The Group And The Unconscious

Originally published in 1984, this is the first published account in English of the development of group psychotherapy in France. Under the leadership of Professor Didier Anzieu, psychoanalysts actively and ingeniously brought psychoanalytical insights to bear upon group process. These methods were widely applied in training groups for mental health professionals, as well as in many other organizations. Anzieu and his colleagues made many advances in understanding the psychology of large-group situations, and these advances contributed to the growing interest in the field. The main aim of the book is to examine the unconscious life of the human group. Professor Anzieu describes the processes of fantasy and imagination that are common to social organizations, training groups and psychotherapeutic groups, and extends the psychoanalytical theory about dreams to the group. He gives an account of the various kinds of group fantasies, such as the group illusion, the group as a mouth, breaking apart fantasies, the group-machine, and the self-destructive group. The book is illustrated by ten clinical case studies, which are vividly described by Professor Anzieu. The interaction of the imaginary processes and the social ideas of the group are also studied, and the theoretical discussion in general reflects the interest of French psychoanalysts in the earliest structures of the mind and of the psychotic level of the personality as it becomes manifest in the group process.

Originally published in 1984, this was the first published account in English of the original and highly interesting development of group psychotherapy in France at the time. Under the leadership of Professor Didier Anzieu, psychoanalysts have actively and ingeniously brought psychoanalytical insights to bear upon group process. These methods have been widely applied in training groups for mental health professionals, as well as in many other organizations. Anzieu and his colleagues have made many advances in understanding the psychology of large-group situations, and these advances will contribute to the growing interest in the field. The main aim of the book is to examine the unconscious life of the human group. Professor Anzieu describes the processes of fantasy and imagination that are common to social organizations, training groups and psychotherapeutic groups, and extends the psychoanalytical theory about dreams to the group. He gives an account of the various kinds of group fantasies, such as the group illusion, the group as a mouth, breaking apart fantasies, the group-machine, and the self-destructive group. The book is illustrated by ten clinical case studies, which are vividly described by Professor Anzieu. The interaction of the imaginary processes and the social ideas of the group are also studied, and the theoretical discussion in general reflects the interest of French psychoanalysts in the earliest structures of the mind and of the psychotic level of the personality as it becomes manifest in the group process.

The social unconscious and its manifestations in group analysis are the focus of this important new book of Earl Hopper's selected papers. Drawing on sociology, psychoanalysis and group analysis, he argues that groups and their participants are constrained unconsciously by social, cultural and political facts and forces.

In this book, the authors develop the theory of the tripartite matrix, consider music as a form of non-verbal communication as a sub-dimension of the matrix, and present empirical studies of the matrices of peoples in three societies in the Middle East. It aids in the project of group analysis.

The social unconscious is vital for understanding persons and their groupings, ranging from families to societies, committees to organisations, and from small to median to large therapeutic groups, and essential for comprehensive clinical work. This series of volumes of contributions from an international network of psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, group analysts and psychodramatists draw on the classical ideas of Freud, Klein and Jung, Bion, Foulkes and Moreno, and on contemporary relational perspectives, self-psychology and neuroscience. Volume 1 is concerned mainly with the theory of the social unconscious. It is focused on topics such as location, sociality, the social brain, identity, ideology, the foundation matrix, social psychological retreats, false collective self-objects, the collective unconscious and its archetypes and social dreaming.

Evidence is mounting that we are not as in control of our judgments and behavior as we think we are. Unconscious or ‘automatic’ forms of psychological and behavioral processes are those of which we tend to be unaware, that occur without our intention or consent, yet influence us on a daily basis in profound ways. Automatic processes influence our likes and dislikes for almost everything, as well as how we perceive other people, such as when we make stereotypic assumptions about someone based on their race or gender or social class. Even more strikingly, the latest research is showing that the aspects of life that are the richest experience and most important to us - such as emotions and our close relationships, as well as the pursuit of our important life tasks and goals - also have substantial unconscious components. Social Psychology and the Unconscious: The Automaticity of Higher Mental Processes offers a state-of-the-art review of the evidence and theory supporting the existence and the significance of automatic processes in our daily lives, with chapters by the leading researchers in this field today, across a spectrum of psychological phenomena from emotions and motivations to social judgment and behavior. The volume provides an introduction and overview of these now central topics to graduate students and researchers in social psychology and a range of allied disciplines with an interest in human behavior and the unconscious, such as cognitive psychology, philosophy of mind, political science, and business.

This book will interest anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of the psychological relationship between individual psychological dynamics, social structure and the unconscious collective paradigms. It focuses on an analysis of patriarchal culture, which is, as it were, the psychological enclosure in which all individual and collective processes take place. Starting from the genesis and current structure of this culture, the strong social changes of the last 50 years are examined: the change in relations between men and women social relations in terms of solidarity and desolidarisation the situation of social security the social and political power relations, and the economic dynamics. At the same time, collective fantasies are elaborated that emerge from the socio-structural changes. The basis of the study is psychoanalytical cultural theory in the form of a cultural-critical deconstruction of its fundamental assumptions. In 16 interesting chapters, essential questions of psychological cultural theory are answered and practical applications of this theory to current sociostructural processes are shown.

Weaving together state-of-the-art research, theory, and clinical insights, this book provides a new understanding of the unconscious and its centrality in human functioning. The authors review heuristics, implicit memory, implicit learning, attribution theory, implicit motivation, automaticity, affective versus cognitive salience, embodied cognition, and clinical theories of unconscious functioning. They integrate this work with cognitive neuroscience views of the mind to create an empirically supported model of the unconscious. Arguing that widely used psychotherapies--including both psychodynamic and cognitive approaches--have not kept pace with current science, the book identifies promising directions for clinical practice. Winner--American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize (Theory)