Post on 07-Jan-2016
description
The Flexible SelfDr. Louise McHugh
University College Dublin
Where is your ‘self’?
Ferrari et al 2008
YOU ARE HERE!
I was so stressed yesterday, I
wasn’t myself!
I was so stressed yesterday, I
wasn’t myself!
Then who were you?Then who were you?
Social animals…
A sense of self?
• Only humans have a sense of self
• Why?
• Humans have language
Symbolic relationships between things…
• Is what allows us to make sounds that other people understand rather than simply pointing and grunting at things
‘HAT’‘Kelly’
Relationships based on cues
Physical Relationships
=
CONTEXTUAL CUE
=
CONTEXTUAL CUE
IS SAME AS
CONTEXTUAL CUE
Nic
BAD OK GOOD
BADNic
Language
We also learn to manipulate it through sound and symbols
Milk Please!
Milk Please!
Just as we learn to manipulate the environment with our body and hands
• Same as (‘Jumjaw is the same as dog’)• Opposite (‘Day is opposite to Night’)• Different (‘Boys are different from Girls’)• Comparison (‘£1 is more than 10p’)• Perspective (‘I am here and you are there’)
We can relate in many ways
If someone has a fear of dogs, and they are told that ‘jumjaw’ is another word for dog, then fear may be elicited upon hearing ‘Here comes a jumjaw!’
‘DOG’is a
‘Jumjaw’is a
Psychological
Function
Transformation of Functions
Psychological
Function
• So language is responding to abstract relations
• So what does that have to do with the ‘self’?
‘I think therefore I am’‘I think therefore I am’
No Rene – you learn to verbally discriminate your own behavior from others behavior
- therefore you are
No Rene – you learn to verbally discriminate your own behavior from others behavior
- therefore you are
I had a banana for breakfast
I had a banana for breakfast
No silly I had a
banana for breakfast
No silly I had a
banana for breakfast
What did YOU have for breakfast?What did YOU have for breakfast?
I feel happyI feel happy
I am happier than you!
I am happier than you!
I am a happy person!
I am a happy person!
As a child begins to relate more and more of their own behavior…
…and to compare it with that of others…
…they begin to have a concept of self
I feel sadI feel sad
I am not as happy as you
I am not as happy as you
I am a depressed person!
I am a depressed person!
‘The key to a happier world is the growth of compassion’
Dalai Lama
Understanding others?
Theory of Mind Module
I Know what you are thinking! I have a ‘module’ in my brain that tells me!
I Know what you are thinking! I have a ‘module’ in my brain that tells me!
I versus YOU HERE versus THERE NOW versus THEN
• Perspective relations specify a relation in terms of the perspective of the speaker
Consider the three relations of:
CBS Approach to Perspective-Taking
Each time a child is asked or answers questions such as:
“What are you doing here?” “What was I doing then?” “What am I doing now?” “What were you doing there?”
the physical environment will likely be different… The only constant across such questions are the
relational properties of: I versus You
Here versus There Now versus Then
CBS Approach to Perspective-Taking
Relation Type• I / YOU• HERE / THERE• NOW / THEN
Complexity• Simple Relations• Reversed Relations• Double Reversed Relations
Two important variables:
McHugh, et al., (2004)
CBS Approach to Perspective-Taking
A Simple Relation Task I have a white brick and you have a red brick
Which brick do you have?
Which brick do I have?
I am sitting here on the blue chair and you are sitting there on the black chair
and YOU were ME
Where would I be sitting?
Here: There:
A Reversed Relation Task
If I was YOU
Where would you be sitting?
Yesterday I was sitting there on the black chair, today I am sitting here on the blue chair
and NOW was THEN and THEN was NOW
Where would I be sitting now?
Now: Then:
A Double Reversed Relation Task
Where would I be sitting then?
If HERE was THERE and THERE was HERE
Here: There:
3-5 year olds perform worst
I don’t know!I don’t know!
McHugh, et al., 2004
If I was YOU where would I be sitting?
If I was YOU where would I be sitting?
It can be trained
Weil et al., (2010)
Simple
Reversed
DoubleReversed
More relating on tasks about others?
Example of Self Belief taskIf I put the pencils in the smarties box and you are not thereI would think the smarties box contains SMARTIES (F)
Example of Other’s Belief taskIf you put the pencils in the smarties box and I am not thereYou would think the smarties box contains PENCILS (T)
McHugh, et al., (2007)
SIGNIFICANT*
OTHERSELF
Response
Times
Trial-Type
* There were significant differences in response times between Self versus Other tasks (p <.05)*
Self belief tasks involve less relating
Autism-related and schizophrenia spectrum disorders
ASD: Rehfeldt, et al., 2007
• Children with high-functioning autism or asperger syndrome performed worse on the RFT PT protocol than their age-matched typically developing counterparts
Children diagnosed with ASD do worseChildren diagnosed with ASD do worse
Villatte, et al. (2009): Patients with Schizophrenia
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
I-You simple Here-Theresimple
Now -Thensimple
I-Youreversed
Here-Therereversed
Now -Thenreversed
I-You/Here-Theredouble
reversed
Here-There/Now -Then double
reversed
Trial-Type
Pro
port
ion
of p
artic
ipan
ts s
corin
g ov
er 0
.67
Controls
Patients
Controlled for IQControlled for IQ
Patients do worse on reversed and double
reversed
Patients do worse on reversed and double
reversed
SimpleReversed
DoubleReversed
Villatte, et al. (2010): Patients with Schizophrenia
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
Self/True belief Self/False belief Other/True belief Other/False belief
Trial type
P
rop
ort
ion
of
pa
rtic
ipa
nts
sco
ring
ove
r 0
.67
Controls
Patients
Patients do worse on other and false beliefPatients do worse on other and false belief
Villatte, et al. (2010)
Non-clinical pts high social anhedonia
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
I-Yousimple
Here-Theresimple
Now -Thensimple
I-Youreversed
Here-Therereversed
Now -Thenreversed
I-You/Here-Theredouble
reversed
Here-There/Now -
Thendouble
reversed
Trial-Type
Me
an
ra
te o
f a
ccu
racy
Control
Experimental
SA do worse on double reversedSA do worse on double reversed
Belief attribution
0,5
0,6
0,7
0,8
0,9
1
Self Other
Attribution type
Me
an
ra
te o
f a
ccu
racy
Control
Experimental
SA do worse on other belief
SA do worse on other belief
So how does this link to ACT?
Double Edged Sword
Verbal self-knowledge is a two-edged sword
It can be important and beneficial to human beings while it can also be a cause of pain and suffering
Were as smart as Dermot
Were as smart as Dermot
Comparison is a bitch
‘I wish I…’
Were as young as I am in this photo!
Were as young as I am in this photo!
Had great hair like Russ
Had great hair like Russ
Were as good at presenting
as Robyn
Were as good at presenting
as Robyn
Even if you are a mega star…
1969
I am not good enough as I am.In order to be good enoughI need to look a certain way
I am not good enough as I am.In order to be good enoughI need to look a certain way
1979
1989
2009
3 Selves in ACT
• Self as content Story
• Self as process Contacting the present
• Self as context Flexible Perspective Taking
SELF AS CONTENT
I’m not good enough.
I am too anxious
SELF AS CONTENT
I’m not good enough.
I am too anxious
SELF AS PROCESSI HERE NOW notice my
thoughts and feelings and what I can see, hear, touch taste and smell
SELF AS PROCESSI HERE NOW notice my
thoughts and feelings and what I can see, hear, touch taste and smell
EMPATHYI HERE NOW
notice that you are
feeling sad
EMPATHYI HERE NOW
notice that you are
feeling sad
SELF COMPASSIONI HERE NOW notice my pain and respond
with kindness
SELF COMPASSIONI HERE NOW notice my pain and respond
with kindnessTRANSCENDENT
SELFI HERE NOW am the observer of my
thoughts and feelings
TRANSCENDENT SELF
I HERE NOW am the observer of my
thoughts and feelings
Training Flexible Perspective Taking
Step 1. Basic Perspective Training ‘If I were you, where would I be?’
‘If I were you and here was there, where would I be?’
Step 2. Empathy Training ‘I feel sad. If you were me, how would you feel?’
‘I’ve won a prize. If you were me, how would you feel?’
Step 3. Self-as-Context ‘I watch thoughts and feelings come and go. Who is it that is watching them?’
Vilardaga & Hayes, 2009
Informing intervention?
Thank you!
I
I eat pizzaI hear my friends calling
I smell perfume
I believe in choice
I am silly
I go to the shop
I like to readI watch TV
I like facebookI remember being in Italy
I close to my sister
I am stubborn
I hate beansI travel regularly
I am honest
I love RFT
I think the glee is great
I have sweaty hands
I get anxious
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
I-YOU simple
HERE-THERE simple
NOW-THEN simple
I-YOU reversed
HERE-THERE reversed
NOW-THEN reversed
I-YOU/HERE- THERE double reversed
HERE THERE/NOW-THEN Double reversed
Trial-Type
% M
ean
Erro
rs Early Childhood
Middle Childhood Late Childhood Adolescence Adulthood
McHugh, Barnes-Holmes, & Barnes-Holmes (2004)
3-5 year olds struggle
The conceptualized self trap
I slept all day. I am a lazy person.
Result: The only way to change your
future is to change your past. You’re Stuck!
Self as a mental experience?
• The self seems so real!
an illusion of self
DEICTICLinguistics Of or relating to a word, the determination of whose referent is dependent on the context in which it is said or written. In the sentence I want him to come here now, the words I, here, him, and now are deictic because the determination of their referents depends on who says that sentence, and where, when, and of whom it is said.