a central one in Merleau-Ponty, her study is a helpful introduction to much of his philosophy.—J. J.

Empathy is an extensively studied construct, but operationalization of effective empathy is routinely debated in popular culture, theory, and empirical research. This article offers a process-focused approach emphasizing the relational functions of empathy in interpersonal contexts. We argue that this perspective offers advantages over more traditional conceptualizations that focus on primarily intrapsychic features. Our aim is to enrich current conceptualizations and empirical approaches to the study of empathy by drawing on psychological, philosophical, medical, linguistic, and anthropological perspectives. In doing (...) so, we highlight the various functions of empathy in social interaction, underscore some underemphasized components in empirical studies of empathy, and make recommendations for future research on this important area in the study of emotion. (shrink)

In this chapter, it is assumed that two kinds of relations are essential to any philosophical school. Firstly, there are interpersonal relations between members of the school, including teacher–student relations. Secondly, there are intertextual relations between elements of output the school, namely between problems, conceptual schemes, methods or theories accepted by various representatives. The chapter consists of two parts. In the first part, the conceptual scheme for analysis of various types of interpersonal and intertextual (...) relations is provided. It is claimed that contact between philosophers (oral or written, unilateral or bilateral) is a necessary but not sufficient element of influence of one philosopher on another. The influence takes place if the contact between philosophers results in some actions or convictions of one of them. The influence may be positive or negative. It is also the case that one may be more or less aware of being influenced by someone else. The second part of the chapter provides some examples of interpersonal and intertextual relations in the Lvov-Warsaw School. In particular, the contact between Kazimierz Twardowski, the founder of the school, and his direct students, is characterised. Further, some examples of Twardowski’s influence on the first generation of the LWS are given and the way that the influences were revealed is described. Also, the important characterological and theoretical differences between various Twardowski’s students are presented. In the conclusion a hypothesis is issued that the peculiarities of interpersonal and intertextual relations in the LWS are caused by Twardowski’s methodological attitude as well as his interdisciplinary approach to philosophical problems. (shrink)

It is clear a relational approach to the study of empathy is gaining traction across multiple disciplines. Both commentaries on “A Relational Framework for Integrating the Study of Empathy in Child...

This article provides a phenomenological analysis of interpersonal forgiveness and evaluates the correlation between interpersonal and divine forgiveness from a Lutheran perspective. By highlighting the morphological distinctness of the two forms of forgiveness, the article posits that they are best conceptualised as homonyms. Consequently, the link between divine and human forgiveness can be understood as causative rather than causal or analogous, which equates the quality of this connection to the connection of other things that divine forgiveness may evoke. (...) This suggests that interpersonal forgiveness does not possess a distinctive link with divine forgiveness. (shrink)

Work-related satisfaction has critical benefits. To predict work-related satisfaction, we investigated how a counterpart’s expressions of emotional complexity (both positive and negative emotions), positive emotions, and negative emotions influenced a perceiver’s work-related satisfaction during discussions over different work-relevant ideas. We conducted a three-wave coworker survey (N = 529) and an experiment with a confederate as a task partner (N = 378). The results consistently showed significant positive impacts of a counterpart’s emotional complexity and positive emotion expressions on a perceiver’s work-related (...) satisfaction by enhancing the perceiver’s positive emotions and evaluation of the counterpart’s openness. Conversely, a counterpart’s negative emotion expression significantly decreased a perceiver’s work-related satisfaction by reducing perceived counterpart openness. We also did not find a perceiver’s negative emotion as a significant mediator of the associations between the three emotional expressions and work-related satisfaction. Therefore, our investigation highlights similar positive effects of emotional complexity and positive emotion expressions and suggests that an expression of both positive and negative emotions promotes satisfaction by enhancing positive emotions and openness perception. (shrink)

Understanding innate core cognition for social relations as a deep, generative social grammar that helps solve the learnability problem of discovering who relates to whom in what ways “amounts to asking how human social life is understandable, and hence possible” (Thomsen & Carey, 2013, p.17). Expanding the focus beyond enduring interpersonal relationships allows us to understand how social and societal meaning (e.g., in ideology) reflect fundamental forms of relational coordination ultimately grounded in cross-species affordances.

This paper distinguishes processes potentially contributing to interpersonal anxiety transfer, including object-directed social appraisal, empathic worry, and anxiety contagion, and reviews evidence for their operation. We argue that these anxiety-transfer processes may be exploited strategically when attempting to regulate relationship partners’ emotion. More generally, anxiety may serve as either a warning signal to other people about threat (alerting function) or an appeal for emotional support or practical help (comfort-seeking function). Tensions between these two interpersonal functions may account for (...) mutually incongruent interpersonal responses to expressed anxiety, including mistargeted interpersonal regulation attempts. Because worry waxes and wanes over time as a function of other people's ongoing reactions, interpersonal interventions may help to alleviate some of its maladaptive consequences. (shrink)

Mentalization is a process of social cognition that involves making inferences about one’s own behavior and the behavior of other people on the basis of unobservable mental states. Particularly in psychodynamic approaches, mentalization is conceptualized in the context of activation of internal representation of emotional relationship. In this study, we checked whether mentalization constitutes a predictor of relational satisfaction in the context of one’s own and the partner’s specific attachment. The research sample was composed of 32 heterosexual couples living together (...) for at least two years. Three tools were applied: the Mental State Task, Experiences in Close Relationships-Relationship Structures, and the Relationship Assessment Scale. The results indicate a strong negative effect of one’s own attachment anxiety and avoidance, and a strong effect of the partner’s attachment anxiety on the relationship satisfaction for both men and women. In women, the incremental validity of mentalization in predicting satisfaction in the relationship beyond the attachment of their partners has been observed. The results are discussed in the context of the intrapsychic and interpersonal aspects of mentalization and attachment. (shrink)

Some theorists argue that relational egalitarianism offers no guidance for questions of justice between non-overlapping generations because the relevant kinds of social relations do not exist. To assess this challenge, I distinguish two versions of relational egalitarianism: an interpersonal approach that focuses on particular kinds of dispositions and attitudes, and an institutional approach that focuses on the kind of status people hold under institutions. I argue that the institutional approach meets the challenge. To illustrate this claim, I discuss (...) several cases involving climate change, public debt, and paternalism. Finally, I suggest how the approach I develop bears on the non-identity problem and on the choice of intergenerational distributive principle. (shrink)

Many studies require standardized and replicable protocols composed of emotional stimuli. To this aim, several databases of emotional pictures are available. However, there are only few images directly depicting interpersonal violence, which is a specific emotion evocative stimulus for research on aggressive behavior or post-traumatic stress disorder. The objective of the current study is to provide a new set of standardized stimuli containing images depicting interpersonal situations. This will allow a sensitive assessment of a wide range of cognitions (...) linked to social interaction. To this aim, 240 participants rated the valence and arousal of 79 pictures collected from online sources in 2018. Results showed a distinctive pattern of valence and arousal regarding the picture content and specific associations between those two dimensions. Taken together, these results suggest a good reliability of the selected images. In conclusion, our study provides an open access set of recent pictures depicting interpersonal situations along with normative valence and arousal ratings, that are available for download from: https://osf.io/ak4m7/?view_only=None. (shrink)

Why comply with epistemic norms? In this paper, I argue that complying with epistemic norms, engaging in epistemically responsible conduct, and being epistemically trustworthy are constitutive elements of maintaining good epistemic relations with oneself and others. Good epistemic relations are in turn both instrumentally and finally valuable: they enable the kind of coordination and knowledge acquisition underpinning much of what we tend to associate with a flourishing human life; and just as good interpersonal relations with others (...) can be good for their own sake, standing in good epistemic relations is good for its own sake. On my account, we have reason to comply with epistemic norms because it is a way of respecting the final value of something that also tends to be an instrumentally valuable thing: good epistemic relations. Situating the account within the recent social turn in debates about epistemic instrumentalism, I argue that the dual‐value aspect of good epistemic relations can explain important anti‐instrumentalist intuitions, in a well‐motivated way, within a broadly instrumentalist framework. (shrink)

An athlete has faith in her unathletic partner to run a marathon, a teacher has faith in her currently poor-performing students to improve in the future, and your friend has faith in you to succeed in the difficult project that you have been pursuing, even, and especially, when your chance of failing is non-trivial. This paper develops and defends a relational view of interpersonal faith by considering four interesting phenomena: first, in virtue of placing faith in someone, we stand (...) in solidarity with that person; second, interpersonal faith is called for during moments of difficulty, but it can seem inappropriate during moments of ease; third, one’s faith in others can feel unwelcomed, and can be rejected; and fourth, when interpersonal faith is frustrated, disappointment, rather than resentment, is warranted. I propose that when the faithor (e.g., your friend) places faith in the faithee (e.g., you) to φ, the faithor does something close to inviting the faithee to (re)commit to φ-ing. This invitation-like move, once properly taken up by the faithee, puts both sides of the faith in a new kind of normative relationship that is in the same broad family as a promissory relationship, albeit with a different normative profile. (shrink)

The current study evaluated the interpersonal circumplex as a theoretical model of companion animal personality and companion animal attachment. To this end, the study surveyed 266 companion animal guardians (owners)—89 reporting their most recent pet a cat and 177 reporting their most recent pet a dog—to assess the relationships between interpersonal complementarity and companion animal attachment. The study used MANOVA to evaluate differences in interpersonal traits for cats, dogs, and people who self-identified that cats or dogs were (...) their ideal pets. Results indicated that cats—and people who identified cats as their ideal pet—were more hostile in their orientation than were dogs or people who preferred dogs. In hierarchical regression-analysis, the study also confirmed the positive relationship between interpersonal complementarity and companion-animal attachment. (shrink)

This is the second volume of Professor Macmurray's Gifford Lectures on The Form of the Personal. The first volume, The Self as Agent, was concerned to shift the center of philosophy from thought to action. Persons in Relation, starting from this practical standpoint, sets out to show that the form of personal life is determined by the mutuality of personal relationship, so that the unit of human life is not the "I" alone, by the "You and I.".